Back Again--Now a Teacher

Well, I played with this blog thing a bit, then stopped. Now I think I'll play some more.

The blog came to mind since today is the first day I've taken off work since I started as a teacher at my local Job Corps Center back on 7 August. I had no work at all last summer, and a friend suggested I apply to substitute teach at Job Corps. They ended up offering me a permanent position. I had some doubts about the position, because of course an anarchist really shouldn't be working for the federal government, even as a contractor. I also remember asking if the students felt they had some alternative to being there, and I got a pretty equivocal answer. I have always felt that one of the great problems with public schools is their compulsory nature. There are few alternatives to adolescent schooling besides poverty, and theresult is that many people grow up with a sense of being pushed around.

I must say that it has been an eye-opening experience. I knew theoretically that most federal programs are crap, and that the incentives of federal service don't really encourage excellence, but wow! The reality is almost beyond belief. Never have I seen such incredible incompetence, such self-serving, arrogant, and downright mean behavior, such ignorance. The palpable racism on the part of the almost entirely African-American management takes one back to the '60s. Yet this is entirely on the part of the federal employees and their closest contract cronies. Most of my fellow teachers are wonderful people and true professionals.