Reminiscing The Past

I'm not a sucker for attention nor did I suck up to my teachers in Grade School. Never do I ask my teachers to raise my grades or beg for them to do alterations for all the test that I had. All my test, exams, quiz all turned out to be perfect without no mistake, no erasures, no error whatsoever. It's a perfect score of 100% or 99% the marks given to all my exams. WRITTEN form. And when I received perfect scores then I had the chance to check all the test papers in my class. I was the Class President not because I was appointed by the teacher but because all the classmates voted for me to have that position as an officer. This is based also in school performance, overall perf. in test and recitation. Leadership and effort. I hold and keep the whole class secured and order when the teacher was on leave due to sickness and other important meeting. I took  charge in over all work assigned to me and I assigned some of the members of the Officers Club voted to promote orderliness and cleanliness of the classroom. It was such an order arrangement of things, procedure and system. It was patterned on "Martial Law" educational system which has more than appeal to law abiding citizen of that country. The only culprit to the order of things are those rude ill-mannered individuals who are chaotic and barbarians in nature. Just two of them though. Oh yeah I have long memory and I can still remember their names and face. For them in-orderliness and being loud is a must when teachers gone out of the room. For them when the cat is away, the mouse will play. Since I have the key to the room, and set of keys for the metal shelf bookcase for  all the newly published books donated by the government it is my duty to protect those 50 books (hard bound cover) (white paper) (shiny and glossy) (perfect bond paper) 50 books for English subject, 50 books for Mathematics, and 50 books for Science. We seldom use the books. Heavy, too precious and expensive. My teacher thought she'll pay for the wear and tear and damage to those books. The metal bookcase is costly and it has glass sliding door. She used to tell me to take care of those books, the cabinet and the keys.  I have 49 classmates. Fifty students in one class room. One adviser. Eight subjects: English, Pilipino, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Music and Arts, PE (Physical Education). Our extra curricular activities: Girl Scout of the Philippines (GSP, I am the Patrol Leader) that's the only extra curricular activity I can remember. Each subject has one teacher, different teacher. Each teacher has her own lesson plan being checked almost daily by the principal who comes to the classroom to check the teacher's agenda, lesson plan and see how the room is kept in order and cleanliness a must. Strict eh? Teachers are very strict in school. Formality wise, everyone's working very professional. In professional manner and each student should be strictly managed inside the school. No parents are allowed in the school unless if there are disputes needed to tackle during the PTA Meeting. No dispute whatsoever. Except one "conflict between RH and the sophisticated teacher named Mrs. P. The case was brought to court which I wont reveal here. Of course not my business to tell it publicly. It's just my story that is being broadcasted here.  My Mother's the PTA President. There's not much they can do anyway because the students can manage all the work at school. There's really no problem with my classmates I think we're all smart. This is due to the amount of hard study strict compliance to the rote system. It's a must. We have to sharpen our memory like a knife. When things get complicated and other teachers from other class get so paranoid why our class get higher mark or score the teachers doubt the test. A half Chinese Filipina teacher was summoned to do the teaching on memory. Almost everyday we have poems and verses to memorize. It started with few significant lines as in quatrain. Then one board filled with paragraphs of one poem. Later on she asked us to memorize longer version of poetry 3 blackboards we have to memorize within time limit. Later on she ordered to memorize 6 to 10 pages of poem also within time limit. Well that's not funny anymore. She made us looked like robots. I myself became a robot too robotic to have the poem delivered in front of the class. I was there in front of the class having to recite the poem and the rest of the class have to do the same. Nobody complains. I should complain being the Class President but in my opinion that's probably for the best. If the President of the Philippines can manage to have his speech delivered for  public listening and viewing having to listen to one hour hear him talk without any tele-prompter then maybe it  fair to have that done to us. How he could do such thing? His memory is that of a computerized robot? Or it's just he is or was an eloquent speaker who knows no bounds and limit to what he can do because of his high intelligence.

The rote system that is not administered here in Canada. There is no discrimination whatsoever. Every student is dealt with proper education and everyone benefit from it. There is no favoritism nor extra under the table dealings. Not that I know of. Until the last year of my Elementary years in Grade Six when suddenly a new teacher was accepted in the School. She is from another school and maybe she wants to set her record straight and be known. She had favoritism and I am not her favorite even if I have good grades (mark). She likes to embarrass me in the class for no apparent reason. Ah I think it's because my friends and I, the whole class came rushing in inside the room and we're sweating after a football game. It was so hot that afternoon and we were late already to even wipe our sweat. You know the rushing in to the room with our heavy feet on the hardwood floor  infuriated her and almost made her go berserk saying nasty to us and most especially to me saying, " If you're really smart why don't you move to section one..."

What a huge humiliation and my face got numb but probably all red in shame. Poor me. Waaahh!! I almost cried but didn't. I was stubborn. I never cry when I was in Elementary. Even if I'm always been bullied by the "barbarians." I've been bullied being called "rebulto." Meaning a "statue!" A statue???? What the hell! Am I a statue? Oh I think it's because when I'm in front of the class I never move I just stand there and talk and preside without emotions and tackle with the lesson plan for the day administered by my teachers to take charge when she's not there with us. I was called "horse" because of how fast I run when we played football always having home run. They never call me teacher's pet because I earned my mark, my grades because I was a wide reader, studious and has been diligent student whose discipline with work habits, ethics,  about learning not studying is the best solution. TO LEARN and GAIN. Studying is an option. Again the best way to tackle studying is TO LEARN. What I can gain from learning? Is there a reward? Reward of being true to myself and what I'm capable of. Not because of pressure and somebody's arrogance I will stoop down low to anybody. Learn to love yourself and your identity not the identity of others.


Oh my God! All my classmates looked at me. They felt sad and unhappy staring at my teacher and in retaliation nobody didn't participate in the class discussion. All of us were quiet and we tried to ignore her. She looked like a "nobody" in that room. The classroom becomes a hurdle, a cemetery every time she comes to the room. I'm glad and so happy to have other teachers who are more than pleased to have me in their class. They know me very well from Grade One to Grade Six and they know what I'm capable of. It's just that this new teacher wants to be famous in that school she had her way. She was popular after that. The limelight's on her. She changed the school into a rather more pleasant for her own convenience not for us.




So there...our teacher said something very humiliating. It was an incredibly loud and suffocating. As if it turns my world upside down. I should have asked who are you to tell me such thing? You are just a new teacher in this school you have no proof yet of your credential if there's any. You are nothing compared to the rest of the teachers and educator of this school. Well dear readers I didn't say such accusation. My teachers in other subjects seemed to know what happened and they tried to avoid the conflict. The woman or the teacher taught from private school and she is more than liberated compared to the old conservatives in school. Her teaching method is based on drama and declamation for Language Arts (English ) which is not my forte in Grade School. I hate drama people! She wants us to declaim but after that humiliation everyone's so "stern" at her. We seldom join her drama in the class. Only one enjoys the limelight with her. She is one of my friends named AS. She obliged to declaim to join the prestigious contest that the basis of IQ is through Declamation. Sigh.

Her declamation piece begins with facial reaction of hopelessness, teary- eyed, wandering and wondering as if lost in translation, feeling like lukaret and then words came out from her tongue and said, " Alms, alms.....alms..mercy... She had her two hands and palms open up begging for mercy asking for food and water. Then the long teary, sad moments of awe, sadness as if melancholia has befallen her and the theme of the narration suddenly halt to another scene or sequence and she screamed and shouted, " Dorobo, dorobo.....speaking niponggo and a lot more of Japanese lines to the effect that her family was being driven away from their house. Then fire broke out and massive killing followed and the ending?

Oh well...you can ask her of that long declamation story that my teacher and her enjoyed for the rest of that one year. My other classmates and I enjoyed the privilege of the SECTION ONE BILL of RIGHTS.