A Teacher’s Feat

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. ~Carl Jung

I was stunned by a segment of “Wish Ko Lang” last Saturday about a teacher who became a scavenger after six years of teaching. He literally lost everything...his family,job and most of all his identity.

His misery started when the school he was working at had to remove him from his job for the reason that he is not a board passer. That fateful event changed his life eventually. His wife left him. He became the opposite of what he used to teach his students- a drunkard.

Then I start to ponder.

Almost all the institutions right now require board passers or M.A or Ph.D holder for teachers and instructors. This applies to both national and international standards.

Does not having these certification make a teacher less of a “teacher?”

Many of his students have attested that he has made a tremendous positive influence on their lives.

Does having these certificates makes someone a better teacher?

So a real teacher’s dream ends there. When he can’t pass his board he remains stagnant and won’t be accepted in the vocation he was called to pursue? Or if someone doesn’t have an MA or PhD tagged on his name, he doesn’t have the license to be and educator?

He then ended up as a scavenger in his place when he could have been inside the classroom doing what he was supposed to do. He could have saved more lives instead of destroying his.

Can we blame him for resorting into such misery?

I am a teacher. I am in the middle of contemplating to whether or not continue with my masters. But if I don’t, like him, I have to leave the premises of the institution I am rendering my services right now.

Like him, I have learned to embrace my craft. I have learned to love my students and have nothing in mind but to make them as competitive in the media world or wherever their path will take them.

Is not having the passion to mold an individual to a wonderful being not enough to consider someone a “qualified” teacher?

Does not having these titles tagged in one’s name make him incompetitive or less credible?

I am NOT against any institution’s requirements or policies. I just hope we see beyond what the “titles” tell about a person.