Salamat po, Titser Dina.

I was pocketing my change while onboard the IKOT jeepney last Friday when I noticed the banner congratulating my professor. She is one of Metrobank’s Outstanding Teachers in the Tertiary Level. I smile in quiet content, very happy with the decision of the deciding committee.

Just in case this article gets published, I have decided to write in full anonymity. I hope that she will never have the slightest hint that it was I who wrote it. I dread the moment that our eyes would meet and I be asked if I am indeed the writer. And so as early as now, I am busy thinking how to brilliantly disguise denial. And so as you read this, dear reader, let us conspire. Please do not tell her your guesses about the possible author of this article. They might be correct and I prefer to remain incognito. Please. I beg of you.

I am just one of the so many students who dream of becoming like her, at least a bit like her someday, somewhere. And why not? She is an excellent professor. Yes, knowledgeable in her field but most importantly, she is a real teacher. She expects nothing but the best from us, cheers for us till the end and supports our totally far from genius academic pursuits. Her lectures sound like an audio book compilation of the best references there are in her field. But it is the heart behind all the talking that I cock my ears to listen to her. You see, I do not listen to talk too much, I pay more attention to the life behind the talk. I did observe her from afar, and got to observe her up close as my professor to discover that she is for real. I was quite skeptic at first but I was proven wrong.

Not necessarily in the same university she teaches, but I had professors of almost the same caliber. There are two that come to mind right away. One is from Harvard but she has long left the university. There is another, a Fullbright scholar whom I gasp at in awe for knowing all the pertinent dates and key persons in his field. He is unmistakably kayumanggi. Rumor has it that he is leaving for a teaching career elsewhere.

What makes her different? Looks, yes. Her fashionable bob turns heads in our hallways. Towering, at least for the average Filipina, with a pointy nose, freckled fair skin, she does not look Southeast Asian at all. She would easily pass for a European. But as they say, looks are deceiving. For underneath that Caucasian cover is a diehard fan of the brown race. Teacher Dina’s decision as well as that of other dedicated professors to remain in the academe despite meager pay is a statement on its own. We their students are very privileged. We who fight with her, in our hopefully not too feeble attempts to help build this nation, behind the scenes, in front of our innocent children.

You should have read her thesis which she dedicates to the Filipino child living in poverty. And this has never failed to make me shed tears. I share her sentiments. It is this staggering reality that keeps the fight within to continue. It is a fight bigger than my petty whims and complaints. When I am about to throw the towel, I remember I have to finish my studies for my other teacher friends. I need to author my own success story to share with them. We need to better ourselves and strive to improve our craft for every single Filipino child in our classroom. There is a next generation to fight for.

Thesis after thesis written by South Koreans, Chinese, Burmese line the shelves of our library. They pursued higher education in the Philippines. They probably struggled. Locals as I have our share too. Not all have the luxury of studying without having the need to put food on the table. One cannot teach on an empty stomach, much more pursue graduate school. And this is why a lot do not continue till the end. Still, some of us choose to remain in the fight, leaving all the negativity behind to finish the race. However bleak circumstances, we plod on.

Ma’am, I have always wanted thank you in person but since I know too well, that being the teacher to teachers you are, you would want me instead, to become a improve and better myself, and it would be enough. Please remember that your efforts will never be in vain because that is what I as well as my other classmates who are under your tutelage strive to be.

I hope to ripple waves among my fellow Filipino teachers and my students. I hope to inspire them as you have inspired me.

And so to the best of my kindergarten English, congratulations, and most of all, salamat po. Regalo kayo ng Maykapal sa ating bansa.