October 5 is annually designated “World Teachers Day” to honor those who have taken upon themselves to continue the time of molding minds of the future generation. The dictionary defines teaching as“an act of helping someone to learn” and as a profession that deals with helping others to learn” In fact, teaching is more than a profession; it is a vocation or a way of life since it entails more than 8 hour devotion to duty. After school, the teacher still has to check papers, prepare lesson plan for next day’s lesson’s talk to parents for updates on their children and initiate desired change in the community. It is therefore a sad fact that many teachers are lowly paid and had to deal with bureaucratic pressures in our public schools.
A lot of us think that good teachers are those who were exemplary in their achievements, those who are topnotchers, who graduate with flying colors or those who have lots of titles following their names. However,for me, quality education always comes from the mouth of a passionate teacher.With the kind of society we have today, we seldom meet professors who practice teaching will all their hearts. Passionate teachers are those who are set ‘to educate’ as their long term objective before they enter class; those who do not rely on books; those who interpret the lessons in different ways and most especially, those who are still willing to be educated, whatever the subject a teacher may be teaching real education lies not on how the students become good at solving mathematical problems or becoming good in public speaking or philosophizing, but on how the students learned these things because they caught the value of relating it to their lives from the teacher’s methodology. Moreover, for me, good teachers are those who are not uptight, those who socialize with their students and remain to be professional. Finally and most importantly, good teachers are those who build trust and respect on their students because there is no education more precious than being grounded on both.
After 17 years of being educated inside the classroom. I always look back and thank those teachers who influence me in one way or another to be what I am today. I learned confidence from a teacher who intentionally compared me to others and criticized my capabilities. I remember a teacher who accept me while im being rejected to other school. I learned to be resilient when a teacher flunk me in values and even learn to pray because of teacher who constantly ask me to lead the prayer and most of all i never forget my teacher who teach me in a different way who wake up my capability & ability on a different level. These little things are those which influence most of what i am today and i will forever thank my teachers for that, for shaping my thoughts in ways that they might not think they have done.
Studying may be hard, as most students would think, but studying is always fun depending in your attitude towards it. And we should realize how great are the contribution of our teachers in developing this attitude.
-Brian D. L.
