Least recruited

Is this stupidity I see before me?

Our numbers are way down, but this is, it appears, because of limits on the number of morons the school is allowed to recruit.

At the moment, we don’t know whether the IB programme will survive. There are other factors involved and no resolution for the moment. But even if the programme does live to fight another day, the numbers will be tiny because the days of 120+ schoolchildren have become history. In all likelihood, it won’t survive, which is when I have to decide whether it’s worth persevering with an English programme with no official exams, or whether I try to find a post in an international school where the IB programme is a proper sort of affair. (We do try to follow the principles of the IBO as best we can, but in truth, we’re up against because the DP programme only works effectively at international schools; it doesn’t really work with imperial citizens.) I do what I can with my department, but it’s like herding deranged stray cats who have no regard for cohesion.

In spite of such a small number of new entrants, we still have the full number of teachers. Whether this continues for another year, I don’t know, but from what I’m hearing, there may be politics afoot, which makes it difficult to foresee whether we’ll shed teachers entirely (i.e., those who leave or ask for transfers) or – like Fullmetal Alchemist – there’s an equivalent exchange.

Sarasvati is leaving, which means that her replacement may find himself or herself at the tail end of the IB programme – hardly what a potential recruit wants to hear. I suspect that I may end up in the role as a caretaker DP. The alternative is that our new CP (yes, Colonel Blimp is leaving this time) takes on that role, but how well that’s done depends on whether the new lord of the manor is pro-IB, anti-IB, or has no sodding idea about IB. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is the solution.

In many ways, what it happening seems to be typical of the Empire with its walled-garden mentality[1]. The number of spoilt, undeserving imperial children going abroad has been increasing over the years, but if programmes like ours are being strangled, how can potential future students, who can’t enrol in international schools, aspire to tertiary education abroad?

As I said, Colonel Blimp is leaving. Having outlasted a few CPs, I see that they all think that they have the solution to our woes (or, running a successful centre). Will the next one be another shrieky martinet, or will he or she recognise that no matter how much you shout at the dim bulbs, they’ll never understand how they’ve transgressed?

Yeah, I’m jaded. The problem with the Empire is that custom is king; “adaptability” is at best a high-scoring Scrabble word. At the end of the day you can fight against the unrelenting tide or negotiate the currents. For example, we’ve had to compromise on uniforms. I’m inclined to say, Drop the ties, but tuck the shirts in. I’m also inclined to say, Make our lot dress like the main school. I may remind the cretins in my A2 class about their uniforms, but I may as well shout at a tree for not moving two metres sideways of its own volition.

I don’t know how this particular farce is going to end.

Notes

1. That is, everything in the garden is rosy. Truth: an utter delusion; the garden is strewn with turds and all manner of filth.