The Sad State of American Educational System
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.
The educational cartel is being pointed as the culprit for much of the nation’s educational woes and the poor showing of its students in math and science tests. Proponents of the theory and the movie blame the out of control, insidious and institution permitted corruption in the budget making and implementing process.
The director chose New Jersey as the showcase of his argument because the state has the biggest educational spending in the country. However, in spite of its big budget, New Jersey still has an extremely bad dropout rate and a similarly dismal score on nationwide standardized tests.
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.
The main theme is about reforms in the educational system, depicting it as irreparably corrupt, incompetent, and inefficient in a rational, intellectual, and appealing way. Two alternatives to traditional schools are presented; chartered schools that are free, privately run private schools, and the voucher system, which will provide public funds to partially or fully pay for private school fees.
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.
The existence of a real problem cannot be denied. The movie has presented much factual information to be dismissed outright. The sad part is, we can never have real reforms until the school officials admit that there really is a problem.
JB Spins: The Cartel Movie how far does a billion dollars go in NJ? A film by Bob Bowdon.
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