Chiron Academy

Transcript Of A Meeting

I came to ask you if you would reconsider our job offer. May I come in? 

Well, I am not the biggest fan of the current administration but you caught me at a free moment. I guess can at least respect the office. Take a seat. Buckingham, was it? Any relation to Lindsey Buckingham?

I am afraid I'm not familiar.

He is the on-again-off-again guitarist to the band Fleetwood Mac. Though, limiting him to simply a guitarist is somewhat reductive given his and Stevie Nicks's influence on the band and their success. 

Interesting. I'll have to look into that. Family might get free tickets. He could become my favorite long-lost cousin. May I sit?

Of course. Can I get you a drink? I was just about to pour myself some whiskey.

Ah, a bit early for me, I'm afraid.

I like to think that if time is indeed relative, then the occasional jubilation is welcome anytime. It's not every day that you have an essay published in a famous publication.

Yes, your article in Boston University's Journal of Education. 

Hmm, you are well informed. But have you read it?

I did. I liked your emphasis on the need for continual innovation in education.

Socrates and his process of self-interrogation have existed for thousands of years and yet everyone in the field of education seems so willing to rest on their laurels. The few times they do, they go all in with it whether it's helpful or not, and refuse to reevaluate. We are still recovering from the nightmare that was No Child Left Behind.

Like the rise of the Whole Language in the 1980s.

Oh, you did read my article. Exactly. Getting rid of phonics in teaching children to read was new and exciting and so they changed how reading was taught throughout the country. And it continues to lurk in various curriculums to this day. The whole field, or rather the flash-in-the-pan populist politicians that actually decide education policy, only pull their heads out of the sand to shove it right back into a newer piece of ground. *drinks* ooh that is good whiskey. Are you sure I can't persuade you?

It would be wasted on me, I'm afraid. I never developed the pallet for whiskey. 

I envy your blissful ignorance. I adore a good whiskey. I know a delightful little brewer of scotch near Aberdeen that makes the best I have ever tasted. But my wife hates it when I spend that kind of money on liquor, fine as it may be. But that's domestic bliss for you. Are you married?

Only to the job, I'm afraid.

This *gestures to the bottle*, luckily, was a gift, so my wife need not worry.

You must have very generous admirers. Celebrating your article? 

My upcoming retirement actually. This next year will be my last as Dean of Education. 

A little young for retirement, aren't you? Seen enough blackboards in your life?

Something like that. And my granddaughter came to live with us and I figured why wait until I am too old to enjoy retirement to retire. Being a tenured professor is nice, but I have enough stored away and, well, there's more to life than money isn't there?

I wholeheartedly agree. That's why I came to ask you again about joining Project Chiron.

I am flattered by the offer but I must decline.

So you said over the phone the other day, but I thought if I was able to describe it to you in person, you might-

Look, you seem like a nice enough fellow, but I am afraid it just doesn't interest me.