the best school

We get our best education in the streets, don't you think so? I mean, we spend many, many years and lots of money in school that oftentimes fail to give us the kind of education which ought to prepare us to battle life's challenges without giving up.

A lot of things had been prolonged and postponed which ultimately end up costing more. What I am saying is, if there is any opportunity for one, no matter how young or inexperienced, to start his or her career long before finishing a college, then I believe that anyone in his sane mind should grab that opportunity and start facing life early. I see no need to wait until you get your diploma. Now is the right time to etch your destiny. Your education or college diploma should only be an added bonus but not the main reason for one to succeed. One can still succeed even without it. What's your say?

setting the standard

People in media are actually setting the standards for us, what ought and what ain't done. Without us knowing it, viewers are bombarded with a lot of trash everyday, trash in the sense that instead of developing or improving our way of life, some shows just pull us all down into the gutter. so what's the standard? Is it locally based? Do we have our own little standard in our own little corner of this world? What characterizes quality? Do we even know it when we see one?

I think local media should exert all its efforts in raising their standards whether morally, aesthetically, or intellectually. It is part of their duty to do this because they play a huge role in shaping the minds of the young. Whether they like it or not, their programs tell the viewers that "this is it", "this is how things ought to be done". Ouch. No wonder the next generation carries on the same blunders and the same level of mediocrity. Please. Let us see improvement in this area---not just a speck of it but tons of it NOW.

teacher's pet

This article hopefully explains why teachers seem to favor some students and thus, those not favored accuse teachers as having "favoritism". I've been teaching for 25 years and I know that teachers do have favorite students in the class. Is this unfair? Why do teachers practice favoritism?

In order to answer this, let me first give you the type of students who are most likely in the teachers' list of favorites. Who are these students?

1. They are students who are always present in the class and always on time.

2. They are attentive. They know how to respect others and know how to listen. (Personally, I dislike students who are inattentive or do not know how to listen---students who distract others' attention by talking while the teacher is talking---grrrr!)

3. They actively participate in class discussions.

4. They submit their work/project on time.

5. They know how to follow instructions because they know how to listen.

6. They score high in quizzes and long exams.

7. They exhibit enthusiasm in all class activities.

There could be more but basically those are the characteristics of students in the teachers' list of favorites.

I am amazed at how anyone can even wonder why. We can't help it. Students who are always late, absent, talking while the class is going on, not submitting projects, and failing in exams just don't make it to the list. A student should work to earn it and we cannot blame teachers entirely for having the tendency to favor those with the above characteristcs.

Do you want to be your teacher's pet? Then go over the list above and start working.

the deterioration of the academe

Having taught English for more than half a century has given me a clearly good picture of students who I think would make the grade in my classes. I spell them out at the beginning of classes but I do not know why some insist in not knowing and not complying and therefore not making the grade. Is it a case of attention deficiency or just plain "I don't care" attitude? Whatever the reasons for I am sure they can come up with many, these students who do not make it often come to "beg" for me to raise their grades because the department head told them to, otherwise they couldn't be enrolled because their grades did not reach the required cut-off grade. Now isn't this heading towards academic degradation? Why force students who did not reach cut-off to "beg" their teachers to raise their grades? So what is the use of the cut-off grade? Isn't it used to determine who among the batch are qualified to pursue the course or who among them would need some special intervention?

It is unfortunate that in their effort to improve the quality of education, schools have failed in doing so because some heads in the academe misunderstand how the cut-off grade is supposed to be used to achieve quality education. I have not really encountered many such heads but I know of at least one who had been driving students to their teachers to "beg" that their grades be stretched for some extra work---which I found weird and hilarious. Someone is misusing or misinterpreting cut-off grades.

During our time back in college, you got the grade you deserved! It it was 70%, then it was 70! There was no begging around teachers to stretch it. If all we got was 75%, then it should show in our transcript of record that it was all we could get. No bluffing around and pleading teachers to give you some "extra work" to reach cut-off. But we got to enroll in the next subject because 75 was passing mark. Today, students have to reach 83 or 85 in order to finish their course. What the heck! Many students have difficulty reaching 75 so why force the issue? Let their REAL GRADES be reflected in their permanent records and not some dole-out grades forced from the teacher by some dean or head.

Another point---the cut-off grade has never done students any good because they only get to reach it by "begging" for it. We did not have any cut-off grades during our time but graduates were more skilled.

By the way, some schools do not give grades to their students. They simply accelerate their students whether they learned something or not, that is their own problem. They are the ones paying, so.