BY EDISON MARTE SICAD
IT WAS never my plan to become a teacher. Mass media taught me that a teacher’s life looks good only during a campaign period. Not in the sense that a teacher belongs to the political arena, but because of this noble slogan: “Education for All!”
And “Education”, now a campaign battle cry and not just a political white noise, could make a teacher whimper. Unfortunately, in politics, a teacher may just end up as a collateral damage for the sake of another noble slogan: Public Service.
But still, to my surprise, I ended up as a teacher. At first, I planned to become a lawyer and defend the defenseless. But instead of hearing the bang of a gavel while in my glamorous suit, I hear the periodic ring of a bell, convincing myself, that despite the ironic condescending advice of some parents, “Mag teacher ka na lang.”, teaching is still an Ennobling Profession.
But I will forever remain a student. The longer I teach, the more I realized that I know very little. In some class discussions, I would admit that my students know more about the lesson. My classes would then become a learning experience for me.
Maybe a teacher, in planning a lesson, instead of just asking what my students will learn, can also ask, “At the end of this lesson, what can I learn from my students?”. In this way, having a class is not just students knowing more about their lessons; it can also be teachers knowing more about their students.
In other words, the student is the subject (pun intended) and not the content. I think this is what teaching is all about: not only that the student knows more content; but also, with the help of the teacher, that the student knows more about one’s own self.
Teaching then becomes a Lifelong Learning. For knowing the Self is a lifelong pursuit. And this is what makes teaching ennobling. Education then is really for all. For we all have a Self to define, to look for; and when found, to continually nourish.
To educate is to edify. As aptly put by Jovito Salonga, “But there is one thing that we should always remember and it is this — that far more important than the making of a living, is a living of life — a good life, a meaningful life, an abundant life.”
And as what my Grade 12 student wrote in his essay, “I think that having the curiosity of a child is key to keep growing and finding oneself, so I plan to keep it aflame.”
I have come to realize that Identification is not just a Test Item; it is, more importantly a Test of Life. And that when I teach the same subject year after year, I pray that I will still have the curiosity of a child in learning, to have that sense of wonder, so that I will be ennobling in my teaching./PN
