By Dencio Acop
We are all teachers. You do not have to be a ‘teacher’ to teach. You may not know it, but you are a teacher in your own right. You teach your kids, don’t you? At times we did training for colleagues at work right? And many or most of us attended school at some point in our lives, briefly or all the way! In short, we were and are all learners. And having been a learner is all you need in order to be a teacher. Don’t even try saying that you are not a good speaker. For teaching is not only accomplished through speech. There are many other ways to teach and learn. How do you think the deaf and dumb learn and teach? Because they do! In fact, it is the special group of learners and teachers that prove to us that by nature all human beings are bound to be teachers. The artificial-legged marathoner sure did learn from someone! So did anyone who ever had a disability and still survived through life.
I love teaching. After every class, i feel drained. As if I exhausted all my wisdom downloading everything i knew to my students. I have always felt that whenever i taught in the past whether in the military or in civilian life. It is a vocation more than a profession. One eventually gets into it and enjoys it for what it is. Interacting with people, young or adult. Enjoying the process. Student as teacher. Teacher as student. Teaching is a great feeling. Of a sense of accomplishment. In retrospect, I had conducted training for soldiers and some police in ranger tactics, airborne, counterterrorism, VIP security, intelligence, counterintelligence, command and general staff, among others. And in civilian life, I had taught at the Philippine Christian University, College of St Benilde, Bicol University, and now at the Manuel L Quezon University School of Criminal Justice. I taught tertiary and graduate students alike in subjects as diverse as public administration, management, peace and security studies, international relations, disaster management, among others. I even taught the Foundations of a Christian Marriage in Pre-Cana Seminars to aspiring young couples in our West Triangle Parish.
So, whenever I see my daughter Jacqui guide her sons and help Johan with his homework, I see a teacher. My late wife Joji had been my daughter’s teacher not only while growing up but at the University of the Philippines College of Nursing as well. When I see mothers and fathers and their kids, I see teachers. Even grandparents are teachers. I am now with my grandsons and I cannot help being a teacher even if I spoil them sometimes. Joy is a teacher with her granddaughter Sofia. At every level in the hierarchy of organizations are leaders and managers who are teachers to the people they lead. And this relationship goes all the way down the chain. But let us not also lose sight of the fact that teaching is never one way. We also learn as we teach. And we continue to teach as we all learn. And teaching is what makes the world go round. Because learning, like teaching, never ends.
