The education mode in America is working swell, says Bob Bowdon, however simply for some -- and those few surely aren't the students. In his docudrama "The Cartel," New Jersey television news reporter Bowdon shines a light on the putrefaction and greed that has resulted in the disappearing of so much taxpayer money in that state. When $400,000 is exhausted per classroom, but reading proficiency is only 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is unmistakable, which doesn't mean it's not controversial.
The two sides of this struggle meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's picture: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to set aside 90 cents of every taxpayer dollar into everything but teachers' salaries -- although a variety of school administrators make upwards of $100,000. On the other slope are the supporters of a charter education system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and elude the public nightmare. In those broken public schools, Bowdon points out, it's pretty much inconceivable to fire an instructor -- so even a dreadful one has a career for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of different aspects of public education, tenure, funding, patronage drops, corruption --meaning larceny -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it sort of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the red-hot topics inside the education-reform drive."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. It therefore proceeds the more-recently released, while higher profile, education documental "Waiting for Superman," directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"). Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim's taking the human-interest slant. "The two films hit equivalent conclusions," Bowdon says.
The left-brained position means arguments that watch the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. He follows the money to extract conclusions about how tainted the Jersey school system is, but his picture features moments of elevated emotion and heartache. One girl, weeping after learning 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 though there's an irony in this form of public depravity happening in a state famed for its organized crime, it's obvious that this is not an isolated collapse. Any watcher will realize the failings of their own state's education system and the battle for control. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to select their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. But "The Cartel" also shows us how laborious it's going to be to get that control back from those who've found it so profitable. - 40732
The two sides of this struggle meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's picture: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to set aside 90 cents of every taxpayer dollar into everything but teachers' salaries -- although a variety of school administrators make upwards of $100,000. On the other slope are the supporters of a charter education system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and elude the public nightmare. In those broken public schools, Bowdon points out, it's pretty much inconceivable to fire an instructor -- so even a dreadful one has a career for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of different aspects of public education, tenure, funding, patronage drops, corruption --meaning larceny -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it sort of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the red-hot topics inside the education-reform drive."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. It therefore proceeds the more-recently released, while higher profile, education documental "Waiting for Superman," directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"). Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim's taking the human-interest slant. "The two films hit equivalent conclusions," Bowdon says.
The left-brained position means arguments that watch the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. He follows the money to extract conclusions about how tainted the Jersey school system is, but his picture features moments of elevated emotion and heartache. One girl, weeping after learning 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 though there's an irony in this form of public depravity happening in a state famed for its organized crime, it's obvious that this is not an isolated collapse. Any watcher will realize the failings of their own state's education system and the battle for control. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to select their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. But "The Cartel" also shows us how laborious it's going to be to get that control back from those who've found it so profitable. - 40732
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