Dropout Factory Schools

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” was once stated by the Former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (Nelson Mandela Quotes, 2016). However, with the corruption occurring in the school systems throughout the nation, it prevents children gaining this “weapon.” These students who are victims of the fraudulent school systems are not able to develop into citizens that can transform the world in a positive direction. In the films, Waiting for Superman and The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, both depict the unethical ways that the school systems have ultimately failed the students in gaining the power of learning. Education is not a privilege but it is a right. Every child in our

In Waiting for Superman, the classrooms did not have the updated technology, science labs, nor the funding to make sure that all classrooms had well equipped furnishings. However, in chartered schools, they had a very neat school with a nice lobby and funding to even have dorms rooms inside the schools. Although In Waiting for Superman, the film depicted a positive environment in chartered schools, in The Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, the film shows that chartered schools were the exact opposite. It demonstrated how teachers were not so welcoming for new students and treated the school as a boot camp. For instance, one student had to work his way up and earn the right throughout the school year to show that he deserves a chair to sit in. Also, if a student dropped his pencil or even called out an answer in excitement, it was considered disrespectful and he would have to face the appropriate

In order to solve all the problems, parents wanted small classroom sizes, increased funding for the public education system, anti-racist policies, a culturally relevant curriculum, and more teaching than testing. According to the National Council of Teachers of English, research shows that small classroom sizes show a correlation with academic success. It shows that students in smaller classes tend to be two months ahead in content knowledge compared to their peers. These students tend to score higher in standardized testing as well (Why Class Size Matters?,