Unforgettable lessons

by Dr. Jun Ynares, Manila Bulletin

THE VIEW FROM RIZAL

Dr. Jun Ynares

“What were the most important lessons you learned from your teachers?”

Many years ago, while we were governor of Rizal Province, we were invited to speak at an elementary school graduation ceremony. While waiting for my turn at the podium, one of the graduating students asked us that question: “Governor Jun, what did you learn in elementary school?”

We had no ready answer to that question, but that innocent query got us thinking. When our turn to speak came, we decided to junk the prepared speech and share instead our thoughts on the question posed to us by the graduating elementary student.

Here were three important lessons our teachers taught us and which we shared to the graduating class that evening. The best lessons I learned from my teachers were:

First, “shut up and listen.”

Second, “raise your hand if you know the answer.”

Third, “finished or not finished pass your paper”.

The mention of these lessons elicited laughter from the audience of graduating students, their parents and the teachers present. Why not? No one thought they were lessons. They sounded more like the angry admonitions we got from our teachers. When we hear those words, they bring back memories of the serious face of a stern classroom teacher.

We may have heard those words many times when we were in school. We heard them so often that they became our LSS (last song syndrome). They became embedded in our memory that we cannot forget where we heard them and from whom.
For us, they were lessons.

We told the audience that day that those words from our elementary school teachers were some of the wisest we heard. They were so wise that they helped us become the public servant we are today. Those were some of the best advice that an aspiring leader would ever get and they came from our teachers.
We explained to our audience why and how.

“Shut up and listen” helps one develop an important quality of a leader: empathy. There is a mistaken notion that the leader is one who speaks most often and tells much. What a leader says has meaning only if he or she listens first. People want to feel and know that they have been listened to. It makes them feel important. We learned that people remember those who listened to them more than they would remember those who merely spoke before them.

Listening is a service we do for others. Thanks to our teacher, we learned to shut up and listen to the people we serve.

“Raise your hand when you know the answer” nurtures in a person the spirit of volunteerism, and the courage to stand up and be counted. We learned that the question the world most often asks us is this: “Who is willing to serve?” It takes boldness to raise one’s hand when that question is asked.

Thanks to our teachers, we have been raising our hands for the past two decades or so each time our country calls us to service. Public service exacts a heavy toll. Remembering our teachers’ lessons helps one remember that there should be no regret when the difficult times come. After all, we “raised our hand” when we heard the call.

“Finished or not finished, pass your paper” is a constant reminder to one that the world will not wait for us and that time is a finite, limited, scarce resource. When we embark on a task or mission, we must do our best to finish them and finish them quickly. Deadlines are a permanent feature of life, especially of life in public service. Postponing for tomorrow what we can do and can finish today would be a big mistake.
We have attended many courses, workshops and seminars on governance and administration.

Nothing beats what we learned from our classroom teachers. They are proof that, indeed, teachers prepare today the leaders of tomorrow – the young people who someday will “shut up and listen” to their countrymen, “raise their hand” when called upon to serve” and who will always remember that they will have to “pass their paper, finished or not finished”.
Thank you, teachers.

We join you in the celebration of World Teachers Day today as we salute you for your service to our Nation and to the World.

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