No one is "Waiting for Superman"

No one knows about or cares about Waiting for Superman Really.

I have not seen the movie, but have read many blogposts and newspaper reviews about it. I feel fed up with the negative portrayal of teachers just like many others. But does it really matter?

Very few people are going to see this movie or even know about it. Probably more people saw the “commercial” for it on Oprah than will actually see the movie. Jackass 3-D was the number one movie this past weekend and Superman fell two places to 18th on the list of movies viewed.

from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2010&wknd=42&p=.htm

With just over 2.5 million in total sales at $10 a ticket that is only 250,000 people. If we double that to half a million people to count for free viewings and cheaper tickets (I am being overly generous here) that is around 1 out of every 700 Americans.

Try this quick quiz with some people you know in real life:
  1. What is Waiting for Superman?
  2. Tell me everything you know about it.
  3. Who is Michelle Rhee?
  4. Tell me everything you know about her.
  5. Who is Joe Klein/Geoffrey Canada/fill in your favorite “reformer” here?
  6. Tell me everything you know about them.
You can add any fun questions you want to this list. Ask your spouse, neighbors, or friends. I am willing to bet you will get responses like this:
Now ask your colleagues at school. Did you get better answers? Again I bet probably not. So if no one watches Superman and no one knows about it then how dangerous is it really? I think for the average American it is as important as this is.
PS: Of course, I know that it matters that we debate this stuff at many levels, but I think edubloggers are over reacting at the effect of this movie on the average American.

2 thoughts on “No one is "Waiting for Superman"”

  1. John Spencer

    I like this friendly reminder. As someone who has probably overreacted to this, it was a nice heads-up to the reality.

    Fall Break has taught me that the world is much bigger than education and education reform. Chiefly among this: the Giants beat the Phillies. I am a happy man.

  2. concretekax

    @John I don’t know if you over-react. I appreciate your honest opinions about everything. But I agree as much as we care about education there are always more important things.

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