Northern
Mindanao witnessed the inauguration of a new batch of educators
last Sunday, November 12, 2006 as they congregated in the
“Atrium” of the Limketkai Center, one of Cagayan
de Oro City’s renowned landmarks, to take their oath
as teachers. Consequently, to highlight the importance of
the said activity, November 13, Monday, was dubbed as teacher’s
day. Yet it seems disheartening to note that, as observed
by many, the celebration was not as flare as it used to be.
And thus, one cannot help but ask “how much do we value
education these days?”
Every
Filipino has come to know by heart the words uttered by one
of our greatest hero that “the youth is the
hope of the Motherland” (Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng
bayan). But to realize such hopes we first must impart
onto the youth the ideals of our society. And it is the teachers,
the educators, our mentors, who have been given such a prestigious
task.
History
can always remind us, with a certain degree of certainty,
that the fullness of civilizations, past or present, is highly
correlated to the quality and maturity of its educational
system. And, moreover, it is only though great mentor(s) that
great leaders develop.
Talking
of history and of teachers, allow me to share an aphorism
which I have quoted from the “The Emperor’s Club”,
for it captured most of what I have always believed to be
the value of a teacher:
“A
great teacher has little external history to record;
His life goes over into other lives;
These men are pillars in the intimate structure of our
schools;
They are more essential than its stones or beams…
And they will continue to be kindling force and a revealing
power in our lives”
Having
been hailed from an academe-community and being blessed to
have an educator as a father and mentor, I have also come
to concur that (quoted from the same movie):
“However
much we stumble, it is always a teacher’s burden
always to hope that with learning the boy’s character
might be changed… and so a destiny of a man….”
With the
chosen destiny of a man evolves the destiny of the society…
and eventually, the destiny of our country and of our nation….
LINNITO M. PASCUAL
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