Saturday, March 12, 2011

Change starts within

We used to say “school is our second home”. It is where we continue to learn new things about ourselves and make us aware of our surroundings.   It’s a place where we try to complete our dreams as to who and what we would like to be in the future.

I believe that the first few years of attending school are the most crucial because it would be the foundation of our life.  I believe that what we do in school greatly impacts what we would become in the future.

There are people in school who facilitate in the construction of our lives. They are called Teachers.  They’re not only educators, but also our 2nd parents; they would nurture us with care and love, and consider themselves responsible of what we become.

I have my own stories to tell about my teachers during my school days. I had a professor who always came in late. When she arrives, she would always go back to the faculty room because she forgot something (purse, pen, visual  aid – whatever she could think of) then gets back to class with only 10-15 minutes left in her subject to teach. She would just give us homework and tells us to study. I had some teachers who came in class well prepared and ready to answer questions.  But some are just “plain boring”. They would just make you copy stuff from text books in your notebook while they are chitchatting with some co-teachers.

But what should a real educator be? As I watched the movie Mga Munting Tinig (Small Voices) by Mr. Gil Portes, It somehow gave me an idea. In the movie, Melinda Santiago was a fresh grad student assigned to be a substitute teacher in a small rural school where people live a simple yet hard life. Education in the movie is less valued by adults. They would rather have their kids to work in the farm with them or do house chores than go to school. Perhaps poverty caused them to think that education is for the rich and that they are the only ones who have the rights to dream.  Despite her difficulties, like having some dishonest co-teachers and parents insistence for their kids to help put food on the table than to study, Melinda’s idealism lead her to encourage her students to dream. She motivated them to focus on their talents and brought hope back into their hearts again.


In a way the movie tells us that we could all be agent of change.   We could all do something to help others in our own little ways.  And who knows the change we bring to young kids will impact them in ways that will amaze us all and in the process bring more good changes in the world we live in. 

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