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Waiting for Superman
Oscar Nominations for 2011: Who Got Snubbed?
By Steven Hoffer - AOL NewsThe 2011 Academy Award nominees were announced this morning, which can only mean one thing: Oscar nomination snubs! Who was left off this year's Oscar nomination short lists? Surge Desk has a quick rundown of this year's snubs. "The Town" for Best Picture The Boston-based crime film starring and directed by Ben Affleck was on several early prediction lists for best picture and scored a $23.8 million opening weekend, only to fall short of the 10-slot nominee list for the Oscars' top honor. Mark Wahlberg for Best Actor The morning wasn't a total disappointment for Mark Wahlberg the producer ...
Opinion: Teachers Unions in the Forefront of Education Reform
By not in system - AOL News(Nov. 12) -- Disparaging our children's teachers and blaming teachers unions won't improve public education. While, sadly, bashing unions is the specialty and mission of the Center for Union Facts, as it demonstrated in its AOL News opinion piece last week ("Will Teachers Unions Bend to Education Reform?"), the American Federation of Teachers prefers to focus on concrete solutions that will improve the current state of the American public education system. Do we have to makes changes? Absolutely. But improving schools requires building on what works and replicating it. There are countless ...
Opinion: Will Teachers Unions Bend to Education Reform?
By not in system - AOL News(Nov. 5) -- Democrats in Congress aren't the only ones who had a bad day on Tuesday. So did their No. 1 cash cow, the teachers unions. The two largest teachers unions -- the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, which combine to form the single largest source of donations to Democrats -- have hit a rough patch. Not only did their political apologists in Congress just lose more than 60 seats in the House and Senate, but they've been enduring a PR nightmare of epic proportions ever since the release of the much-discussed "Waiting for 'Superman,'" a ...
The President's Sister Endorses 'Waiting for Superman'
By Bonnie Goldstein - Politics DailyThe director of "Waiting for Superman," Davis Guggenheim, has a way of making friends who happen to know their way around the White House. In his 2007 breakout documentary and Oscar winner, "An Inconvenient Truth" (starring former Vice President Al Gore), Guggenheim's excellent creative bloodlines were shown to great advantage as he essentially brought a Power Point presentation to life. (He is the son of four-time Academy Award winner Charles Guggenheim and is married to movie star and Academy Award nominee Elisabeth Shue). His new film was released last month and despite harsh criticism of ...
Opinion: Want to Improve Education? Here's a Simple Fix
By not in system - AOL News(Sept. 9) -- Back to school in America coincided with the release of another set of depressing academic results. A new report from the American Institutes for Research measures state and district student math performance against the world, and the results are shameful: U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade students show average performance, at best, in mathematics and could not keep pace with their counterparts in several Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan. Later this month, David Guggenheim's new documentary, "Waiting for 'Superman,' " comes out, focused on the nation's dismal ...
When Did Teachers Unions Become the Enemy for Orthodox Liberals?
By Melinda Henneberger - Politics DailyThe new documentary, "Waiting for Superman," is the work of Davis Guggenheim, who also directed "An Inconvenient Truth." But his new movie, on the subject of school reform, takes on the teacher's union so pointedly that he practically cues the music from "Jaws" every time the union is mentioned -- and makes it look like the only obstacle to public school excellence is the ability to fire teachers with impunity. Davis isn't alone in this view, either; on the contrary, it's become the new conventional wisdom among liberals. When did we put the American Federation of Teachers on par with Al ...
'Waiting for Superman' Sends Educators to Detention Hall
By Bonnie Goldstein - Politics DailyIn an article earlier this week about political documentaries, my colleague Jill Lawrence mentioned "Waiting for Superman," which screened Wednesday at the annual Silverdocs documentary film festival at the edge of Washington, D.C. Not all documentaries are political -- some are about penguins -- but this movie most decidedly was. The film exhaustively examines a failed and entrenched public education system and lays responsibility for its bankruptcy at the feet of the federal government and those of state, county and city authorities from one end of the country to the other. Directed by ...
Can Movies Change Policy? Education, Mining Exposés at Silverdocs Aim for Impact
By Jill Lawrence - Politics DailyTo make political documentaries these days calls to mind the final line of "The Great Gatsby": "So we beat on, boats against the current . . . " For every Michael Moore or "Inconvenient Truth," there are hundreds of directors we've never heard of, hundreds of films that don't find an audience, and many more that don't find the money to get made. But the allure of this type of filmmaking, with its potential to alter national debate, policies and laws, is enduring. The proof is on display this week at the Washington, D.C.-area Silverdocs festival, which is showcasing nearly 100 new ...
Sexting in the Suburbs: Cops Called to Maryland Middle School
By Melinda Henneberger - Politics DailyOn Friday, The Washington Post reported that some nice middle-class kids at the nice suburban middle school my children attend in Montgomery County, Md., are under police investigation for sexting – and according to their principal, Michael Zarchin, for trafficking in naked photos and videos of 8th grade girls.Pyle Middle School is one of the best public schools in the state -- nothing like the rundown, under-resourced "dropout factories" I saw depicted in the new documentary "Waiting for Superman," at a screening earlier this week. In the main, the teachers and administration there are ...
Second Life Addicts, Dropout Factories and Sundance 2010's Last Gasp
By Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady - Politics DailyPARK CITY, Utah -- We are almost T minus zero here at Sundance and honestly feel like filmmaking warriors after the boot camp experience of 10 days of movies, alcohol, press, altitude and jangly nerves. We are grown women now. We've had the distinct pleasure to be part of an absolutely excellent year of non-fiction entries in the festival. Everyone is at the top of their game in our category, and it feels damn good. Today, we saw "Waiting for Superman" an infuriating and sometimes deflating new film directed by Davis Guggenheim. This ambitious doc takes on the failed public school system and ...
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