MTV News’ Sway Calloway talks to students from Chicago youth groups about failing public schools, upcoming doc from ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ director. By Nick Neofitdis “Waiting For Superman” Photo: Paramount CHICAGO — The American education system is failing a large segment of the population. Need proof? The current generation of students will be less literate than the one before it, according to a new documentary. MTV teamed up with the Get Schooled campaign to host a screening this week in Chicago of “Waiting for ‘Superman.’ ” The upcoming doc from award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) explores the flaws crippling some of America’s schools. Members of various Chicago youth groups were invited to the private screening and MTV News’ Sway Calloway moderated a post-screening talk. In the film, Davis gets into the reasons why many students face not only illiteracy issues but grim futures. Get Schooled is a national organization dedicated to promoting the importance of education and achieving goals like working with schools to increase high school and college graduation rates. The groupmembers in attendance, all of whom said they could relate to the troubling educational experiences depicted in the doc, expressed gratitude that someone was finally tackling the topic onscreen. “I thought the film was really great. It showed the problems in education are big but there are little steps that we can take to start addressing it,” said Royal, a student from the City Year organization. Many of the students echoed that sentiment, saying starting small could make a difference. “Right now, I have to start out small,” Jasmine said. “Helping my little sister and brother … by being a positive mentor for them and getting them in the proper mindset, like, ‘She came from [public schools], she’s doing it, we can do it too.’ ” A public high school dropout, Jasmine fought through the system and now attends college. She insisted that helping her younger siblings is her first step toward helping in a small-scale way. Another startling statistic revealed in the film is that a child who doesn’t finish high school will earn less and be eight times more likely to go to prison. It’s a claim that will no doubt spark more discussion, even heated debate, when the film gets its limited release on Sept 24. Whether you’re a student, graduate, sibling or parent, “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” will probably strike a nerve. For filmmaker Davis, the best outcome would be to get the country moving toward a solution, even if it is only one small step at a time. Do you think the American education system needs fixing? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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MTV And Get Schooled Host ‘Waiting for ‘Superman’ ‘ Screening
