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 uncommon aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, support 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 heavy topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"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."
It is unquestionably analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. Although he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some disheartening moments of emotion. A girl's weeping upon hearing that she wasn't selected to attend a charter school, that she's stuck in her public school, portray the failure of a system as well as Bowdon's charts and interviews.
And whilst it may be straightforward to acknowledge the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that this is a highly familiar situation. Bowdon's film illustrates a local crisis, but any viewer will recognize 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 education. But he also makes it unambiguous that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a fight. - 40725
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 uncommon aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, support 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 heavy topics amongst the education-reform movement."
"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."
It is unquestionably analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. Although he calls it left-brained, still "The Cartel" reaches some disheartening moments of emotion. A girl's weeping upon hearing that she wasn't selected to attend a charter school, that she's stuck in her public school, portray the failure of a system as well as Bowdon's charts and interviews.
And whilst it may be straightforward to acknowledge the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that this is a highly familiar situation. Bowdon's film illustrates a local crisis, but any viewer will recognize 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 education. But he also makes it unambiguous that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a fight. - 40725
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