I remain an idiot so that the people around me can be intelligent.

A Failure at Best - A Letter

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Whichever time of the day it is, I hope this letter finds you... or anyone at all.

I specifically wrote this letter without a single person in mind because I wanted to address a lot of people I've just met in this academic institution. Outside of the walls of the school, I don't know who they are, what they do, and what life they are living. However, I believe we all share the same responsibility -- the responsibility to nurture the minds and educate the heart of the youth that will eventually conquer our Motherland.

What prompted me to write this letter was not inspiration or any happiness at all. I could not articulate my anger and frustration properly in a physical manner as we are all physically limited to what we can do inside the classroom... just as any man is limited to the capabilities of his body (the vessel, to which some philosophers might refer to). So, I did what any other person like me would do: to write his thoughts on a piece of paper with the prospect of having people read their work.

First and foremost, I had high expectations of Ilocos Norte National High School. I was even afraid at first before entering the institution that a mediocre person such as I might disappoint such a prestigious school with the name of a province etched on its gates, hallways, marks, logos, and IDs of the people working there. This expectation was shattered into utter disappointment when I saw how segregated the students were. Although there was diversity in every classroom I taught Social Studies at, there are classrooms where the intelligent and behaved ones reside, there are classrooms where the academically challenged are situated at, and there are classrooms where students in between the category of the aforementioned resides... and this is where I spent most of my time working as a pre-service teacher. I couldn't have avoided teaching at the annex (vocational) two sections filled with unruly, misbehaving, and undisciplined students along with one more at Gabaldon Building. My Teacher Training Instructor, Sir Billy, told me the outlying differences between the three sections of the school -- the curriculum to which the teachers must follow in order to effectively deliver instructions to the students. I am giving this constructive decision of the administration the benefit of the doubt. History has always shown us that 'dividing and conquering' is the most effective way of indoctrinating and educating people.

When I first met him, I've thought of him as a careless goofball teaching Social Studies just for the heck of it. I could not believe my eyes when I saw him teach with such vigor, disciplinary attitude, had admiration for Søren Kierkegaard (the Father of Existentialist Philosophy), and shared the same sentiments with me about schools and education [here in Philippines]. I knew from the moment when he told me who his favourite philosopher was that we are a perfect duo -- a mentor and his apprentice (and I've thought of this way since my favourite philosopher is Arthur Schopenhauer, the Father of Pessimistic Philosophy).

Sir Billy has not only taught me the ways of handling different types of students but he has also shown me the sad and corrupt state of the Department of Education, the department to which all honest and hardworking teachers work at. He has shown me the gruesome reality of the ways of education in our country, what makes for a good classroom and what doesn't, who does all the shot calling behind the scenes, and how impulsive a lot of decision makers are in the faculties. He was not hesitant to tell me everything that he knows, both good and bad, about the things that happens in the school. I have taken into heart the words he had told me: "Learn how to close your eyes and forget things... even if we truly will not forget." This, and will always be, the principle that I shall follow wherever I am headed towards in this profession.

What made him tell me these words was not only because of the events transpiring behind the scenes but also the things that happens inside the classroom (to which I refer in life as the teacher's theater stage of comedy and tragedy since a teacher's life is one big theater show where they are the actors and writers of their own show inside the classroom).