It's Nothing Personal. It's Just Business.

"Do your part, and I'll do mine." It's a statement which you will most commonly hear from your teachers in high school and sometimes in college. It's a statement which implies business, rather than personal ties. As it suggests, it's more like a business deal more than a matter of trust. Trust? Well you do entrust your efforts to your educator with hopes that he will do his part by rewarding you for it.  Well, we do consider this idea, but let's try to look a tad bit closer. You'd find that it's particularly a means of trade, a "give and take" sort of system.

Ah, sometimes you should take it as plain and simple as it is. But let's consider the connotative meaning of this. Consider the thought that it may be a form of defense mechanism of the teacher.It's like a big sign post on his head saying, "If you FAIL, I have NO part of it." This is a dreadful gesture of irresponsibility, ironically, of the TEACHER'S PART. Somehow, the teacher is implying that his performance is based on and defined by the students'. In an educational institution, no, in the entire system itself, it is the TEACHERS who should give first and then take. Pupils enter school equipped with only the little knowledge they have gained at home. It is the system's responsibility and the teachers' duty to make sure that these pupils will be armed to the teeth to face and survive the great battle of life and become productive members of the community.

Now there might be a few questions and violent reactions that may be lurking around since, after all, this is an unpopular opinion. Hold on for a sec. I'm not saying that a teacher should pass you if you don't do squat and are lazy as shit. I'm also not saying that this applies to ALL educators that might have used this statement. I'm just saying that such a statement of poor choice of words is detrimental even to the slowest pupil in class. "Do YOUR part, and I'll do MINE". See? Doesn't that suggest something like "Be a good student then I'll be a good teacher,"? As an educator, he should do his best regardless of the class and the people in it. It is his responsibility, his duty, his obligation. It's written on their magna carta. When a student in your class, for example, is having a hard time to cope, regardless of it being intentional or unintentional, do YOUR BEST, bruv. If he's not "doing his part", then let the system flunk him and make him repeat the bloody term., but as of you, DO NOT ABANDON THE KID. This is why there's a stigma of "terror teachers". Kids nowadays fear these "terror eachers" for they believe that regardless of their work, they're still in the mercy of these educators. They're afraid that they will be betrayed and that the educator might not keep "his end of the deal". 

This leads me te RESPECT. Yes, respect. Personally, I give my respect to authority right off the bat not only because of the fact that I'm a proper nationalistic, law-abiding, God-fearing citizen, but also of of the thought that those in authority had their share of struggles to become who they are now in front of me. But not all teachers should expect that ALL their students to be as "submissive" as I am. There are prideful, arrogant, egotistical, or conflicted youth in which you have to "earn" their respect, which leads me to the saying, "To get respect, you've got to earn it by giving it." As an educator, you don't have to please us or compliment us or commend us etc. You respect us by giving us what we came to school for. You respect us when you don't underestimate us (which is by the way, a form of descrimination.) To respect us is simple, come in prepared. Be professional. You don't expect respect from us when you come in and sit down and give us handouts and paperwork. We don't pay you to give us a copy of something we can printout and read at home. We want verbal and at the same time, visual dispersion of information. We want HUMAN INTERACTION. Come in the class as if you WANT to teach us. We may not at first WANT to go to school since we only NEED to, it is still your job to make us interested, then inspired, and lastly, invested. Through this, you give us a reason greater than "need" to go to school. If you come in and teach us with everything you've got, you make us feel special, wanted. You make us feel important, crucial and essential future contributors and members of the community. 

So it all boils down to this... If you don't fail us, I promise you, we will not fail you.

P.S. I respect educators right off the bat, but again, if you treat us like a fool by making a fool out of yourself in front, well... figure it out =)

Faith

It's been quite some time since I last blogged. So to my loyal readers out there, if any of course, here's another blog that I felt like sharing.

I'm  not entirely religious nor am I sentimental, but believe me when I tell you that He is around. When people talk about religion, it's a matter of science and fiction, bias and perspective. I my personal experience, it's a matter of faith. Faith is such a powerful thing. For something intangible yet more present than anything else, it has decided the flow of events which have made history in international and personal matters. Combined with determination, faith can make ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things. "When there's a will, there's a way," as most people would say it. Well, let me add something to that, "When there's faith, there's hope". What both things have is positive energy, and it's this energy that keeps us sharp and strong. It's what makes our heart, soul, and spirit incorruptible. To be honest, faith has saved me countless of times over the years.

Five years ago when I was still in primary education, I desperately wanted to become a science high school student. It's not that I'm arrogant or that I wanted to be better in any way than my fellowmen, but it's just my family's culture, tradition, my upbringing, in which HONOR, PRIDE and PRESTIGE are what define me as a generation of my family and a member of our home. This was the main reason I wanted to become a science high schooler, not the idea that their curriculum is slightly advanced than others, because frankly, I don't believe in that nonsense. So I prayed and prayed, and guess what. I passed the entrance exam.

Here comes the funny part. When I was already a science high school student, specifically Paranaque Science High School (I passed MakSci and ManSci, but this was closest to home), I then prayed to survive my four years without any issues. You see, every science high school has a probation system. When you get a single subject with a final grade any lower than 85, you've got one year to change your fate or you're out of the program. In my 2nd and 4th year, a lot of people got taken out of the program (kicked out), and some of my friends were on probation. Everybody was worried and so was I. Honestly, I don't study. I never study, for that matter. It's not a feat that I'm proud of, but what I lacked in effort I made of for prayers HAHA, go figure. By the time that I graduated, I have managed to survive four years without ever being on probation.

Also during my 4th year, I was about to take the entrance examination for the Philippine Military Academy. I had prepared for this since I was a kid. Again, I didn't review anything. When judgement day came, I passed the exam and came in ranked 186th of the 300 quota of the 2000+ passers of the 20,000+ applicants nationwide! But it wasn't over for me. There was still another exam -CPE or the Complete Physical Examination. We would undergo a thorough medical evaluation (you have no idea what cadet applicants go through here. I really mean THOROUGH like a finger up your ***-kind of thorough). I had to undergo a lot of medical and surgical operations to be fit enough for the Academy. Aside from that, I was ranked 97th most physically fit of the 300 quota. From that point on, I lived, even for a short while, a glory that can never be replaced. Again, I had my god to thank for that.

When I stepped foot on the Academy, that's when I was greatly humbled. I'd get to be beaten every day and night, starved as I was deprived of food, and forced to comply exercises which my malnourished body obviously cannot cope. That's when my wishes and prayers became very simple. In the silence of the room when my squadmates are dead asleep, I would pray silently, whispering to God's listening ears. "Please make my squad leader feed me tomorrow," "Please give him a good heart and mood to no make me do a push-up for every letter in a letter my mother sends me," "Please give me the strength to stay for I do not want to go home a half a man and  a great dissappointment to my father." He gave me the first two, but he didn't give me the last. Nonetheless, I kept praying. He gave me an opportunity to find myself. He gave me a choice, and I decided on my own. He was helping me in a way that I could use my legs and help myself. What makes me love Him more is that despite all my failures in life, His plans never fail. Here I am, a student at a prestigious school such as APC, a member of APC Speaks where I can openly speak out my mind and heart, and a new family has opened their arms to me. Life can't always be up nor always down. It's the struggles in life which makes us human. After all, we're not like animals that eat, sleep, populate, die, and repear, right? This is what God made for humans to differ from animals. He lets us live our own lives the way that we need to and the way that we WANT to. So have faith. Whn the time comes that science and man cannot explain certain events and happenings in life, it's best to believe in a higher power. That's where you get the inspiration and enlightenment. Amen. HAHA