There's money to be made in education, argues Bob Bowdon, henceforth merely if you cut away the unprofitable bits, like practiced teachers. In his documentary "The Cartel," Bowdon, a New Jersey TV news reporter, turns the camera on the monumental corruption and mismanagement that has led his state to spend more than any other on its students but with shoddy results. As $400,000 is spent per classroom, but reading proficiency is just 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is clear, which doesn't mean it's not controversial.
On the one aspect is the monolithic Jersey teachers union and umbrageous school officials, who see to it that 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 horrendous example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools that can maneuver outside the influence of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. In those broken public schools, Bowdon points out, it's very nearly unacceptable to fire a teacher -- so even a mediocre one has a career for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of out of the ordinary aspects of public teaching, tenure, funding, patronage drops, corruption --meaning larceny -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it kind of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the heavy topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"The Cartel" 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. - 40723
On the one aspect is the monolithic Jersey teachers union and umbrageous school officials, who see to it that 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 horrendous example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools that can maneuver outside the influence of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. In those broken public schools, Bowdon points out, it's very nearly unacceptable to fire a teacher -- so even a mediocre one has a career for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of out of the ordinary aspects of public teaching, tenure, funding, patronage drops, corruption --meaning larceny -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it kind of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the heavy topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"The Cartel" 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. - 40723
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