Teacher’s Day is for every teacher who still shows up. It always sends me back to my first paycheck job. Not web work yet. Teaching computer science at a private college, right after I finished UPLB.
One school, many years ago. I am not naming the campus or the people.
I wanted to teach at UPLB. No slot opened up for me there. I was hungry for any teaching offer. During the interview my future boss described the enrollees in a way that made me cringe. I am not putting those words on this page. They still asked if I was willing to teach that class anyway. I said yes. I needed the job more than I needed pride. That was the warning bell.
What the Room Actually Looked Like
The pep talk came soon after. My supervisor asked where I graduated. I said UPLB. I could hear the bar: world-class teaching, higher than what UPLB trained me for.
Inside I was thinking the opposite. Many of my students had left other schools and landed there. The campus did not match where those students started. I had UPLB habits in my head. The gap was real on both sides.
The supervisor had been an English teacher and climbed to vice president. The pep talk did not land for me. It sounded like marketing, not like a teacher talking to a new hire.
UK Exams and the Only Promise I Could Keep
Our course exams came from the UK. I could not rewrite the whole system. I could tell the class one honest rule: if you get 80 from me, you have a real shot at passing the external exam.
That was my contract with the class. Not inspiration. A number the class could trust.
I tried lowering my standards once. That was the worst part of the job for me. Easier quizzes did not help them pass. Inflating scores felt like a lie. I got more frustrated, not calmer. I never turned in a grade I did not believe.
Proctoring From the Back
I stopped sitting at the front during tests. I moved to the back of the room so students could not copy from the next seat.
Sometimes I would fake leaving. Door slam. Footsteps gone. Kids with a cheat plan would glance at the back row. I was still there. It worked enough times that I kept doing it.
Talented Kids, Wrong Building
One student passed the UPCAT (the UP entrance test) but did not enroll in UP. That passer was excellent in my class. It takes one UPCAT passer to spot another. The student transferred out as soon as the paperwork allowed. I was sad to lose a strong student. It was still the right move. A better learning environment was waiting elsewhere.
Two others stay in memory. One made pixel art in MS Paint with patience I never had. That skill ages well even when the tool looks old.
Another was a finalist on a singing contest show on TV. The winner that season became one of the most popular singers in the Philippines. Different talents. Same problem: bright kids in a building that was not built for them.
A Quiz Contest
I hosted a quiz contest for high school teams to promote the college. I wrote every question. Five math items. Zero correct answers from the floor.
I asked one probability question: what is the chance you win or lose this contest? Silence. The answer is 1. You will win or you will lose. Those are the only outcomes. The room was stunned. Nobody expected an answer that simple.
My boss did not like my last fun question. What was the name of the Microsoft Office paper clip assistant? A student said Clippit. Correct. It was supposed to be a fun IT quiz day. My boss felt that question was not worthy as a final question. The winner had answered hard questions all afternoon. I am still sure of that.
How Teaching Ended for Me
Another executive was in the room that day. After the term ended, I was transferred to another branch for IT training with working adults. That ended my stretch with college students. I took it as a better fit for how I like to teach.
I am grateful for my first paycheck years. They taught me my limits.
If You Want to Teach in College
Teach where you learned. You already know the bar on that campus. The habits are in your body. You are not guessing what “good” looks like. You do not have to lower your standards to match a place that never trained you.
I wanted a slot at UPLB and took a private college instead. That mismatch is what ate me. I brought UPLB expectations into a building with different rules, UK exams at the end, and brochures that promised more than the externals backed up. Talented students left for better schools.
If you cannot teach where you graduated, interview for culture. Ask who owns the syllabus, what happens when externals fail, and whether you can refuse a grade you do not believe.
Elementary and High School
College was a few years in one subject. Elementary and high school teachers carry every subject, every day. Their kids are tired, distracted, or still learning how to sit still. I salute you.
I see the challenge more clearly now that I am teaching Davis at home. Homework. Reading. Explaining the same idea again because the first pass did not land. One kid at the kitchen table, and I still run out of patience some nights. Multiply that by a full room and a bell schedule. I do not know how you keep showing up.
To every teacher reading this on Teacher’s Day: thank you. You hold standards in hard rooms. You are underpaid and over-scrutinized. Sometimes management will not back you up. I hit that in my college job too. I could not keep doing it without becoming someone I did not want to be. Many of you stay anyway. That deserves the holiday.
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