Waiting For Superman Rhetorical Analysis

The failure of public schooling in America is an ongoing controversy among teachers, parents, and administrators across the nation. David Guggenheim exemplifies the concern of America’s failing education system in his eye-opening documentary, Waiting For Superman. The film covers topics such as socioeconomic background, school funding, charter schools, and teacher tenure, all of which are contributing factors to the plummeting education system. Focusing in on teacher performance, teacher tenure is an agreement under union contract that secures a teacher’s job for life after meeting specific expectations for an allotted amount of time. The documentary details how quickly teachers can qualify for tenure, the inability to reprimand low performing teachers under tenure policy, and how negligent teachers protected by tenure can negatively affect an educational institution. Guggenheim utilizes statistical graphics, video evidence, and even humorous media to expose that tenure allows for poorly performing …show more content…
In an experiment performed by Howard Fuller, a former superintendent in Milwaukee, a student was given a video camera to attach to his backpack and record everyday activity in the classroom. Guggenheim includes several clips of the eerie videos to show the reality of lazy teachers in our educational institutions. The videos show teachers reading newspapers for their own benefit (figure 3), students talking back with no punishment, and students misbehaving and throwing objects around the room. Fuller explains in an interview that he fired many of the teachers for their wrongdoings, but he was forced to rehire them with a full year’s pay because they were protected under tenure. The outcome of the situation evokes anger and disbelief within viewers because of the black and white evidence of low performing teachers, yet the lack of discipline they