As my husband drove me to school, I saw my former student wearing a police uniform. I gave him a short smile remembering how wild he was, breaking every rule backed in high school.

                The dilemma of whether to promote the students regardless of their previous character towards their studies or to retain them because of your desire to teach them the importance of treasuring knowledge is what I usually encounter.

                However, the moment I saw my student wearing that decent formal police uniform, showing a different person he once was, I realized that I did the right thing.

The struggle of an adviser talking to every subject teacher to understand his situation was challenging. Calling his parents, doing home visitations and making remedial classes were tiresome. Nevertheless, there was still a spark of anticipation, that somewhere somehow, this recalcitrant student would one day become a leader, if not of the country, then of his own family.

Indeed, life is unpredictable, so as the student’s mind. Being a teacher, one shouldn’t assume what the learner may become in the future. Giving them a chance to mature is the best gift an educator could ever give to the learner.

Hence, Lee Q. Miller is true to what he has said that we often do not recognize the positive power of turning points in our lives until we look back and recognize that if not for those moments we would not be where we are now.

By: Mrs. Ma. Marilyn S. Balenzoga | Teacher I | Samal National High School – Main | Samal, Bataan