After Waiting for Superman: Be a Part of the Solution

Lindsey Burke / October 13, 2010

Waiting for Superman has left moviegoers rightfully outraged at the state of America’s education system. It’s an accurate portrayal. In many of the nation’s largest cities, fewer than half of all children graduate high school. Academic achievement and graduation rates have largely stagnated since the 1970s while countries around the world now outpace the United States.

Producer Davis Guggenheim rightly lays the blame squarely at the feet of organized labor. Education unions consistently stand in the way of promising education reforms such as school choice, which they view as a threat to their stranglehold on public education. And they are able to do this because of significant financial heft—often gleaned unwillingly from teachers in forced-unionism states who don’t necessarily agree with their agenda. During the 2007–2008 election cycle, the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers spent more than $71 million on campaigns for issues and candidates, spending more than $100 per teacher in five states. (more…)