More Than What My Teachers Taught Me...
Last December I read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Mortenson is an American mountain climber who failed to scale K2 but succeeded in bringing hope to thousands of Afghan girls by building schools. He believes that educating children (not indoctrinating) is the elusive solution the world has been grappling ever since the US led invasion against the Talibans. This wisdom coming from a non-educator humbles me. Four years ago in the 2006 souvenir program I pessimistically ended my first paragraph with a note that the power education has is spiraling down the drain. After reading Mortenson, I acknowledge my mistake. I failed to see the values of hope, reconciliation and peace my teachers have taught me. I was blinded by the myth that education is the cure-all to poverty. Education gives hope. It is this belief in the unseen that will make us rich, not materially but in love, in reconciliation and in peace. Progress and development can only be achieved where peace and harmony abound.
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
- Dale Carnegie
Hope I have once read is the belief in the unseen, the waiting for things longed for. It survives us in our daily struggles in life. Mortenson believes that education gives hope. Rizal believes that the youth is the hope of the nation. An educated youth therefore is hope twice as much. Thirty two years ago, I first learned hope from Ma’am Joven Buenconsejo. She made me memorize Away in the Manger and told me its message – hope – the coming of Jesus. Four years after, Ma’am Elena Osorio nurtured this seed of hope in my heart and a year after, Ma’am Susie Zambrano inspired me how hope made her who she is now. Most of my classmates today survive life because of what these three teachers have sown, nurtured and seen to fruition. We were made to hope, continue hoping. This one great lesson I have passed on my students. I believe that survivors live because they continue to hope.
Forgiveness is the release of all hope for a better past.
- Alexa Young
Being baptized Christians, we share in Jesus’ kingly nature. A king does not rule his people but serve them. One cannot however serve if he does not forgive; hence, a king forgives and serves. Jesus is both. I was placed in the second section when I was in Grade III. Ma’am Sincera Dueñas told me not to be angry but see the reason why (which became clearer as I aged). Unbeknownst to me, she was teaching me forgiveness. The next year, I learned more to forgive from Ma’am Carmen Legaspi. It was not from her three-days-of-darkness story but in the way she cared us her pupils. It was in high school with Ma’am Vangie Cisneros that I saw forgiveness. Being a young teacher, her ideas were not always considered. In silence, she bared her soul to us and forgave them who had hurt her. I have learned from these teachers not to harbor ill intent in my heart but see the motivation of others’ actions. They lived Jesus’ example and in their living out forgiveness, I learned reconciliation.
Women who have an education are not likely to condone their son getting into violence.
- Greg Mortenson
Violence is characteristic of a cultureless uncivilized society. When violence erupts somewhere, we conclude that people there are uneducated. This is true, sadly. Situations dictate violence. However, when one is schooled, a student learns that situations never control. A human being controls the situation and so he does with emotion. Peace because of non-violent thoughts and actions I learned very well from Ma’am Inday Legaspi. She instilled in my mind what order is and what one deserves if order is disturbed. Ma’am Dolores Almagro is an epitome of peace. I learned from her, graciousness of words. From both Ma’am Pompeia Carin and Ma’am Rosal Saniel I learned how to temper violence with humility, charm and wit. War can only be won if children are educated that the world is supposed to exist in peace and the people, in peaceful co-existence. For sure, I am not the only one who has realized this after going through years in school.
We are in our penultimate year as Catholics emulating for almost three centuries the Christian values of peace and reconciliation lived by Sr. San Guillermo de Aquitania. Besides the Church and our families, we have also the school to thank for where we are now as people of God and what we have accomplished so far. Education has always played a pivotal role in any civilized society. Sadly though, education and our accomplishments have seemed to reach a nadir. Why are families disintegrating? Why are the Church and her members divided? Why is the government struggling? Why has peace continued to elude us? Why has the country lagged behind among ASEAN nations? I am an educator and I am shamed. We, teachers, have our share of blame. Only a few of my teachers before are regrettably living to witness how the hope of the fatherland has become hopeless. My great teachers before have never failed. They have lived up beyond the education myth…but what about us, the newer generation of pedagogues? Do we share with the greatest Teacher the passion to change the lives of our countless students? Please keep the hope alive!
Last December I read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Mortenson is an American mountain climber who failed to scale K2 but succeeded in bringing hope to thousands of Afghan girls by building schools. He believes that educating children (not indoctrinating) is the elusive solution the world has been grappling ever since the US led invasion against the Talibans. This wisdom coming from a non-educator humbles me. Four years ago in the 2006 souvenir program I pessimistically ended my first paragraph with a note that the power education has is spiraling down the drain. After reading Mortenson, I acknowledge my mistake. I failed to see the values of hope, reconciliation and peace my teachers have taught me. I was blinded by the myth that education is the cure-all to poverty. Education gives hope. It is this belief in the unseen that will make us rich, not materially but in love, in reconciliation and in peace. Progress and development can only be achieved where peace and harmony abound.Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
- Dale Carnegie
Hope I have once read is the belief in the unseen, the waiting for things longed for. It survives us in our daily struggles in life. Mortenson believes that education gives hope. Rizal believes that the youth is the hope of the nation. An educated youth therefore is hope twice as much. Thirty two years ago, I first learned hope from Ma’am Joven Buenconsejo. She made me memorize Away in the Manger and told me its message – hope – the coming of Jesus. Four years after, Ma’am Elena Osorio nurtured this seed of hope in my heart and a year after, Ma’am Susie Zambrano inspired me how hope made her who she is now. Most of my classmates today survive life because of what these three teachers have sown, nurtured and seen to fruition. We were made to hope, continue hoping. This one great lesson I have passed on my students. I believe that survivors live because they continue to hope.
Forgiveness is the release of all hope for a better past.
- Alexa Young
Being baptized Christians, we share in Jesus’ kingly nature. A king does not rule his people but serve them. One cannot however serve if he does not forgive; hence, a king forgives and serves. Jesus is both. I was placed in the second section when I was in Grade III. Ma’am Sincera Dueñas told me not to be angry but see the reason why (which became clearer as I aged). Unbeknownst to me, she was teaching me forgiveness. The next year, I learned more to forgive from Ma’am Carmen Legaspi. It was not from her three-days-of-darkness story but in the way she cared us her pupils. It was in high school with Ma’am Vangie Cisneros that I saw forgiveness. Being a young teacher, her ideas were not always considered. In silence, she bared her soul to us and forgave them who had hurt her. I have learned from these teachers not to harbor ill intent in my heart but see the motivation of others’ actions. They lived Jesus’ example and in their living out forgiveness, I learned reconciliation.
Women who have an education are not likely to condone their son getting into violence.
- Greg Mortenson
Violence is characteristic of a cultureless uncivilized society. When violence erupts somewhere, we conclude that people there are uneducated. This is true, sadly. Situations dictate violence. However, when one is schooled, a student learns that situations never control. A human being controls the situation and so he does with emotion. Peace because of non-violent thoughts and actions I learned very well from Ma’am Inday Legaspi. She instilled in my mind what order is and what one deserves if order is disturbed. Ma’am Dolores Almagro is an epitome of peace. I learned from her, graciousness of words. From both Ma’am Pompeia Carin and Ma’am Rosal Saniel I learned how to temper violence with humility, charm and wit. War can only be won if children are educated that the world is supposed to exist in peace and the people, in peaceful co-existence. For sure, I am not the only one who has realized this after going through years in school.
We are in our penultimate year as Catholics emulating for almost three centuries the Christian values of peace and reconciliation lived by Sr. San Guillermo de Aquitania. Besides the Church and our families, we have also the school to thank for where we are now as people of God and what we have accomplished so far. Education has always played a pivotal role in any civilized society. Sadly though, education and our accomplishments have seemed to reach a nadir. Why are families disintegrating? Why are the Church and her members divided? Why is the government struggling? Why has peace continued to elude us? Why has the country lagged behind among ASEAN nations? I am an educator and I am shamed. We, teachers, have our share of blame. Only a few of my teachers before are regrettably living to witness how the hope of the fatherland has become hopeless. My great teachers before have never failed. They have lived up beyond the education myth…but what about us, the newer generation of pedagogues? Do we share with the greatest Teacher the passion to change the lives of our countless students? Please keep the hope alive!
