Thursday, February 26, 2015

Fairy Tale


Once upon a time there was a little boy who dreamed about becoming a teacher.  He wasn't too smart of a little boy but he muddled through college and managed to get a teaching job through some back door program.  The problem was the boy was not a very good teacher.  He barely understood the material and was not able to get the material across to his students.  Luckily for this little boy the Principal of the school did not care.  The Principal decided the best way to handle the situation was to make the little boy the assistant principal of that department.  The Principal knew the little boy would not be able to help new teachers (or any teachers) but that did not matter.  The little boy was now in place to do the job the Principal wanted--that of harassing senior teachers and getting them to leave voluntarily or by force.

The little boy had trouble getting the license he needed to keep the position.  It took multiple times for him to pass the exam but, like college, he eventually got through.  Meanwhile he became more and more stressed by the senior teachers in his department.  They knew his was incompetent and inexperienced and he hated anyone seeing the true him.  The little boy started going after these teachers by making sure they had different preps every semester, courses they never taught and had no ready material for.  Then he started writing letters (with grammatical mistakes).  He stacked classes with the most difficult students so these teachers would have poor results and he made nasty comments to them and about them in front of colleagues and students.

The little boy felt loved, not by the students or the teachers, but by the Principal.  He had power.  He was making the lives of others as miserable as he could.  The little boy was very happy.

If this fairy tale ended now, the little boy would be very happy, but alas, that will not happen.  Eventually there will be a new Principal, maybe even one with standards and the little boy will be put in his place.  The teachers being harassed are strong.  They will stay and fight.  They will not let the little boy win.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You must know Manhattan Center Principal Dan Albetta

Anonymous said...

I did not know this old-boy network was still going strong. I had hoped they had all retired and/or died by now. But, I guess a new generation has come to power.