The Payoff

"She's perfect."

"I agree. She's perfect. The best one for the job."

"Exactly. She's the best fit out of all the ones we've considered."

"There's just one problem."

"What? That can't be!"

"She doesn't want the job."

"How do you know?"

"I just know. She's not interested in fame and fortune."

"Even if the fame and fortune were handed to her on a silver platter?"

"Not even then."

"I don't believe it. Everybody has a price, ultimately."

"Then let's figure out what her price is and offer it to her."

"Right. She's the best person for the job, man or woman. We'll convince her."

"You're right. Even women's heads can be turned by the thought of having power."

"And as soon as she agrees, we'll have her by the ba... or rather, by the ovaries."

(Chuckles all around.)

And so the handlers - for want of a better word - set about the task of convincing the woman to be selected as a candidate for President. The woman had a name, but we're going to call her Anna Lee. Too many women have been anonymous throughout the centuries, and we don't want her to be in that situation.

Thus Anna Lee was, in fact, chosen as their candidate. She had accepted because the handlers had told her, had very clearly promised her:

"If you run for President, we can promise you that you will win."

"When you win, you will become the most powerful woman - the most powerful person, sorry - in the world."

"All you have to do in order to ensure this whole process goes correctly, is to agree to one thing."

"???"

"Plus, you will become extremely rich. That alone should be incentive enough."

"???"

The ball was rolling and there was no stopping it. Ms. Lee - who was also Dr. Lee - allowed herself to be rolled along with it. After all, she had admitted the bribe, the die was cast, so to speak. If her conscience prickled from time to time, she pushed the feeling aside, knowing it was, all, for a good cause.

The strategy had worked. Everybody knew women were better leaders because they were less aggressive and could be ordered around more easily. Anna looked calm and almost meek. She would be able to get away with a lot of things and the people would think she was doing it all for them, for the good of the country. Perfect.

Ms. (Dr.) Anna Lee stood on the dais, her left hand on the Bible she had only opened as a girl, and recited the oath of office for the Presidency which, of course, she had won. Her handlers had seen to that. Money - and threats - can make anything happen, make any dream come true. She had sold her soul - so Faustian, so Stephen King - for wealth and power.

Was there any difference between those two things?

"She's perfect."

"Yes, she was the perfect choice."

"Now all she has to do is follow the rules."

"She'll do that, if she knows what's good for her."

While she stood on the dais, her left hand on the Bible, President Dr. Ms. Anna Lee - nobody knew if that was her maiden name or her married name and nobody had been told - sensed her handlers - her name for them was something we'll reveal at another time - leaning in close. It was certainly not her perfume, since she had never worn any. They were leaning toward her in order to issue instructions, or directions, or orders. Probably the latter.

Dr. Lee listened closely but discretely to what was being communicated to her while the whole world was watching but was mistakenly following the swearing-in ritual and the Bible. If anything, she was especially good at multitasking. Meanwhile:

"Remember your promise. You said you would always put the government first, would always put this country first, no matter what the cost. In terms of financial backing or of human lives."

"Yes, you agreed not to forget that and when you did, you agreed to any means necessary to maintain our hegemony over the rest of the world - whatever that means."

Dr. Anna Lee knew the meaning of that word, "hegemony." It had been one of the spelling words in her sixth grade elementary class. She also knew what some people - people, but also groups, political parties, handlers - thought about somebody being in control.

Ego-growing power was happening as she was thinking. She didn't mind that.

The presidency began. The threads became ropes and it became time to assert her authority. She was not concerned. The campaign platform had designated education as the focus. It had been decided. Anna also knew what was intended: putting the country first meant putting our country first, and our referred to our government, which in the end meant, simply, the government of those who had put the President in power. Our government meant nothing more - and definitely nothing less - than the ones who had selected the person to head that government.

Thus began the term of the first woman president of the - supposedly but in reality not - very liberal country. The country that believed in justice. Fairness. Equality. All with a dose of puritanical - and racist, or ignorant - beliefs. Quite a dangerous platform.

Choosing to ignore all of this, Anna began to walk the fine line she had chosen. This meant she had to fly the flag of education. Learning for all, teaching to learn. 

It was easier said than done. The teachers were part of the problem, even when they were not to blame. Anna knew the roots went deep, and the first thing was to stop trying to teach the teachers how to teach. She knew this because the teachers had been herded into Education programs where they were dumbed down, brainwashed into thinking that knowing how to teach and assess meant you didn't need to know a whit about what you were teaching.

President Lee was determined to put a stop to that. First you showed what you knew, then you showed how to test it or teach it. But teaching had turned into testing and teaching beans. All teachers did was to count. They were supposed to teach things like a foreign language, but they had no clue about how one learns a language. They didn't care, because they had to show they could keep their jobs. Jobs depended on how many students passed the Spanish II exam, not on what they could do with Spanish outside the classroom.

The handlers were watching. They were always watching. Anna was not stupid. She knew what needed to be done.

President Lee named her team of education advisers as well as a think tank to decide how the system could be overhauled. The changes in the education system had been so gradual and logical that it was hard to comprehend the damage that had been done. Anna knew, because she had grown up with an intelligent education system, one that really was about learning - before the handlers had stepped in, Not her handlers but ones of an earlier generation.

Changes had to be handled very carefully.

Changes had to be subtle. The President knew how to do that. A complete overhaul of the curriculum would be an important step. At the same time, education at the top needed a look-see. Who was making the decisions about who was worthy of leading a classroom? There were horror stories to be told as far as that went. 

A "fully certified" teacher in - say - a foreign language did not have to have a decent level of proficiency in that language. The way they counted "credits" in the School of Education showed how ignorant the faculty were. Nobody needs the gory details, but the college students who were the worst in the languages they intended to teach were the worst in the languages they studied.

If an Education student needed more language credits in French, it was always possible to insert Russian or German or Spanish to meet the required credit hours. 

And you could teach a language without even having studied it, if they needed a teacher and you needed a job. Plus, you can demand to be allowed in a course because you have a job you're not certified for and you need to be allowed to teach it.

So President Dr. Anna Lee ruled that: 

• teachers would need to be competent in their disciplines before they were hired

• bean-counting tests that took up teaching tine were illegal
• teachers would not teach, but help students learn

So easy and so refreshingly subversive. The President expected that everybody would buy in to her ideas before they realized what the changes really meant, which was:

• rearranging the curriculum
• rethinking why education is necessary
• eliminating items peripheral to education to use budget monies wisely

The handlers were starting to get uneasy, because they didn't understand what was going on. When they weren't in control or didn't feel in control, they felt uncomfortable. They were used to being the ones calling the shots. Sometimes, when they were focused on war games that were not games, those shots were very literal. It was too easy for them to feel lost, and uncomfortable.

By now it was too late. Some lines of communication had frayed and dissipated. The President was busy and not inclined to listen to the distractions of her handlers. She was meeting with her advisors on Education, after which she would be meeting with her - secret, because they alwaus are - think tank. 

Here are the results of those meetings:

1. The Education Advisory Group strongly recommends that there be a total overhaul of the curriculum, starting with K-12 and continuing to the final level, whether it be 12 or 16. The Corre Currciculum must be centered around The Arts, which everybody knows includes music, dance, theater, visual art, literature, and more. Nothing will change if this is not done. If the world is to avoid the next war, this must happen within the year.

1. The think tank strongly recommends that as soon as The Arts focus for the education curriculum is adopted, each school should create its "Lost Arts" course. The content may vary according to the region, but could include: ceramics, foraging and herbal remedies, weaving with local fibers, carving and carpintry. The think tank fully comprehend that the natural materials available to people will influence what can be made. The point is to learn to practice skills that were once known in the area. We need to know more about our grandparents' lore.

*****

Dear Readers:

You may well think that the previous story is a fable, and that it has not been completed. You are correct. It would speak well of us to imagine an end to the tale, and our personal views would decide whether the first woman President of an important and powerful contry was successful in carrying out her campaign promise to improve education in that country.

It is very possible that she achieved her goal.

More important for us is to consider what the curriculum reforms might actually mean. 

Don't walk away. Please stay tuned for the second part of the first term of presidency of Anna Lee. We say first term because when she accepted the bribe, she also bargained, asking for the guarantee of two terms. She knew the changes she wanted would not happen overnight.

There should be more women making those decisions. More women, and more people.