Toying with TOY

Having closely participated in the PSS Teacher of the Year selection process this year, I could not very well let go without some reflections, would I?

When our school principal announced the selection of the school representative to the CNMI TOY 2007, I gave my little spiel at our faculty meeting about how I hope we can get beyond the “good, better, and best” designation of nominees, into simply accepting the result of a selection process. Couched in the language of competition, the selection is factually a no contest. It is more a show of preference by peers rather than a quantitative measure of calculated gains and weighted accomplishments. How does one compare a litchi, an apple and a mango? In my case, a durian!

The media persist on describing the PSS’ selection process of teacher, aide and support staff of the year as a competition, with the selected person “besting 20 other contenders.” This is no accident. Ours is a 5,000-year civilization of one-up-man-ship, determined by patriarchs who have sublimated low levels of testosterone with conquest and domination of others. Since Sargon the strong man overpowered the King of Kish in Mesopotamia and ushered the era of empires, ours has been a journey of conflict with intermittent occasions for cooperation. The delight in bragging rights spawned a culture of violence that still defines cultures not only in the Near East, but around the globe. As Atcha Baby Chailang Palacios is fond of declaring, mothers do not send their offspring to war!

A younger colleague at Southern High revels in competition, or being poised at the edge of advantage. He uses competition as a motivational tool for students to perform well. Success is acquired by besting others; satisfaction is attained by savoring the feeling of upliftment in the buoyancy of achievement. Sales people visualize the victory circle all the time, honing strategies and mapping delicate maneuvers to get there. Army generals and sports’ coaches do the same all the time.

To be sure, there is much to be said about being in the cutting edge of history. To blaze a trail toward the unknown for others to follow is both an act of genius and inspiration. It is, however, one thing to set one’s eyes on the prize up the mountain peak, it is another to be obsessed with the adulation of the masses on the plains.

In my sixth grade classroom, there are students who are consumed by being the first in everything in the class, or even just being first in line coming into class or getting out of the door. They raise their hands the fastest when a question is asked, even if their response is not always accurate or enlightening. They proudly aspire to be first to announce to all: “I’m done!” after completing an assigned classwork, or an administered quiz/test/exam.

I tell my class early on during the school year that I see three types of students walk into the classroom. There are those who march in and announce, proudly or meekly, “I’m here!” Eight out of 10 tend to be this way. Then, there are those who saunter in, scan the crowd and walk or wave to someone, saying, “Ah, there you are!” Two of this out of 10 is plenty. Occasionally, one walks in consciously inquiring, “Are we all here yet?”

There is no virtue in being one type or another. Our behavioral patterns, after all, result from genetics’ interaction with the environment and engagement in social adaptation. We develop habits and we cling to them. Addiction is the performance of habits deemed unhelpful but are persistently adhered to because of the comfort of the familiar. We do, however, have the option to choose at any time to modify habits, thus, if we are conscious of the style of our sauntering, we may choose to transform, adapt, adjust, mutate, or change the fundamental stance into something else.

Back to the TOY. Before sisters Lavena and Acelia get smart enough to open up a TOY franchise in Tanapag and freeze their DNA for cloning future educators, we might muse a bit about the role and function of the Teacher of the Year in each school and the CNMI.

At SVES, our TOY automatically assumes the role of teachers’ representative. S/he represents the school in formal bodies and informal gatherings, whenever and wherever that is required, during the year. A suggestion was made during Gov. Babauta’s term that the CNMI TOY also serves as the Teachers’ Rep at BoE, that position being a non-voting symbolic role and serves at the pleasure of the appointing executive office. The State TOY awardee might even host a gathering and nurture a collegiality of all TOY nominees/awardees, if only to strengthen the pool of recognized exemplary teachers and utilize their varied talents in the professional development of teachers, and the mentoring of younger members of the profession.

The issue of an exclusive collective bargaining representative for teachers should be a separate one from the BoE teachers rep since the former’s function entails an exclusive role of guarding the teachers’ organizational and professional interest, while the latter participates in all policy deliberations affecting the total education process. ACT might consider this in their deliberations as it affects their forthcoming election next year.

A couple of Kagman teachers suggested that there could be a bit more transparency in the TOY selection process, with the criteria of selection being accessible to the public. Since the selection so far has been a matter of preference rather than a strict accounting of measurable points, an articulation of the virtue(s) chosen to be exemplified in any given year would be in order. Not withstanding the candor of Rep. Justo Quitugua who accurately called the PSS nominees ‘employees of the year’ during the pre-education day celebration, it is well to add next year an accent on the pedagogical contributions of the nominees more than just their responsibility as loyal contract workers in the school system.

A paradigm shift is occurring in our planetary society where the virtue of achievement is being refocused to the reward of performance rather than the status bestowed by the prize. Teachers are eminently positioned to effect a transformation of cultural values, and recognizing the unique contribution of specific teachers rather than heralding their paramount position at the head of a class, or being first in line, is a good place to start.

Jaime Vergara
2005 CNMI TOY