The greatest achievement a teacher can ever behold is in the learning experience that he/she provides and such learning experience can be of good use to their individual lives and equipping them to become better partakers of development. My sole reason why I until now, I am into education as a career is because I am convinced of the redeeming powers of education. I believed that through education, one’s life and one’s community is transformed forever, to be more sensitive to the plight of many, aim for what is for the greater good even if it is unpopular and willing to sacrifice for the love of country and of God. This transformational powers of education has never been tapped until recently, when setbacks are felt in the modern Philippine society, wherein men and women, professional and dynamic youths and even to some extent, teachers and instructors are not anymore interested in playing a crucial role in protecting the inherent right of every Filipino and it is the right to search for the truth and learn from its bitter consequences.
Having said that, I have reflected on so many of my column articles that were published in many community newspapers that it is only through education that one is made to believe in the principles of truthfulness and democracy that is sanctioned in the rule of law. Our society, unfortunately, has not been successful in integrating the rule of law and equating this into something that truly reflects the collective attitude of every Filipino to address injustice, power and its attendant temptations. Corruption in the Philippines has been rampant and there are only handful groups to condemn it. Injustices are done to hapless Filipinos by the new rich (neveau riche, from ill-gotten wealth and corruption) and yet, mostly, Filipinos tend to look at it in such passivity. We care less about the rot that has been slowly eating our moral fiber and has been a constant threat to our society. These, I believe can be addressed by the influence of teachers, who have the idealism, dynamism to serve the interests of the greater number of people, teachers who understands their role in society and who supports the call for change. I had wanted to change my community and I see possibly coming through education. These, among others, are my reason why I pursue education.
This society of ours has been a by-product of our ill-decisions in the past. Whatever we encounter now is the kind of education that has been provided to our leaders in the past. I believed in this principle because looking back at history of education, we were ruled by colonizers who has successfully erased our own educational philosophy. What we have as of the moment is an educational philosophy that is important and forcibly introduced to us in subtle manner. Our conquest by the Spaniards is punctuated by only two milestones and that is religion and education. Although very different and questionable, the Spaniards have successfully integrated classroom learning and some elite Filipinos have even conquered the world through Spain and obtain learning and education elsewhere. Prominent of these figures was Dr. Jose Rizal, though patriotic and determined to topple the colonizers, his legacy has long been forgotten. The struggles of Rizal are nowhere to be found nowadays, especially among teachers teaching and students learning in schools around the country.
As a nation, we have effectively enshrined the basic principles of nationalism and patriotism in our educational thrusts and policies however, we have yet to see the fruits of these integration. Looking at it at present will be such an unfortunate and disheartening experience because many have been lacking, lacking in terms of motivation and passion on the part of the teachers and students to stay behind and help build on a country that is truly nationalistic and freedom-loving. Lacking in terms of equal opportunities that enables our teachers and students to learn more without threat of harassment for what they believed in and what they stand for.
It is only through education that men are transformed to become active citizens. It is education that changes people and the way they see things. It is education that drives the wheel to better understand our role in nation-building and it is through education that one’s society is transformed to accommodate change, change that is for the good of the country and mankind. With this, I am truly convinced of the inherent right of my students to understand that their role has as much importance as the people who governs us. It is through education that one is capacitated to act for what is right, for what he believed is right and what he stands for.
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