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Friday, December 2, 2011

What it takes to become a professional?


Every year, we celebrate one of the most elaborated (and anticipated) events – our very own Teachers’ Day. All over the world, students, parents, school officials, and in some, governments, give due recognition to the unselfish dedication of teachers towards the enlightenment of the society. They give us different titles e.g. the silent worker, future’s key holder, the guardian of tomorrow, and the vanguard of wisdom. To our mind, these are just but inherent to our profession. These are just appends and nothing more. We do not need praises if the reality besmirches our profession. What we want is the full dignity that we deserve.

There are certain standards that make a pursuit a profession. It must have established itself distinctively as pool of experts organized with a common understanding of theories and principles and a purpose to serve the community. It must have a continuing learning for each member of the profession unswayed by the material rewards and appeals that’s why we live by the code of ethics through the years. More than enough, teachers have performed beyond the expectations of ordinary men. We have unknowingly made ourselves “gods and goddesses” far better and real than Apollo, Hercules, Aphrodite, Zeus or Hera. We make nights days. We teach without learning resources for children. We stand proudly in front yet humbled by innocent eyes of our learners. We speak powerfully yet no one hears our plight. We keep ourselves composed under dilapidated classrooms. We have built empire of knowledge yet the governing does not recognize us. We form public opinion. We transform the society. 

SACRIFICING THE FUTURE FOR TODAY'S PROFIT


“La vita è bella!” – Guido (Roberto Benigni)

Life is beautiful. We were taught (and we somehow believed) that life, just like love, is a many splendored things. We have witnessed how life changed, and how much this has changed mankind. For a while, we held that life must be simple in order to live decently. But why men, when complicated things, wish to make things more complicated? Can we not live in a world of simplicity?

Capitalists become more interested to earnings and not livings. They have sacrificed objectivity over subjectivity. They became men of money and not men of many. With this, we would like to ask how did the corporations gain so much power over government and the people, the same question that Mike Adams, Editor of NaturalNews.com, has asked. And he provided at least a hint: campaign finances. Some business corporations (and private school owners) hire hoards of lobbyists who dart in and out of the parliament, leaving behind trails of cash and corruption. Most lawmakers hardly ever meet with the actual people they claim to represent. Instead, they spend their time cavorting with corporate rabble-rousers who operate based on the simple principle of greed. Caution: when the business corporations run a nation, the nation has no real future, because corporations only think in terms of the next quarter, not the next generation.

The Philippines is no excuse of that nation. There’s no need for in-depth mathematics to understand the following figures: 11 Filipino billionaires are in 2011 Forbes Lists of World’s Richest, the income of the richest 10% of Filipino families accounted for 36.0% of the total family income in the country; their income is even higher than the combined income of the lowest 60% of families; their income is also 19 times that of the poorest 10% of families and 260% higher than the national average; the highest 30% income group enjoy a double-digit savings while the lowest 30% have up to 10% income deficit; their savings is 10.2 times that of the combined savings of the lowest 70% income groups. It’s horrible indeed!