I quit teaching

I just submitted my resignation. I applied for a teaching job, hoping to find that fire and peace in doing something meaningful, so I tried it for a year. Oh boy, was that a mistake I shouldn’t have made.

All this time, I’ve been hearing how Filipino literacy is declining, and I thought it couldn’t be that bad. And then I met the current generation of college students. Damn, they were lazy and entitled as fck. I’m not saying all students are, but the ones I taught? Most were. And it’s a headache to handle them, I tell you. Let me give you a taste.

- They wanted everything handed to them. They would request to have the learning materials sent to them in advance, but when the class comes, they would still come empty-handed and just doze off during class. They don’t like to take notes during discussions. They hated researching on their own to review what wasn't included in the handouts, but they also just wouldn't listen during discussions (which actually covered all the things they missed).

- They want everything in the discussions to be included in the handouts, but would complain when the materials are wordy.

- They claim they are visual learners, but couldn’t identify figures or structures included in the lessons.

- They hated memorizing technical terms and understanding concepts, yet they enrolled in a science program—like, are you fcking real, kid??

- They deem the materials as incomprehensible when they couldn’t even improve on their basic grammar, diction, and vocabulary. They suck at reading their notes/PPT during reports (elementary level), and wrong grammar and misspellings were common in their write-ups.

- They dare demand things from the professors, and would create a hate train against them just because not all of their requests were granted.

- They don’t accept their mistakes and would pass them off as the teacher’s fault. As if their low scores weren’t from their low-assed effort to study. I mean, when you anticipate the degree of difficulty of a major subject’s exam, the right thing to do is prepare for it in advance or with ample time, right? Well, for them, a night is enough and two is too much to study for a final exam in a major subject.

- They guilt-trip their professors into giving them a higher mark. When you aim to get that Latin honor, DL award, or scholarship grant, you should put in at least double the efforts of a regular student—unless you’re a genius. But what do I see? Chitchats or naps during class, cheating during an exam, bailing on group activities, submitting a half-assed output (elementary/hs level). Now, who in their right mind would take them seriously?

And so I gave up. Teaching is really not for everyone—or at least not for me. I would rather face dumb adults make mistakes in a workplace where we all can be justly reprimanded when wrong than get biased evaluations from kids protected by a fcked up education system. And I guess, Filipino literacy is indeed declining.