There's money to be made in education, argues Bob Bowdon, henceforth merely 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 corruption and mismanagement that has led his state to spend more than any other on its students nevertheless with shoddy results. It's not troublesome for Bowdon to illustrate that something's abominably improper with a state that pays $17,000 per student but can only manage a 39% reading proficiency rate -- that there's a crisis is undeniable, how to deal with it is another question altogether.
The two sides of this conflict meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's picture: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to apportion 90 cents of every taxpayer dollar into everything but teachers' salaries -- though a number of school administrators make upwards of $100,000. The other faction are the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can elude the influence of the public school system and would assist inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more sagely used. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's just about impossible for an instructor to be fired, a safety net that does little to boost hard work in those teachers who acknowledge they possess a career irrespective of how many of the three Rs they instruct -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of distinctive aspects of public education, tenure, backing, patronage drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The title education documentary may sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an ardent passion for the quandary of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters nationwide a year later. It consequently proceeds the more-recently released, though higher profile, education documental "Waiting for Superman," directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"). Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim's taking the human-interest angle. "My movie is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is without doubt analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. But that isn't to say the movie is without heart. Bowdon makes certain his eye is at all times on the people affected, particularly the inner-city students trapped in a shattered system. The tearful face of an adolescent girl who learns she was not selected for a spot at a charter school makes its own great argument for the dissatisfactory failure of a state's education system.
And although it may be effortless to admit the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the subject is that this is a greatly familiar situation. Bowdon's film illustrates a local difficulty, but any watcher will realize the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to choose their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. Nevertheless he also knows it'll be an uphill conflict to recover control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few. - 40724
The two sides of this conflict meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon's picture: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to apportion 90 cents of every taxpayer dollar into everything but teachers' salaries -- though a number of school administrators make upwards of $100,000. The other faction are the supporters of charter schools, the private schools that can elude the influence of the public school system and would assist inner-city kids if their taxpayer money could be more sagely used. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's just about impossible for an instructor to be fired, a safety net that does little to boost hard work in those teachers who acknowledge they possess a career irrespective of how many of the three Rs they instruct -- if any.
"'The Cartel' examines lots of distinctive aspects of public education, tenure, backing, patronage drops, subversion --meaning thieving -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The title education documentary may sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an ardent passion for the quandary of particularly inner-city children."
"The Cartel" first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters nationwide a year later. It consequently proceeds the more-recently released, though higher profile, education documental "Waiting for Superman," directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"). Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim's taking the human-interest angle. "My movie is the left-brained edition, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is without doubt analytical, couching its arguments in an appraisal of how the money is being spent, or misspent. But that isn't to say the movie is without heart. Bowdon makes certain his eye is at all times on the people affected, particularly the inner-city students trapped in a shattered system. The tearful face of an adolescent girl who learns she was not selected for a spot at a charter school makes its own great argument for the dissatisfactory failure of a state's education system.
And although it may be effortless to admit the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the subject is that this is a greatly familiar situation. Bowdon's film illustrates a local difficulty, but any watcher will realize the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to choose their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. Nevertheless he also knows it'll be an uphill conflict to recover control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few. - 40724
No comments:
Post a Comment