Well. . .
I was unfortunate enough to be the only one who was willing to run the program I worked in as a teacher for ten years. Twice before, i had been enticed with managerial positions, but I wisely surmised that these positions ampunted to nothing less than bending over and willingly let them mount me to "service my account," as Carlin would say, on a daily basis. I turned "them" down twice, but this third time, they got me on principle. I wanted to protect my program, my students, my adjunct instructors, my full timers. In the end, that is what they used to unceremoniously shove me out the door.
I took that job primarily to fight for my students, all of our students, the ones who had no voice, no advocate, no one else who cared about them. I took that job to fight for my adjuncts, who were always treated as expendable by other--PSYCHOPATHIC--minds, who only saw them as placeholders to be treated as nothing at all in cases where a full-time teacher needed a class. Finally, I took that job to make sure our overall program was defended from the bad, deplorable, horrible, psycopathic decisions of those "leaders" in positions higher up the chain than I. I confronted obviously and overtly obtuse individuals, the very essence of the Dunning Kreuger Effect, making cavalier and whimsical decisions that served to harm my program, remove assistance for my students, and ultimately--KILL my program.
From 2016 to 2025, I did my utmost to be the stalwart advocate, the only one fighting "the system" to defend my people from the complete morons and outright evil scumbags in charge--and for the most part, I was successful in at least keeping the program going.
I put the students FIRST AND FOREMOST. We, ALL of us, were emplyed to serve THEM. Our students. What other purpose could there be, what higher calling???! And this was especially vital in light of the fact that our students were the "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free." They had nobody in their corner, and they were ignored, pushed off, not given the attention they DESERVED. I was their chief advocate. I FOUGHT for them, first and foremost. They KNEW that I was there for them, defending their interestes, representing them to those in power to say, "Oy! Ovah heeyaah! These HUMAN BEINGS require nithing less than you purport to give to every other English-speaking, American-born student!!! These people are the REASON America is great, and you disregard them at your peril!! For I shall move heaven and earth to make sure they are DEFENDED. If I am remembered by these students for anything at all, it will be that I was one of the very few people who actually CARED.
Next came my adjuncts. These poor bahstaahds were at the mercy of "leadership" just as much as were my students. The way "Leadership" saw them was truly CONDEMNABLE. These people, professionals all, were seen as mere placeholders--pawns in a greater game of numbers. They were to be cast aside if exigency pointed in that direction. Rather than see these people as the indispensable resources that they were, instead, the supposed leaders would throw them aside at the first sign of "trouble." I was actually told once to take a class away from one of my adjuncts to fill a need for a full-timer. What?! No, actually, WHAT THE FUCK!? Don't you see that you are fucking with someobne's livelihood??? You fucking son of a bitch!!!! In the end, I was able to find a solution that served both our students and the adjunct. How hard was that for my boss to fucking figure out? A lazy fucking decision to "fill a need," DEVOID of context, not seeking ANY information as to what was going on, WHY it was happening, and WHOM it would affect! My boss was just moving pieces ona chessboard!!!!! God dammit, I was not going to let THAT stand. So I fought. And I won, as a\i was able to convince my boss of an earlier injustice doen by him and his boss that HURT our students. I figured it out. I FOUND a solutiuon, and I helped both my students and my adjunct! By the way, she later was hired as a full-time instructor--WITH my efforts and approval!!!! There were many more whom I hired whose livelihods hung un the balance. My efforts kept great teachers in the classes, and my students had the best instructors I could find.
And for all of my efforts, my battles, my successes, I got FUCKED.
More to come.....
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