The education mode in America is working aptly, says Bob Bowdon, however simply for a few -- and those few surely aren't the students. In his documentary "The Cartel," New Jersey television news reporter Bowdon shines a light on the degeneracy and avarice that has resulted in the disappearance of so much taxpayer money in that state. When $400,000 is exhausted per classroom, but reading proficiency is just 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is apparent, which doesn't denote it's not controversial.
The two sides of this conflict meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's film: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to set aside 90 cents of every taxpayer buck into everything but teachers' salaries -- while a variety of school administrators get paid 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 shake off the public nightmare. In those disordered public schools, Bowdon points out, it's just about unimaginable to fire a teacher -- so even a mediocre one has a career for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of distinct 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 quick-moving primer on all of the blistering topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. Hopefully it will get a rise, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released documental "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. Bowdon sees the two documentaries as taking dissimilar approaches to the equal quandary, "The Cartel" by examining public policy and "Superman" centering on the human-interest aspects. "The two films hit common conclusions," Bowdon says.
It is unquestionably analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to draw conclusions about how shameless the Jersey school system is, but his film features moments of elevated emotion and heartache. One girl, crying 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.
It's difficult to see a film about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also apparent that this is a national problem seen through a tight lens. A watcher anyplace in the country will acknowledge similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon's frustration and zeal for a resolution. 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 makes it decipherable that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a struggle. - 40727
The two sides of this conflict meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's film: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to set aside 90 cents of every taxpayer buck into everything but teachers' salaries -- while a variety of school administrators get paid 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 shake off the public nightmare. In those disordered public schools, Bowdon points out, it's just about unimaginable to fire a teacher -- so even a mediocre one has a career for life.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of distinct 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 quick-moving primer on all of the blistering topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. Hopefully it will get a rise, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released documental "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. Bowdon sees the two documentaries as taking dissimilar approaches to the equal quandary, "The Cartel" by examining public policy and "Superman" centering on the human-interest aspects. "The two films hit common conclusions," Bowdon says.
It is unquestionably analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to draw conclusions about how shameless the Jersey school system is, but his film features moments of elevated emotion and heartache. One girl, crying 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.
It's difficult to see a film about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also apparent that this is a national problem seen through a tight lens. A watcher anyplace in the country will acknowledge similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon's frustration and zeal for a resolution. 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 makes it decipherable that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a struggle. - 40727
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