John Baer: 'Waiting' is a tough assignment

AT GOV. CORBETT'S suggestion, I did my homework.

At a news conference last week, while talking about education cuts, the Guv asked who saw the 2010 documentary "Waiting for Superman."

A few hands went up. "That's a homework assignment," he told the rest of us, presumably because it offers insights into his thinking on education.

Because many believe plans to cut Philly schools by $300 million and cut higher-ed in half shows that the Guv doesn't think much of education, I figured I'd check out the film.

If you're not familiar, it's by Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for his 2007 global-warming doc, "An Inconvenient Truth," with Al Gore.

Most conservative Republicans wouldn't give a popcorn kernel for "An Inconvenient Truth," so it's nice that Corbett's open-minded - assuming he knows it's the same guy.

Anyhow, "Waiting for Superman" eyes public education through the lives of five kids and their families, four of them struggling in D.C., Harlem, L.A. and the Bronx.

It's emotional, at times heart-rending and, as President Obama said, "powerful."

But, on close examination, it's also controversial.

It's a broad indictment of public schools, especially urban ones. It promotes charter schools and trashes teacher unions, which might explain Corbett's attraction.

The Guv supports vouchers, expanding charters and reduced union power.

"Waiting for Superman" offers ammo.

It lists dramatic spending increases while test scores remain flat, strongly suggesting that more money isn't needed.

It chronicles failure. At one L.A. high school, an educator says that of 60,000 students in 20 years, 40,000 dropped out. Over footage of menacing-looking youths walking the streets, the educator says: "They're not gonna write screenplays."

It notes America's low international rankings, says Finland ranks first and details our bureaucracy at federal, state and school-board levels.

And it hammers unions with striking stories.

One shows New York unionized teachers awaiting disciplinary cases in what's called a "rubber room," where they nap or read on full salary and benefits at a cost to taxpayers of $100 million a year.

Another features former D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who fired underperforming teachers and offered six-figure merit pay if the union would give up tenure. The local didn't allow a vote.

"It all becomes about the adults," Rhee says in the film.

She now heads a national reform group, Students First.

"Waiting" also features Geoffrey Canada, a Harvard-educated activist running charter schools in Harlem that receive lots of media attention for, as Newsweek's Jonathan Alter says in the film, proving "It's a lie disadvantaged kids can't learn."

And it dramatically shows the heartbreak of legally required lottery systems to get into charter schools that have more applicants than space. Tears from parents and kids; a message that a child's future relies on the luck of a lottery.

The movie is both moving and memorable - but not without critics.

In January, Washington Post education writer Valerie Strauss said "Superman" didn't get an Oscar nomination despite $2 million in marketing by billionaire Bill Gates because other doc-makers found it flawed, "not good/accurate enough."

("Gasland," a doc detailing health hazards associated with natural-gas drilling that a Corbett administration official called Nazi propaganda, did get a nomination.)

"Waiting" critics say that when the film notes that Finland leads the world in education, it fails to mention that Finnish teachers are unionized and tenured and that Finland's child-poverty rate is 3 percent, compared with America's 22 percent.

In addition, the Stanford University Center for Research on Education Outcomes, in reportedly the largest charter-schools study ever, says that only 17 percent of charters have better results than their local public counterparts.

The film says that "the top charter schools" place 90 percent of kids in college.

While touting Canada's Harlem success, the film never mentions that his schools get significant private funding in addition to public money.

And it occurs to me that union-bashing ignores the fact that two sides are required to sign a contract, yet teachers, not elected school boards, get blamed.

I understand that nothing in education is simple. I recognize the mountain of evidence arguing for reform. And I'm betting that somewhere between this film and its critics lies the truth - even if it's inconvenient.

So my homework's done.

Send email to baerj@phillynews.com.

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www.philly.com/JohnBaer. Read Baer's blog at www.philly.com/BaerGrowls.