THE UNDERLYING DANGERS OF WHAT WE SAY
MARIDINA D. GARCIA
There are a lot of sayings we used to describe a person’s attitude, habit, action etc. We tend to BRAND even to some extremes somebody just to SAY something about that somebody. A student who happens to be a perennial latecomer to his class will surely be JUDGE as an IRRESPONSIBLE ONE not thinking that he’s coming late for school is caused by the distance of his residence and that he needs to cross a river and walk another half kilometer just to reach school. Another case is the NON-SUBMISSION of school projects of one student and will certainly get RED MARK or worse a grade below the passing one which is 75! He will be reprimanded as a HARD HEADED or an IMBICILE because of such deeds. That if only his parents did not give him to his uncle who happens to be a family man of eight siblings when they got separated, he would have enough stipend to buy the necessary materials for his projects!
The above mentioned are only a few situations a teacher faces from his/ her two hundred one (201) days per curriculum year. That’s why the Department of Education or DepEd obliged all its teachers to HOME VISIT a student who they think don’t exert efforts to pass. In this way, a PROPER assessment is done from any misdemeanor committed either intentionally or not. We teachers can KNOW what really the matter is so to speak in REAL TIME! We either give the student REMEDIAL class or send modules (for modular lessons) to be able for him to finally CATCH UP and eventually PASS our subjects in the process.
Another scenario can also be UNCOVERED from a student’s misbehavior from our class by paying him a visit. Our beloved student might be giving US teachers’SIGNS of a BIGGER problem. His absence might be caused by a wrong choice of company; a FIEND instead of a FRIEND. A broken family is another sad scenario for his unruly antics against his classmates. I believed that BULLIES are created not BORN. Hitting a fellow student isn’t a natural thing especially if he/ she don’t have anything against the hitter. The imperfection (although the term is only connotative) is oftentimes caused by the inner circle itself, the family. A simple rule of thumb, our RIGHTS END when we BEGIN to STEP the RIGHTS of others.
Finally, as BAILIFFS of truth and justice in eradicating IGNORANCE from our students, let us all join our HANDS in practicing home visitation as an ADDON to our chosen VOCATION. Let’s tell our clienteles that VALUES are CAUGHT not TAUGHT! Let’s not SAY things that may jeopardize our career (remember the child protection policy guys!) and who knows, we might LEARN a thing or two from them for us to UTILIZE some near future my dearest LODIS! Werpa fellow educators! — oOo—
The author is SST III at San Pablo 2nd National High School