I forgot to mention, there was one thing that I did like about Waiting for Superman - the portrayal of families of color, in a sense, the de-pathologizing of Black families
The Black and Latino families that are portrayed in the news and pop culture feed off of negative stereotypes of welfare queens, crack addicts and absent fathers. The explanation for poor performance in Black and Latino children usually begins with their families not valuing education. This is so silly since education is so popularly and universally valued. No, Asians and Jewish people do not value education more than any one else. It is not an explanation as to why they do well in school. Nor is it an explanation as to why other students fail.
The families in the film all cared deeply about their children's education, making large sacrifices in order to finance and support their child's learning through additional tutoring or by sending them to private school.
Some reviews have faulted the film with having only shown parents invested in their child's education - which seems problematic to say the least. Instead, the documentary excels in its provision of a counternarrative to the idea of pathological Black families and a culture of poverty.
Sup, saw this on my reader today and for the first time I gotta disagree with you. Asians, Jews, whites, and even Africans value education far more than african american blacks and hispanics. And it is indeed one explanation as to why they do better in school. i wish i could agree that systematic racism is the bigger problem, but we as a people hurt ourselves far more than any white govt system could. those parents in the film are definitely not representative of the majority of public school parents. and this is just not from my school, but my peers at other schools or those with similar family backgrounds will tell you the same. i strongly believe that education in this country won't be important to these parents until its no longer free.
ReplyDeleteand...every parent will tell you that education is important and blah blah blah. but, ask them how much involvement they have in that child's education and ....*crickets* lol. that is all.
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