Solitary confinement?

A classroom with a view.

I’ve heard that we may be getting our own classrooms next year. It’s an idea that’s been touted before, but nothing has ever come of it probably because there have always been too many of us. Next year, though, there will be fewer teachers because of the decline in the number of students.

We’ve always had specific rooms for IB subjects, and particular groups come to us, but the A-level students almost always remain in situ with exceptions such as labs or the other half of English B classes.

But this isn’t just our own classrooms; it’s also the end of the staff rooms, which are, in turn, going to be converted into classrooms. That concerns me. I generally enjoy the social aspects of the staff room (all right, Ms. Giggles has been a pain for the past two years, but in the past, before she arrived, we’ve had a good deal of fun). I can also apprise myself of what my colleagues are doing (apart from Dmitry who still says nothing about what he’s doing; or if he does say something, it’s weeks late).

I also have to ask where everything is going to go. I have a bunch of stuff on the shelves around my desk, we have a vast array of handouts, and there is a cupboard with various exam papers and other items. Where will all this stuff go?

What about our desks? I like my big desk because I’ve got plenty of space along with cupboards and shelves. I’d be reluctant to find myself sitting at some old, traditional-style wooden desk that probably doesn’t even encompass as much space as they table at which I’m sitting right now.

What about the network? At the moment, I’m using my old laptop at school because my (replacement) PC stopped working properly, but I can’t print out even though I’ve tried to fix the problem.

I have had my own classroom before in that when I first came to China, my room was some con­sider­able distance from my pupils’ form room. That meant tardy arrivals, and cretins without pens, note­books, and textbooks. (Not that having them more or less permanently stationed in the same room obviates such issues.)

If this had been two years ago, I would’ve said that the isolation of Ms. Giggles would’ve been adequate compensation (although I can imagine her roving around like Mr Looms bothering all and sundry without so much as a by-your-leave, but constantly shooing everyone else out if they went to consult with her).

Overall, I’m not currently liking this idea, although there may be advantages I’m overlooking. Quite what they might be, I don’t know.

The Ministry of Everything.

Vlad is a bit like your average British PM, who likes to use the word “democracy”, but is at heart an auto­crat. He likes it when people agree with his plans and isn’t so keen when they raise objections. The latest scheme to achieve this end is a proposed merger of English and Humanities into a single department, and I don’t need to state explicitly who will be in charge of that, do I?

So long as the two parts are dealt with separately, it is possible, but I know that there have always been issues with Humanities because of its disparate structure, a mix of History, TOK, Music, and Business / Economics. On the other hand, given that Dmitry is not the most effective HOD, this potentially leaves a large number of us without any proper leadership.

But this is also part of Vlad’s desire to oust the current head of humanities because he isn’t “one of us” and isn’t just another yes-man.

At the moment, this is just an idea, but I think it smacks of low politics, and the kind of autocracy and nepotism which Vlad brought with him.