Brian Perea's eloquent letter on the lack of youth voice in "Waiting for Superman" was published by the Chicago Tribune on November 13, 2010 as part of a special section on youth-written letters.
To the editor:
The film "Waiting for Superman" portrays students as victims of the public education system. I disagree with this message because I believe I am not a victim but a youth leader who is working with other youth to make a positive change in our school system.
As youth leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education and Logan Square Neighborhood Association, my vision is for every student to be able to get a high-quality education at his or her neighborhood public school. That means creating a system that creates supportive relationships among students and school staff, building an environment where all students feel safe to participate and making sure all students take challenging classes that prepare them for college and careers.
"Waiting for Superman" sends the message that a few adults have all the answers to the problems that young people face in our schools. This approach of adults making the decisions of our school system has been happening forever, yet here in Chicago we still lose 50 percent of our students into the statistics of the dropout rate. Young people are the ones facing the problems; who knows better than we do what resources we need to improve our education system?
"Waiting for Superman" misses the opportunity to show how young people are the key to education reform. Young people are capable of doing much more than just waiting for the lottery number that matches their ticket.
Brian Perea
Kelvyn Park High School '10
Stephanie Mayo, Lovely Degillo and Roxana Perez also wrote a joint letter that captures their response to the film:
To the editor:
Although Waiting for Superman had great statistics to present the current problem of high drop-out rates and low college readiness that public schools of the U.S have, Waiting for Superman fails to recognize the student’s solution to such problems by assuming charter schools will “save” children’s futures.
As members of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE), we believe students should have the right of voice to decide where their education stands and what solutions should take place to further improve the quality of education in public schools. Since we are the ones living through and being affected by the decisions adults make for us daily, we know what works for our benefit. VOYCE is a project of seven different organizations dispersed throughout Chicago that is working to better our school’s system. As students part of VOYCE, we have taken measures, such as peer-to-peer mentoring for incoming freshmen and building relationships with staff in schools, only to see our goals be successfully met.
Superman should stay in comic books and public school students should wear the cape.
Lovely Degillo
Roosevelt High School ‘10
Stephanie Mayo
Roosevelt High School ‘11
Roxana Perez
Roosevelt High School ‘11
Comments
Heros
While I appreciate Waiting for Superman’s look at how students are not receiving an equal and quality education, I believe that they portray students as all adults see youth. They see us as victims whom they have to save from the failing system that adults created. What VOYCE does is change that mentality and makes the everyday student a hero by allowing them to fix education because it affects them the most. Victim to hero is a complete role reversal and it is so empowering. Keep up the great work VOYCE!