THE MOTHER AS A TEACHER, A TEACHER AS A MOTHER

Post date: Apr 8, 2018 3:09:51 AM

By: Salve V. Calderon

BNHS – TEACHER III

Think of the word 'teacher' and chances are the mental image formed is of a woman. In any country on earth where teachers can be found, a teacher is likely, by their great numbers, a female. There is a good chance that she is a mother of a child attending or have attended the school wherein she works.

Married or single, a teacher is like a mother to her pupils, becomes a friend or confidante to students struggling with the problems of learning and of life, and sometimes even more accessible than their own parents. Older teachers who have been in tenure for years are addressed as mothers to younger colleagues out of respect and admiration

Teachers who have chosen to remain single may not have children of their own but they are not less capable of mothering their wards. Whatever their status in civil registry records is, teachers spend as much time in school as in their homes.

There is a Wonder Woman in every teacher who is a mother. In the span of a week she has to balance between school and home. She puts on a smile every morning as well as her best dress pieces of compassion and fortitude. She stands in front of youngsters in class attending to their individual needs like she handles her own at home, strains her feet almost all day and rushes to pay utility bills at the first available convenience store. She attends long-winded meetings and engage in spirited conferences with the head teacher while neck-deep paperwork awaits to be done on her desk. Come quitting time she already plans the route to take in picking up a son or daughter she missed holding from her own mother's house or the way to a market to buy food to cook at home for a hungry brood of sweaty but happy children.

The list of tasks can go on and may seem endless and so varied. But the common denominator for all these tasks is the unconditional love and care she devotes to her children and her students. Where does she draw the line? Her head bone is connected to her heart bone. Firmly connected.