Bad Cinema

Leonard Pinth-Garnell would have loved The Cartel.

That wasn't so good, was it?

References to this piece of dreck seem to keep popping up all over forums at the dailys. Bruce Baker, who actually knows what the hell he is talking about, points me to a review he did a while ago:

1. Even if there is a crisis, Bowdon provides no legitimate evidence of one, and in fact, provides laughable claims that make it hard to take him seriously at all;
2. Since there is no validated crisis, there is no need for a solution, but Bowdon offers one anyway;

• Instead of attending NJ’s dreadful traditional public schools, students should flock to NJ’s outstanding charter schools, which, it turns out, have average performance the same as the poorest NJ traditional public schools, or
• NJ children should be provided vouchers at levels that will allow them only to select from cash strapped urban religious private schools.

I used to teach in a charter school. It was a good place and the staff worked hard for the students. I think there is a place for charters, but anyone who thinks charters can provide high-quality education at a rock-bottom price simply because they are "free" of the "establishment" doesn't know the first thing about schools.

And the use of The Cartel to justify Christie's cuts of state aid or call for defeating budgets is just plain ignorant.