On teaching, and why I want to write about it

Jee Y. Geronimo

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Teaching is not for the faint of heart and the heartless

SURPRISES. Grade 7 students surprise Jee Geronimo on Teachers' Day. Photo by Sarah Dizon

It was April of 2012. I was a wide-eyed fresh college graduate who looked at the quote-unquote real world with so much wonder. “The possibilities are endless,” I told myself often, with my diploma in one hand and my idealism in place.

The Mayans said 2012 was the year the world would end. A friend once said that should the world really end in 2012, he would want to see it while doing what he loves the most. For him, it was filming. I, on the other hand, had always wanted to be a journalist since high school.

But I was there, in a principal’s office, accepting an offer to be a Speech teacher. My demo was supposed to be about journalism, but that didn’t matter, because I really wanted to teach.

In a 2012 Star Cinema movie, comedienne Pokwang took on the role of a virgin who waited years for her boyfriend to do it with her, only to have her boyfriend cheat on her. She decided that the best way to meet the end of the world was to do something crazy, like lose her virginity to an online stranger.

My something crazy was teaching.

Challenge

My first job was not easy at all, as most things are never easy as we initially think them to be. I had to prepare for 3 subjects (I eventually got the Journalism subject), 11 sections and 32 classes a week. I handled a Grade 7 advisory class, so I had to deal with 33 students (and parents) for an entire school year.

In addition to all these, of course, were my teaching duties. I prepared tests, checked papers, graded projects, and encoded grades. There were days I’d come home late, plop down my bed, and just sleep the exhaustion away. Or I would lose my voice because of loud students who had to be appeased.

I was a private high school teacher, but already the workload was intense. What more for public school teachers? I had the luxury of teaching in air-conditioned rooms, each with enough space for, at most, 35 students. They, on the other hand, have to make do even with noise not just from the chatter of 40 or more students. And there’s the Philippine heat to contend with.

Teaching is not for the faint of heart and the heartless. It requires time, effort, and compassion. You have to love what you do, even after the realization that this noble job is only as noble as how much heart is put into it.

And there were some days, I didn’t even feel like putting any heart into it. Not when students passed me by the corridor with no intentions whatsoever of acknowledging my existence. Not when they decided it’s the perfect time to catch up on sleep during my class.

But in most days, I loved teaching. I loved how a group of students used to pause during their break time kwentuhan just to greet me in unison: “Miss!” with a matching salute.

I loved how students would pinch themselves awake, fighting the urge to take a nap during a noontime speech class, either because they saw me only twice a week, or my voice was too loud to be ignored.

TEACHERS DAY. These cupcakes come with a message. Photo by Jasper Jonson

I used to wonder why teachers ask for a higher salary. If they want to earn more, shouldn’t they just simply quit teaching and find a more lucrative source of income? But I digress; teaching, as I have come to know, is not something you just quit doing.

You may take a break from it for a while, but the call remains—the call to serve, to hone young minds, and to see an entire future ahead.

(But just for the record, I do think they’re underpaid.)

It’s exhilarating being there. But what’s more exciting is to wait and see what becomes of these students in the future. The possibilities are endless!

Value of education

One ordinary school day while waiting for our next classes, I was chatting with a co-teacher when I had an epiphany: when I go back to journalism, I will write about education.

I want people to realize how important it is. I want parents to hope for a better future for their children. I want to hold accountable the leaders of this land who, before they were elected into office, promised quality education for Filipinos.

Most of all, I want to see more children in schools than in the streets. I guess the idealism is still intact.

It is a privilege to be able to write about education now that I’m with Rappler. I wrote this piece so that I don’t forget what I learned from one year of teaching. But if I do forget, I will have this piece to remind me that I have placed education on a high pedestal, and that I wouldn’t want to see children deprived of it. And if ever I may not be teaching, it’s only because I pressed the pause button.

Thank God the world did not end in 2012. – Rappler.com

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Jee Y. Geronimo

Jee is part of Rappler's Central Desk, handling most of the world, science, and environment stories on the site. She enjoys listening to podcasts and K-pop, watching Asian dramas, and running long distances. She hopes to visit Israel someday to retrace the steps of her Savior.