Waiting For Superman Vs Idiot Nation Essay

Did you know that the United States ranks 17th in education performance? That is a huge drop from 1980 when the United States was ranked 1st. Clearly, our education system has gone in a downward spiral and is struggling to keep up with other countries. The documentary, “Waiting for Superman” by David Guggenheim, and the article, “Idiot Nation” by Michael Moore, discuss the weaknesses in our education system. Although both authors offer compelling arguments, “Waiting for Superman” contained a better argument because of its abundance of rhetorical strategies, whereas “Idiot Nation” contained some logical fallacies.

For the most part, “Waiting for Superman” argues that even though the United States spends more than any country on education, we, as a country, are still lagging behind other nations in the quality of our education because of the inefficiency of our education system. He illustrates this

He does this by explaining that as a parent, he also worries and cares for the success of his own children and is very aware of the degradation of the public education system. He also relays how his feelings about the public education system have come full circle as he opens up about a previous film he created in which he was actually supporting the idea that public schools worked. Guggenheim sincerely expressed why this has happened saying, “Ten years later, it was time to choose a school for my own children...and then reality set in. My feelings about public education didn’t matter as much as my fear of sending them to a failing school” (Waiting for “Superman”). Beginning with his own experience gains the audience’s trust. In addition, Guggenheim uses archival footage to establish ethos as he is taking history and bringing it to light. Throughout the documentary, he replays various politicians often claiming they will fix the public education system but then resigning after a short