The lesson is that once the genie is let out of the bottle, you ain't getting it back it in. It's out for good. Think of how much better Major Nelson's life would have been if he had never let Jeannie out of her bottle. All the nutty things that happened, the near nervous breakdown of Dr Bellows, the attempted manipulations of Major Healy, the constant mauling of uniforms by Jin-Jin all could have been avoided it Major Nelson just turned away.
How does this relate to the school atmosphere you might ask? It does in the fact all the zany, stupid, incompetent happenings of teachers lords and masters in the public school building. Time after time crises, lack of learning, lack of leadership, lack of discipline, are consistently dealt with the closing of the eyes and wishing the problem goes away. Teachers are made to feel as if they are on a sinking ship with just a bucket in their hand to scoop out the billions of gallons of water. Yet, it is to no avail. Even when the genies let you know that the iceberg is 50 miles away, nothing is done.
Nothing is done until it is too late. Yeah, that iceberg was seen from even 25 miles through 75X binoculars on a clear day. But not to worry! There is a plan.
But the plan says it is time to get serious. All the crap for the 7 months is out the window. A new day will reign and all will be forgotten for on this day, a new leaf is overturned. That new leaf is brown on the other side. It is dead. It should have been turned over the 2nd week of September when the genie was still in the bottle and the leaf still had life.
When that genie is out and about and you decide that this time it will be not be allowed to ruin a school, to ruin the learning process, it is too late. The genie has heard it all before and laughs in your face. Why should the genie listen. It is in charge. It knows that just a change in tone of voice, a change in inflection, it can go back and do what it wants. Why? Because it has been that way all year.
Remember, the next time you see that genie in your school, think of who opened that bottle. It never should have been opened.
2 comments:
If we take an organizational look at the DOE, I think we will find that 'networks' are the component that permits and even supports school failure. Yes, networks do perform some business functions, but in the Bloomberg scheme they have usurped the roles of School District Superintendents, especially in the area of quality control for schools. With them it is all politics since keeping their positions depends on politics.
When the 'Mayoral Control Law' was updated, the legislature attempted to restore some power to District Superintendencies. The mayor pretty much laughed in their faces. He starved the offices of District Superintendents by underfunding them. In the case of Comprehensive Educational Plans for schools, the DOE chose to ignore the law and have them submitted to networks.
The icebergs that may sink our schools are not natural but man made. They are steered by a skinny little man intent on destroying any school which stands in the way of his plans for charter schools or new high schools. Networks create the fog needed to obscure his course. Their only other role is to support Bloomberg's stooge Principals in their attacks on teachers and school communities.
I feel a strange connection to this post.
Larry Hagman played Ed Gibson on the live CBS soap opera, "The Edge of Night," from 1961 to 1963. I was in elementary school at the time and watched the show religiously. It aired late in the afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEMPg8teLyI
I met Barbara Eden in the early 1990s at Limelight disco in Manhattan. She was being honored with the "Nightlife Award."
www.barbaraeden.com
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