THANK YOU FOR THE DISCIPLINE

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...