There's money to be made in education, argues Bob Bowdon, however entirely when you trim out the unprofitable bits, like good quality teachers. In his documentary "The Cartel," Bowdon, a New Jersey TV news newsperson, turns the camera upon the massive degeneracy and misdirection that has led his state to throw away more than any other on its students only with shoddy results. It's not difficult for Bowdon to illustrate that something's awfully improper 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 altogether.
On the one side is the monolithic Jersey teachers union and umbrageous school officials, who make certain that, as Bowdon points out in his film, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a shocking example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools which can operate outside the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's practically unimaginable for a teacher to be fired Thus giving them a safety net that does little to encourage hard work in those teachers who acknowledge they hold a career regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of out of the ordinary aspects of public education, tenure, backing, patronage drops, corruption --meaning theft -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The expression education documentary might sound to some like dull squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an fervid passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. The picture has started a lot of talk, which must no doubt continue with the more-recent release of "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim's own education expose, "Waiting for Superman." Bowdon sees the two documentaries as taking alternative approaches to the same difficulty, "The Cartel" by examining public policy and "Superman" focusing on the human-interest aspects. "My film is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
The left-brained method means arguments that follow the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. Although he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some heartbreaking 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.
It's difficult to view a film about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also unambiguous that this is a national crisis seen through a tight lens. Bowdon's film illustrates a local dilemma, but any watcher will discern the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. 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 "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. - 40731
On the one side is the monolithic Jersey teachers union and umbrageous school officials, who make certain that, as Bowdon points out in his film, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a shocking example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools which can operate outside the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's practically unimaginable for a teacher to be fired Thus giving them a safety net that does little to encourage hard work in those teachers who acknowledge they hold a career regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of out of the ordinary aspects of public education, tenure, backing, patronage drops, corruption --meaning theft -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The expression education documentary might sound to some like dull squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an fervid passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. The picture has started a lot of talk, which must no doubt continue with the more-recent release of "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim's own education expose, "Waiting for Superman." Bowdon sees the two documentaries as taking alternative approaches to the same difficulty, "The Cartel" by examining public policy and "Superman" focusing on the human-interest aspects. "My film is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
The left-brained method means arguments that follow the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. Although he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some heartbreaking 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.
It's difficult to view a film about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also unambiguous that this is a national crisis seen through a tight lens. Bowdon's film illustrates a local dilemma, but any watcher will discern the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. 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 "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. - 40731
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