Saving Schools

‘Waiting for Superman’, David Guggenheim’s documentary about the fissures in public education system, made Helena Andrews re-examine her privileged private education. “Guggenheim tells the story of ‘the statistics’ through the plight of five kids looking to beat them. Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy and Emily are kindergartners and eighth-graders from disparate backgrounds: urban, suburban, black, white and Latino, from Silicon Valley to Harlem. Each child’s parents, feeling trapped by finances and location, turn to a lottery to rescue their kids from the schools that are failing them for a host of both unjustifiable and legitimate reasons.”