Memoirs of an Amnesiac

Way back when I still attended school in high school, (Oh, how long that has been!) I liked it when teachers tell me why we need to study so and so. What practical applications will those learnings yield us and such. I had direction when studying, unlike now, among the students who just go through the motions, believing that they "need to because that is what is required of them to finish high school."

This answer was what unnerved me recently when I asked the students why we needed to study about Greek and Roman literature when it doesn't even affect us now. They all chorused, "because it is required from us, teacher or we will never graduate!" Such mentality. It puts down most of my cherished desires to learn and keep learning despite my age. What replaced students' motivation to learn now is not actually the zest to learn but the "compulsory requirement" and adding, "or else we will not graduate." Grades are put to a premium.

I must admit when I was still studying that I too worried so much about my grades. I always wanted to be on top, to be recognized and to bring honor to my family. It was only in college that I tried to mellow down and started not minding about my grades. I resolved to learn and fail. Anyway, I know I can always get by with my average mind. And learn I did. It was only then that I realized that I had this unquenchable thirst for learning. I was not only learning to improve my grades but also learning to learn (which was quite hard at first).

I realized that my studying about concepts may not have a concrete purpose (yet) but I need to learn them because I know they will somehow give me a way to understand systematically things in general.

I must admit that my brain bleeds, too, especially when I need to learn concepts in math and physics. Luckily, I have strong neurons that could withstand frequent brain hemorrhage or I would have found myself a regular resident of a mental ward nearby.

Let me also add that it is quite difficult to be a teacher in this present day and time. When students are so much exposed to the loop system, things appear from nowhere when they face the computer or whatever gadget they have, and in the classroom, they face the boring blackboard (that was not really painted black in the first place!) with the teacher who also is boring!

But it takes a great deal of effort to be a teacher who makes students understand why they need to do things. Not because it is required of them but that it will be helpful later on in the future. Everyday I instill practical life lessons and applications to students, hoping that even when they don't actually understood my lesson, they would somehow remember my attempt at trying to build connections with it and the world where they exist.

And so when they try to ask me, "Why do we need to study this teacher? We won't remember all of them anyway in the future," I would respond by saying, "Go ahead ask yourself, 'What's in it for you?'"