There's money to be made in education, argues Bob Bowdon, therefore simply if you cut out the unprofitable bits, like terrific teachers. In his education docudrama "The Cartel," Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a remarkable ugly scene of the institutional putridness that has resulted in virtually unbelievable wastes of taxpayer money. It's not hard for Bowdon to illustrate that something's appallingly incorrect 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 different question entirely.
Present are two major factions in Bowdon's picture -- 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. The other cabal is the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can evade the control of the public school system and would serve inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more cautiously used. In those impoverished public schools, Bowdon points out, it's pretty much unimaginable to fire an instructor -- so even a deficient one has a job for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of distinctive aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, support drops, corruption --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it kind of serves as a rapid-moving primer on all of the blistering topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"The Cartel" started fashioning the round of the festivals in summer 2009, and made its theatrical debut pretty much a year later, in spring 2010. It however proceeds the more-recently released, while higher profile, education documentary "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 angle. "The two films reach parallel conclusions," Bowdon says.
And Bowdon's film is unrelentingly critical, making a powerful case for the concept that the quantity of money spent is nowhere near as key as how it is spent. Whilst he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some grievous moments of emotion. The weeping face of a youthful girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own intense debate for the unsatisfactory failure of a state's education system.
And though there's an irony in this form of public depravity happening in a state famed for its organized crime, it's clear that this is not an isolated collapse. Any viewer will acknowledge the failings of their own state's education system and the fight for control. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. But he also makes it apparent that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a struggle. - 40732
Present are two major factions in Bowdon's picture -- 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. The other cabal is the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can evade the control of the public school system and would serve inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more cautiously used. In those impoverished public schools, Bowdon points out, it's pretty much unimaginable to fire an instructor -- so even a deficient one has a job for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of distinctive aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, support drops, corruption --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it kind of serves as a rapid-moving primer on all of the blistering topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"The Cartel" started fashioning the round of the festivals in summer 2009, and made its theatrical debut pretty much a year later, in spring 2010. It however proceeds the more-recently released, while higher profile, education documentary "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 angle. "The two films reach parallel conclusions," Bowdon says.
And Bowdon's film is unrelentingly critical, making a powerful case for the concept that the quantity of money spent is nowhere near as key as how it is spent. Whilst he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some grievous moments of emotion. The weeping face of a youthful girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own intense debate for the unsatisfactory failure of a state's education system.
And though there's an irony in this form of public depravity happening in a state famed for its organized crime, it's clear that this is not an isolated collapse. Any viewer will acknowledge the failings of their own state's education system and the fight for control. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. But he also makes it apparent that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a struggle. - 40732
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