TEACHING – A VERSATILE JOB
The author is Master Teacher
CLAUDETTE M. BONDOC
We don’t always get what we want, but it doesn’t actually matter as long as we get what we need. I have known this since I was young because my parents weren’t the type of parents who give in to their children’s demands. They’ve kept us grounded, even if we have always have had enough to have more than what we get. There were times when I had wanted to question their ways, but the more they set the budget and talk to us about saving for the future, the more we realize that we really should make ourselves ready for bigger things in the future. In reality, my parents chose (still choose) to be realistic rather than be spoilers when it comes to handling our finances and therefore our future.
My siblings and I attended private school were my father graduated. We struggled in our studies but we gave our best to finish and make our parents proud. All of us have our college degrees and respectable jobs now; our parents can’t be prouder. But then, our pride and success is mainly because they have made their part in providing us with the best education possible. I am not saying this because I am a product of private schools, but because I have been equipped well from the training I had from where I graduated. My academic preparation went beyond the books; it was combined with social practices and exposure to diverse cultures and had given me a perspective about the ways and means of life that I now utilize to succeed in my chosen profession: teaching.
When I was young, I was asked what I wanted to be. At first, I wanted to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a police officer – but later on, I realized that all the other dreams somehow won’t happen if there were no teachers around. And so, I chose to become an educator. I do this for the realization of my dream to touch lives and inspire them to be better. In a way, I have become a doctor because I save lives from ignorance. When I mediate instead of mitigating, I become the lawyer that I wanted to be. And when I stand between students pitted against each other, I become my dream police officer. So, actually, being a teacher is like being everyone else rolled into one. It’s an all around job, and it is fulfilling!
— oOo—
I at Porac Elementary School, Porac East District