Elementary School Bureaucracy

When I worked in an elementary school I saw clear examples of a bureaucracy on a daily basis. First, there were “official jurisdictional areas… ordered by rules, that is, by laws or administrative regulations. (196)” This is to say, each person had their task and area they worked. The secretaries of the school handled all the paper work, the principals took care of the higher administrative duties and the teachers of course did the teaching. In this jurisdictional setup there was a hierarchy with the principal on top and the vice-principal below them, then Teachers and finally, secretaries. Both jurisdictions as well as Hierarchies are both in place to maintain clear ordered system of responsibilities which was also true for the school I worked at. Whenever I had a problem with my paycheck I would call Gwen, if I need time off I would call Sarah, or if I had an important problem I would find the principal. Each person at the school had their clear place in the hierarchy and because of that it allowed me to efficiently navigate the system.
Something else that became all too apparent was the role of documents in the office. Weber wrote, “The management of the modern office is based upon written documents…(197)” These ‘written documents became an everyday hassle for me at work, because for long period of time I was considered a “substitute” aid, which meant I had to go into the office everyday and check in which was a process of creating a new Sub-10 form and filling out all my hours and info. This was by no means efficient and was just an example of red tape.
Weber’s next condition for a bureaucracy is expertly trained official, and this was certainly true in schools, each worker had their specialization which they were specially trained for. The teacher I worked for had a special teaching credential and the principal had a master’s in education even some secretaries had to show they could type so many words per minute before getting the job. Each person at the school had their specific specialization and the training to go along with it. Another aspect of bureaucracy that I also found in schools was the use of one’s full working capacity while one was at work, as well as, the clear separation of work from home. This could be seen in the actions of my teachers and my fellow aids; if you were to call any of my fellow employees and asked them to help out at the school, they would most defiantly say no. However, if they were at work it is implied that they are there at their full working capacity to do whatever the teacher/school needs.
Weber outlines his last characteristic of bureaucracy as “The management of the office follows general rules, which are more or less stable, more or less exhaustive, and which can be learned (198).” This means that every bureaucracy, like schools, is managed through rules. An example of this was the two day period from 9:00- 2:00 where all we did was learn rule after rule from sexual harassment to what to do if a kid cuts himself. Through all these six characteristics it is easy to see how schools can play into the role of Weber’s a modern bureaucracy.