"Prof. Good"

the midterm exam last saturday was a disappointment. as we expected, it fell short of stimulating critical thinking -- which we hoped the entire course would foster. it only gave us aching fingers for writing kilometric "define-this-and-enumerate-this-and-that" essays -- not worthy of the staying up that late with a throbbing solvent-induced migraine. as i said, bookish bookish booooooookish!

 

aaaargh! someday i'll get my karma for saying all these.

 

in fairness, the teacher i speak of (whom i will call Prof. Good -- *this is a giveaway clue to UP students from the college of *ubouboubo*) has outstanding credentials, considering the published works under his/her belt. but darn -- it feels as if s/he has lost all his/her creativity in imparting quality education to his/her students.

 

to demonstrate: at times, s/he would turn the class into an oral reading session *gasp!* by asking everyone to take turns in reading aloud a blasted 20-page article. darn! i have to fake a sore throat to get away with it. each time she does that, it's an entire 1 hour of the 4-hour, once a week class down the drain.

 

another case: i wonder if s/he even keeps abreast with current events, especially those related to our course. if not for my more news-savvy classmates, we would have often ended up discussing events that happened four years ago (which, i guess, were his/her glory days). 

 

i'm so sorry for all these harsh words (i just have to let it out). sometimes i get so frustrated for the time and money spent for education, and not getting the quality of teaching everyone deserves. sigh! my mother is a teacher, and in over two decades in the profession, never did i see her lose steam or dedication to improve herself and her craft. i know it's wrong to expect every educator to be like her, and i guess that's just the way things are -- whether or not it is anyone's fault. everyone's different, period.

 

here's praying for everything that's good for those in the academe and the teaching profession. i believe most of them are, still, among the most noble and dedicated individuals you'll ever come across in your lifetime.