“Waiting for the other shoe to drop” is an odd expression. Apparently it comes from NYC tenement living in the 19th and early 20th centuries when thin ceiling/floor layers would echo horribly. A downstairs neighbor was well aware when the room above them was occupied and, after hearing one shoe plop on the floor, would patiently await the other (assuming a biped neighbor) before resuming a state of peace. In our time, the expression has come to mean that unpleasantries are going to happen and must do so before we can deal with them.
Bad Education has exactly one leading actor in it (Hugh Jackman) and Jackman’s character Frank Tassone is presented as an ideal educational administrator presiding over an ideal educational system. This would be a prime example of “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” And lemme tell ya, the Long Island venue where this story takes place is barely a shoe drop away from where the expression took life.
As superintendent of the Roslyn School District, Frank has overseen a great deal of good. His steady leadership has paced Roslyn High School to becoming #4 in the nation. I’m not sure what that means, what the scale is, what’s being measured, or who was in charge of the rankings. It’s not like there’s ever an academic showdown between schools in any meaningful way, but it sure is nice to say, huh? While I don’t know what the #4 signifies, it’s pretty clear that Frank would be a tremendous asset to any school district – he’s charismatic, he’s caring, he’s a fierce advocate, he does his homework, he gets to know every single student and their parents; he fights for the students and is not above individual counseling sessions with problem cases. Ok, so the guy claims to be a widower when he’s actually a flaming homosexual. But that’s no biggie, right? That can’t be the other shoe; that’s not even a sock.
The trouble begins when Frank’s assistant Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney) starts playing Monopoly with the school platinum card. And it’s not even Pam herself … it’s a friend who borrowed the card to give her children a Merry Christmas, then a son who decided to make the dean’s list at Home Depot … or several Home Depots. Now you want to say, “isn’t somebody overlooking those purchases?” And the answer is … “sorta.” Yes, it is somebody’s job. Yes, they ought to have done their job better. But, hey, #4 in the nation! There’s a price for that, right? Let’s not forget the true villains are the people who embezzled the funds. Oversight plays a significant role, but only after the law has been broken. And where does Frank fit in to all this? Where’s that other shoe?
The best part of this biographic tale is an understated storyline of how the case was broken not by professional auditors or investigators, but by an ambitious student just looking to play journalist. And the young lady in question (Geraldine Viswanathan) is encouraged to “dig deeper” by Frank himself. At this high school, I half expect future student questions like, “Teacher, if we take down the mob, can we get AP credit?”
Bad Education is all about the anticipated shoe drop … and when it does, the film is a little bit about justice and a little bit about buyers’ remorse – you wanted a better school district; you wanted to be proud; you wanted to get your kids into Ivy League schools … suppose the price was a man who skimmed millions of dollars from public coffers and indirectly cheated kids from other schools out of similar opportunities? Is that worth the price? We face a similar issue every day of 2020 American politics. In 2016, the Right’s goal was to punish libs for having the audacity to elect a black president. It wasn’t enough that most everything said president tried to do was arbitrarily blocked; it wasn’t enough that the president was about as left wing as Dwight Eisenhower; liberals had to suffer. Congratulations, you got exactly what you wanted; I don’t know a single liberal American who is enjoying life right now … of course, I don’t know a single conservative American or right wing American who is enjoying life, either. Some goals come with consequences. And Bad Education is a microcosm for the current American experience; you build a system that deliberately promotes you and cheats others? Don’t be surprised when those others call you on it.
For those striving to improve education
Here’s a tip: keep separate recreation
A few of you scoff
Help me out, prof
I need a synonym for “misappropriation”
Rated TV-MA, 108 Minutes
Director: Cory Finley
Writer: Mike Makowsky
Genre: There goes the first shoe …
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Long Island D.A.s, high school journalists
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Embarrassed officials
