International Cinema Festival of India

A former TV reporter and anchorman created quite a stir when he made a movie documentary about the deteriorating condition of the American educational system. Citing the state of New Jersey as his main example, he is pushing for drastic changes in the way that the schools are being run.

However, there is a growing group of people who argue that there is so much room for improvement in the country’s educational system without increasing the budget. A Former TV reporter and current movie director for one, believes that the school system is much to blame for most of its woes. A former school superintendent that he interviewed for his movie believes that the widespread, persistent and institutionalized dishonesty in the preparation and implementation of the educational budget as the foremost problem. He also blames the profoundly deep-rooted, self-serving teacher’s union as the one responsible for the country’s twisted educational system.

Teachers unions are also being made answerable for thinking only of itself to the detriment of the students. The tenure system is being pointed in particular as the reason why at least 40% of the teachers, according to one estimate, are not good mentors. Union officials are quick to point out that they are only protecting their members from being dismissed by capricious education officials and politicians. They claim there are enough provisions to remove bad and unqualified teachers from their ranks.

Two proposed solutions are being pushed to counter the current school problems; the voucher system and chartered schools. They suggest tapping the services of privately -run chartered schools to provide free education. The proponents also suggest using vouchers that can be used to answer for the tuition, either in part or in whole depending on the budget and financial status of the beneficiaries.

Scenes of a high ranking school official riding on chauffeur driven limo to attend a school budget meeting and a school parking area full of luxury vehicles effectively drives the point that the movie wants to impart. Patience and logic were used to present the need for a state and system change.

Critics are quick to counter that the movie contradicts its basic claim that reforms can be made without changing the total amount of the budget. High performing elite urban schools have a high per-head budget. Only the cash strapped religious charter schools can afford to run in the current budget. Implementing the proposed solution of tapping chartered schools will only drive students to the church basements or rented spaces of religious schools. They also predict that the voucher system, with additional funds from the parents will only be able to enroll the students in more expensive private schools who only have the same test ratings as the traditional schools that they came from in the first place.

The governor of New Jersey has already announced some reform measures that the state wants to implement. But most New Jersey school officials are still denying that the Garden State schools have problems that are unique in the state alone. Some school officials claim that the movie used only a few select students belonging to the worst of the spectrum.

New Jersey school officials and other opponents of the theory argue that the documentary focused only on a few extreme examples and does not represent the true nature of the country’s educational condition in general and the New Jersey educational system in particular. Sadly, the true state affairs could be somewhere in between and the real solution is too important to be left to movie directors and politicians to decide.

NJ paradox: Piles of cash, failing schools in The Cartel Movie, a film by Bob Bowdon.