What?! Your Teacher Is An A.B. Graduate?!?!

... and other thoughts about the AB graduate as a teacher.

Just this night I was able to read Fr. Horacio de la Costa's article and message to the A.B. graduates of Ateneo's batch 1933 (by the way, you can read the full text here). While reading this, it made me ponder on my status as a teacher who graduated with loads of Humanities subjects that do not promise any specialization which could land one a high-income position at corporations.

After graduating, I tried to find a place where I can work, and, believe it or not, despite being an anti-corporate advocate of social justice, I considered working for corporate firms as an option. After going through interviews and stuff, I kind of realized that I really don't belong in that world where too much business and moneymaking is placed at the forefront. Besides not being able to know anything, I see myself as someone who is not willing to sacrifice values and principles just for the sake of earning profit and earning money to live.

Eventually, I found a job in the form of a high school teacher, teaching Christian Life Education, which is something that a Pre-Divinity major is expected to execute quite well. But then, as soon as I entered the life of a teacher and hence the classroom, I found out that there were still a lot of things that I needed to learn. For one, I didn't know anything about the "mumbo-jumbo" (as I initially called it) related to teaching high school kids, such as classroom management, dynamics, and that "Understanding by Design" that requires strict systematization in designing the learning experience for students. In that aspect, I felt that I was way way behind all the other teachers who not only spent four years of preparing for the teaching service, but also majored in the particular subject that they are teaching. In other words, they came prepared. Very prepared.

That is why I was led to even think. Am I really in the job that I want? My inquiry got deeper when I was able to see how my other friends outside the circle of the Humanities graduates are doing fine as well in their fields. Did I even take the right course in the first place?

And I believe that after looking at the way I was prepared by the Ateneo as an A.B. graduate to face this world and live life, I think that graduating with a degree in Bachelor of Arts might not only be the best thing to happen, but also the best way of preparing to enter any kind of job and, ultimately, living life.

Sure, it is true that we did not have anything that will prepare us for a spot in the world of jobs, either in the corporate world or in the field of education that I and a few of my fellow A.B. graduates are right now. We did not have any technical terms, concepts, and subjects that teach us in specifically dealing with the jobs that we are in right now. It is true that we did not have anything that we corresponds to those subjects like marketing, or accounting, or Understanding by Design, or those "technical" or "work-related" subjects that we are going to use in the future.

But then, we have the vast world of philosophy, literature, ethics, and critical theory, that we have loved and developed a passion for. Our A.B. courses taught us wisdom not in the level of computations, table interpretations, and scientific experiments, but a kind of wisdom that allows us to define our values and principles that become our guides and foundations. More importantly, we have been taught the discipline of reading through the texts, spending hours and hours making notes out of them, rereading and highlighting them, and coming up with our own interpretations, understandings, and reflections about them. We have been taught the discipline of sticking to what we believe in and fighting for it through different projects and drives which show us that fighting for these values and principles are ultimately worth it. We might not be promised with a big executive position in companies and a major position in academic institutions, but we are promised with a way of finding ourselves in our world, not being swayed by outside forces that tend to destroy us from within and without.

We might not know the way to market a particular product, or treat a particular disease, or compute for our losses and gains when entering into a business. But through the way we read Kant and Heidegger, explored the various ways of interpreting different poems and novels, seeing them through the eyes of Fraud, Saussiere, Baudrillard, and other critical theorists, we for a certain discipline, a certain way of life that allows us to see what should be pursued in life, what good should be done, and what purpose should we serve. In the end, I agree with what Fr. de la Costa said, that we are not trained towards life-work, but towards life itself. And isn't that a noble thing to study for, to pursue, more nobler than just getting a job and earning a lot of money?

That is why as a teacher, I never regretted being an A.B. graduate in a school that gives emphasis on the Humanities, Philosophy, and Literature, and I find it perhaps more helpful than just having an Education degree from somewhere. Through the training that I received as an A.B. graduate, I was able to teach my students in what I believe would inspire them to find who they are and what they want in this life. I may have failed in terms of technicalities and conceptual applications that those who are specialized in the field are very familiar with, but I can say that in so far as letting my students determine and realize the values that they need to live in life, I have, in one way or another, be able to do it. I may not have used or applied all those things I have learned in my Classroom Dynamics class, but I believe I've had enough time to discuss what my subject means and how it allows them to live a happier and more fulfilled life.

And I believe that in the end, in a world where people need to realize that life is more than just finding a job, it is but fitting to have an A.B. graduates who are prepared to stand up for what really matters. It is fitting for us to enter the world as people who will enlighten others and help them realize the beauty and the wonder of life. It is just fitting for us to prepare others to live life the way we are raised to be as an A.B. graduate.

And doing this, I can say that I am a proud A.B. graduate.

Postscript: Read the last three paragraphs. I believe that they are the best and most striking lines said by Fr. de la Costa.

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

The star of the Naked Gun will be missed.

I Pay My Last Respects

The Home of Nu Rock, as this generation calls it.

Unfortunately, because all of us have succumbed to the whims and desires of the consumerist society, it will be torn down, only to be replaced by something that the listeners of NU 107 would be hardly displeased.

And for me, it is travesty. It is a desecration. It is a destruction of a home. For me, it was the blasphemy of all blasphemies, like tearing a church apart just to build a whorehouse specifically catering lowlifes.

NU has been the home of those who wish to deviate, to separate themselves from the blind crowd and decide to be authentic, to be different, and to be someone who can say that they proudly pursue what they love. It has been a home for their ears, for their music, for their culture, for their lives, for their future, and for their life.

Not only has this been a home, but also this has been a part of the story of their lives. This was the one station on the airwaves that catered to the different, to the separated, even to the ideological and the avant garde. Not only that, it has also been a refuge even for those who would want to just swing life away, who separate themselves momentarily from work and relax, chill, and enjoy rock music at its finest.

I, for one, was among those who benefitted from NU, to the point that my life really did a one-eighty because of it.

I discovered NU when I was in the late second year of my high school, searching for something new in my life after being tired of listening to pop and search for something more satisfying in terms of music. Back then, I was listening only to one station, the now-defunct Campus Radio LSFM which also featured more than just your typical pop-rock (unfortunately, it suffered the fate as NU will suffer in the next months). One of my classmates, after inviting me to play drums in a band that he is planning to form, suggested that I listen to a lot of different rock styles so as to come up with a default genre for our band. And he recommended NU.

And it was then that I opened the box.

It was there where I discovered about punk, progressive rock, (later on) electronic, britrock, and many other styles that drew me, attracted me to pursue greater things.

It was there where I discovered the emerging post-Eraserheads local acts that are worth listening to. Listening to NU led me to Sandwich, Sugarfree, the revamped Rivermaya, the revived The Dawn, Bamboo, and later on, to the Ambassadors, Urbandub, Pedicab, Itchyworms, and many other bands that formed authentic pinoy music.

It was there where, during my youth, I discovered early emotional hardcore rock, indie, and other genres I have never heard before. It was also there where I loved punk rock and its various forms and subgenres, allowing me to discover those less known bands, such as (during that time) My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Placebo, and the likes of them.

It was there where I, together with the band that we formed, planned to pursue our musical dreams by sending a mixtape to them (unfortunately, we were not able to push through).

It was there where I also discovered a lot of bands, both local and foreign, which pleased my ears and ushered a new life of tunes.

It was there where I was led to appreciate Pinoy Rock through the Rock Awards, telling myself that the Filipino, in spite of the wave of jologs music, still has some spunk left in him to be rightfully called artistic.

Later on, it was there where I could, through Halikinu Radio, get updates and comments from the teams and tunes of the school that has been my home as well. Add to that the fact that I was greeted on air every weekend, thanks to a close friend who had a stint at Halikinu.

It was there where my life of rock was founded upon and ushered new possibilities, new dreams, and new choices for me when it comes to music. Thanks to NU, I already have a whole lot of CDs and mp3s that shaped my life and partly made me who I am now.

NU 107 has been a comfort zone, a home of sorts, a refuge, a formation house for me. And now they are going to tear it down and replace it with things that the music community might not even call decent music. Tearing it down would be, for our generation, tearing apart our stories, our historicities, our culture, which we made an essential part of our life.

Goodbye NU 107, you could have formed a lot of minds and hearts which could serve as the foundation for the arts of the future Filipino, but this society doesn't have the right mind and heart to be with you and all those who listen to you. Rest assured, you will remain in our hearts, and we promise to keep the flame of passion to rock out alive and burning. It is in us where the Home of New Rock will continue to thrive and remain a real home.