Nobody liked Mr. Catacutan. Myself included. He was the
"terror" in our school and everyone hated his classes. He made us
work hard over our lessons, sweat over a deskload of assignments and suffer in
agony over difficult exams.
During classes he wanted us to listen, really listen,
whenever he was lecturing. He disliked talking when he was speaking and we had
to come to class prepared for the lesson because he might suddenly ask anyone
of us to recite.
And so, typical students that we are, we rebelled. Although
we were quiet and studious in class, we would make faces behind his back, talk
about him when he was not around, call him names, laugh at his mannerisms.
After a year when we finally passed his subject, we all
heaved a sigh of relief and vowed to forget him. And we moved on to higher
things.
But later we found out a very strange thing.
Whenever another teacher was lecturing, we would
automatically shut up and listen. We could now handle many assignments because
we had become used to them. We knew how to study for difficult exams and how to
prepare for class discussions, because it had become quite natural for us to do
so. Because of Mr. Catacutan.
Sometimes we think of going back to Mr. Catacutan to THANK
HIM FOR GIVING US SOMETHING THAT WOULD HELP US NOT ONLY IN OUR STUDIES BUT IN
LIFE...
