International Cinema Festival of India

Anyone who has ever voted Democratic in the state of New Jersey should be made to watch a particular scene on a documentary film about the state’s education cartel. The scene is about a lottery drawing for places in one of New Jersey’s charter schools. The audience is shown faces of children whose names have been drawn and their parents, and faces of children who were not so fortunate. Although both are crying, there is a stark contrast to their expressions. Those who were chosen were crying tears of joy and those who were not…well, you would have to see it to fully appreciate the point.

The scene was criticized by New York Times movie critic Jeannette Catsoulis as something that resulted from “emotional coercion,” as if the director had found an exceptionally gifted young actor who could cry on his signal instead of just being at the right place at the right time. The critic goes on to say that the movie was “a bludgeoning rant against a single state.”

I like to think that it would be unlikely for anyone without any personal or political stake in the cartel’s control over the education system to watch that particular scene without being moved. Although it is not something new for both students and teachers to fall victim to a system that does not allow teaching and learning to take place in many schools, the way the director presents his points seem like nobody has yet to act on the activities of the cartel. The sad fact is that these activities contribute to the increasing cases of students leaving school unprepared to work in the real world.

Since it came out, the movie has moved people to finally start leaving their mark on the process of school budgeting and keep themselves informed on where their taxes and their government’s funding are put into good use. New York Times reported that New Jersey residents rejected over half of the budgets on the ballot during school-budget elections.

It seems that education budgets are no longer held as something inviolable in the state of New Jersey. Motivated by that fact, New Jersey Governor Christopher J. Christie took on the education cartel like no previous holder of his office has done before. Although it would facilitate the resolution of this issue if he were to tackle it with the same gusto and assertiveness he shows on the other issues he is undertaking.

It is interesting to note, and would help people be convinced of the credibility of the documentary, that the director’s credentials are introduced at the beginning of the film. A local TV reporter in New Jersey, his credence stems from the quality of those belonging to the media profession to see things as they are.

The director also makes it easy for the audience to understand the flurry of statistics concerning education funding by the government, tax revenues, comparisons of New Jersey educational outcomes with other states and other countries, and so on.

The documentary film about the educational cartel has the teachers’ union becoming intimidated now. It is evidenced by the fact that they have resorted to lashing out against New Jersey’s Governor. Hopefully this movie will bring out the TV reporter in everyone: able to see things as they are, and act about it.

Village Voice: The Cartel Movie, Documenting our crooked educational system. A film by Bob Bowdon.