Waiting for Superman

phoenix focus

As we all know the American educational system is not quite up to par. The Times talks about the Real Problem with America's Educational System. It doesn't always prepare students for the future. There is a need for reform in the school system. One of the reasons I left traditional high school and went on to the Missouri Academy was because I wanted more educational opportunities. I felt there was no room for advancement and no challenging curriculum. The Academy provides tougher classes that prep me for the future. 

The documentary Waiting for Superman is about the failing education system and the struggle to get into schools like charter schools. The children must play in the lottery of education, leaving the future of their education up to the luck of the draw. Fandango provides an excellent summary of the documentary. One question that I would like to answer is... 

Does their success depend on the luck of the draw? 

I think in a way it does, but it doesn't define their future. Being one of the few chosen ones to be accepted into these schools is certainly a boost to their education and future. Every student has the potential to succeed, but a good education obviously raises the chances of success.  

The Importance of Education

Nowadays it seems we have access to every piece of information out there. We can get all of this information with a click of a button or should I say a swipe of a finger. Smartphones let us take the internet with us wherever we go. With all of this information so easily accessible there is more opportunity for people to educate themselves. Education can open so many doors and boost confidence. It is important to be a continuous learner for multiple reasons, which are discussed in Anam Kidwai's article Top 15 Reasons why Education is Extremely Important.

The First Lady, Michelle Obama, gave a speech to the Elizabeth G. Anderson School in the UK about education and it's important role in success. It is more geared to females and education(sorry guys), but the message still relates. Knowledge is a superpower. You can use it to defend and protect yourself or to change the world. Education is part of the foundation to life. You have to lay it down to be strong. If the foundation crumbles the building will fall, but if the foundation is sturdy the building will stand tall and can continue to grow.

http://sevenarticle.com/

56 Up

This video, airing in 2012, is the most recent video from the series. The participants in this series are far from the seven year olds in the very first video. Time seems to have flown by in this (so far) 49 year journey. Together the world has seen them grow up, get married, move, find jobs, endure illness, have kids, and face everything else life has thrown at them. below you can see the comparison between their seven year old selves and their fifty-six year old selves.

Andrew

Bruce

Jackie

John

Lynn

Neil

Nicholas

Paul

Peter

Susan

Suzy

Symon

Tony

Life is a wonderful thing and we are so lucky that these people have open up their lives to us. Through this series we are not only able to see how people change and progress, but also how the world has changed and progressed. 

"Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man".

That is the bases of the whole series. I feel that the saying has rung true. Looking back I can see the seven year old child in the fifty- six year old adult. Their life may change, their ambitions may change, but their personality remains. Their character traits make them who they are and nothings changes that, not even age. 

49 Up

"I did have a privileged childhood, but you have to take responsibility for you life somewhere along the line and some people take responsibility earlier than others. I was just a bit later taking it."

This is one of the statements Suzy makes in 49 Up. I thought it would be a great topic to write about this week. 

Taking personable responsibility for your life is a big milestone in one's life. For some people this is an easy task and comes naturally, but for others, like Suzy, it may be quite a bit harder. Ron Haskins writes about the sequence of personal responsibility and its application to life. Personal responsibility is about not blaming others for the mistakes you have made, but instead looking to yourself to find the fault. One of the best examples is when a student blames the teacher for their poor grade in a class. Instead of taking the responsibility to say that they were the reason for the poor performance, the student blames the teacher. The student will claim the teacher was too harsh of a grader or the teacher disliked them and that is why they recieved the less than satisfying grade. 

Personal responsibility and growing up go hand in hand. A new level of maturity is reached when one starts to take responsibility for one's life. You never get very far in life by blaming others for your mistakes. This doesn't allow a person to grow and learn. Paul Brodie talks about the importance of personal responsibility on his blog. If you have problems with taking personal responsibility I hope this has persuaded you to make some change in your life.

42 Up

Stay at Home Parent Vs. Working Parent

There is a wide range of different parenting styles throughout the participants of the series, but I wanted to focus on a stay at home parent versus a working parent. What are the pros and cons to each life choice and how does it affect the family dynamic?

Suzy is a mother to three kids and decided that she wanted to stay home and take care of the kids full time. Her husband provides financially for the family as the owner of his own company. Lynn is a mother of two girls and works full time. She shares household duties with her husband who also works full time. 

A stay at home parent has the ability to focus all of their time and energy to raising and caring for their kid(s). The children also spend more time with their parent. For a stay at home parent, raising the kid(s) is a full time job. They don't get to leave work after a hard and stressful day because their home is their work. They also work for free, which means their partner has to be financially stable enough to provide for the whole family. Web MD has a great article that lists some things you need to consider when choosing to be a working or a stay at home parent. 

A working parent has the stress of juggling a job and the responsibilities of being a parent. It is a lot of work and is made easier with the help of the spouse. Sharing the responsibilities of raising a child makes life much easier on the entire family. While a working parent may not have as much time with their child, they may be able to afford more with the extra income. Kyle Spencer writes about being a working parent on the website Parenting.

The moral of the story is that parenting is hard whether you are a stay at home parent or a working parent. Both lifestyles have their ascent and their downfalls, neither one is superior to the other. Parents must look at the aspects of their family's life and choose which option is best suited for them. 

35 Up

Single Parenting

In this video there is more of a focus on marriage and family. Almost all of the participants in this series are/have been married and/or have kids.  Jackie and Sue are single parents going through the challenge of raising their kid(s) alone.

Jackie got married younger and after several years she and her ex-husband decided to call it quits. She then had a brief relationship that resulted in her son, Charlie. Jackie, with the support of her family, now works hard to take care of her son, who she states is the best thing that has happened to her.

Sue had two children, a boy and a girl. She and her ex-husband divorced because they felt it was better if they lived apart. Sue has always wanted children and takes great care of the two she has. She does however receive assistance from the state to help provide for her children.

Single parenting is a very difficult ordeal. There are many struggles that come along with being a single parent, but there are also benefits. Jennifer Wolf talks about 5 positive effects parenting alone can have on single parents and their child. This parent-child bond develops in a unique way due to the atypical environment the child is raised in. Children of single parent homes often have to lend more of a helping hand, than a child with both parents in the household. This is due to the smaller ratio of people to tackle responsibilities.

Community plays a really big role in single parenting, whether that community be family, friends, or both. It is nearly impossible to raise a child without some sort of support system. Single parents don't have that significant other to fill the role of supporter, so they must rely on outside sources. The Australian parenting website interviewed single parents from various situations, who gave an insight on what it's like to be a single parent. Click here to watch the video.

Parenting is hard, yet alone being a single parent. Jackie and Sue are two very strong, hard working women. Two parent homes and single parent homes go through many of the same struggles, but both encounter different obstacles they must face. An important lesson to learn, though, is that the circumstances in which a child is raised in isn't as important as the parent's ability to raise the child.

28 Up

435 magazine

Public School, Private School, Boarding School. Which One is Better?

There is no doubt that education plays an important role in the lives of people, especially children, but are there benefits to attending one sort of school over another? Does paying for school mean a better education?

The subjects of 28 Up share their viewpoint based on their experience with education. 

Tony the ex jockey, now taxi driver, attended a public school. The director, Micheal Apted, asked him what advantages he thought he'd had over some of the other people that were filmed. Tony responds, telling that, academically, they've had more advantages and states that the benefits are apparent in the film. However, he feels that the kids who attended prep school missed the love and care provided by their parents due to the fact that they were away from home. Claire Winter wrote an article for BBC over one of their programs Britain's Youngest Boarders, in which she discusses the effects boarding young has on kids. Overall Tony believes, "an education makes a person have more opportunities in this world".

Bruce who attended a boarding school, is now a teacher at Tony's old public school. He believes general education is better for society, "there is a class society, and public schools help its continuance". 

Although Andrew has  never experienced a state system, he thinks private schools offer a better level of education. He believes a good education is important because it is something that no one can take away, unlike worldly goods. John comes from a background similar to Andrew and even though he declined to partake in 28 Up he discussed this subject in 21 Up. As far as education is concerned, John feels he has had the best of everything, but points out that to get where he has, he had to work very hard. He believes that anyone who attends a really good school is at an advantage.

Jackie, one of the three girls chosen from Susan Lawrence Primary school in London, makes an excellent point concerning the advantage of one school over another. She states, "whether you class going to grammar school as an advantage is dependent on your entire outlook. If you don't class it as an advantage, then you're not gonna push it". I think that's true with private and boarding school, both have their advantages and disadvantages. The quality of the school is what is important and whether the higher quality school is private or public depends on the area. Which school is the better school also depends on the needs of the student. There isn't a straightforward answer of which school is the best, it depends on personal preference and many other factors. 

Although they prefer different types of education, one thing they can agree on is that a strong academic background is a key component to success. Ultimately, though, the responsibility to achieve success is dependent on you, not your background.

21 Up

Does social class affect the number of opportunities you have?

I have had many wonderful opportunities in my life. The most recent being able to come to the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics, and Computing. I feel that opportunities have been awarded to me based on my social class, but I have also been presented opportunities due to my abilities.
In 21 Up they discuss equal opportunity. The kids, well now adults, are asked about the ideas behind the program-- that certain people have more options than others and this is undesirable. The three boys from the exclusive kindergarten (John, Andrew, and Charles) made the points below:

• The difference between the numerical number of options isn't that great.
• Knowledge creates an option in itself.
• Expectations have given them more opportunity, not the school they attended or other things like that.

John voices his opinion that he doesn't believe the opportunity gap to be undesirable, but people with opportunities not taking advantage of them is. To put it in his own words, "If people behave responsibly, I think it's very good. There's a sort of stability and structure in society". 

The boys, particularly John, point out that even though they, for the most part, followed their trajected course, the opportunities were not handed to them. They had to work hard to get to where they are. I think this is a great example of how your expectations and knowledge create opportunities. I have had to work hard and endure many sleepless nights to get where I am. I have been taught to expect a lot out of life and hard work is how you get there. 

The boys also mention how they believe the three girls from the primary school, Jackie, Lynn, and Susan, have had just as many if not more opportunities than them. The girls were then asked "in comparing yourselves to Suzy, who stands at the other end of the social scale, do you think you've had the same opportunities as her?" by the director Micheal Apted. The girls seemed a bit offended, with Jackie's reply being "I've had the opportunities in life that I've wanted" and Lynn's being "I'd say I've had more opportunities than Suzy". 

Lynn continues on, saying that in a different aspect she has had more opportunities than what Suzy has had. She feels that she has been more or less able to do what she wants to do compared to Suzy who she believes has been conditioned into what she should and shouldn't do.

This documentary follows English people and the equal opportunity gap in England, but how does America compare. The New York Times produces a great article about the equal opportunity gap in America. Apparently we are far behind in closing this gap compared to other developed countries, but we do have resources that help close the gap, such as the GI Bill. I think free online classes are and will be a huge contributor to closing the gap. The Khan academy lessons online are a useful, free way to provide education to anyone with internet access. 

I think as time moves on the equal opportunity gap will lessen, but there will always be a gap and I feel we need a gap. I would agree with John that it creates, "a sort of stability and structure in society". What are some opportunities you have been awarded in your life and why do you think that is?

7 Plus Seven

The kids are now fourteen and have hit adolescence. Seven years have gone by and oh how things changed. The children you see to the left are no longer children. They are all teenagers trying to find their place in the world. The kids have all started to set course on the path to their future. The kids have gone on to their selected schools and are on their way to becoming adults.

Suzy

Suzy went to Southover Manor just as she said. 

Jackie, Lindsey, & Susan

Jackie and Susan continued on to Comprehensive School, while Lindsey choose to attend a Grammar School. 

Neal and Peter

Neal and Peter both attended the same Comprehensive School. They are both apart of the chess team at school too.  

Bruce

Bruce has formed a good relationship with his step father and receives visits from his father on occasion.

Nicholas

 Nicholas won a scholarship to attend a Yorkshire Boarding School. He doesn't wish to pursue farming like his father did, he is interested in physics and chemistry. 

Paul

Paul moved to Australia with his family when he was eight. He has changed his mind a few times as of what he would like to do. As of now he doesn't know what he wants to do. He has nixed becoming a bank teller, a panel beater(car mechanic), and a phys. ed. teacher.

Simon

He was thinking of becoming a film star, but now plans to be an electrical engineer because it is more practical. The Christmas before this video started filming he moved in with his mom. 

John, Andrew, & Charles 

• John passed his exams and attends the Westminster boarding school. John wants to go into politics.
• Andrew attends Charter House.
• Charles attends Charter House, Marlborough.

Tony

Tony has followed through with his dream of becoming a jockey. He still attends school, but practices in his free time and on breaks.

Growing Up

John had an interesting comment to make in matters concerning the difference of age. 

I believe that to be true. At some point in age you stop growing up mentally and you just age physically as time goes on. Yes, you gain knowledge through the years and are affected by outside influences, but your sense of self tends to remain constant. This rings true in the kids. When comparing the two videos, the children have the same personality. It is the age, opinions, and views that have changed within the seven years. 

So what does it mean to get older? I feel that many people believe it is defined as to change as a person. I believe that getting older is to not change as a person, but to mature and grow as an individual, so that we may form our own opinions and beliefs. We are the same person at age 70 as we were at age 13.