The week of August 6 was very reminiscent of what happened
to the Philippines, three years ago. The strong rain matched with the strong
winds scared people as it reminded them of Ondoy and the chaos it brought.
Different areas of Manila were gravely affected as some areas were flooded,
making people have the need to stay in the second floor of their houses, while
some had to really evacuate and leave their homes, hoping that not too much
damage take place in their homes while they are away.
A situation of how Metro Manila was submerged in flood water during the hit of typhoon
Ondoy in 2009.
Photo taken from http://reynaelena.com/2009/09/28/ondoy-situation-map-for-metropolitan-manila-list-
of-flooded-areas/
While some people were stuck at home due to impassable
streets surrounding their houses, some are in evacuation centers, there are
also those who braved the rains to assist in relief operations that took place
around Metro Manila.
Relief operations initiated by different schools,
foundations and other groups of people were successful in their own ways to
help out the victims of the Habagat. There were a lot of generous people who
donated so much goods, and so much time in assisting these relief operations
that one can feel the Filipino spirit really acting in all of us.
Relief Operations Poster of the Ateneo DREAM TEAM, taken from the Ateneo Batch 2013 Facebook page.
Bayanihan is the
idea where there is communal effort from people of a society to be able to
achieve a goal or simply to be able to achieve something where the whole of
society benefits. Perhaps, in this case, we can say that is one conviction that
resounded throughout all of the Filipinos last week. Whether you have called
your friends to check up on them, donated goods for the victims, helped out in
packing the goods or even simply making people aware of the situation of areas like where is it flooded and such,
you had in you the spirit of bayanihan. Maybe, we can say, that we have in all
of us, an Everyday Idealist-in-Action.
Relief operations begin at the Ateneo de Manila campus. Photo courtesy of Dominic Go. (from Rappler.com)
And perhaps here we see the potential of the Filipino nation
to truly unite to reach great heights. We shouldn’t need to wait for another
calamity to pass us by just for us to be of service, to be one nation. We have
witnessed from previous storms, be it Ondoy or Milenyo from way back, and even
just recently with the strong storm, that we all can truly practice bayanihan, that we can most certainly be
one nation.
He may be known by his students as the professor who gives
out-of-the-box requirements (such as the recent “Call Me Maybe” videos), which
need to be accomplished in a certain amount of time. His students would agree
when told how his classes could be so different, so unconventional, so
demanding. But by the end of the semester only one thing would be heard from
them, that is, all of them really learned a lot.
Everyday Idealists Macky, Dominic and Apple were all
privileged to have taken a semester under Mr. Allan Ko. His resourcefulness and
creativity in coming up with non-traditional teaching methods continues to
inspire all his students that education is really not just about reading and
memorizing—that there is a lot to discover in learning and growing through
experience.
How He Entered Teaching
Sir Allan Ko is one of the instructors at the John Gokongwei
School of Management under the Leadership and Strategy Department and the
Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology. He teaches two
subjects, one is Operations Management (under QMIT) and the other is
Organization Behavior (under L&S).
Initially, he is a corporate professional, who has worked in
multinational firms such as Procter and Gamble and IBM, and also an
entrepreneur, through his brainchild restaurant Cusina Royale. His path to
teaching in the Ateneo, however, was paved by the referral of two of his good
friends, who happen to be teaching in the JGSOM as well—Mr. Wilson Gan and Ms.
Bing Paraguas. And through the semesters, he has been known to be one of the
well-loved professors of JGSOM students because of his expertise in teaching
and his ability to foster a good learning environment and friendship amongst
everyone.
Just Do It.
When asked about his greatest conviction, Sir Allan explains
how he believes that experience is the best way to learn. True to these words,
his teaching style is usually in the form of unconventional tasks and creative
groupwork. (e.g. Viral video production for his LS classes, and photography
homework for OpMan). Of course, he insists that it’s still very much important
not to do away with textbook concepts, but at the end of the day, you have to
couple it with real-life cases for it to be fully appreciated and understood.
“Experience is the
best teacher so what I try to do when I teach, is encapsulate experiences I’ve
had in my career or my business endeavors into what I impart with my students.”
Sir Allan explains. The highlight of his LS class is the famous “grilling
session” which aims to give an evaluation and critique of the events and
outcomes of the week’s task. True enough, this openness to learning with each
other and sharing it with everyone really is one of the secrets why even after
(and even during the semester), Sir Allan is able to foster good relationships
with his students in and out of class.
What Keeps Him Going
When asked what keeps him going, Sir Allan clearly said that
it’s really his students that allow him to be inspired as a teacher everyday.
While the tasks and requirements he has assigned might have made his students
experience a roller coaster semester, it’s really in seeing how they learned
and changed, not just in terms of amount of knowledge obtained, but also in the
work discpline honed.
“It’s definitely
seeing young students thrive, learn and flourish, especially after the sem when
we’ve become informal friends and I see them taking on their careers, taking on
leadership positions or just being themselves and learning more what they like
and what they don’t like to do, and thanking me and thanking their experience
in class. That keeps me going, that definitely is something I think money can
not buy.” –Sir Allan Ko
If you’re a SOM student who’s about to take LS100 or POM102
in the coming semesters, we suggest that you try to give it a shot with Sir
Allan Ko. You definitely won’t regret it. J
The pioneers of Everyday Idealists are all Communications Technology majors, and one of the professors of the Communications Department that inspired them to learn more about different aspects in life is Mr. Andrew Ty. Known not only for his passion in teching, but also for his creativity and flexibility in different disciplines of arts and sciences, Sir Andrew Ty shares his story on why he loves his field and what keeps him going.
Syncretistic
There are so many things to talk about with Mr. Adrew Ty. Due to his versatility and various fields of interest, it might seem difficult to pinpoint what exactly our Everyday Idealist strives for. However, Mr. Andrew Ty introduced a term, which according to him, describes him and his life in general..
For Sir Andrew, syncretistic means to synthesize and put things together and see the interesting things that happen in that instance. Sir Andrew thinks that this describes him so well, as he is the kind of person who is attracted to putting ideas from different things together. He finds interest in being able to find common ground in sync-ing the things he loves, such as popular culture, philosophy, art, and technology, to name a few.
“There are so many things out there in the world—so many things that seem to be incompatible but which can for a certain moment be made compatible. They can be placed together, they can be placed with each other and this can yield to something interesting perhaps something that is new not because the ingredients are new but because they’re coming together as new.” He explains.
Why Communication
Sir Andrew shares the story on how during college, he moved from being a philosophy major to being a communications major. He admitted that since high school, he was already set that he would take philosophy as a degree. However, because he found the course offering of communication arts to be giving more options for him, it led him towards the said path.
He had no regrets as this served to make him satisfied. In the said program, he was able to take marketing, advetising, film, and even rhetoric classes altogether. “I’ve always felt that that kind of mix as strange. It may seem to have a single school year for instance where you watch movies and then write articles in the various genres of journalism and then talk about Aristotle and how Aristotle can help you deliver a good powerpoint presentation. A lot of those things I think colored my own approach to things.” Sir Andrew shares.
He also chose communication as a career for the same reasons. Primarily, he admits that he found home in the communications department, for the credo it lives up to—treating and training their faculty with a certain degree of freedom.
“To an extent my classes constantly require shifting of gears, I can talk about Martin Heidegger one moment, Batman the next and it would make sense within the context of what I’m trying to do. So my interests in putting things together I think belong to a department like this one which respects the different ways that things could be put together.”
Limitless
When asked about his greatest conviction, Sir Andrew answers by saying that one of his greatest guiding principles is the idea that life possesses a certain kind of dynamism. He believes in the free expression, free learning, and free sharing of ideas in everything one does. “I believe in a constant strive, constant journey, a constant movement, and a constant dynamism. I never stop except occasionally to enjoy the scenery as it were, but always keep moving.” He shares.
And he admits that this is also the same thing that keeps him going. Until now that he is already a professor, he still regards himself not just as a teacher, but also a learner. According to him, learning is a risk, and it’s a risk he’s always been happy to take. He even uses the metaphor of an extreme sport to explain the process of learning in life. Life is a continuous process. Learning doesn’t stop.
Also, Sir Andrew is very concerned about forming his self in the different things he learns. For him, identity is not simply national or cultural identy, but that which aims for a richer and more complicated kind of life. “For instance as a family man I do feel a need to make sure that I am someone my wife and my son can look up to. Parang I can look at myself at the mirror and tell myself that parang my wife and my son are in the right hands.”
Mr. Andrew Ty is an example of how people are not simply confined to specific things. Sir Andrew is a testament of being able to incorporate different disciplines to form something richer. And this ability to inspire is what Mr. Ty, as a teacher, can impart to his students and to everyone. “There’s so much more out there it would be a waste of time and a waste of life to just to give up and settle myself into just somewhere.”
