BY EDISON MARTE SICAD
“CLASS, whether you like it or not, you will pass my subject.”
I was surprised when our teacher said this—in our very first meeting! It was the best introduction I ever heard. As a student, knowing that I will not fail was indeed inspiring: it made me confident to attend the class. But as an afterthought I wondered, “If now I know that I will pass, what’s the point then of showing up for the next class?”
Was our teacher doing the right thing? Was the message timely and encouraging for all intents and purposes? Were the students shortchanged of their learning? As far as I could remember, no one from my classmates complained about it (We all did pass—as promised).
If it is possible that all can pass, would it also be possible that everyone will fail? Can the students be so good that they all get a passing mark? On the contrary, can a teacher be that bad that no one will be able to reach the standard and thus, many, if not, all will fail?
Some public school teachers would also say, “I am constrained to make everyone pass. That way, I will no longer spend time justifying the failing marks. What with all the reporting (in rigorous detail) about interventions and remedials that I am required to do (going house-to-house, crossing rivers, hiking, and other “fulfilling” overtime work)!
In other words, when a student fails, it is primarily the fault of the teacher. And some parents—and principals—do lash out at teachers for not doing enough, for not explaining very well, for not spending more time with the student—while the student is busy with TikTok and complains of mental depression due to overwhelming schoolwork (Yeah, right).
Teachers would rebel (in silence). Indeed, why bother with all the trouble? Just give a passing grade. Hopefully, the next teacher can be of help. If not, then the next, and so on, until upon reaching high school, the student can barely read or write a sentence.
Why did it come to this?
Because the failure of the student is now the stigma of the teacher. As dramatized by Bea Alonzo, “Pero bakit parang galit ka? Pero bakit kasalanan ko? Parang kasalanan ko…”
Ooo nga naman Bea. Bakit parang kasalanan ni ma’am palagi kung bagsak ang estudyante? Bakit si sir ang mali eh meron na ngang answer key? Bakit puno ng galit at kimkim na sama ng loob ang mga magulang sa gurong nagbigay nang marka na naaayun sa abilidad ng kanilang anak?
As the saying goes, “No child must be left behind.”
And so, the teachers, whether they like it or not, make all their students pass.
Looking back, maybe our teacher then did not want this kind of drama. So, at the start, he made it all clear. No pretensions. And so, with no threat of failing and with no compulsion of attending, our class truly became just a gathering for learning: education, for all intents and purposes.
Were we all present? No. Some of us would be absent (guilty here). Most would be late (guilty again). But he was there, just teaching in his own weird way: sharing stories, telling jokes, giving scenarios that made us think.
I know that not everyone will agree with his teaching style. And I do admit that he has his own flaws. Because he was not strict, we rarely had complete attendance. But he was there.
In fact, his presence and our “voluntary” attendance made me more confident of him that he was serious in teaching us.
But there is one thing I learned from him: the importance of confidence.
I am sharing this learning because of one observation as a teacher: most of the difficulties encountered by students could come from their lack of confidence that they can learn the subject.
Despite all the support (and sometimes considerations), students now easily get discouraged. They want everything at an instant. If the lesson requires longer explanations and reading demands more pages, they immediately complain that it is hard and therefore they can’t do it.
There is no need to look for a missing leader in times of tragedy (the fact that he got trending for not being there is a tragedy in itself). We just have to observe how students now behave in times of adversity and uncertainty. With that, we can already somehow identify the crisis we are in: a Crisis in Confidence.
And now, some irony and a bit of sarcasm that may hurt (just to be clear at the outset):
1. I do believe that more teenagers are mentally depressed now not because they were exposed to harmful things. Quite the contrary actually, we have been protecting them in a bubble of classroom comfort and considerations making sure not to hurt their feelings (and the outside world doesn’t give a damn about their feelings).
2. There is one thing that we, especially the parents, must teach the youth of today: that is toughness. Toughness of will and dedication. We also call this Adversity Quotient. The ability to withstand pressure and stay focus on the goal despite (repeated) failures. The problem is some students do not have time for goals. They are busy being “liked”.
3. Sometimes, the problem here is that schools have become experts in punishing students with schoolwork for the sake of coverage and not for the sake of learning.
I do wonder, and I hope the readers have answers to these questions:
“Why do students commit suicide if learning is all about the improvement of the Self?”
“Why do students get depressed if the school is a child-friendly zone?”
“Why do teachers leave or get disappointed if teaching IS THE NOBLEST PROFESSION?”
IN CLOSING, I am not playing a blame-game here. I am just trying to lay out the complexity of learning vis-à-vis the profession of teaching. And as what I learned from Ken Robinson, a teacher can work all day long and at the end of the day would either feel fulfilled or drained; fulfilled for knowing that all the hard work contributed to real learning; drained for knowing that students only did busy work for the sake of the coverage.
May we all create that confidence in the classroom for not giving up. That we are in class not just to cover things that students will eventually forget. That we are teaching to empower students that they can learn how to learn. That the school environment would not just be grade-conscious but more importantly character-focused. This, I believe, makes Teaching as the Noblest Profession./PN
