On the other side of the classroom

by Anna Patricia G. Valerio

IT’S THE first day of school. A student sneaks a peek into his classroom and sees that the professor isn’t there yet. He enters the classroom and waits for the professor to arrive. He notices a girl coming in, a prospective classmate no doubt.

Much to his surprise, the girl doesn’t head for one of the student desks, but instead makes a beeline for the teacher’s table. She then turns to the class, smiles at them, and introduces herself as the professor.

For the love of teaching
Mikaela Fudolig wowed everyone when, in 2007, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Philippines, at the age of 16. Now 17, she is teaching Physics and at the same time taking up her master’s degree at UP.

“I really like teaching. It’s what I had wanted to do since elementary school,” says Mikaela. “It’s fun to share your knowledge with other people.”

Like Mikaela, 21-year-old professor Czarina Medina (AB SoS ’07) has always had a passion for teaching. “I wanted to become a teacher talaga,” says Czarina, who teaches Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology. “My mom’s a teacher and I’m really comfortable [talking in front of a class] lang talaga,” she says.

For Sharmila Parmanand (AB PoS ’07), a 21-year-old English professor with several debate championship titles under her belt, the decision to teach right after graduation was largely influenced by her college professors. “I realized that teachers really are able to make a difference in the way their students think, [and] look at the world,” she says, “I wanted to be that kind of teacher.”

No room for generation gap
With such a small age difference between them and their students, one can’t help but wonder whether these young professors have ever had students who did not take them seriously—or worse, questioned their authority as teachers.

All three of them say that the age gap isn’t such a big deal. “What matters is that they are my students, and I am their teacher,” says Mikaela.

Sharmila even thinks that the very small age gap between her and her students is actually an advantage. “The benefit of being a young teacher is [being able to] remember what it’s like to be a student. It actually helps me relate to them better. It helps me choose my jokes [and] examples [and make these] more relevant to them” she says.

Czarina agrees. “My students’ interests are the same things that interest me,” she says.

The classroom is still the place to be
Even though Mikaela, Czarina, and Sharmila seem to have no trouble adjusting to their jobs, all of them can’t help but be reminded of their not-so-long-ago past as college students.

“When you’re a student, you could afford to be lousy. You could go to class and not be prepared,” says Czarina, “’Pag teacher ‘di pwede (You can’t do that when you’re a teacher).”

Although Mikaela feels that being a teacher is less stressful than being a student, she still thinks that teaching is by no means easier. “Being a teacher is like being a very good student—you actually exert a lot of effort to really do well in your class,” she says.

For Sharmila, the best part of teaching is the sense of fulfillment she gets at the end of each class. “It’s very rewarding when you see your students nodding in class,” she says. “Or when they come up to you after and say that they liked your examples,” she adds.

Czarina, whose students send her messages through Yahoo Messenger to ask questions about points discussed in class, enjoys teaching so much that she prefers being a professor to being a student. “There is no joy that could compare [with] seeing students’ eyes light up [and hearing them] say, ‘Oo nga noh,’” she says. “Walang papantay dun (Nothing could compare with that),” she adds.

Can’t get enough of school
These professors are already so comfortable with their jobs that they don’t just see teaching as a career stint, but as something that they could see themselves doing in the long run.

“Teaching will [definitely] always be there,” Sharmila says.

For Czarina, teaching is her way of serving the world. “If you can’t be a great person, then be an instrument in making someone else a great person,” she says.

Mikaela shares the same sentiment. “I’ve developed [my] self-confidence because of teaching,” she says, “I guess no other job [could] give that certain confidence that comes from being able to share what you know.”

Their youthful looks may fail to incite terror in their students, and they may even be the same age as—or perhaps younger than—them. But hearing what Mikaela, Czarina, and Sharmila have to say in class will surely make any skeptical student sit up straight and listen.