... 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.
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