The education system in America is working right, says Bob Bowdon, but simply for some -- and those few surely aren't the students. In his docudrama "The Cartel," New Jersey TV news reporter Bowdon shines a light on the depravity and avarice that has resulted in the disappearance of so much taxpayer money in that state. When $400,000 is exhausted per schoolroom, but reading proficiency is but 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is clear, which doesn't mean it's not controversial.
On the one side is the monolithic Jersey teachers union and shadowy school officials, who guarantee that, as Bowdon points out in his film, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a atrocious example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of a charter education system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and shake off the public nightmare. One of Bowdon's main criticisms is that a teacher, even a shoddy one, essentially can't be fired -- which provides zero incentive to do much actual teaching.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of different aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, patronage drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The label education documentary could sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an ardent passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters nationally a year later. Hopefully it will get a boost, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released documental "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. Bowdon sees the films as complementary, and hopes that "Superman," with its human-interest approach, draws more notice to his own, which focuses on public policy. "My film is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
The left-brained approach means arguments that watch the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. But that isn't to say the film is without heart. Bowdon makes sure his eye is invariably on the people affected, in particular the inner-city students trapped in a disordered system. The tearful face of a young girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own great debate for the unsatisfying failure of a state's education system.
And while it may be straightforward to admit the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that this is a vastly familiar situation. A watcher anyplace in the country will discern similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon's frustration and zeal for a solution. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. However he also knows it'll be an upward battle to regain control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few. - 40728
On the one side is the monolithic Jersey teachers union and shadowy school officials, who guarantee that, as Bowdon points out in his film, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a atrocious example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of a charter education system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and shake off the public nightmare. One of Bowdon's main criticisms is that a teacher, even a shoddy one, essentially can't be fired -- which provides zero incentive to do much actual teaching.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of different aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, patronage drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The label education documentary could sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an ardent passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters nationally a year later. Hopefully it will get a boost, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released documental "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. Bowdon sees the films as complementary, and hopes that "Superman," with its human-interest approach, draws more notice to his own, which focuses on public policy. "My film is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
The left-brained approach means arguments that watch the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. But that isn't to say the film is without heart. Bowdon makes sure his eye is invariably on the people affected, in particular the inner-city students trapped in a disordered system. The tearful face of a young girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own great debate for the unsatisfying failure of a state's education system.
And while it may be straightforward to admit the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that this is a vastly familiar situation. A watcher anyplace in the country will discern similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon's frustration and zeal for a solution. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. However he also knows it'll be an upward battle to regain control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few. - 40728
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