Education by Chance
With a little tweaking “The Lottery” would fit nicely into the marketing materials for the Harlem Success Academy, a publiccharter school founded by Eva Moskowitz, a former New York City councilwoman. On one level, this heart-tugging documentary recounts the experiences of four children competing in the academy’s annual intake lottery. On another, it’s a passionate positioning of charter schools as the saviors of public education.
Though infinitely classier — and easier on the eyes — than“Cartel,” the recent documentary exploring public education, this latest charter-school commercial is no less one-sided. Virtually relinquishing the floor to Ms. Moskowitz (who delights in vilifying the “thuggish” tactics of the United Federation of Teachers) and her supporters, the director, Madeleine Sackler, captures a smidgen of naysayers in mostly unflattering lights. Ignoring critical issues like financial transparency, Ms. Sackler sells her viewpoint with four admirable, striving families, each of whose tots could charm the fleas off a junkyard dog.
But as an avowed marketing tool for a product that depends on public money and good will, the lottery itself, with its publicly dashed dreams, may have backfired. As we see during a vitriolic public hearing on Ms. Moskowitz’s bid to open a second facility in an unused public school, pitting neighbor against neighbor for the future of their children can be a dangerous strategy.
“I don’t even go to lotteries anymore, because they break my heart,” says Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark. So does