Every morning I pass through Lahug Elementary School, which doubles itself at night as Lahug Night High School. I don't know the exact number of teachers and students in the school, but their teaching force might be just equal to just slightly bigger than what we have in our private school. However, their student population is obviously from two to three times bigger than what we have.
With this teacher-student ratio, I can't help myself from asking: how can they teach that many children? I have no doubt that teachers could remember all the students in all their classes (teachers have a way of doing that, believe me), but with this teacher-to-student ratio, it is very difficult to keep track, at a personal level, of your students. All you can do is to reduce most of your students into statistics, little numbers on your record book, and at the end of the day you'll just be happy that you've covered section 5.4 of Chapter V, although you're bugged that Pedro or Juan or Maria seem to be unhappy during lunch time.
I have a very high regard for public school teachers. And not surprisingly: my mother is a public school teacher, so are my two sisters, and I am also a product of the public school system (which still produce good graduates, BTW, no matter what you hear from the media). But if I was the DepEd secretary, I would make it a point to reduce the teacher-student ratio to at most 40 students per teacher, or better yet, to 30 students per teacher.
Why teaching
My family was shocked. Graduating on top of my class, with a DOST scholarship to go to most colleges that I would want and to take up programs of study which will lead to higher-paying jobs after graduation, I chose to enroll in a Bachelor of Secondary Education program.
My mother was near tears. My elder sister asked me, "Why do you want to be a teacher? Can't you see teaching did not make us rich?"
My mother had always been a teacher in her whole life. And so are my two elder sisters, and my brother-in-law, and most of my cousins on both sides of the family. And our family of five children, two sons-in-law and one granddaughter is still just above the poverty line set by the government.
I swallowed hard the lump that had been forming in my throat. "Yes, I know no one became financially rich because of teaching. But I ask you, why are you still teaching after all these years?"
They could not answer me. Because, deep inside each one of them, they know that money is not everything, and teaching does make you rich, but in another way.
My mother was near tears. My elder sister asked me, "Why do you want to be a teacher? Can't you see teaching did not make us rich?"
My mother had always been a teacher in her whole life. And so are my two elder sisters, and my brother-in-law, and most of my cousins on both sides of the family. And our family of five children, two sons-in-law and one granddaughter is still just above the poverty line set by the government.
I swallowed hard the lump that had been forming in my throat. "Yes, I know no one became financially rich because of teaching. But I ask you, why are you still teaching after all these years?"
They could not answer me. Because, deep inside each one of them, they know that money is not everything, and teaching does make you rich, but in another way.
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