Apples and Chalkdust

There were times when I could not understand why teachers stay in the profession. I am perfectly sure that many of us are as much qualified as those CEOs whose salaries are astronomically far higher than what many of us are receiving. Surely, teachers would always be happy to think that a student of ten years ago is now very much above in the ladder of success earning money twice the number of digits we are receiving now…, but isn’t that ironic? Rightly or wrongly, we should accept that many of us count success by the number of digits we have in our paychecks. Yet, most teachers, molders of persons and the fountain of all knowledge ever recorded, stays with the same classroom where we saw them ten years. Why do we stay? Rizal, a teacher himself, had long recognized that the youth is the future. I had imagined him thinking to himself , “but the future depends on me….” The future is in the teachers’ hands. Yes, that sounds so romantic, but should we romanticize the lot most ...

Teach me not... Every one should have known by now that it is dumb to force a duck lay all her golden eggs. Yet, many of us think only of the immediate comforts and forget about tomorrow. Worse, we became insensitive to everything outside us. Teachers are glaring examples. When I come into the classroom, I know that students will learn something from me- both good and bad-which may have eternal influence on them. Yes, everything I say, or ignore to say, will affect change in them. We are supposed to teach the students to be resourceful, to be responsible, to think of what is good to them and to everyone. But reality presents a different picture. Teachers are supposed to model to students how to be resourceful, responsible, and productive. I know of one teacher who told her students to buy tickets for the upcoming disco, which is a school fund-raising activity. To “motivate” the students, the teacher promised to add 5 points for each ticket bought. One student bought ...

I am not a teacher, but an awakener. Robert Frost Two days ago, in my grade eight class, a student said that school dulls the mind. He got the idea from someone else. Whether he understands the full extent of its meaning I do not know. I observed that schools in the Philippines, for so many students, are factories that produce learned ignoramuses. If teaching is a revolution, this revolution is courting a bleak future. Most of the revolutionaries are now disillusioned and lost. Our students are told to speak in English always since the individual success of a student is pegged on his ability to speak the language. I Observed that many teachers are impressed by those who could jumble the highfalutin' English words which most of the times are not understood by the speaker (the student) and by the listener (the teacher). These students were made to understand that “deep” words are better. Many students are made to parrot a parrot. Examine closely the examination ...