Teaching to Transgress
i have been teaching since 1994. man, that’s 12 years. and to be honest, i still don’t know whether i did well or sucked big time.
i started out imitating the style of my favorite professors. as they say “you cannot give what you don’t have”. typical political science/law professor strategy: scare the shit out of your students with hellish recitation sessions, boatloads of readings and an unshakable arrogance. as i love to tell my students then, “suffering builds character”.
maybe i got tired of the routine or the devil talked to me in my sleep. but whatever the reason, i found myself critically examining my teaching style. is this working? am i helping students think critically for themselves? i mean, really think for themselves. not just mimic what i say or agree with my opinions. or am i just power tripping? satisfying my narcissistic tendencies?
it was then that i realized that to make young people think for themselves, i have to stop being a teacher. i have to remove that cloak of authority that tells them i’m always right. i have to allow them to undermine what i represented. i have to make them subversives. in other words, i have to make myself irrelevant.
it was difficult because it’s hard to let go of that much power. it’s not easy to trust other people to do things right. but really, can you teach critical thinking if you do not allow students to question you? others of course would say that young people need structure, they need discipline. but whose structure? this is the type of thinking that values conformity over autonomy. i just think it doesn’t make any sense. de quiros was right when he wrote ” school got in the way of my education, so i quit school”
i think learning should be liberalized from the control of THE “professor”. i think young people should push the limits of authority. i think they should transgress rather than follow. i think they should rebel rather than conform. they should dissent rather than agree. without struggle there is no progress. the more i teach, the less they learn.
but will this not create chaos? yes. and that’s good. structures are meant to be undermined. systems are meant to fall apart. order is overrated.
so while teachers are busy making students learn, students should be busy unlearning. they should create new visions, forge new alternatives and construct their own realities. its the only way to freedom.
March 7, 2008 at 9:38 pm
If you have been teaching for 12 years, you and your students would benefit from the new book, “Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better” (amazon.com).
April 6, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Sir!(salute! – lol)
in my experience as a college student, i’ve noticed that teachers who teaches most well are those who are strict (honest….). strict as in in a sense that the professor-student relationship is maintained purely at that level, and when the passing mark standard is conformed w/ at all costs (as in, if a student got a grade of 69 and the passing is 70, that student should really be failed). i believe that this is the only way to incite (if not encourage) the students to study hard.
if he did study hard, but still didn’t manage to pass, then the professor must still FAIL him (there really shouldn’t be any compromise, kahit pa siguro umiyak ang student). Dahil pag pinagbigyan ng professor ang student eh it could lead to more similar instances – then the standard of education would definitely decline. Because i believe that one of the biggest problems in the Philippine society today is that it has fallen into a state of decadence and degeneration. usong-uso ang “lagay”, “nepotism”, “bribery”, “mga pakiusap sa mga authorities to exempt them from the rules (w/c has really become rampant for several years now)”.
Sir, i have read from reputable authors of bestseller books on self-help the aphorism “You cannot command success. You can only deserve it”. Even w/ the latest developments on technology today that teach “shortcuts” in doing things, success is still something that has to be earned. If a professor is going to show leniency to his students, then he is not teaching his students how to become successful. He is teaching success the wrong way (by “pakiusap to the teacher na ipasa siya (ang student)”). kung nadadaan ang professor sa pakiusap, then the student will grow up using this strategem in becoming successful in life.
sir, in my experience as a college student, mas natatandaan ko pa ang mga tinuro ng mga strict teachers kaysa dun sa mga tinuro ng mga teachers na lenient sa mga students nila.
when i was a student at CSB, my favorite teachers were ms. delia de los reyes, mr. oscar torres, and atty. joselito conti (hindi niyo siguro naabutan si atty. conti).
when they teach, they do so w/ authority. their mere presence in the classroom alone already command attention from their students. their presence make the students behave. their presence command great respect from their students. i like their (professors’) character. when they speak in class, everybody listens well. they (professors) do behave w/ probity and act w/ rectitude. they also know how to make education entertaining by telling intriguing & fascinating facts about the subjects that they teach.
while there may be a modicum of truth in “suffering develops character”, i believe that such depends on the upbringing of the individual – because this is where his social framework lies. and i suspect that most individuals have a poor quality of upbringing. some were spoiled. some obtained perverted values from friends or parents. they were taught values the wrong way (like when a parent spanks his child in the name of discipline) or they may have learned negative values from friends. and they grow up as individuals who are gullible or w/o self-knowledge, or irresponsible citizens of society.
and what happens when u let these people suffer? do you think that this would help develop their character and make them better persons? hardly, perhaps. it is more likely that they would resort to devious/immoral methods in becoming successful in life. if they have irresponsible parents, it is likely that they would also react irresponsibly to the “suffering”. as students, they may cheat at exams. they may become part of proscribed groups. and to many, they may resort to drugs. they may become criminals and law violators in the end.
April 6, 2008 at 9:15 pm
sir,
sorry if i may sound that i missed your point in my first comment (geeeeeeeessssssssshhhhhhhh…..)
sir, i think that what u’re trying to implement is not a bad idea. but i believe that such an approach is applicable only to some circumstances – definitely not all. if ur going to allow ur students to rebel and allow them to say or do whatever they want, it would really be possible that such could lead to chaos, as u’ve said. it’s like an anarchy kind of government.
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meron akong kaibigan sir nung highschool.
meron siyang ina-away na student na nagsumbong sa tatay. ang ginawa ng tatay eh binugbog niya yung kaibigan ko nung highschool graduation niya (as in – in the open!!! in front of the people – nuns, teachers, fellow students, and parents, including his very own parents!).
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so, sir, better think twice before u implement such an approach in teaching. it’s probably not what we need at this point.
April 28, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Sir T,
More than our Approaches to Politics class, it was the out-of-classroom conversations in the smoking area of uap (with mr. tillah, and mr. camposano) that made me re-think long and hard on existing concepts, value systems and such. I thank you for the constant intellectual challenges you guys presented. I am aiming to eventually be that kind of teacher too.
April 29, 2008 at 9:44 pm
And that’s the point vida, to keep on pushing the limits. Great to know you’re teaching. Enjoy it. Love it. Keep in touch!
April 29, 2008 at 9:48 pm
hey alex…well, different strokes for different folks. i have been teaching long enough to know that many people are suspicious of things that upset the status quo. thanks for the thought but when you wrote “it’s probably not what we need at this point.” i really hope you know what you need.