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TO marketing expert Jinggay Gallardo, teaching is all about giving
back and helping people become better citizens. To businessman Rudy
Ang, being a teacher means caring for young people enough to make
them care for their own future.
Both Gallardo and Ang have put their beliefs
into action by being in the faculty of the John Gokongwei School of
Management in the Ateneo de Manila University.
Besides teaching part-time at the school,
Gallardo is president of Pilot Consulting, a full-time mother,
column writer for Franchise Today and volunteer advocate for Autism
Awareness. With the country facing a multitude of problems, she had
many times wondered how she could be part of the solution.
“I have realized that I can do that through
teaching. If only two students in a class will change the way he/she
will see her future, it would be worth every hour for me in the
classroom,” she said. With 30 years of professional and
entrepreneurial experience, she felt that as a teacher she could
help the country get the kind of workforce it needs for its economic
growth.
“You really benefit from having
practitioners in the faculty,” said Ang, dean of the John
Gokongwei School.
“For the rapidly evolving fields of brand
management, marketing communications, investment management and
strategy, teachers need to be cutting edge,” Ang emphasized.
“Who would know this subject matter better than the practitioners
themselves?”
But owing to their commitments to their own
professions, these practitioners only teach part-time at the school,
which leaves their level of engagement with the students open to
question.
Ang, however, reasoned that technology has
helped “bridge this gap by providing alternative ways of keeping
in touch.” Many part-time teachers use their Blackberry to conduct
student consultation online or through “texting.”
“Students benefit from our teachers’
passion for teaching, whether the teachers are part-time or
full-time, whether their interaction is physical or virtual,” said
Ang with conviction.
As Gallardo put it, “You will find you are a
better practitioner just in knowing that you have done your share,
in no small measure.”
-- Cristina Blardony
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