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| For most students, everything in the world is all about peace signs |
I am a woman of words. It is only through words, whether through pen and paper or through a bullhorn, that I can fight back against the satanic current engulfing our society.
I always relish opportunities, at any given time or place, to speak out my mind and to show some pieces of my heart.
And as a teacher, it has always been a standard operation to walk the talk and talk the walk.
TALK THE WALK.
I always encourage my students to open up with whatever "matters"--whether these are matters of the heart or matters of the report card.
It is through constant communication that a teacher can get to know her students very well.
And though I'm a millennial, there are somethings in this post-modern age that only high school-aged youths could understand. I wouldn't say that my "times" were better, but I could say that I'm thankful I have had my mother and my former school teachers (who, I'm proud to say, are now my colleagues) who instilled in us the value of patience in serious study and emboldened us to become action-geared thinkers.
I am currently teaching Grade 8 students. And I am shocked at the naivete displayed by my students: none of them are enraged by the PDAF scandal, few (almost non-existent) of these kids could care less about Yolanda's impact in our history, I have talked to some of them and they could only shrug at the terrible outcry of cry-baby leftists over the ROTC's atrocities and why that institution (which helped us win the war over the Japs in WWII) should be abolished.
But ask them about the unfortunate trinity of Vhong Navarro, Deniece Cornejo, and Cedric Lee, and these students would even hold an hour-long debate on whether Vhong could still be an available boyfriend or not.
It's still in my memory what it was like to be very young and idealistic. When I was in my first year, our favorite topic would be about the impact of Asian Telenovelas and how they were affecting our culture as a whole. We would also talk about religion and have debates over it and share a trivia or two about the Vatican. When I was in my second year I found many like-minded peers who were incensed by the Makati Mutiny and the going-nowhere-case of Supreme Master Ruben Ecleo Jr. the cultic dick who chainsawed his wife and dumped the body in some ravine in Cebu (In 2004, he also killed, by a hitman, his tireless prosecutor, Mrs. Arbet Yongco.) We intensely followed the Ecleo story and the trial of Estrada with smoldering abhorrence and felt extremely miserable at the havoc and destruction caused by four typhoons namely Unding, Violeta, Winnie and Yoyong...
We were young and on fire. We felt hopeful and at the same time, clueless. We knew we couldn't carry the brunt of the world on our shoulders yet but we dared promised that we would do whatever we must in our power to change the situation. We were masochistic romantics: we chose to be ignoramuses of the hardships ahead. Unbeknownst to us were the harsh realities of what we'd like to undertake in the name of Idealism. And by the time I finished high school, I was an avowed Christian leftist and self-proclaimed liberal theologian: like most of my peers I have forged myself with what I believed in.
That was the type of youth that I was. Had it been a great ride for me? Yes. Did it work out for me? At times, NO. But it surely helped us youngsters in those days to have a solid basis for our actions: we didn't cry over the loss of a cuticle in one's toes, but we bewailed Daniel Smith's acquittal in the Subic Rape Case.
Ask a teenager nowadays about a certain topic and you'd get either a shy smile, a shrug, or "I really don't know mam".
Sure, some students do not have technology yet in their own homes. But that's a moot point: I didn't even know how to use a computer even after I graduated high school. I didn't even have a cellphone back then. What I had in my company were my walkman radio and English books. If I had some spare money, I would buy broadsheets to keep myself updated about the latest news and entertainment. I would ask my relatives about a particular subject and listen to their views and weigh them against my own.
I see how my students dodge important issues that could have adverse effect on them and their future. Back then, we would have faced them head on. These kids would rather talk about Koreans, Vice Ganda, #G2B, and everything that is pop culture.
I guess I can't blame my students. Their era is different from mine.
THE ERA OF LOCAL DISC JOCKEY "EXPERTS"
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| I GUESS THE FIRST PIC IS REALLY TELLING |
With some notable exceptions (that of Veritas Radio, which I strongly trust and recommend), I won't shy away from saying that some local radio stations have taken upon themselves the task of becoming public shrinks. They have placed upon their heads rather peculiar accolades: psychologists without PhDs, teachers without EDs.
I must admit that for a time, I did enjoy their radio programmes. When you listen to the conversation between the DJ and a needy caller, it's not clinicalal, it's purely entertainment. And I was entertained, alas. I was thrown into a psychedelic fantasy that a DJs advice is everything and the one thing that is all there. I started believing in what DJs say. Like a hypnotized person, you follow orders in your sleep.
Imagine, if a DJ just told the caller to shut up, be calm, and pray, and then start doing things right? That could save all the troubles eh? But it would definitely become the cause of a DJ being fired.
The purpose of these DJs is not to give advice but to entertain, to tickle the Filipinos' knack for gossip, and satisfy patrons in segues.
You could liken these whackjobs to false prophets in the Bible that instead of pointing the people of Israel to the help of Yahweh, they took center stage and controlled the lives of these unfortunate people.
The same thing with these self-proclaimed "friends" in the radio. It's all about them. It's all about them sounding smart, feeling great about themselves, sounding wise on sharing what they think are sound words when in fact those are just adept play on words. They victimize the public by their self-centered, deliberately careless, and irresponsible journalism hidden in sweet and funny exegesis of a caller's situation.
That's not mass communication. That's mass murder: these DJs help in killing the thinking capacity of the persons asking for help. They want the public to be emotionally mesmerized and not to be psychologically stabilized.
But to be fair, the general public has it share of guilt for letting these shenanigans float around.
Here's my advice. If you can't carry on your own, you have four resource persons to whom you can talk to:
1. For pete's sake, talk to your parents!
2. Your teachers at school and
3. Your friend who believes in God.
4. Your priest or pastor-- they can pray with you at the same time and absolve you of your sins.
I'm not saying one must stop listening to these Wack DJs, but don't let yourself be dragged into believing in them so much. In seeking advice, it's always better to have a real person with whom you can talk to and not with someone by the phone whom you're not sure if he or she is making faces at you and throwing "loser" signs up as you speak your woes on air.
FIN.
PHOTO CREDIT:
http://esicommunitynews.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/imgres.jpeg
http://www.greatcanadianjokebook.com/photo_jokes/77457761-gcjb%20Radio%20Announcer.jpg
