Q.
I can do whatever I want with her. She doesn’t mind, she doesn’t care anymore.
Q.
Yes, anything.
Q.
If she didn’t want to do it she would say something, wouldn’t she.
Q.
I guess she used to say something at first, about how she didn’t want to do it. How she wasn’t the kind of person who would let other people do things like that to her. But she let me do it anyway. Well, I think she tried to stop me but surely if she had meant it she would have tried harder. And if she had meant it she would not have stopped saying anything. It’s a common pattern. I see it all the time at the Academy. The newbies come with their long hair and scrawny bodies and complain
about everything. But you have to do what’s right for them. Cut their hair off and put them through their paces until they stop complaining. That’s when they realize we’re doing what’s right for them.
Q.
But she is a fucking human being, isn’t she. The rules are the same.
Q.
Like I said if she didn’t want to do it she would say something. But she doesn’t. Go ask her yourself.
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Q.
Thank you for coming. Yes, I am the executive manager at this paper supply company.
Q.
Sure, anytime. I can see how this interview could be important for a study on power. And as hard as it is with my schedule, I am always ready to do my bit for science.
Q.
Well, I basically run this firm. All orders and contracts are signed by me. I coordinate market
research into the paper needs of this area to make sure we have exactly the kind of paper our customers need. I organize quality assurance checks to make sure our customers get paper of the best quality. I oversee the running of this office to make sure the atmosphere is professional and productive to business. I even have to sign the delivery receipts on every order! It’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it.
Q.
I definitely think I have a tough job. If you think about it, it is one of the toughest jobs out there. And I can see you smirking. I am not surprised. The toughest part of my job is to deal with people who think I sit at my desk and practice my signature all day.
Q.
Let me give you an example of the kind of things I have to deal with on a daily basis. Just yesterday we had a call from a nursery school in the next county whose paper supplier had not delivered their paper for the last two weeks. Their paper supplies were running out and some classes had even resorted to using medium ruled office paper. Can you imagine those tiny hands trying to fit their shaky handwriting into medium ruled paper? You might as well have asked them to write with their hands tied behind their backs.
Q.
As soon as I found out I used some of my contacts and got Graham Paper Works to send us some wide ruled paper that same day. We sent the paper to the school first thing this morning and I just got a call from the head teacher thanking me for restoring wide ruled paper in all the classes. There you go. An entire school is now running smoothly thanks to me and my company. And we do this day in and day out. We’re like firemen, just without the medals. Not that we want medals or
anything. We just do what we have to do.
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Q.
I’m flattered that you’d ask me and would love to help you with your work, but I really don’t understand how I fit into your study.
Q.
I stand at the front of a room and talk for two hours, three times a week. Anybody in my class may chose to leave at any time. I guess I do check assignments and assign grades, but again they chose to come to my classes. They may leave my class anytime they want. They may leave the University anytime they want.
Q.
I admit, few of them actually do. But that’s not the point. They have a way out. True power is exerted on people who can’t escape.
Q.
You can think of them as mice trapped in a hole in the wall. They know a cat is out there and may risk running out anytime they choose. But they do the smart thing; they make their home in the wall. If you think of it like that then yes, I do have a certain amount of power. Not that I would ever use it.
Q.
In the simplest sense, I have the power to keep them in a room for two hours, three times a week. I may sing and dance or jump from desk to desk and nobody can stop me. Or I could convince them that murder is sometimes acceptable. Not that I would ever want to.
Q.
Don’t be scared. That was just an extreme example. I’ll give you something more palatable. Take calculus. You spend your entire life thinking that it is impossible to divide a number by zero, your calculator gives an error when you try to do so and even your own reason has accepted the fact that it is just impossible to distribute something amongst zero people. But all it takes is one high school math teacher who probably failed her PhD qualifier four times before she was asked to leave her graduate program, to convince you that, in theory, you can divide by zero. And on the basis of this claim, you spend at least the next eight years exploring a world whose fundamental theorem you thought to be impossible until you took that class.That is the power of a teacher. Not that it should ever be used to convince somebody that murder is sometimes acceptable. No. I have never even thought of doing anything like that.
Written By: Mariyam Khalid
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