America 1982-Chapter 50 - 8: Asymmetrical Trade_2
The Director of Public Education, the seventh-ranking official in the state government’s council, might seem far down the list, merely the seventh in line to succeed the Governor of Rhode Island, assuming the Governor-General, the Lieutenant Governor, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Auditor General, and the Treasurer all passed away, allowing for the assumption of the gubernatorial role of Rhode Island.
However, the position was quite substantial because it meant overseeing all public education affairs in Rhode Island, led by the Director and the State Board of Education, of which he was the Secretary-General.
All public schools that wished to apply for funding had to report to him, and if he disagreed, they could forget about receiving state financial allocations. The appointments or dismissals of all non-teaching administrative positions in public schools were also subject to his final assessment. To put it simply, within the American federal system where a state is equivalent to a country, this guy was essentially the Minister of Education for Rhode Island.
"So why are you so sure that they will accept your unsolicited application submission instead of just sending it back?" Tommy Hawk looked into Ottelia’s eyes and asked.
"Because the current Director of Public Education, Mr. Frank Chafee, is my godfather," Ottelia said. "But I didn’t change a single word of your application, I just previously... sent the application in an envelope with my name on it to his office."
"Then why did you decide to tell me? You’re doing it out of kindness, so according to your personality, you surely wouldn’t have told me," Tommy Hawk comforted the teacher in front of him, who looked guilty, "It’s okay."
Ottelia took a few deep breaths. "I’m not quite sure if what I’m doing now is wrong or right, because an hour ago, in the normal course of work, I rang Lincoln High School to report the situation and learned an astonishing piece of news. I don’t think it’s something we could achieve just by our own efforts, not that I’m denying your efforts, but it just... seems unrelated to efforts."
"What news?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
"You know, Princeton University doesn’t have official summer camps, right?"
"You mentioned in our previous conversation there were no official ones, but there were some summer activities unofficially participated in by departments or professors, of which you participated in one."
"Exactly, and the call I received was regarding that. The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University learned about the CSLS project and contacted Lincoln High School for information, showing that a professor from their school was somewhat interested in the Caribbean Sea region summer summit we mentioned. They wished for a more detailed summer camp content and asked Lincoln High School to fax a more comprehensive introduction of the event soon. Our principal took four attempts to verify the phone number was indeed from Princeton University before he believed he wasn’t dreaming. The school is now in a meeting, calculating the maximum salary they could afford if the other party really attended our summer camp. According to Mr. Farrell, who is already mentally disturbed, even if he had to make the Vice Principal Mr. McDaid and the Academic Dean Mrs. Walton moonlight as exotic dancers to earn money, they must seize this opportunity. He hopes you’ll complete your inspection as soon as possible and return to school to produce the most detailed and complete summer camp proposal. He will review it word by word himself before personally faxing it."
Tommy Hawk’s eyes widened unconsciously. A professor from Princeton University willing to attend a summer camp initiated by a public high school—that’s enormous. The principal willing to do exotic dancing? Heck, right now Tommy Hawk, with Dennis and Pam, would happily dance his way from Saint Vincent all along the streets back to Rhode Island—even if it meant exotic dancing—because, damn it, that’s Princeton!
Look at how many of these tours taking high school students on a mere stroll through Princeton University, with no actual academic plans, yet called summer camps filled to the brim this summer—scores of them! Parents of American high school students willing fork over the cash.
As long as the news was true, Tommy Hawk felt no need to promote anything else. Just attaching that Princeton professor’s name would have hundreds, if not thousands, of genuine elite high school students throwing their money at it.
Ottelia waited for Tommy Hawk to come back to his senses before whispering again, "And my godfather, he graduated from Princeton University. I think all of this is very likely related to him."
"Princeton, hundreds of kilometers away, couldn’t possibly have approached us after seeing our advertisement, right? We hadn’t even really started advertising yet. And even if they had seen the advertisement, they wouldn’t be interested in learning about a lowly high school’s summer camp," Tommy Hawk exhaled, looking out to the distant sea and took several deep breaths to digest the news before turning to face Ottelia:
"So, Mr. Farrell wanted me to add something to the application, didn’t he? No need to hide it, it must’ve been something he wanted added or changed. I understand, and it doesn’t matter what it is, there’s no problem, Miss Farell. Your godfather has given so much, so much that it feels unreal to me. Is it worth invoking the name of Princeton for just a summer camp? That’s terrifying. Doesn’t he know that the mere mention of Princeton will make countless high school students desperate for a connection flock to it? You might as well just establish a new one yourself," he said.
Ottelia bowed her head, seemingly still ashamed of her father’s words: "Putting your name modestly after mine, that was exactly how arrogantly he spoke back then."
"It’s not about putting my name behind yours; I could completely erase my own name and silence Dennis and Pam, who know too much, to prevent any leaks," Tommy Hawk made an exaggerated expression and said to Ottelia with a smile:
"You know, I had already felt that the world wasn’t quite real, because this little country is too perfect, like it was made for our summer camp. Black people, friendly and enlightened. Now, even more surreal news has arrived. Your godfather has thrown in something that makes the world seem even more absurd to me. Even if I were to recast the club with only your name, it would seem like nothing compared to what he has offered. It’s much too much. This is a completely unequal trade."
"I only hoped that when our funds were insufficient, perhaps seeing my name would lead the school to approve more funding for our activities. I never imagined it would come to this, Tommy. I never intended to take what’s yours. I even called him and my father just now, but they both denied it."
"Whether they admit it or not, it’s already meaningless; what matters is that they’ve made arrangements. What you can do now is not to let down these plans and indulgences made for you. I will withdraw the application once I’m back, make some revisions. I don’t mind. I’m doing this just to earn tuition and a flashy resume. Now that he’s added those four Princeton letters, it means that just by finishing this summer camp, I’ll have it all. And you know what? With the name of Princeton and this Prime Minister’s suggestions, I suddenly feel like our summer summit could actually become real," Tommy Hawk said, his eyes sparkling as he spoke to Ottelia:
"I mean a real summit for true elite American high school students, not just the kind of leadership camp for American youth like Dennis, who could think of getting the U.S. military to help catch wild boars."
