There's money to be made in education, argues Bob Bowdon, nevertheless merely when you snip away the unprofitable bits, like talented teachers. In his education documentary "The Cartel," Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a terrific ugly impression of the institutional corruption that has resulted in just about unbelievable wastes of taxpayer money. The numbers put in the picture the tale: $17,000 exhausted per student, and there's just a 39% reading proficiency rate, it's tricky to reason that there's a crisis afoot, but harder to concur on a resolution.
Here 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 faction are the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can elude the influence of the public school system and would help inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more advisably used. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's well-nigh impossible for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to incite hard work in those teachers who discern they have a career regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of unique aspects of public education, tenure, backing, support drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The label education documentary may sound to some like ho-hum squared, but in fact the picture itself betrays an fervid passion for the predicament of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. Hopefully it will get a boost, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released docudrama "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. 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 edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
And Bowdon's picture is relentlessly acute, making a strong case for the belief that the amount of money spent is nowhere near as essential as how it is spent. But that isn't to say the movie is without heart. Bowdon makes certain his eye is constantly on the people affected, especially the inner-city students trapped in a wrecked system. A girl's tears upon hearing that she wasn't selected to attend a charter school, that she's stuck in her public school, exemplify the failure of a system as well as Bowdon's charts and interviews.
And whilst there's a satire in this kind of public corruption happening in a state renowned for its organized crime, it's clear that this is not an isolated collapse. Bowdon's film illustrates a local dilemma, but any watcher will spot the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. 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 undeniable that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a fight. - 40731
Here 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 faction are the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can elude the influence of the public school system and would help inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more advisably used. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's well-nigh impossible for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to incite hard work in those teachers who discern they have a career regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of unique aspects of public education, tenure, backing, support drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The label education documentary may sound to some like ho-hum squared, but in fact the picture itself betrays an fervid passion for the predicament of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. Hopefully it will get a boost, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released docudrama "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. 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 edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
And Bowdon's picture is relentlessly acute, making a strong case for the belief that the amount of money spent is nowhere near as essential as how it is spent. But that isn't to say the movie is without heart. Bowdon makes certain his eye is constantly on the people affected, especially the inner-city students trapped in a wrecked system. A girl's tears upon hearing that she wasn't selected to attend a charter school, that she's stuck in her public school, exemplify the failure of a system as well as Bowdon's charts and interviews.
And whilst there's a satire in this kind of public corruption happening in a state renowned for its organized crime, it's clear that this is not an isolated collapse. Bowdon's film illustrates a local dilemma, but any watcher will spot the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. 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 undeniable that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a fight. - 40731
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