Kudos to teachers
Credit to Author: JESUS JAY MIRANDA JR. OP| Date: Sat, 05 Oct 2019 17:31:57 +0000
Educators deserve recognition. It may sound cliché, but it’s better to err on the side of being repetitive than to gravely neglect how important teachers are in society. They bear with them the crucial duty of forming the youth, shaping communities and ensuring the future of the generations to come. Some of them even double their efforts to further expand the horizon of learning.
Not all educators are the same. So, appreciating them must not be restricted to only one measure. Of course, there is the trusted and useful standard system of education, which appears old and unnecessarily bureaucratic at times. Some teachers, however, brave the storm to challenge paradigms, especially those nuanced with political agenda, utilitarian ideology and outdated sociological suppositions. These bohemians take the risk of breaking the mold of traditional education to attempt the optimization of learning. There are key takeaways from these trailblazers in 21st century education.
Learning can never be boxed inside the four walls of the classroom. The likes of Sir Ken Robinson and William Spady think that the classroom and the time-based activities done inside it are just one of the many venues for education. Restricting students inside it curtails their learning opportunities, while wrongfully channeling their understanding to only what the teacher or the curriculum dictates. Teachers must be wary of a classroom that is becoming a disconcerted symbol for a mechanical factory of commands, and not of thoughts. The challenge is to make the classroom friendly to diversity, curiosity and creativity, which comprise the lifeblood of meaningful learning.
Educators can surpass all forms of obstructions to learning, if they want to. Many stakeholders of educational systems in developing countries have sadly settled with a “there-is-not-enough” mentality. They blame the lack of funds, teachers, classrooms, learning materials or school days to explain any dismal state in education. But it is not new to find students efficiently learning from their own computers and smart phones, which have already become a basic commodity today. To be true, teaching and learning are not out of reach.
The field of education is a vocation, not a business venture. The teaching profession will not land an educator on the pages of the Forbes Magazine. Education is not about the accumulation of wealth, but of increasing the appreciation and awareness of the value of the human person. Such a premise leads one to think that, especially in education, a meaningful relationship begets meaningful learning. The value of the relationship between a teacher and his students cannot be matched by any amount of pay. A true teacher will have to invest himself to establish an interpersonal connection with his students. It is not quantifiable, and is indeed noble.
As the seasoned teacher Rita Pierson says, “Students learn best from teachers they like.” It will be a pitiable plight for an aspiring educator to get into teaching without being a people person. Such a scenario unfortunately can only redound to poor teaching performance, and can cause or aggravate the poor condition of education in his institution.
As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day, we honor all those who have taught us. But in making the simple greeting of “Happy Teachers’ Day” to them, I hope that we fill that greeting with our personal recognition of what our teachers have truly done for us inside and beyond the classroom. May we also give due credit to those who lead the learning communities by sailing into the headwind in order to push the frontiers of meaningful education some steps forward.
Jesus Jay Miranda, OP is the secretary-general of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). He holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) and teaches at the Graduate School of UST and the ELM Department of the Bro. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC-College of Education of De La Salle University-Manila. Contact him at jaymiranda.op@ust.edu.ph.