Sometimes I feel really small and not in a good way like Hannah must have felt in between these redwoods on our trip to California a few years ago. That’s what led to this rant–feeling small

What the Powers That Be Seem to Care About: :

• Meetings.Not useful ones. Probably not ones “the powers” want to hold either, but must be checked off “the list”
• Lists.Probably not ones that my powers created but some powers somewhere thought that having an entire campus come together every other month (I shouldn’t complain it used to be every month) was somehow a “sign” that good communication was going on between the administration and the faculty and staff when in fact no communication goes on; however, requiring everyone to come to that meeting means someone somewhere can check an item off a list and checking items off lists produces numbers.
• Numbers. The powers love numbers. Numbers validate. Numbers justify. Numbers produce. Exactly what these numbers produce I’m not sure, but they are obviously very important to the powers. and are essential to the powers maintaining power.
• Maintaining Power. When you get down to it, that’s what this is really all about. Power. If the powers have power to tell employees what to do and when to do it and require them to come to this meeting and that one, then they continue to have a sense of power. And when they begin to feel powerless, the powers seek power wherever they can find it because staying in power means they can keep the job that allows them to tell other people what to do and criticize them when they don’t do the job the way they were supposed to when the employees were never told how to do the job in the first place. Or when they don’t go to a meaningless meeting, of course. And the employees can’t complain or stop the powers because powers are rarely evaluated by anybody else except by a once a year employee satisfaction survey that no one will pay attention to because the survey is just a process that produces more numbers that lead to more lists that must be discussed at more meetings attended by the powers that be because other powers demand it. And at the meetings about the numbers and the lists and the other meetings, more lists will be created to solve the problem, and after much discussion, it will be decided that the problem lies with the people whom the powers have power over and other lists will be created without the knowledge or input of the people who will be required to follow said lists who will be criticized when they don’t follow the lists correctly..
• It’s as simple as that.

Notice that nowhere in this post were the words “education” or “students” mentioned. Hello! Why would they be?