The school system could be made to be highly profitable, says Bob Bowdon, however entirely at the expense of teachers and students. In his documentary "The Cartel," Bowdon, a New Jersey television news newsman, turns the camera on the massive corruption and misdirection that has led his state to spend more than any other on its students just with shoddy results. While $400,000 is exhausted per schoolroom, but reading proficiency is only 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is unmistakable, which doesn't mean it's not controversial.
At hand are two major factions in Bowdon's movie -- the villains are pretty 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 cabal is the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can leave behind the power of the public school system and would assist inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more cautiously used. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's virtually unimaginable for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to encourage hard work in those teachers who comprehend they possess a career irrespective of how many of the three Rs they instruct -- if any.
"'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 positively analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to extract conclusions around how dirty the Jersey school system is, but his film features moments of great emotion and grief. The weeping face of a young girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own deep argument for the unsatisfying failure of a state's education system.
And while it may be effortless to assume the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that this is a vastly familiar situation. A watcher anyplace in the country will spot similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon's frustration and avidness for a solution. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. Nevertheless he also knows it'll be an uphill conflict to regain control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few.
At hand are two major factions in Bowdon's movie -- the villains are pretty 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 cabal is the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can leave behind the power of the public school system and would assist inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more cautiously used. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's virtually unimaginable for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to encourage hard work in those teachers who comprehend they possess a career irrespective of how many of the three Rs they instruct -- if any.
"'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 positively analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to extract conclusions around how dirty the Jersey school system is, but his film features moments of great emotion and grief. The weeping face of a young girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own deep argument for the unsatisfying failure of a state's education system.
And while it may be effortless to assume the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that this is a vastly familiar situation. A watcher anyplace in the country will spot similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon's frustration and avidness for a solution. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. Nevertheless he also knows it'll be an uphill conflict to regain control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few.
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