ok, that’s it. i’ve given my students their written exam. i just have to correct their papers, calculate grades, and, i’m done with them. unlike with the intensive course i handled in september, getting this particular class motivated and interested was like pulling teeth and it’s the last straw. i’m done with teaching. that’s it. end of the line, finito. in german schools, that is.

i used to love teaching, my first job back in the philippines. i’ve held jobs in the industry as well as in research, but i’ve always considered teaching to be the most fulfilling. imagine the impact you exert on all these young minds, full of potential and promise! i’ve had very meaningful relationships with some of my students, and to this day, still keep in touch with some of them. on one occasion, a student of mine saw me at a mall in some remote town in north luzon, and screamed, “ma’am ruuuuuth!!!” at the last moment we remembered we were teacher-student, and not friends and refrained from hugging each other. a few have also found me in friendster and send me notes every now and then. it makes me feel all fuzzy and warm to know they remember, and must have good memories of our times together in class to greet me with such apparent pleasure, even more than a decade after they’ve graduated from university.

so i can’t understand why my teaching experience here in germany has been… galling. exasperating, even. maybe because the students were at least 5, some even 10, years older than my students in pinas? does age explain the arrogance, the feeling that they already know enough and thus need no longer study? why do they constantly have to be convinced that they’re in class to learn stuff, and not because i want to make their lives miserable? or is it because education here costs so little? is the value of education equivalent to the amount of money one pays for it? is it maybe cultural, that teachers in the philippines are accorded more respect and are highly regarded by their students and the society?

ah, maybe i’m just getting old. or tired. at any rate, i really don’t have the time nor energy anymore to waste teaching people who don’t want to learn. the school bell has rung. class dismissed.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at and is filed under deutschland, i, me, and myself, my € 0,02. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.