“What Parents Really Want” by Davis Guggenheim

While most newspaper articles are written by journalists that interview multiple people about their topic, this article was written by a parent and director of the documentary “Waiting for Superman”, which highlights the struggles and stories of families across the country choosing a school for their children. Guggenheim speaks of his personal difficulty in getting his children into the school of his choice, and being turned away again and again

“Last year I got excited about a great choice for my 12-year-old. It's not a charter, but a mainstream, magnet, public school, 30 minutes from my home in Los Angeles. It's called LACES, and it's ranked (in this magazine) as one of the top high schools in the country. Other parents told me the teachers are amazing; the student population is diverse. So I called the school and spoke to a very kind woman in admissions who told me that if I wanted my son to go to LACES, I should have started five years ago! And--get this--I should have applied to other schools that I knew my son was not going to get into. And if, and only if, my son didn't get in, every year for five years in a row, I would accumulate 20 total points (four per year). Having "won" these 20 points, I could enter the LACES lottery, where I would have a good but not great chance to win a spot in the school. Since I didn't have any points, my son had zero chance of getting into LACES,” says Guggenheim.

For families across the country, this is the reality they face when choosing a school for their kids. I was very pleased with Guggenheim’s article because it shows what parents have to go through in some areas to get their children into a good school.

Resources

Guggenheim, Davis. "What Parents Really Want." Newsweek 156.12 (2010) Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.