Like every other blogger with a punk kid, I saw the Incredibles last week.
Jonah was unhappy for the first half of the movie. It was either boring or too violent. Boring, because if he wanted to see adults whine about their expanding hips and unused potential, he could have just stayed at home. But when Dash, the speedy boy, came onto the scene, then Jonah loved it.
Jon Tierney has a funny piece about the educational debate subtheme in this movie.
Is Dash, the supersonic third-grader forbidden from racing on the track team, a gifted child held back by the educational philosophy that "everybody is special"? Or is he an overprivileged elitist being forced to take into account the feelings of others?
Is his father, Mr. Incredible, who complains that the schools "keep inventing new ways to celebrate mediocrity," a visionary reformer committed to pushing children to excel? Or is he a reactionary in red tights who's been reading too much Nietzsche and Ayn Rand?
Is Syndrome, the geek villain trying to kill the superheroes, an angry Marxist determined to quash individuality? Or is his plan to give everyone artificial superpowers an uplifting version of "cooperative learning" in an "inclusion classroom"?
Tierney then gives a nice summary of the excellence v. equity debate in education circles.