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[1] Critics on US Public Education
Right from start, the new documentary, "Waiting for 'Superman,'" has a point of view - and doesn't hold back.
"You wake up every morning and you know kids are getting a really crappy education right now," said DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
“So you think most kids are getting a crappy education right now?”
"I don't think they are. I know they are."
It is a harsh and unflattering look at the state of public education in America. It follows five schoolchildren - desperate to go to better schools. But with limited openings, their futures depend on luck.
“For these kids, the only chance to go to a great school depends on whether their number is picked in a lottery.”
It could be the most talked-about documentary since "An Inconvenient Truth," perhaps because they share the same director, Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim.
"Experts will say the movie is pro- this, or anti- this but parents who see the movie will say, ‘I just want a great school for my kid’," Guggenheim said.
He told Katie Couric he hopes his film will provoke action.
"That's what this movie is - a wake-up call," Guggenheim said. "It's not working for every kid."
Guggenheim features Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone, who's shown it's possible to create great schools even in poor neighborhoods. This week, the Department of Education announced grants to replicate his success in twenty more cities.
" We can actually fix this," Canada said.
But critics of the movie, like Bronx principal Barbara Freeman, say it unfairly targets public schools, their teachers and unions.
"I thought it was a little slanted, because I think there are a lot of great public schools with great teachers, great administrators and great families," Freeman said.
None of the educators we spoke with today thought that the status quo was working. They agreed on what's at stake - helping kids to realize their dreams.
Michelle Miller, CBS News, New York.
[2] From Homeless to Harvard
Everyone has baggage, but Lalita Booth's is heavier than most. CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports Booth can laugh now, but as a young teen she nearly destroyed her life.
Raised in Ashville, N.C., the rebellious teen says her problems all began when her parents divorced and she was sexually abused by a family acquaintance.
"That led to substance abuse, staying out all night long, and running away," Booth said.
By the time she was 18, she'd been legally emancipated from her parents, married, and had a baby.
"When my ex joined the Army, I was responsible for taking care of myself with only a GED and no relevant job skills," Booth said.
Penniless and living out of a car, she gave up her son Kieren to his father's parents.
"I would cry myself to sleep because I missed him so much," Booth said.
