Reacting to educators

It is not the title that we carry but how we carry ourselves through life that brings us honor.

Last Thursday I was invited by the Sisters of St. Paul to be a “reactor” or give my reaction to speeches or presentations made by “educators” on the topic: Making a difference as a Paulinian Educator.

It did not occur to me at that time, but in hindsight I am mildly amused that I, who was once “voted” as doomed to fail in life, someone who was constantly thrown out of class for being distracted, lazy or dumb, from prep to high school would now be reacting to the scholarly perspectives of “educators.” I guess my Mom was right when she said that: “In life there are two kinds of people; those who are born abled and those who are ma-abilidad.”

All my life I have lived believing I was less abled, less diligent, less smart and so I simply compensated with abilidad. By GOD’s grace I had the chance to interview a well-known child psychologist, Dr. Mel Levine who categorized me as a classic case of a person having “Multiple Intelligence.” Just like the proverbial “jack of all trades, master of none” I have the ability to multi-task, multi-think, but cannot concentrate on one thing only for an extended period. Either I get bored or I get distracted.

The reason I make mention of this is because today’s educators can easily be distracted, overwhelmed by the entire situation and fail to focus or find time on equally important single details or persons in the classroom. Difficult as it may be, educators are burdened by the big picture of education being a job and a business, in the same time they are also directly responsible for the forward growth of the little people assigned to them.

As I listened to the speakers, the first significant point that caught my attention was when they repeatedly “asked” or questioned whether or not educators were making a difference. Believe it or not, this is a real concern of educators because they are the factory workers in the conveyor belt of education. Very few of us ever go back to the different teachers and mentors who helped mould us. Some visit their favorites but most never look back to say, thank you for the difference you made in my life.

So, to all the good educators standing around the conveyor belts of life, YES, you make a difference not only to the students but also for the parents who otherwise would not be able to have a life without the army of educators. 

Some of course find themselves in less than ideal positions, assignments or working conditions. To them I shared what I recently learned: “Your future needs you to be where you are.” I told them how I spent nearly 5 years as a glorified GRO interviewing, or entertaining guests of my boss. Not long after that I was hired by ABS-CBN to do several shows, one of which was “Straight Talk” on ANC, where I interviewed the same type of celebrities that I had as a glorified GRO. Where you are is where you need to learn something you haven’t learned or need to learn in order to get to the next level of promotion.

Then there was the term “character.” Today’s educator is pressured to be technically qualified by way of further training or advanced courses or MBAs or Masters in Education. Then they are under the gun in terms of output or the number of passing and failing students during their watch.

But is education simply about competence or productivity? My first reaction to the panelists was to say: If you have managed to build character in your students, you have already done your job. It matters not if you can drill math into their memory or hypnotize them to memorizing all the formulas in Physics and Chemistry. Many geeks and geniuses I know have burned out physically or mentally because they did not have the “character” to face up to the challenges and temptations of the world.

Some of the smartest people I know have dedicated all that talent to corruption!

One of the panelists spent so much time proudly talking about what he did. He was clearly committed, passionate and proud of his achievements, but in reaction I pointed out that we must not be so full of ourselves that we forget to raise up the next generation of leaders and producers. Lee Iacocca who was once boss at General Motors rose to power as a leader but when he retired, the empire he built up soon collapsed because he did not raise up leaders to take his place.

 One of the panelists, a parent emphasized compassionate caring. This was a stinger missile, because people in such conferences are so focused on learning and processing that people quickly forget how vital “caring” is in education. It is the teacher that pays attention to behavior not just performance and seeks to understand the why, that teacher is the one who rises from educator to second parent. That is what education is all about; to be a parent, a guardian and a caregiver.

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