RE: [xmca] American education disaster film

[Peter Farruggio <pfarruggio@utpa.edu>]

I thought I'd share this info about the film "Waiting for Superman" that is about to debut behind a propaganda blitz from Democrats for Education Reform, the free market neo-Liberals who killed government-funded health care (Medicaire for all) this winter after lining their pockets with donations from the insurance industry. 

This  was forwarded by Susan Ohanian:

A couple of months ago I tracked how close this is to Obama. I'll
paste it in here but there are interesting hot links on the website.

http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9425

Fewer than Six Degrees of Separation Between Barack Obama and Waiting
for Superman

*by Susan Ohanian*

I have not seen the film "Waiting for Superman." Nor have I signed the
pledge at the film website <http://www.waitingforsuperman.com>; promising
to see it. As of this date, 24,091 people have made the pledge, making
the whole thing seem like a religious cause rather than a movie.

Here, I just provide a little background on the people associated with
the film.

Jeff Skoll was the first president of e-Bay and used his fortune from
that to set up a film-production company Participant Productions--which
has produced some really good films, including "Good Night and Good
Luck," "The Soloist," and "The Kite Runner" as well as the oft-mention
"Inconvenient Truth." Most of Skoll's films have a strong moral message.
He says, in fact, that he makes movies to inspire social change.
Clearly, this is a fellow who believes in righteous causes. And now he
is showing hundreds of thousands of public school teachers that one
man's righteous cause may be another's indignation.

According to their website
<http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutskoll/index.asp>;, "The Skoll
Foundation celebrates social entrepreneurship and social innovation
through film and broadcast partnerships designed to spread the stories
of social entrepreneurs." Such partnerships include the PBS NewsHour and
the Sundance Institute, "which help drive large-scale public awareness
of social entrepreneurship and its potential to address the critical
issues of our time."

Skoll's Silicon Valley donations include $300,000 to Teach for America.
"over two years for recruitment, training, professional development and
support of college graduates who teach underserved students for two
years in the Alum Rock Union, East Palo Alto and Redwood City school
districts."

In 2008 The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepeurship" gave Wendy Kopp a
"social entrepreneurship" award.

Now, if you want to get conspiracy-theory minded, Davis Guggenheim, who
wrote and directed "Waiting for Superman, made a bio of Barack Obama's
mother, which premiered at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
before Barack Obama's speech accepting his party's nomination. He also
directed an Obama infomercial which aired in 2008. Guggenheim is best
known as director of the blockbuster "Inconvenient Truth." (2006)

Guggenheim went to Sidwell Friends & Brown. Skoll has an electrical
engineering degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from
Stanford. What more could you want from people making "an exhaustive
review of public education?"

The Synopsis at the film website includes this statement:


Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education,
surveying drop-out factories and academic sinkholes,
methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly
intractable problems.

However, embracing the belief that good teachers make good
schools, Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative
approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools
that have--in reshaping the culture--refused to leave
their students behind.


In an interview with Take Part
<http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/01/20/waiting-for-superman-qa-with-davis-guggenheim>;,
Guggenheim says, "And look at Michelle Rhee, she was a teacher and a lot
of the reformers are coming out of Teach for America. There are battle
lines drawn between the reformers and some teachers, and that's an
uncomfortable truth that is part of the film. . . . Steve Barr of Green
Dot, who has schools here in LA, is taking over Locke High School in
Watts. It's like David and Goliath seeing him against the LA Unified
School District -- and he might be winning. There are so many stories
that are worthy and inspiring that we couldn't put in the movie."

It comes as no surprise that Bill Gates loves the film. He even showed
up at the advanced screening at Sundance, where it won the audience
award for best documentary. Gates told Reuters, "Many of these high
schools are terrible, and this film, 'Waiting for Superman' by Davis
Guggenheim, which I have a very minor part in, tells this story in a
brilliant way."

Guggenheim is featured on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
<http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/get-schooled-davis-guggenheim.aspx>;
website.

This all gets even more tangled, circling back to the Skoll Foundation
and the Obama administration desire to promote nonprofit social
entrepreneurship. On May 27, 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama and the
Corporation for National and Community Service CEO Patrick Corvington
announced the initial phase of philanthropic commitments to match Social
Innovation Fund (SIF) grants. Participating groups are: Eli and Edythe
Broad Foundation ($10 million over two years), John and Ann Doerr's
Family Foundation ($5 million over two years), the Omidyar Network ($10
million over two years), the Open Society Foundations' Special Fund for
Poverty Alleviation ($10 million for one year), and the Skoll Foundation
($10 million over two years).

Alistair Bomphray saw the movie and his review
<http://teacherrevised.org/2010/06/30/movie-review-waiting-for-superman-or-just-another-clark-kent-playing-dress-up>;
is worth reading.


________________________________________
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] on behalf of mike cole [lchcmike@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 4:24 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity
Subject: [xmca] American education disaster film

Perhaps of interest. Sent along by a colleague.
mike
------------

http://nymag.com/news/features/67966/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg

As a child, Geoffrey Canada  believed that his comic book hero would rescue
him and others from poverty and despair. Today, Canada is president and CEO
of the Harlem Children’s Zone and one of the lead participants in the
upcoming documentary, Waiting for “Superman,” which opens nationwide Friday,
September 24. Directed by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient
Truth), the film examines the state of American public education. Read a
review from New York magazine and watch the trailer.
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