As y'all long time visitors to Andy's Place know, I do not watch films much. I normally fall asleep, or find something better to do.
But, I am going to plug a film...even though I have not seen it yet. Weird, huh? The other night as I was dozing off, I decided to channel surf, and came across an interview being done on C-SPAN by Brian Lamb with a young lady who had made a documentary film called, "The Lottery."
A few things caught my attention, and caused me to watch the interview and to stay up later than normal doing so. The term "charter school" was used, and a little film clip showing ACORN folks going bat guano crazy because some white gal dared to try to put one in Harlem caused me to perk up and watch.
The interview was quite fascinating. It seems that this young lady, Madeleine Sackler (who is younger than my two oldest sons) had set out to document the phenomenon known as "The Lottery," where parents hope against hope, and pray with all their might that their child will be "lucky" enough to attend one of the newly formed "charter schools" in New York City...and not be left to the utter failure of the current public school system.
It is quite long, but many clips from the documentary are shown, and many quite eye-opening revelations were made about just how desperate the Teachers Union in New York, and the politicians that are beholden to them are to make certain that students continue to fail in real life. I just discovered I can embed the video. If you are interested, you can watch it.
It was quite sad to watch in a way. And, it was enraging in another. When you see a group of Teachers, and parents stand in the auditorium of a school where 70% of the children can not perform at their grade level, and scream, and holler, and become apoplectic over the very idea that they are doing something wrong...well, it made my blood burl!
And then when you see the right-thinking people of Harlem hoping with all their might that their child's name is drawn in The Lottery...well, it really tears you up. What I found most interesting about this interview was that this young lady Documentress sounded quite liberal in many ways. But, her experiences had truly opened her eyes to the stranglehold that the Teacher Unions have on the failed system in which they are employed.
Maybe I'm putting words in her mouth. But, that's the impression I was left with.
The film is out this month in limited engagements, and it will be available on DVD soon. You can see a short trailer at their website.
I think what enraged me most was a particular clip from the film where New York City Council members were grilling the lady that was proposing the school. She had already been quite successful with 4 other projects in New York (I think it was 4). And, she had herself served on this same panel at one time as a Councilwoman (I think that's right...but don't quote me). She was an attractive middle-age white lady, and made mention that she had grown up in Harlem...lived in Harlem...and wanted to make it a better place.
At one point, a member of the Board damn near called her a liar. Well, in fact she did as much, until another Council member stepped in to vouch for the fact that he did know for certain that this lady lives in Harlem, etc. I'll swear, the lady setting up the school did take proper offense to being called a liar...and she held it together way better than I would have. I mean, I'd have been across the room at that rotten bitch so fast that...well...
It made me mad.
This is not something that most of us do not already know. It was just a fascinating interview to watch, and I'm looking forward to the DVD.
