The education system in America is working aptly, says Bob Bowdon, but just for a few -- and those few surely aren't the students. In his education docudrama "The Cartel," Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a remarkable ugly impression of the institutional corruptness that has resulted in just about incredible wastes of taxpayer money. When $400,000 is spent per classroom, but reading proficiency is just 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is apparent, which doesn't indicate it's not controversial.
On the one side is the massive Jersey teachers union and umbrageous school officials, who guarantee that, as Bowdon points out in his picture, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a staggering example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools that can function beyond the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. In those wrecked public schools, Bowdon points out, it's nearly unacceptable to fire a teacher -- so even a bad one has a trade for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of out of the ordinary aspects of public education, tenure, funding, support drops, corruption --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The expression education documentary possibly could sound to some like dry squared, but in fact the film itself betrays an ardent passion for the quandary of particularly inner-city children."
Bowdon's docudrama started touring the festival circuit in summer of 2009 and made its theatrical debut in April 2010. It therefore proceeds the more-recently released, although higher profile, education docudrama "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. "My picture 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 appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. While he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some grievous moments of emotion. 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 though there's an irony in this kind of public depravation happening in a state renowned for its organized crime, it's obvious that this is not an isolated collapse. Bowdon's film illustrates a local quandary, but any viewer will spot the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. 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 he also knows it'll be an upward battle to get back control from those who've worked so intense to make education very profitable for the very few. - 40732
On the one side is the massive Jersey teachers union and umbrageous school officials, who guarantee that, as Bowdon points out in his picture, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a staggering example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools that can function beyond the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. In those wrecked public schools, Bowdon points out, it's nearly unacceptable to fire a teacher -- so even a bad one has a trade for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of out of the ordinary aspects of public education, tenure, funding, support drops, corruption --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The expression education documentary possibly could sound to some like dry squared, but in fact the film itself betrays an ardent passion for the quandary of particularly inner-city children."
Bowdon's docudrama started touring the festival circuit in summer of 2009 and made its theatrical debut in April 2010. It therefore proceeds the more-recently released, although higher profile, education docudrama "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. "My picture 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 appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. While he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some grievous moments of emotion. 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 though there's an irony in this kind of public depravation happening in a state renowned for its organized crime, it's obvious that this is not an isolated collapse. Bowdon's film illustrates a local quandary, but any viewer will spot the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. 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 he also knows it'll be an upward battle to get back control from those who've worked so intense to make education very profitable for the very few. - 40732
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