There's so much loot to be made in education, argues Bob Bowdon, therefore simply when you snip out the unprofitable bits, like good quality teachers. In his education documentary "The Cartel," Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a grand ugly picture of the institutional corruption that has resulted in virtually incredible wastes of taxpayer money. It's not toilsome for Bowdon to illustrate that something's atrociously awry with a state that pays $17,000 per student but can only wield a 39% reading proficiency rate -- that there's a crisis is undeniable, how to deal with it is another question altogether.
The two sides of this struggle meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's film: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to allocate 90 cents of every taxpayer buck into everything but teachers' salaries -- although a selection of school administrators make upwards of $100,000. On the other slope are the supporters of a charter school system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and shake off the public nightmare. In those disordered public schools, Bowdon points out, it's practically unimaginable to fire an instructor -- so even a shoddy one has a trade for life.
"The movie examines lots of uncommon aspects of public teaching, tenure, backing, patronage drops, subversion --meaning larceny -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it sort of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the raging topics amongst the education-reform cause."
"The documentary started fashioning the round of the festivals in summer 2009, and made its theatrical debut very nearly a year later, in spring 2010. The movie has started a lot of talk, which ought no doubt go on with the more-recent release of "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim's own education expose, "Waiting for Superman." Bowdon sees the films as complementary, and hopes that "Superman," with its human-interest approach, draws more interest to his own, which focuses on public policy. "My movie is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is undoubtedly analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. But that isn't to say the picture is without heart. Bowdon makes sure his eye is continually on the people affected, chiefly the inner-city students trapped in a shattered system. The tearful face of a youthful girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own intense argument for the disappointing failure of a state's education system.
It's hard to observe a movie about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also unambiguous that this is a national predicament seen through a tight lens. Any watcher will acknowledge the failings of their own state's education system and the struggle for control. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to choose their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. But "The Cartel" also shows us how difficult it's going to be to get that control back from those who've found it so profitable.
The two sides of this struggle meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's film: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to allocate 90 cents of every taxpayer buck into everything but teachers' salaries -- although a selection of school administrators make upwards of $100,000. On the other slope are the supporters of a charter school system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and shake off the public nightmare. In those disordered public schools, Bowdon points out, it's practically unimaginable to fire an instructor -- so even a shoddy one has a trade for life.
"The movie examines lots of uncommon aspects of public teaching, tenure, backing, patronage drops, subversion --meaning larceny -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it sort of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the raging topics amongst the education-reform cause."
"The documentary started fashioning the round of the festivals in summer 2009, and made its theatrical debut very nearly a year later, in spring 2010. The movie has started a lot of talk, which ought no doubt go on with the more-recent release of "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim's own education expose, "Waiting for Superman." Bowdon sees the films as complementary, and hopes that "Superman," with its human-interest approach, draws more interest to his own, which focuses on public policy. "My movie is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is undoubtedly analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. But that isn't to say the picture is without heart. Bowdon makes sure his eye is continually on the people affected, chiefly the inner-city students trapped in a shattered system. The tearful face of a youthful girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own intense argument for the disappointing failure of a state's education system.
It's hard to observe a movie about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also unambiguous that this is a national predicament seen through a tight lens. Any watcher will acknowledge the failings of their own state's education system and the struggle for control. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to choose their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. But "The Cartel" also shows us how difficult it's going to be to get that control back from those who've found it so profitable.
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