When you become part of a system, no matter how screwed up it is, you assimilate into its structure. You become one of the many pillars dodging the wrecking ball. And when the dust settles, you realize there are others—not many—just a few who are left standing—they brush the dust off and rebuild.
So it goes. I’m continuously fighting an uphill battle. My educational structure changing with each passing year, with every demolition. Public School. Private School. Youth Home. Correctional Facility. Teaching is teaching. It doesn’t matter. I say, “bullshit.”
I remember escorting my Troy High School freshmen class to an assembly. As soon as the lights dimmed and the wine-colored velvet curtains slid open, a video montage flashed hip scenes and glitzy photos across a large screen accompanied by Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher.” The kids cheered wildly. In my day, students in AV Club were geeks, nerds, squares. But not at this presentation. The company, Yearbook Video, promised to provide video equipment to the school. Let the kids, those not so cool AV dorks, shoot footage of all the major events. Whether football games, homecoming, prom, or band recitals, Yearbook Video would edit this material into a slick video, splicing in world news along with current music.
As my students filed out, they were given a brochure to preorder their very own Yearbook Video. I recognized the salesperson, name of Mark Lemke (if my memory serves me correct). Through him, I discovered it was Neal’s latest start-up company. I never did find out whether he turned a profit. I do know this, he went from school to school, charming the socks off of administration; How else could he have convinced them to reduce the number of instructional hours in the classroom? And for what? To make a buck.
I didn’t stick around long enough to find out whether those kids were happy with the final product. The following year I was teaching in a Catholic School. While there, the principal chastised me for turning off the classroom television during attendance. A program called Channel One piped in the latest news from around the world, along with Pepsi commercials and other crap.
“I’ve heard you’ve been unplugging Channel One. Leave it on.”
“Yes sir,” I assured him. I don’t know whether he trusted me, afterall, whenever he clicked on the intercom system to eavesdrop on my class, I’d count to three and on cue, my students would say, “Good Morning Mr. Miller.”
Nowadays, the only televised footage I hear about comes from the security cameras. I’ve probably been taped and recorded more times than I’d care to think about.
Recommended short story: “Videotape” by Don DeLillo
13 comments:
I remember that channel one crap, with the too-perfect looking "peers" telling us what was important, often re-runs. My friends and I pretended to watch but read the newspapers instead, which we picked up on the walk to school.
If it wasn't for the damned televisions I never would have seen bloody students hanging out of Columbine High School windows, watched desperate souls leap from the doomed World Trade Center nor known that the reason that the news crews chased me down one morning was because of a girl giving birth and flushing a baby down a toilet across from my English class.
The power of the media, right?
You are a pillar, you are part of the system - but you are unique.
Stay that way.
Great post, Jim! All systems become sort of a corrupt bullshit after a bit. I hate what teachers have to go through. All the ones I know are burned out because of all the excessive monitoring, test score requirements, endless hoop jumping, etc.
That's odd... you mean Audio-Visual club? Only attracted squares? Well I'm glad that's changed. It's amazing you can get broadcast quality equipment from the local high street now for less than a tv used to cost when I was a kid...
Well,in the old I used to be criticized for not using the Overhead video projector enough.
I wasn't teaching rocket science, I was teaching english.
Rochester Hills. That city has gone through a metamorphis. Not for the better. Enjoyed the post. MW :)
Haven't been around much, but keeping up-to-date via my google reader from time to time. It must be a challenging time in your life to have your bread and butter threatened. Hope everything settles down soon. Take care.
Jim, I thought that one picture was also from Rochester Hills. Good post. --Bro, Ron
I'm glad the closest I ever had to that was in third grade and the Tigers won the World Series. My school played "Bless You, Boys" through the loudspeaker.
The corporations know it, the government and school bureaucrats too: less instruction in thought, more on marketing and consumer power of molding a young minds and perceptions into something more manageable, like a herd, rather than solitary mind.
But what the hell do I know? I'm a seventy-four elevened tried and true vet of one system or another. I just love, love, love Machiavellian social spiderwebs like our current model.
But it is a lot better than real fascism.
I really liked this, especially the beginning.
I belive this is called "hegemony."
This sounds very reminiscent of my school days. I didn't realize it at the time but there were infomercials pushed on us too. Teaching is a thankless job but it sounds like you have plenty of dignity and the education world would be better if there were more like you.
I have never heard of a TV being on during a class. What, exactly, are they educating those kids FOR?
Education is not commercials with subliminal messages or sensational "news" reportage, video games or anything else that excuses kids from learning how to read, write and express themselves in their native tongue, and which, hopefully, teaches them something about the world they are inheriting.
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