Monaliza C.

Ancla EDUC 1

My Own Philosophy of Education

Kids are always asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. I was asked the same
and as a daughter of a teacher, I was expected to say I wanted to be a teacher. I’ve probably said all the
possible professions out there but a teacher. I never wanted to entertain the idea. It seems boring to me and
the idea that I have to share my mother to other kids, I hated it. And that was when I was still just a kid, always
jealous and possessive when it comes to my mother.
Later in my adolescence, I started seeing things in a different perspective. I had my first
favorite teacher. His name is Sir Tanierla, my first year Science teacher. He’s in his forties and still a bachelor.
When you ask the upperclassmen, even my older cousins included, on who is their favorite teacher, they will
tell you the same thing. They all like Sir Tanierla. And when I became his student, I started seeing why. Most
of our high school teachers are old and as expected, they are very traditional. But his approach in teaching
is different. He will have this random jokes while doing some experiments. His narcissistic jokes were really
funny. But when it’s time to get serious, you’ll have to be serious. You don’t want to anger him. He will also
make us sing the definition of “matter” in the tune of his favorite song and it actually stuck on us. He actually
used LSS or Last Song Syndrome for teaching before it was even a thing! I was even surprised to realize it
while writing this. But aside from this cool way of teaching, what I remember the most about him is how he
kept his students in check. He will make sure that they are on the right path. He will scold them if needed. He
will never run out of advices. He’s a father to everyone. Even those who have already graduated long time
ago still remember him. Obnoxious rumors will surround him throughout his career because of this but he
didn’t care. After seeing this in my adolescence, I was fascinated. Isn’t it cool to have a lot of people remember
you that much? To have that kind of influence on people? I even saw this pattern on my mother. She’s still
remembered by her students. They would even gather together to treat her in a dinner even after decades of
not seeing her. Teaching is indeed a noble job. Educating people could go a long way if done in a proper
way. And I wanted to become like them.
Teaching is such an underrated job. We all tend to praise these people - an innovative
scientist who improves the quality of life, an engineer who fascinates us with his buildings, or a doctor who
extends the life of others. But all of these people wouldn’t be this amazing without a teacher. Even if not
directly, they have contributed in building the character, interests, motivation and even the dream of these
people. They have that kind of impact on students which can be brought towards their adulthood. I wanted
that kind of impact too. However, here in the Philippines, it is a very underpaying job. When I voiced out this
interest to my mother, she didn’t like the idea. She knew how hard the job was and it was unrewarding
financially. I had to abandon that thought and decided to pursue a different career. But that didn’t work too
well too so I am here, taking units to take the licensure exam while I work as a part time instructor in a
hospitality school.
As a teacher, I believe there are lots of approaches that should be done in educating people.
I would like to use the word educating here rather than teaching as I believe they are two different things.
Teaching for me is you’re a teacher, you have this subject to discuss in class and your goal is to make them
understand everything and pass your subject. On the other hand, educating is something broader and has
more influence on the student. To educate a student, not only that they have to understand your subject and
pass but also how those lessons will help to form their dreams and motivations, how to be a better person
and how they can contribute to the wellbeing of other people. Educating also means teaching them not to be
afraid of having different and rational way thinking. The influences of educating are expected to be embedded
deep within the character of a person.
As an educator, I would educate my students that it is never wrong to have different beliefs
as long as it won’t affect other people negatively. Every person has different way of thinking and not everyone
thinks the same thing. It is important to cover all these differences with varying approaches in educating
them. Even if there would be conflicting beliefs along the way, my role as an educator is to remind them that
they have to prioritize what is better for everyone. I believe it is important to impose on students to build
concern for others and empathy. Not because it doesn’t concerns you, it doesn’t mean you’ll just have to look
the other way and shrug. It is lack of empathy that the world has turned into something horrible like this. But
it doesn’t mean that they have to sacrifice their selves for others and be selfless but be empathetic. It is
important to teach them young on how to connect and build concern for others.
It is also important to teach them that not every problem should be approached by the books.
Between a kid who solves an addition problem using just his mind and a kid who uses both his hands and
feet in solving, it doesn’t have to be that the one is referred to as bright and the other is stupid. They have
different approaches but both get to the same answer. I believe that it doesn’t matter if processes are different
as long as there’s no cheating. I have a high regard on being honest. I believe that if a kid could cheat on
simple things and not corrected, they could grow thinking that cheating is not wrong as long as they get the
best results. I have this motto that I always emphasize on my class during exams - “I don’t care if you cheat.
You’re not making a fool of me when you cheat, but you are just fooling yourselves.” When I was asked what
I mean by that, I would explain to them that cheating only proves they are stupid. I respect different
approaches, shortcuts and hard work but strongly despise cheating.
I believe that teaching could be easy if you’re smart. Mastery of your subject can be done if
you study well. But being an educator, most of the time, it is innate. And if it is not, it takes a lot of years of
experience to master and be effective. I just hope that I could be someone as influential as Sir Tanierla or
my mother. Be it a teacher or an educator, in the end it doesn’t matter how you call them. This is just my
definition of both terms. No matter how people define these two, we can all agree that both are honorable
and need a huge appreciation.