By now, it’s virtually impossible you haven’t heard about Davis Guggenheim’s new film “Waiting for Superman,” an indictment on the public school system and a story which encourages audiences to rise up in defense of American schoolchildren. The movie opens in theaters today.
I previewed the film a month ago, back when education insiders and media-types were getting a first-look, and I enjoyed Guggenheim’s interaction with the Angelika audience, answering questions (and asking a few) of the Dallas crowd. Since then, Waiting for Superman has attracted the focus of everyone from Oprah to Obama and earned the wrath of teachers’ unions, who are depicted as protecting lazy, inept teachers as passionately as they advocate for good ones.
The film gives you an opportunity to help in a hands-on way, and there’s an LH connection – if you visit the film’s website and pledge to see the movie, you’ll receive at $5 voucher code to use toward a project on Donors Choose, a nonprofit group connecting donors with schools that need funding for educational resources. LH’s own Blair Watler is one of the teachers from low-income schools whose project received funds. Blair requested money to purchase a class set of Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” and her project was recently fully funded by viewers. Blair, who graduated from LHHS in 2006, is teaching 8th grade English in a poor area of Charlotte, North Carolina for Teach for America. You can go to Blair’s page to learn more about her project, and go to Donors Choose to find a project to receive your $5 voucher money.
I hope you’ll find a couple of hours to see Waiting for Superman in between LHHS Homecoming festivities and the Texas/OU game. Our schoolchildren are worth it. The film opens today at the Angelika and Magnolia theaters.
