.:Entrance Test Is Done:.

I hope that's that... I really can't help but pray that I'm through with that bit, really. I had a nice time chatting with Paul of Neutral Grounds, as he was likewise taking an M.A. entrance exam as I was, so I suppose it was a pretty okay time, as it wasn't too boring for me. Ran into Abby, and she asked me about the test. No big deal at all.

I even went on air this morning for Chico and Delle's Hot 10. Topic was about what you want on your tombstone. I had a pretty nice answer...

Loved by few, respected by all.

http://www.mistervader.blogspot.com

.:Interview:.

This is for Mel's 2BU article. Let's hope I see myself on that paper before I graduate... heh.

Hi Marcelle! Thanks for doing this on such a short notice. It’s easy lang naman, there are only 12 questions, and most are easy to answer.

My article is basically about people who would like to get into service-oriented fields after graduation. The person’s plans of service can be a life-long one, like the one who’s planning to become a priest, or a short-term one, like the one who just got accepted to be part of the Jesuit Volunteer Philippines. I also interviewed another who would like to go back to her high school and teach since she feels a desire to give
back something to her old Alma matter.

For you naman, I’ll be zeroing on your plan of pursuing a career in teaching Philo despite the possibility of landing a high paying job given that you might/will graduate with honors. Since the topic is about young graduating students who would like to be of service to others after graduation, you can perhaps talk about Philosophy being your passion and teaching others to feel passionate about it too your only satisfaction, or something to that effect, hehe.

You may email me your pic if you want. Please text me when you’ve sent this so I’ll know when
to check. I hope you can submit this by 12:45pm the latest tomorrow so I can still squeeze your
part in, in time for deadline.

Email your reply to: Lissa_ann17@yahoo.com

XXXXXX

Questions:

Here are the questions, please give elaborate
answers for questions 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8.


Name: Marcelle T. Fabie
Age: 20


1) Please tell me about yourself (extra curricular, whatever you want to say)

I’m a Communications Major in Ateneo De Manila University with a lot of varied interests, from anime to weblogging (http://www.mistervader.blogspot.com) to running tournaments for a collectible card game (WWE RAW Deal.) to video games to being a student DJ on Radio 1, training under Chico and Delamar. In spite of my varied interests, I still manage to find time for my studies, which I prioritize. I’ve been a part of only one organization in school for my whole college life, and that’s the Ateneo Debate Society.

I’ll be graduating Cum Laude this March 26, 2004, with a degree in Communication Arts.

2) What are the main reasons for your plan to teach Philosophy?

I’ve always been the kind of person who wants to look into the deeper meaning of things. I think Philosophy heightened this inquisitiveness I have, and after merely one semester of it back in third year, I was hooked. I was still living out my life as a Comm Major, but Philosophy was slowly but surely becoming a significant part of my life with each passing semester, as my professors throughout my four semesters of Philosophy, Mr. Bulaong (101, 102, 104.) and Dr. Barbazza (103.) were gently leading me to seriously consider teaching as a profession. Even Mr. Callassanz was encouraging me all the same, though he was only my Poetry teacher way back in first year (I never took him for Philosophy.).

As early as second semester, third year, I was thinking it over already. I wasn’t seriously considering it yet, as I felt initially a bit of waste for having taken up four years of Communications, only to go and teach Philosophy instead. But then, a few events happened that simply strengthened my resolve to go for it.

First, as weird as it sounds, I started watching a certain animated series entitled “Great Teacher Onizuka”. While he’s far from being a role model of a teacher, Eikichi Onizuka for me typified a teacher who had good intentions and was capable of touching the lives of his students for the better. I saw a lot of myself in him, and I know it’s weird for me to cite a television show as an influence, but there you go.

Second, every semester, we had oral examinations for Philosophy. From the second semester of my third year to my last semester as a senior, I made it a point to answer all the thesis statements for these oral examinations (Including Theology, but I digress.) on my weblog (And I intend to continue doing that if I teach.). Through those answers I gave, I became a mini urban legend for my batchmates who had similar thesis statements. You can’t believe the fulfillment it brought me to hear people I don’t even know telling me how much I was of help to them. I figured that if I can do it on a relatively small scale, why not do it on a larger scale, ergo teach Philosophy? To coin a tired old phrase, I wanted to help.

Lastly, I had a conversation with Mr. Callassanz sometime this last semester. I was telling him about my plans (Which at the time did not tangibly involve Philosophy.), and then, with a look in his eyes that seemed like disappointment, he told me, “Marcelle magpaka-ugat ka.” (“Marcelle, root yourself.”) That cryptic statement simply gave me a lot of sleepless nights, and each time I see Mr. Callassanz smiling very broadly since the time he found out I was applying to teach, I would like to think I deciphered that cryptic statement competently enough.

3) How do you feel about teaching Philosophy?

I feel very optimistic about it. I’d want to teach for at least until I get my Masterals in Philosophy. I can’t begin to explain that feeling of fulfillment that I get every single time I manage to help someone in need. I realized through this last semester, that I simply cannot let my life pass me by without having tried my hand at teaching, knowing that I have somewhat been doing it already.

Teaching Philosophy will obviously not yield me the financial gain I could by entering, say, advertising, but while I’m not idealistic enough to say that only the fulfillment matters, my long-term plan for myself balances out the fulfillment and the practical considerations, anyway.

Simply put, I don’t expect myself to make waves and become renowned all over when I begin to teach, but I’m fairly confident that I’m competent enough to make Philosophy matter to a good deal of my students, the way my professors in the past have done for me. I feel that teaching Philosophy would really help me expand my horizons and reach my own potential in enriching my mind, which in turn enhances the quality of instruction that I can impart on my students.

4) How do other's (family and friends) react when you tell them about your plan to teach Philo?

My mom for one thought that it must’ve been a genetic abberation, because neither her nor my father were particularly keen on Philosophy. Despite that, she’s fairly supportive, though she would really want me to go for a more high-paying line of work. Still, she’s been encouraging me, and that matters a lot to me. The rest of my family, from my stepfather to my grandparents, are all happy about my choice, and again, with the same consideration as my mother.

My friends, on the other hand, aren’t the least bit surprised. Most of them have known me long enough to realize that I really have this passion to teach Philosophy.

5) Since you’re a Communication major, why teach Philosophy?

Why not? :) Seriously, Philosophy is a place where I find myself comfortable in. While I have no ill will towards Comm, and I’m still pretty much immersed in it all the same, my mindset and my worldview was simply re-shaped by Philosophy. If I could help shape other lives as well by teaching Philosophy, then I know that I have the perfect answer to the question, “Why Philosophy?”

It’s undeniable that Philosophy has influenced me greatly, and this influence has led me to better things. I know I can achieve financial success with Communications, and I don’t close my door to that entirely. However, I feel that I simply cannot take that path without having ever been able to render service to others in the form of instruction. Teaching Philosophy is my way of rendering this service to others, as this is simply the field that makes me grow as a human being at present. On a metaphysical level, teaching Philosophy is part and parcel of the flow of my existence.

In Philosophy, I can be certain that my excelling can lead me to eudaimonia (Flourishing.). Call it idealistic (Though it’s not, as truly, everything follows.), but I wish to teach Philosophy for the sake of teaching Philosophy. Ultimately, through excelling in that, everything else can spring forth from it.

6) How can you make a difference in other people’s life by teaching Philo?

For every single person who has thanked me for having helped them during their review for their oral examinations, and more importantly, for every person who has never thanked me or never even known me yet still managed to benefit from my weblog, I know I’ve already made some measure of a difference. But those are merely grades, and they pale in comparison to the difference I know I can make when I am personally teaching Philosophy to people.

I’m certain that nearly every single Philosophy professor in the Ateneo right now wanted to make a difference in someone else’s life through teaching, but at the start, did not expect to be completely able to do that. I cannot help but assume the same for myself. Maybe I can’t lead someone to enlightenment in a mere semester, but I know that through teaching them, I’m helping them on the way there. That first step, I believe, is every bit as important as the journey itself, and is every bit important as the last step.

To be more specific, I’d like to think that my teaching people can help shape their mindsets. If I can make people more open to different ideas, and less antagonistic of points of view that contradict theirs, I know that in itself is already a great difference.

7) Some steer away from teaching because one won’t get paid as much as compared to, say, pursuing a career in the corporate world or studying to become a professional. What can you say about that?

Again, I’ve never really closed my door to being corporate. I believe that one simply has to find his or her own mesotes (mean) when looking for the right balance between financial compensation and outright fulfillment. If their fulfillment will come through being a CEO of a multinational company, then all the power to them. One’s mesotes is a personal mean that one strives for. Clearly, what may be one’s personal mean will not be that of another, nor is one’s personal mean ever truly fixed.

With that in mind, my only concern is striking a balance between fulfillment and practical considerations. I don’t see teaching Philosophy as a hindrance to either, much less to the former.

8) Is teaching Philo your long-term plan? If not, what are your plans after teaching?

My long-term plan is really to teach Philosophy. As of now, that and working in RX 93.1 are two very different lines of work that I know I can find fulfillment in. I’ve tried my hand at both in a limited capacity, and I must say that if I can do them together (“A Philosophizing DJ,” as Dr. Barbazza put it when he heard of my intention.), then I know that I’m working well towards achieving my long-term goal.

However, I would certainly have to open myself to the possibility of entering an advertising agency or the like after I acquire my M.A., if only to answer any of my practical considerations. However, as the M.A. is my requirement to teach, I fully intend to retire early from the corporate world and immerse myself into teaching afterwards.

If it weren’t for this consideration, and assuming that I can actually sustain myself (And possibly my family.) financially through teaching, then I find no reason to move out of this field.

A Ph. D. is not a remote possibility, assuming I am capable of fulfilling its requirements. At this point, I simply wish to teach for the next three or so years and hopefully work as a DJ at the same time, before I try my hand in the corporate world.

9) What steps have you taken towards fulfilling your goal in becoming a philo teacher?

Just before answering these questions, I already took my entrance test for M.A. Philosophy in the Ateneo. I’ve already sent in my application this summer as a teaching assistant, and while there’s only one opening this summer, I really hope I can get it.

And to restate the obvious, all my writing in my weblog, in between every opinion I post, is room for an insight to Philosophy. I believe I’ve started attuning my mindset to a career of teaching, so to speak.

10) In case you won’t teach Philo next school year, what will you do?

I intend to send applications to RX 93.1 and some advertising agencies and their major corporate clients. In any case, as I was never used to doing nothing, don’t expect me to stay unemployed beyond summer. Afterwards, I’d apply for teaching again. And again. And again. It’s that important to me.

11) How do you see yourself 10 years from now?

Hopefully married, maybe in the corporate world, but still teaching part-time. I think that given how much of my life I’ve already laid out for myself, I’d be mighty happy if I really have managed to touch lives as a teacher, and even if they’ve already graduated, ten years from now, these students of mine would still be keeping in touch with me. Yes, it’s service. But if my gain of fulfillment is in their personal gains, I have to say that I’m not entirely the “selfless saint” that I might inadvertently be making myself out to be (Which I’m not, candidly speaking.).

I’d like to think that ten years from now (And far beyond that, even.), people would know me as the “realist idealist”, as far as striking a balance between the two would go.

12) Anything else you’d like to add?

Just check out my weblog, http://www.mistervader.blogspot.com. I’m sure that’d be quite an interesting read, at the very least.

Thanks so much! Happy answering!

-Mel