M. Night Shyamalan is one of the worst filmmakers in contemporary movie making.
He had one successful film about 15 years ago and hasn't made a decent film since.
Ha has managed to win a "Worst Director" award in 2006 for Lady in the Water, however, and a "Worst Screenplay" award in 2010 for The Last Airbender.
Shyamalan's name is so tarnished these days that Sony didn't want to publicize his involvement in the Will Smith film, After Earth, for fear that Shyamalan's name would turn film goers off.
No fear there - the film was such a disaster that film goers avoided it even though they didn't know Shyamalan directed it.
Given all the disasters Shyamalan has been involved with over the last decade, you'd think he might turn his attention to his own film making craft and, you know, maybe learn how to make a decent film again.
But you'd be wrong.
Instead this paragon of bad film direction has decided he's going to solve the problems in the public school system.
No, seriously, he's actually written a book about education reform and the Wall Street Journal has a story about it.
He says he approached his research to education reform the same way he approaches directing a film, so you know that his solutions are just going to go over like a Shyamalan review at Rotten Tomatoes.
So what are his solutions for fixing education problems?
Fire teachers, put principals in charge of school culture rather than operations, make schools smaller, extend school time and give teachers and principals regular feedback.
Gee, we've never heard this stuff before, M. Night.
Thanks so much for deigning to give us your wisdom on schools and teaching.
Too bad you don't know any more about teaching and running a school than you do about movie making.
Apparently you are unfamiliar with a position in the school system called the assistant principal in charge of operations who actually handles the operational side of schools.
Strike one.
Apparently you also are unfamiliar with the small schools movement already tried by Bill Gates that did not bring about the seismic shift in school performance you think it's going to.
Strike two.
And apparently you don't know that teachers and principals are getting regular feedback via the new teacher evaluation systems put into place that will require administrators to observe teachers six times a year.
In fact, between the monthly learning community meetings, the monthly classroom rounds, the bi-weekly curriculum meetings, the weekly subject focus groups for every preparation, and the half dozen observations a year, we get more feedback over our teaching than you seem to over your film making.
Strike three.
Time to go back to learning how to make movies, M. Night, and leave the education policy and teaching to people who know what they're doing.
On second thought, given how bad your movies are, it's probably time to give that up too.
Maybe you can go back to film school so you can a) learn how to make a decent film and b) study how teaching and learning really works.
Read the post, RBE, but really, the headline says it all. Great piece.
ReplyDeleteIt sticks in my craw when so arrogant guy like this wants to pontificate about teaching and education policy. The guy can't even make a decent film, the film company hides his connections to his last film he's such box office poison, but he's going to tell us how education should be done. And the chutzpah for this "failed film director" to talk about the importance of firing "bad teachers." Surreal, really. He deserves nothing but contempt for having the gall to write this book.
DeleteI am sick of learning communities and if I get any more (negative) feedback I am going to shoot myself. You are not going to believe this. A few years ago, I actually thought I knew what I was doing. I want no more suggestions from people who do not teach.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean. Exactly. And Danielson makes this problem much, much worse.
DeleteYeah, this only proves that "education reform" must be considered the way loser Ivy Leaguers can attain success by networking with other loser Ivy Leaguers. Arne Duncan was a dumb (for Harvard) jock, and an Obama butt boy while at Harvard. Don't know if this loser film maker was an Ivy , probably not, but this Ed reform movement , adopted by "all the right people" is definitely the current "cause" of the power elite. This moron probably figures his book will pull in easy money...or his charter school chain will...When all else fails for the privileged class...get into education, eh....?
ReplyDeleteHis wikipedia entry says he went to NYU on a merit scholarship. But he clearly sees himself as part of the Ivy League elite, the meritocratic elite. That's the attitude it would take for somebody with no teaching experience to write a book about education reform. In that sense, he's not much different than the rest of the elite reformers.
DeleteWouldn't it be great if a film maker makes a movie of all the deformers who went to these ivy league colleges and the movie shows their failure after failure after failure of trying to reform public schools.
ReplyDeleteThe movie can be called "Les obscurités Of the Deformers" starring Duncan, Klein, Walcott, Rahm, Bloomberg, and Rhee. With cameos of Gates, Walton Family, Broad, and the Koch Brothers. The movie will cost only 1 cent to see because they are not worth a plum nickel.
That's a pretty good idea. You may have given me a future post!
DeleteNYU definitely should be included in the "elite", right up there with the Ivys, especially over the last 20 years or so. This person failed in film, his major, so wants to fall back on the Ed reform movement for steady cash. Actually, expect a flick from him on this subject. But where will he get funding? His gf, or bf probably are into this school stuff, and he quickly caught on. If Fn Pit Bull, of all personages, is getting into the charter school game, that bastion of the intellect, this filmmaker might as well.
ReplyDeleteI think NYU wants to make believes they're "Ivy League," but speaking as a former NYU student, about the only thing Ivy League about them is their tuition.
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