On the Insanity of Bureaucracy

On the Insanity of Bureaucracy (22nd October, 2008, 9.15am)

At the start of term, fresh and keen to learn,
my sixth-form class requested extra books to help
them with their work. I found them cheap on Ebay,
but the finance people gave me funny looks;
‘It doesn’t look good for the auditors’, they sighed,
‘when they check the records, so no way.’ ‘What?’ I cried,
‘even if it saves the school money? I know that budgets
are tight!’ But they had no sympathy for my plight,
not recognising it as their own. I was thrown,
but duly followed their advice; the system rules,
used their suppliers. I waited. Computer systems
malfunctioned. The order had to be repeated,
approved, re-approved, sent back for more
approval - really, buying books for a school?
How much approval is needed, you fools?
‘Did you know,’ I said, ‘the bookshop down the road
can get them overnight? Can’t we use them instead?’
‘No,’ was the reply. And so I waited. Half term came;
no sign of books; the sunny world descended into cold
and rain, and still no books came. I asked my boss;
he too seemed at a loss. I taught on, my students
struggling with concepts the books would have
explained; we relied on the Internet, that great
validated source of knowledge; all sources
acknowledged, verified and claimed. Shame.
Christmas came; holidays; new term. Today, I pass
the Head of Finance in the corridor; she asks,
‘Did you get those books for English class? -
You know, today, that they arrived at last?’
I pause; I look her in the eye and say,
‘Yes miss, but the exam was yesterday.’