Waiting For Superman Essay

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The documentary Waiting for Superman discusses and dissects some major issues within America’s failing educational system. It does not, however, cover or even mention many societal issues that relate to the topic. Although the film does cover many major aspects of society in relation to the failing educational system, it does not manage to thoroughly analyze many issues such as social class (P.520), credentialism (P.513), and meritocracy (P.514). While the issue of socio-economic status (P.520) is addressed in the film, it is only mentioned for just a moment, and not readdressed, save for momentarily. Socio-economic status is a person’s position in a stratified social order, and is based on both family wealth and parental education or occupational status. It is a major factor in a child’s ability to get into a prestigious school, especially one such as a charter school, and if they are not in a favorable social class, then their odds are naturally lower than that of people of a higher class.…show more content…
Being as there is a substantial amount of socialization put upon kids in the school system there is a massive but nearly unperceivable amount of hidden curriculum (P.498) in schools that is subliminally teaching kids that without the proper credentials, they will not get a good career or succeed in life. This overemphasizing of the importance of a college degree is inherently leading to the innumerable dropouts mentioned in the film, but the film failed to address this properly. Alongside these hidden allegories of success, the film’s mentioning of schools lacking resources is extremely deceptive due to the fact that many of the schools mentioned in the film are privately funded and do not have a shortage of supplies, which is the opposite of what they are made out to

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