The education mode in America is working swell, says Bob Bowdon, although just for some -- and those few definitely aren't the students. In his education docudrama "The Cartel," Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a powerful ugly scene of the institutional putridness that has resulted in virtually incredible wastes of taxpayer money. It's not laborious for Bowdon to exemplify that something's appallingly incorrect with a state that pays $17,000 per student but can only manage a 39% reading proficiency rate -- that there's a crisis is undeniable, how to deal with it is different question altogether.
At hand are two major factions in Bowdon's film -- the villains are reasonably clearly the Jersey teachers union and school board who funnel 90 cents of every dollar away from teachers' salaries and towards incidentals, including six-figure salaries for school administrators. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools which can maneuver beyond the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's very nearly unimaginable for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to incite hard work in those teachers who know they possess a vocation regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of uncommon aspects of public teaching, tenure, funding, patronage drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The phrase education documentary could sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the picture itself betrays an fiery passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. The picture has started a lot of talk, which ought no doubt persist with the more-recent release of "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim's own education expose, "Waiting for Superman." Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim's taking the human-interest slant. "My film is the left-brained variant, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is definitely analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to describe conclusions around how dirty the Jersey school system is, but his picture features moments of soaring emotion and heartache. One girl, crying after discovering she wasn't selected in a lottery for a charter school, tells the story of What Went Wrong as well as Bowdon's arguments.
And while it may be straightforward to accept the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the subject is that this is a greatly familiar situation. Any watcher will acknowledge the failings of their own state's education system and the fight for control. The one he seems to be most behind is the charter schools, which take the reins from the unions and give them back to the taxpayer. But he also knows it'll be an uphill battle to recover control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few.
At hand are two major factions in Bowdon's film -- the villains are reasonably clearly the Jersey teachers union and school board who funnel 90 cents of every dollar away from teachers' salaries and towards incidentals, including six-figure salaries for school administrators. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools which can maneuver beyond the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's very nearly unimaginable for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to incite hard work in those teachers who know they possess a vocation regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of uncommon aspects of public teaching, tenure, funding, patronage drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The phrase education documentary could sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the picture itself betrays an fiery passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. The picture has started a lot of talk, which ought no doubt persist with the more-recent release of "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim's own education expose, "Waiting for Superman." Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim's taking the human-interest slant. "My film is the left-brained variant, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is definitely analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to describe conclusions around how dirty the Jersey school system is, but his picture features moments of soaring emotion and heartache. One girl, crying after discovering she wasn't selected in a lottery for a charter school, tells the story of What Went Wrong as well as Bowdon's arguments.
And while it may be straightforward to accept the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the subject is that this is a greatly familiar situation. Any watcher will acknowledge the failings of their own state's education system and the fight for control. The one he seems to be most behind is the charter schools, which take the reins from the unions and give them back to the taxpayer. But he also knows it'll be an uphill battle to recover control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few.
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