The Truth About The Movie ‘Won’t Back Down (2012)’

Contact Your Elected Officials

By Glenn Garvin – Miami Herald ~ The movie Won’t Back Down (2012) has already accomplished the impossible: Making teachers’ unions demand strict accuracy in films about classroom education. For decades, Hollywood has been making movies that show teachers as superhuman caring machines without a peep from the unions. That math teacher played by Edward James Olmos in Stand And Deliver (1998), the one who took over a classroom of kids who couldn’t do simple arithmetic and in nine months had them acing calculus exams? History does not record a single union official complaining that, in real life, that process took several years.

Won’t Back Down (2012), however, is a different matter. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as a single working-class mom driven frantic by the lack of help her dyslexic daughter is getting at school. Frustrated at every turn — administrators won’t let the girl transfer to another class, and the school superintendent won’t even see her — the mother is startled to discover that her state has what amounts to a nuclear option: a law that allows a majority of parents to take over a failing school. Enlisting the help of a sympathetic teacher (played by Viola Davis, who just won an Oscar for her role in The Help), Gyllenhaal launches a campaign to do just that.

Won’t Back Down (2012) is tough on teachers’ unions, treating them as an obstacle to school reform. And in return, the unions have labeled the movie a big fat lie that, for instance, doesn’t once show kids taking tests or parents at PTA meetings. Worst of all is its claim to be “inspired by true events.”

Won't Back Down

“That conveys the message that parents and teachers took over and ran a school somewhere,” wrote Rita Solnet, a founding member of the teacher-union front group Parents Across America, in a widely reprinted blog item. “That never happened. I suppose that sells better than opening the film with, ‘This is Fictitious.’ ”

Though laws similar to the one in the film are real — known as “parent-trigger laws,” they exist in seven states and are under consideration in several others — Solnet is correct: Parents have never managed to use one to take over a floundering school. That’s because when they’ve tried, teachers’ unions and school administrations, which have a common interest in protecting their failures from mere parents, have staged dirty, underhanded campaigns to prevent it.

Won’t Back Down (2012) was indeed inspired by two cases in California. One is McKinley Elementary School in Compton, which for six years has been on the state’s listing of failing schools, languishing in the bottom 10 percent — less than half of the students graduate, and only one in 50 goes on to college. In 2010, tired of beating their heads against a brick wall of administrative indifference, the school’s parents spent four months gathering enough signatures to activate the trigger law.

The teachers’ union struck back like a wounded snake, sending operatives out to get parents to remove their names. Those who had signed were told they had to show up during school hours with photo IDs so their signatures could be verified. (The progressive canon of faith that requiring photo IDs for voting is repressive and racist was apparently under temporary suspension.)

Read Full Article

 

The Thinking Conservative
The Thinking Conservativehttps://www.thethinkingconservative.com/
The goal of THE THINKING CONSERVATIVE is to help us educate ourselves on conservative topics of importance to our freedom and our pursuit of happiness. We do this by sharing conservative opinions on all kinds of subjects, from all types of people, and all kinds of media, in a way that will challenge our perceptions and help us to make educated choices.

AI is Now an Existential Threat

We now see evidence that artificial intelligence is an existential threat to our future. It is coming to take American jobs!

With or without

The mullahs of Iran have been at war with the West, particularly the US, for half a century and Iran is also the world’s foremost champion of terrorism.

Artificial Intelligence Equals Awful Iniquities

WSJ article “AI is Learning to Escape Human Control” said in 79 of 100 trials, the o3 AI code systems edited their own code to prevent human shutdown!

VIDEO: Deranged Feminist vs. Mating Ducks in Epic Public Meltdown

A middle-aged white lady lib harasses mating ducks to “stop it!” because the rough sex they enjoy appears non-consensual on the part of the female.

RFK Jr. Slashes ALL U.S. Funding For Bill Gates’ Global ‘Vaccine Alliance’

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently pulled all U.S. government funding from Bill Gates’ Global ‘Vaccine Alliance’ GAVI.

Nevada Seen as Case Study in Rapid Urban Sprawl Amid a Water Crisis

Nevada’s rapidly growing population has reached a critical intersection with the region’s worsening water crisis, according to experts.

US Streamlines Rule for Fining Illegal Immigrants, Will Issue Nearly $1,000 Daily Fines for Noncompliance

DHS and DOJ announced a new joint federal rule that streamlines the process of issuing fines for illegal immigrants, making it easier and more efficient.

Man Indicted on 12 Hate Crime Charges in Attack on Boulder Demonstration for Israeli Hostages

Boulder, CO man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages indicted by grand jury on 12 hate crime counts.

Newsom Signs California Budget Aimed at Addressing $12 Billion Deficit

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California budget projected to close a $12 billion deficit through spending reductions on some of the state’s ongoing programs.

Termination of ‘Wasteful Contracts’ Saves US Government $470 Million Last Week: DOGE

Over the past seven days, various government agencies have terminated 312 “wasteful contracts” with a ceiling value of $2.8 billion, the DOGE said.

Trump Says He Will Only Appoint Fed Chair Who Wants to Cut Interest Rates

President Trump said he may appoint someone who is more inclined to lower interest rates to succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump Says US Ending All Trade Talks With Canada

Trump posted he is ending “all” trade negotiations with Canada due to their plan to impose a digital services tax which affects U.S. tech companies.

White House Confirms US, China Have Reached Additional Trade Agreement

A White House official said the United States and China have reached an additional agreement as trade talks between the two nations continue.
spot_img

Related Articles