...IN FAITH, OF EXCELLENCE, FOR SERVICE
What happened?
I was an accidental teacher—so they said. Eight years ago, I was asked to substitute for a Biology class in St. Mary’s Academy, Dalaguete, Cebu. The Biology teacher, who happened to be my close friend, got married. I taught for about two months and for the next school year, got hired to teach Technology and Livelihood Education. I fell in love with my new work; thus, I opted to take up 18 Education units to equip me more for my newfound love. After seven years of teaching and at the same time studying, I earned my Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Today I am an accidental teacher no more. I am…a teacher.
Why did it happen?
I am a teacher today and it happens all for a reason. Fourteen years ago, I was a promising young doctor. Armed with zeal and idealism, I went home to Dalaguete only to be humbled by the realization that most patients could not afford the high costs of medical service and medicines. The tall order, therefore, was patient education rather than patient treatment and rehabilitation. I had to educate people how not to get sick and I thought the best person to start was with the young, the children. I became a teacher because I wanted to. I am a medical doctor by profession but by will and choice, I am today a teacher by vocation.
What could this mean?
Because I willed to become a teacher, the meaning of this is all so clear—I have a mission to fulfill. However, this mission was not apparent to me then. I thought I chose to be a teacher only to educate my students how not to get sick. I thought I chose to be a teacher only to educate my students. I realized I was wrong when I knew more Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo and the humble servanthood of this valiant woman. My being a teacher is God’s fulfillment in me of Mother Ignacia’s values of faith, excellence and service. My life today and my being a teacher is a call for me to a mission of faith, excellence and service.
What is the implication of this?
I am a teacher called to a mission of faith, excellence and service—Mother Ignacia’s core values. I believed in God the way every other Catholic does. I excelled in many things the way a ruthless competitor does. I served the way every other person does, expecting something in return. All these I was and I did before, not so unlike any other ordinary person. Nevertheless today, because I am a Marian-Ignacian teacher, I struggle to live an exemplary life of faith and prayer. I sacrifice a lot in the name of integrity, competence and discipline. I literally breathed with the poor, the weak and the unprivileged. I live and lead a simple life today. I am a teacher called to a mission…one happy teacher in faith, of excellence and for service.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
EDUCATION - Keystone to Freedom and Progress?
Former Education Secretary, Raul Roco once said, “Pag ikaw’y may edukasyon, para kang nakasandal sa pader.”
Why? What is education? Unfortunately, we Filipinos today have a wrong notion of what real education is. If our point of education is to land a job and work abroad as caregivers, then we might as well be not educated at all. If our point of education is merely to find gainful employment which more regrettably is where our current educational system now is predicated, then we might us well not go to school and turn these once very noble edifices of learning into what? Markets? Trading places? Or maybe not as worse, vocational schools?
The point of education is not just to enable students to work; it is to enable students to THINK. The point of education is not just to impart skills; it is to IMPART VISION. The point of education is not just to prepare the student to face the “outside world.” The point of education is to EDUCATE.
Ignorance comes not without a price. A lot has been clamoring for the high cost of education. I say, “Try ignorance. Can you afford the price of ignorance?” The problem why we Filipinos have not been totally liberated from the bondage of all which ail humankind is simply because most of us are ignorant. Sadly, we flaunt our literacy rate to be one of the highest in the world. But what kind of literacy are we talking about here? If we are almost all educated, then why do most of us are still poor and self-indulging from the crumbs of government officials who vulgarly parade there PhD degrees? All of us are literate because we have been to school once but most of us are functionally illiterate because we have not been taught how to think. Instead, we have been schooled in institutions which skilled us with all the tricks in the bag on how to be mediocre, on how to short-changed others, on how to make money easier by cheating, on how to live life to die a lot much faster than I can deliver this speech. Have we been taught how to think like human beings should do?
Education is liberating only, and only if it equates to functional literacy. I say, “You have been educated in the real sense. Why will you be able to proudly say now that you are free?”
I would like to go beyond what your traditional school taught you how to define freedom. According to what I learn from the school which teaches how to think, freedom is eternal happiness. Am I talking eschatological or something metaphysical here? Yes and yes to both.
When education becomes a way of liberating oneself from the burdens of what ail humankind and thus results to pleasure and joy, then education has served its purpose. Let us talk about poverty. The paucity of needs to sustain life and the worsening of our living conditions may be multi-factorial; thus, must not only be blamed to the President of this power-hungry nation. What really is the main reason of poverty which prevents us from enjoying life with much pleasure and joy? Simply, ignorance-the powerlessness to think! Most of us haven’t thought that we are not supposed to be poor. Most of us haven’t thought that we are supposed to be ruled by fair laws and not by unfair lawmakers. Most of us haven’t thought that we are not just to pray for food but to work for food. Most of us haven’t thought how to think at all! All because we have not been educated in the real sense. We are poor now and we will continue to wallow in poverty and misery if we will not think. Only then will education serve its purpose of freeing us from whatever ails humankind and consequently bringing us life full of pleasure and joy. May I not serve to bother your conscience now though. Education indeed can be the key to freedom; however, man in order to be totally free must get rid of himself from the quagmires of poverty. He has to think.
Poverty is the sole reason why we will not progress. Poverty, in fact, is the absence of progress. In order for the whole nation to progress, every citizen should be living in a condition worthy of human dignity. No segment of society should be left out. Yes, I believe this can be done by education for education is to impart vision not just skills. A truly educated person thinks of the future, has a vision of his future and works for the attainment of this future. Education therefore, makes one goal-oriented. Again, we would like to believe that ours is a country of literate Filipinos. But how come we are not progressive? How come still majority of us Filipinos live below the poverty line? How come dirty and sick children still roamed around city streets? How come women still sell themselves for even a few dollars less? How come fathers still left there families to work abroad? How come only a few managed to make it with life in this country? “We are educated,” I say, but why are we poor?
I don’t want to burden your heavy hearts now with more rhetoric. I have made my points clear. I believe and I will die with this belief that education indeed is the key to freedom, and that freedom is imperative for progress; but if we still cling on to that notion of education for work and not education for life, then we might as well die buried in stone slabs. For instead of a solid wall to lean on according to Secretary Raul Roco, the wall will come crashing heavily on our heads to make us think that education is there to educate! It would be too late to realize, for we will have been dead by then. In pace requiescat!
Why? What is education? Unfortunately, we Filipinos today have a wrong notion of what real education is. If our point of education is to land a job and work abroad as caregivers, then we might as well be not educated at all. If our point of education is merely to find gainful employment which more regrettably is where our current educational system now is predicated, then we might us well not go to school and turn these once very noble edifices of learning into what? Markets? Trading places? Or maybe not as worse, vocational schools?
The point of education is not just to enable students to work; it is to enable students to THINK. The point of education is not just to impart skills; it is to IMPART VISION. The point of education is not just to prepare the student to face the “outside world.” The point of education is to EDUCATE.
Ignorance comes not without a price. A lot has been clamoring for the high cost of education. I say, “Try ignorance. Can you afford the price of ignorance?” The problem why we Filipinos have not been totally liberated from the bondage of all which ail humankind is simply because most of us are ignorant. Sadly, we flaunt our literacy rate to be one of the highest in the world. But what kind of literacy are we talking about here? If we are almost all educated, then why do most of us are still poor and self-indulging from the crumbs of government officials who vulgarly parade there PhD degrees? All of us are literate because we have been to school once but most of us are functionally illiterate because we have not been taught how to think. Instead, we have been schooled in institutions which skilled us with all the tricks in the bag on how to be mediocre, on how to short-changed others, on how to make money easier by cheating, on how to live life to die a lot much faster than I can deliver this speech. Have we been taught how to think like human beings should do?
Education is liberating only, and only if it equates to functional literacy. I say, “You have been educated in the real sense. Why will you be able to proudly say now that you are free?”
I would like to go beyond what your traditional school taught you how to define freedom. According to what I learn from the school which teaches how to think, freedom is eternal happiness. Am I talking eschatological or something metaphysical here? Yes and yes to both.
When education becomes a way of liberating oneself from the burdens of what ail humankind and thus results to pleasure and joy, then education has served its purpose. Let us talk about poverty. The paucity of needs to sustain life and the worsening of our living conditions may be multi-factorial; thus, must not only be blamed to the President of this power-hungry nation. What really is the main reason of poverty which prevents us from enjoying life with much pleasure and joy? Simply, ignorance-the powerlessness to think! Most of us haven’t thought that we are not supposed to be poor. Most of us haven’t thought that we are supposed to be ruled by fair laws and not by unfair lawmakers. Most of us haven’t thought that we are not just to pray for food but to work for food. Most of us haven’t thought how to think at all! All because we have not been educated in the real sense. We are poor now and we will continue to wallow in poverty and misery if we will not think. Only then will education serve its purpose of freeing us from whatever ails humankind and consequently bringing us life full of pleasure and joy. May I not serve to bother your conscience now though. Education indeed can be the key to freedom; however, man in order to be totally free must get rid of himself from the quagmires of poverty. He has to think.
Poverty is the sole reason why we will not progress. Poverty, in fact, is the absence of progress. In order for the whole nation to progress, every citizen should be living in a condition worthy of human dignity. No segment of society should be left out. Yes, I believe this can be done by education for education is to impart vision not just skills. A truly educated person thinks of the future, has a vision of his future and works for the attainment of this future. Education therefore, makes one goal-oriented. Again, we would like to believe that ours is a country of literate Filipinos. But how come we are not progressive? How come still majority of us Filipinos live below the poverty line? How come dirty and sick children still roamed around city streets? How come women still sell themselves for even a few dollars less? How come fathers still left there families to work abroad? How come only a few managed to make it with life in this country? “We are educated,” I say, but why are we poor?
I don’t want to burden your heavy hearts now with more rhetoric. I have made my points clear. I believe and I will die with this belief that education indeed is the key to freedom, and that freedom is imperative for progress; but if we still cling on to that notion of education for work and not education for life, then we might as well die buried in stone slabs. For instead of a solid wall to lean on according to Secretary Raul Roco, the wall will come crashing heavily on our heads to make us think that education is there to educate! It would be too late to realize, for we will have been dead by then. In pace requiescat!
MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
…that scientific theory should be extrapolated and proven true in life’s greatest atrocities;
…that mathematical calculation should equate the poor and the oppressed with those basking in opulence;
…that language and the spoken words should break the silence of the dumb and set them free.
Because the world outside the four walls of the school is one humongous laboratory teeming with God’s living creation, it is my dream that once my students are out of the narrow confines of the school corridors, these young minds will have realized that real life is lived outside by real people in a more than surreal world.
…open their eyes and make them see that not a single scientific theory can ever justify the pains and irreverent losses of life in treacherous killings and senseless war;
…open their minds and make them realize that not a single mathematical logic can ever equate the poor and the opulent;
…open their ears and make them hear that not a single spoken language can ever set free the dumbfounded;
…open their eyes and open their ears and make them realize what real life is.
To accomplish these, I must do the following:
I will blind my students with prudence to make them see the repercussions tomorrow of their actions today;
I will flood them with temperance to make them rein and take hold of their passions and dispassions;
I will have them gain fortitude to make them win life’s seemingly intractable battles;
I will treat them with justice to make them deal fairly with themselves, their neighbors and God;
I will skill them with sound cognition, manual dexterity and unwavering determination for real life is not for the imbecile, the lazy and the indecisive.
These tall orders I set on myself can only be realized in holistic development and integral formation of my students. These can only be done in an environment that puts premium on diversity, in an atmosphere that encourages students to fail and redefine failures to become vehicles of success.
My instructional approach therefore should simulate real outside world. Team building and cooperation among students and teachers are not just encouraged but are must in order for all to have a full grasp of real life situations. The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning, a co-partner in the pedagogical process. In no way will he permeate sarcasm and cast doubts in the minds of the students.
Learning is structured and modular to fit in the core of my tasks. In the center of the educative process is the student. The curricula, school activities, classroom discussions and lesson plans are designed to insure total transformation of the students into Marian leaders molded from the harmonious intermarriage of global and scientific pedantry and the time-tested Christian virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
My instructional supervisory behavior revolves around collaborative decision making for a more cohesive and efficient organization. I have to maintain a highly motivated group of pedagogues acting as my co-equals by satisfying not only their basic wants for maintenance but rather indemnifying their autonomy and actualization needs. The spirit of collegiality, openness and friendly bantering of ideas and opinions permeates the organizational climate because of two way communication. My leadership style is eclectic – facilitative and transformative. I draw inspirations from Nehemiah, the biblical figure who rebuilt the fallen walls of Jerusalem in just fifty-two days which originally was built for more than a hundred years. Institutional changes move subtly from contentment before the issue of change is raised to chaos when the answers of the problem come then ultimately to self-renewal when confusions are settled.
Though my dreams, my visions seemed afar but a flicker of hope shines through. Gargantuan they may be, but I have to surmount the challenges and face the odds of the tasks in hand. Inspired by the humble servanthood of Mother Ignacia and the fiat of the Virgin Mother, I know I can and I more than know that I will and I should.
…that mathematical calculation should equate the poor and the oppressed with those basking in opulence;
…that language and the spoken words should break the silence of the dumb and set them free.
Because the world outside the four walls of the school is one humongous laboratory teeming with God’s living creation, it is my dream that once my students are out of the narrow confines of the school corridors, these young minds will have realized that real life is lived outside by real people in a more than surreal world.
…open their eyes and make them see that not a single scientific theory can ever justify the pains and irreverent losses of life in treacherous killings and senseless war;
…open their minds and make them realize that not a single mathematical logic can ever equate the poor and the opulent;
…open their ears and make them hear that not a single spoken language can ever set free the dumbfounded;
…open their eyes and open their ears and make them realize what real life is.
To accomplish these, I must do the following:
I will blind my students with prudence to make them see the repercussions tomorrow of their actions today;
I will flood them with temperance to make them rein and take hold of their passions and dispassions;
I will have them gain fortitude to make them win life’s seemingly intractable battles;
I will treat them with justice to make them deal fairly with themselves, their neighbors and God;
I will skill them with sound cognition, manual dexterity and unwavering determination for real life is not for the imbecile, the lazy and the indecisive.
These tall orders I set on myself can only be realized in holistic development and integral formation of my students. These can only be done in an environment that puts premium on diversity, in an atmosphere that encourages students to fail and redefine failures to become vehicles of success.
My instructional approach therefore should simulate real outside world. Team building and cooperation among students and teachers are not just encouraged but are must in order for all to have a full grasp of real life situations. The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning, a co-partner in the pedagogical process. In no way will he permeate sarcasm and cast doubts in the minds of the students.
Learning is structured and modular to fit in the core of my tasks. In the center of the educative process is the student. The curricula, school activities, classroom discussions and lesson plans are designed to insure total transformation of the students into Marian leaders molded from the harmonious intermarriage of global and scientific pedantry and the time-tested Christian virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
My instructional supervisory behavior revolves around collaborative decision making for a more cohesive and efficient organization. I have to maintain a highly motivated group of pedagogues acting as my co-equals by satisfying not only their basic wants for maintenance but rather indemnifying their autonomy and actualization needs. The spirit of collegiality, openness and friendly bantering of ideas and opinions permeates the organizational climate because of two way communication. My leadership style is eclectic – facilitative and transformative. I draw inspirations from Nehemiah, the biblical figure who rebuilt the fallen walls of Jerusalem in just fifty-two days which originally was built for more than a hundred years. Institutional changes move subtly from contentment before the issue of change is raised to chaos when the answers of the problem come then ultimately to self-renewal when confusions are settled.
Though my dreams, my visions seemed afar but a flicker of hope shines through. Gargantuan they may be, but I have to surmount the challenges and face the odds of the tasks in hand. Inspired by the humble servanthood of Mother Ignacia and the fiat of the Virgin Mother, I know I can and I more than know that I will and I should.
EXTRA CHALLENGE - Religio, Mores, Cultura
I will continue, O my God, to do all my actions for the love of You.
After this summer, I will be a graduate of De la Salle University, Manila—albeit unofficially. When I go home, I impose upon myself the challenge to live up to the Lasallian spirituality of faith, of ardent zeal to teach and of community. This imposition, however, is in no way a moral obligation which demands public censure when abandoned in unjustifiable oblivion. This apparently compelling act is a humble response to the Lasallian challenge of right relation with God, the right relation with my fellow men and women, and the right appreciation of my tradition.
Religio. John Baptist de la Salle’s faith in God is beyond question. When he “declassed” himself to live and lead a frugal life in order to be with the poor, demanded immense faith in God’s ultimate plan for him. I don’t know. Yet he persisted. Call it a blind faith but faith after all is blind. When I decided to rest from hospital practice, I blindly followed my heart which led me to a small Catholic high school in our place. I am a doctor by profession but by taking the risk eight years ago, I am now a teacher by vocation. I don’t know. Where would this lead me? I asked myself eight years ago. Now, I know. By taking a blind leap of faith, I found my Faith. Religio.
Mores. John Baptist de la Salle’s love for his fellow men and women is beyond question. When he “denounced” his priestly title (not the function) to become a brother, he showed to us all how he valued human relation next to God. From this extraordinary regard for his fellowmen sprang forth a unique brotherhood which brought to us a distinctive kind of Christ-centered education—the De la Salle schools. I will continue, O my God, to do all my actions for the love of You. I may have stopped listening heart beats with the stethoscope but in the process won the many innocent hearts of my students and their parents. With John’s inspiration, I hope to be instrumental in the success of whomever I have met and become a brother to. Mores.
Cultura. John Baptist de la Salle’s faith in God and his love for his fellowmen were all geared towards a true spirit of community. He preserved tradition but he was not traditional. He adhered to convention but he was not conventional. He revolutionized education yet he was not revolutionary. He preserved tradition; he adhered to convention and he revolutionized education all for the spirit of true community. He envisioned an almost perfect community where conventions were adhered to and traditions preserved for the future of humanity. I adore in all things, the will of God, in my regard. I am not John and never will I become him but with his humbling experience with God, I believed that in my own simple ways I can help preserve traditions and make life more bearable for all. I can do this by becoming one of the best Christian educators I can be. I have to live and conduct myself as one good model of Christian virtues. I am not perfect but with John de la Salle’s inspiration and example, I am more challenged to work hard to getting close to perfect. Nobody is perfect. Cultura.
Religio, Mores, Cultura. When I go home next month, it will not be a welcome of much pomp and pageantry because I have graduated from the premier university—the De la Salle University, Manila. When I go home next month, it will be of renewed vigor and spirit to accomplish the extra challenges which I have kindly imposed upon myself. Call me not a masochist for I am not. These self-imposed challenges of right relation with God, the right relation with my fellow men and women, and the right appreciation of my tradition fail dismally in comparison to what St. John Baptist de la Salle have done and have gone through. This self-imposed challenge is my humble response to a call for a unique spirituality that hinges on the spirit of faith, ardent pedagogical zeal and true community. Only then when I will have faced and won the challenges can I call myself a true blooded green archer for now I am not. Religio, Mores, Cultura.
Live Jesus in our hearts, forever!
(This was written three years ago, on my last summer in La Salle)
After this summer, I will be a graduate of De la Salle University, Manila—albeit unofficially. When I go home, I impose upon myself the challenge to live up to the Lasallian spirituality of faith, of ardent zeal to teach and of community. This imposition, however, is in no way a moral obligation which demands public censure when abandoned in unjustifiable oblivion. This apparently compelling act is a humble response to the Lasallian challenge of right relation with God, the right relation with my fellow men and women, and the right appreciation of my tradition.
Religio. John Baptist de la Salle’s faith in God is beyond question. When he “declassed” himself to live and lead a frugal life in order to be with the poor, demanded immense faith in God’s ultimate plan for him. I don’t know. Yet he persisted. Call it a blind faith but faith after all is blind. When I decided to rest from hospital practice, I blindly followed my heart which led me to a small Catholic high school in our place. I am a doctor by profession but by taking the risk eight years ago, I am now a teacher by vocation. I don’t know. Where would this lead me? I asked myself eight years ago. Now, I know. By taking a blind leap of faith, I found my Faith. Religio.
Mores. John Baptist de la Salle’s love for his fellow men and women is beyond question. When he “denounced” his priestly title (not the function) to become a brother, he showed to us all how he valued human relation next to God. From this extraordinary regard for his fellowmen sprang forth a unique brotherhood which brought to us a distinctive kind of Christ-centered education—the De la Salle schools. I will continue, O my God, to do all my actions for the love of You. I may have stopped listening heart beats with the stethoscope but in the process won the many innocent hearts of my students and their parents. With John’s inspiration, I hope to be instrumental in the success of whomever I have met and become a brother to. Mores.
Cultura. John Baptist de la Salle’s faith in God and his love for his fellowmen were all geared towards a true spirit of community. He preserved tradition but he was not traditional. He adhered to convention but he was not conventional. He revolutionized education yet he was not revolutionary. He preserved tradition; he adhered to convention and he revolutionized education all for the spirit of true community. He envisioned an almost perfect community where conventions were adhered to and traditions preserved for the future of humanity. I adore in all things, the will of God, in my regard. I am not John and never will I become him but with his humbling experience with God, I believed that in my own simple ways I can help preserve traditions and make life more bearable for all. I can do this by becoming one of the best Christian educators I can be. I have to live and conduct myself as one good model of Christian virtues. I am not perfect but with John de la Salle’s inspiration and example, I am more challenged to work hard to getting close to perfect. Nobody is perfect. Cultura.
Religio, Mores, Cultura. When I go home next month, it will not be a welcome of much pomp and pageantry because I have graduated from the premier university—the De la Salle University, Manila. When I go home next month, it will be of renewed vigor and spirit to accomplish the extra challenges which I have kindly imposed upon myself. Call me not a masochist for I am not. These self-imposed challenges of right relation with God, the right relation with my fellow men and women, and the right appreciation of my tradition fail dismally in comparison to what St. John Baptist de la Salle have done and have gone through. This self-imposed challenge is my humble response to a call for a unique spirituality that hinges on the spirit of faith, ardent pedagogical zeal and true community. Only then when I will have faced and won the challenges can I call myself a true blooded green archer for now I am not. Religio, Mores, Cultura.
Live Jesus in our hearts, forever!
(This was written three years ago, on my last summer in La Salle)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
PEDAGOGY OF THE HEART (VI)
The teacher as steward of the educative process can only be a liberating force if he touches not just the minds but the hearts of the students as well. Because of the deterioration of the basic education system in the Philippines, there is really a need for all teachers to reconsider shifting pedagogical paradigms-from mere spoon feeder of garbage to political agents of permanent human liberation. May we be the new breed of stewards entrusted with young minds and hearts hungry for knowledge that will create a surge of moral regeneration, that will boost some high to catatonic slumbering self-esteems that will have our future graduates wagering high stakes in global economy. According to Einstein, education is an opportunity for us all to enjoy life. We have only but one life to live but the lives we touch, the minds we nurture and the hearts we taught how to make a difference are a multitude. Let us therefore be the best teacher-stewards of our students for the greatest teacher of us all is Himself the best steward of all.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
PEDAGOGY OF THE HEART (V)
PARADIGM SHIFT: PROBLEM-POSING PEDAGOGY
Every shy and small step of a student, however, may lead this young innocent heart to his freedom (in eschatological sense) when the teachers today make a paradigm shift in the art of teaching - from banking to problem-posing pedagogy. This archetypal pedagogical shift not only nurtures the mind but also touches the heart. This is the kind of teacher stewardship that respects and nurtures the giftedness in the student to promote the growth of his person and the community where he belongs. The student becomes a co-equal in the pursuit of knowledge. He has the freedom to control the assimilation of facts and to engage in creating knowledge out of observed realities; hence, it deepens the student's inherent curiousity into a tool of inquiry. The teacher creates possibilities and paves the way for the production of knowledge. He does not force learning but manufactures knowledge through active dialogue with the student. This requires critical consciousness from the student for him to construct knowledge through consciously relating with the real world and what is happening around him. He develops awareness of societal realities and sees the world as a reality in the process of transformation leading him to help the world transform so in new directions. When the teacher touches the heart of his student, it carries out that human vocation of transforming reality rather than adapting to it.
Every shy and small step of a student, however, may lead this young innocent heart to his freedom (in eschatological sense) when the teachers today make a paradigm shift in the art of teaching - from banking to problem-posing pedagogy. This archetypal pedagogical shift not only nurtures the mind but also touches the heart. This is the kind of teacher stewardship that respects and nurtures the giftedness in the student to promote the growth of his person and the community where he belongs. The student becomes a co-equal in the pursuit of knowledge. He has the freedom to control the assimilation of facts and to engage in creating knowledge out of observed realities; hence, it deepens the student's inherent curiousity into a tool of inquiry. The teacher creates possibilities and paves the way for the production of knowledge. He does not force learning but manufactures knowledge through active dialogue with the student. This requires critical consciousness from the student for him to construct knowledge through consciously relating with the real world and what is happening around him. He develops awareness of societal realities and sees the world as a reality in the process of transformation leading him to help the world transform so in new directions. When the teacher touches the heart of his student, it carries out that human vocation of transforming reality rather than adapting to it.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
PEDAGOGY OF THE HEART (IV)
TEACHER-TRAP: BANKING PEDAGOGY
Every young students today falls a hapless victim to a teacher-trap of wrong stewardship. Although a sad fact, most students today sit in a class of banking pedagogy. Practiced by most teachers, this lackluster art of teaching grossly violates the student's humanity because it does not acknowledge his creative faculty. The teacher inside the classroom is the only all-knowing person and no one else. The moronic icon loads the student with all the facts, with all the knowledge he thinks the student must memorize without the latter being critically conscious about them. In this imbecilic exercise, the teacher suffocates the child's natural active curiosity and invalidly assesses learning by asking the student to recite like endless litany what garbage gets in the latter's young mind-withdrawing garbage from the empty mental vault. The student becomes a passive learner and the teacher (presumably thinking he is intelligent) assumes the role...of a mere spoon feeder. This is false stewardship because the teacher treats the student as an object in a system of knowledge. It wrongly portrays the world as static, finished and unchangeable; thus, it mirrors the dominating structure of an oppressive society.
Every young students today falls a hapless victim to a teacher-trap of wrong stewardship. Although a sad fact, most students today sit in a class of banking pedagogy. Practiced by most teachers, this lackluster art of teaching grossly violates the student's humanity because it does not acknowledge his creative faculty. The teacher inside the classroom is the only all-knowing person and no one else. The moronic icon loads the student with all the facts, with all the knowledge he thinks the student must memorize without the latter being critically conscious about them. In this imbecilic exercise, the teacher suffocates the child's natural active curiosity and invalidly assesses learning by asking the student to recite like endless litany what garbage gets in the latter's young mind-withdrawing garbage from the empty mental vault. The student becomes a passive learner and the teacher (presumably thinking he is intelligent) assumes the role...of a mere spoon feeder. This is false stewardship because the teacher treats the student as an object in a system of knowledge. It wrongly portrays the world as static, finished and unchangeable; thus, it mirrors the dominating structure of an oppressive society.
PEDAGOGY OF THE HEART (III)
CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIPThe deteriorating basic education system in the country has its toll ultimately on the psycho-spiritual frames of mind and economic potentials of the soon to be many Filipino graduates in higher education. Moral degeneration unfortunately has crept on almost every young Filipino's innocent mind. As if in demented stupor, phlegmatic personalities due to functional illiteracy have lowered some more every young Filipino's self-esteem. Sadly, in the global market, every Filipino graduate has been relegated to a mere spectator status, not the major player. All these things will continue to haunt every young Filipino child who goes to school because of the teachers' failure to live out stewardship based on Christian tenets.
PEDAGOGY OF THE HEART (II)
THE TEACHER AS STEWARD
A teacher engaged in the art of teaching is the steward of such a noble profession. Such art deals with real people - students intrinsically with emotions capable of reacting to any outside stimulus. Hence, an expert pedagogue is a morally good and emotionally stable person relating with young minds and hearts. Short of punning, a teacher being a steward of young minds and hearts must therefore engage in the practice of sound stewardship. This is generally manifested as the teacher disposing responsibly his time and talent for the love of his students. It is also evident if the teacher makes himself available for service where and when needed beyond what is expected generously, freely and voluntarily. This is also apparent when he respects and nurtures the giftedness in his students to promote the growth of persons and the community. Lastly, stewardship is reaching out to the least of the students tirelessly so that all may enjoy fullness of life in Jesus Christ. Only then can the educative process be a liberating force and a profitable venture as how Einstein believed it to be.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
PEDAGOGY OF THE HEART (I)
THE CHALLENGE TO THE TEACHER AS STEWARD
A Political Praxis for Permanent Human Liberation
A Political Praxis for Permanent Human Liberation
Nobody is more correct when the Man of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, once said,
"Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs."
Einstein believed that the educative process is a human force of liberation. Education was even wrongly touted to be the all-solution to the vicious cycle of poverty that forever haunts the Third World countries such as the Philippines. Erroneously, because the Philippines remains poor however she vulgarly flaunts her seemingly very high rate of literacy. The country is not graduating quality professionals, rather than mediocre peons drowned in the global competitiveness which now characterizes the new economy. Anybody though does not have to be a genius to surmise that there is really something wrong with the country's basic education system. Has the art of teaching deplorably become artless? There is therefore a call for a new pedagogy. The teacher as steward of the educative process can only be a liberating force if he touches not just the minds but the hearts of the students as well. (End of Part I)
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