Waiting for Superman

I do not have any children of my own so my following opinions are based solely on the movie and the contradicting article; I haven't completed any outside research.

I found the movie very compelling.  I know the public school systems have been lagging but I never realized how bad some of them have become.  I felt for those parents struggling to get their kids into the charter schools.  And the lottery they held, although necessary with so few spots available, was almost torturous for those that weren't chosen.  I also couldn't believe that something such as tenure exists for teachers.  That's ridiculous.  If someone is not doing the job that they were hired to do they should be fired.  No other occupation that I'm aware of has such a thing.  Teaching is not for everyone and I'm glad others are willing to do it, but if you're not going to put all you've got into teaching you shouldn't be doing it.  The future of the children can change depending on their teachers, that's kind of a big deal.  The movie portrays teachers unions as being the one reason we can't make the schools better but I think it's a lot of different aspects causing issues.  Mainly all of the problems lie with the adults.  I think we need to sit down and figure out what the best school system would look like that is standardized throughout the country.  Forget everything else while this is being done.  Then, and only then, will all the details be figured out around that concept.  The education of our children should be the priority over everything else.  Teachers' Unions have a right to exist but I think that they are being unreasonably demanding in their requests.  In the movie they refused to even vote on Rhee's proposal.  Our education system has been lacking for far too long now.  Stop the bickering, stop with the grudges and come up with a solution already.  Every year no changes are made is another generation of thousands of children getting the short end of the situation at no fault of their own.