Workin’ for the Man

Back when the Hopwood school situation began to take on a Watergate level of scandalousness, a couple of Hopwood teachers asked if I’d take a look at the situation and cover it in this column. “No thanks,” said I.
If I poked my nose into every controversy like that we’ve got brewing here, I wouldn’t have time to do much of anything else.

And yet, now that one teacher has been thrown into the hoosegow (and released), Hopwoodgate was a front page run in yesterday’s Tribune, the PSS was covered in Charles Reyes Jr’s Op-Ed column, and the topic just won’t die, I’ll offer some thoughts on a tangentially related subject.

So my thoughts cover this broad realm: The System, and working for it. Note I didn’t say “changing it,” I said “working for it.”

The PSS teachers may well have a legitimate gripe, and they’re free to crusade to improve things, but the overall point remains the same: They work for the System, not the other way around. At some point, if you don’t like your job or the way your organization is run, you can either beat your head against the wall until your skull cracks, or you can go to more enlightened venues. If you take the former course, someone is bound to point out that you’re collecting a paycheck with one hand while flipping the bird to the powers that be.
As my brother says, “The Man doesn’t like being told off.”

As you may have guessed, I’m not merely talking about school systems. I’m talking about all systems. Dissent is a lonely and quixotic gig no matter where you go. Saipan is no exception. America is no exception. The private sector is no exception. The public sector is no exception.

Me, I’m no lover of big Systems or their bureaucratic gears, so I merely stay away from them as much as is reasonably possible. If I was broke, homeless, covered with festering chancres, and grubbing for hermit crabs on Taga beach and you offered me a job at PSS, I would politely decline. That’s no reflection on PSS, it’s merely a reflection of me. When I do have to mesh with the System for professional reasons, I do so on a free lance basis, where the integrity and quality of the job are solely up to me. This outlook gives me a rare niche, because occasionally people need missions accomplished by competent and resourceful talent, not flubbed by some bumbling committee of half-witted suck-butts. Note I did say “occasionally.”

Of course, many of the Hopwood teachers didn’t know what they were getting into. Many came out from the U.S. mainland with high aims and admirable goals. Many, probably most, are bright and articulate, and I suspect are excellent teachers. Some of the brightest and best professionals we’ve got on this island are PSS teachers.

Which isn’t to say, however, that they can substantially overhaul a System that existed before they arrived, and will exist long after they depart. Anyone who takes on that challenge is free to do so, but is also responsible for accepting the consequences.

One teacher got thrown in the joint, another will follow some day. Lawsuits will be threatened, threats made, minor crusades launched, statements read, articles written, victories claimed, setbacks noted, scandals born, scandals buried. Through it all, the System–as Systems generally do–will largely prevail, while the best the teachers can ever hope to do is merely endure.

When you work for the Man, that’s just the way the gig is. I’m not saying I like it that way, but I am sufficiently long enough in the tooth, my hide is sufficiently scared, and my outlook is sufficiently philosophical, for me to claim some degree of wisdom on this point.
The Man really doesn’t like being told off, here, or anywhere.