Secrets About The Collapsing Of The Education System

The education system in America is working superbly, although only for some -- and those few definitely aren't the students. In his documentary, New Jersey television news reporter Bowdon shines a light on the depravation and rapacity that has resulted in the disappearance of so much taxpayer money in that state. It's not toilsome for Bowdon to illustrate that something's execrably 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.

Present are two major factions in Bowdon's film -- 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. On the other side are the supporters of a charter education system, private schools in which parents can use tax vouchers to pay tuition and shake off the public nightmare. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it's practically impossible for an instructor to be fired, a safety net that does little to incite hard work in those teachers who discern they hold a vocation regardless of how many of the three Rs they instruct -- if any.

From the Heart and Mind

"The film examines lots of diverse aspects of public teaching, tenure, financing, patronage drops, corruption --meaning theft -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "The idiom education documentary possibly could sound to some like boring squared, but in fact the movie itself betrays an fiery passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children."

The documentary first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters nationally 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 alternative approaches to the equal problem, "The Cartel" by examining public policy and "Superman" focusing on the human-interest aspects. "My movie is the left-brained version, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."

A Battle for Control

The left-brained stance means arguments that follow the economics -- money misspent, opportunities wasted. Whilst he calls it left-brained, still the film 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 though there's an irony in this form of public depravation happening in a state famed for its organized crime, it's obvious that this is not an isolated collapse. A watcher anyplace in the country will acknowledge 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 education. But he also knows it'll be an uphill struggle to retrieve control from those who've worked so hard to make education very profitable for the very few. - 39468