When I was a student, Home Economics was exclusively for girls. We cooked and sewed while the boys had their Automotive class. That was then. Cooking is now part of TLE (technology and livelihood education), a subject that boys and girls alike are required to take and complete. Our conservative society is finally embracing modern ideas that have banished the notion that cooking is an unmanly thing.
It’s probably an effect of television. During the last decade and a half, many male chefs turned into overnight celebrities with their cooking shows. Nora Daza used to be the diva of cooking show hosts until her son Sandy took over in the 1990s. A lot of others followed. And it’s a global trend. Today, female and male chefs and cooks are celebrities and household names and no one is calling the male chefs gay just because they like to cook and cook well.
Not surprisingly, we find male teachers teaching cooking to high school students as part of their TLE subject. Applause, applause! Breaking down gender barriers is such a hard thing to do – it’s not a small thing that parents and school administrators aren’t cringing at the idea of having male teachers teach boys and girls to cook.
But, male or female, a teacher who teaches cooking must know how to cook. It’s the most basic qualification. A person who is tasked to teach how to cook but who doesn’t know much about it except to fry eggs and hotdogs is, well… that’s like asking a person who doesn’t speak French to teach students how to speak French. Ridiculous.
There’s this male teacher (very much real-life) who teaches cooking to a bunch of high school boys and girls. One of the activities was soup making. Days ahead, the class was divided into groups and each group was allowed to choose a soup recipe to cook in class. On the appointed day, the students brought the ingredients and the cooking commenced.
One of the groups started by boiling scrap bones with whole onions, garlic and peppercorns. After simmering, the broth was strained, reheated and the chopped vegetables were thrown in. Looking at the group’s work, the teacher said rather testily, “You did not saute anything! That’s wrong.”
If Julie Child were alive and heard him, she might have slapped him. Julie Powell might have slapped him from the opposite direction and I would have hit his head with a cooking pot. Apparently, this teacher was not even remotely aware that one of the tastiest soups in the entire world is made with nothing but leeks, water and potatoes. And he pretends to teach cooking. I don’t know whose fault it is, really – the school’s for giving him the assignment or his for accepting when he knew he wasn’t even remotely qualified.
Dear Teacher Blah, not every dish requires sauteing. In fact, not every dish requires garlic or onion or any of those traditional stuff used for sauteing. Try this recipe and learn a thing or two — stir fried beef and asparagus.
In high school, at the fourth quarter, girls and boys exchange classes. I looked forward to those times. We experienced horticulture, agronomy then animal husbandry (enjoyed milking the cows!) then also carpentry/electricity. Part of what I know in fixing the faucets, changing bulbs is due to those classes. May woodworking pa, and up to this day, I still use the wood lamp shade I made when I was in high school. And that was almost 20 years ago!
Buti ka pa. We had horticulture (Practical Arts, not HE, so it was for both boys and girls) but no carpentry, etc.
I just watched Julie and Julie the other day. I’m chortling as I read this.Finding out that your students know more than you do is humbling but enlightening. Now, scolding them for the wrong reason, is, I don’t know if this is the right word—mortifying.
By the way, I kept on thinking about Pinoycook while watching J an J.Julia paved the way for a lot of servantless cooks (her term), the same way you made it easy for a lot of us to cook delicious food. Tomorrow, I’ll be sending baked macaroni (YOUR BAKED MAC RECIPE) to my firstborn’s class and teachers.And as usual, it will bowl them over.
Ah the baked mac. It has got to be the most popular recipe in Pinoycook.
Here, you’ll see female mechanics, plumbers even construction workers. You won’t see any job ads that states age or gender preference of the employer. This way, everybody is in equal footing until interview time. I still remember how I felt kapag nakakabasa ng ads dyan sa atin na may “male preferred”. Anong pwedeng gawin ng male accountant na di magagawa ng female accountant? Nakakainis di ba?
Re: cooking, the best cooks I know learned their craft from the kitchen and not from the classroom. I knew somesome who graduated from a culinary school but he still have to impress me with his cooking. I believe cooking is a talent – it’s either you have it or you don’t. Teacher Blah should stay more in the kitchen to hone his talent, if he has one. Grabe!!! I can’t imagine seeing brownish onion on my nilagang baka (although I put sauteed garlic before I serve not while I cook).
this post reminded me of a PE teacher we had in high school. She insisted that I and a friend demonstrate to the class how to float on our backs…kaya lang her method had us both floating on our backs under about a couple of inches of water. hindi daw floating yung naka-clear yung faces namin from the water’s surface. Hello? kaya nga floating di ba?
Nakinig ba siya sa amin na since kids e nagsi-swimming na? of course not. Teacher knows best…NOT!
This reminds of the time when I was still teaching. I’m not a History major and yet my supervisor assigned me to handle two History classes. Boy, did I have to make a lot of reading! But I knew that was not enough to qualify me for the job. One thing about teaching also, is – you should know certain teaching styles and techniques in your field to be effective. And those, being a non-major in the subject, I lacked.
Carol B., I agree with you. Someone who has not actually cooked is no cook at all. I know someone who pretends to be a good cook but all she really does is stir the pot — the maids do everything else.
Angela, looks like she wanted you and your friend to demonstrate how to drown. She should have demonstrated it hahahaha
Rhodora, I think that was his mistake — being unprepared. If he was assigned to teach a subject that isn’t exactly his specialty, the least he could do was prepare. Learn and teach what he has learned. But this teacher — mayabang. He once shouted to a boy in class, “Bakit, sino ka ba?” Such attitude! Really, professionalism is something that is fast becoming a thing of the past in the teaching profession.
hi ms connie. from the corporate world, i’m now working in the academe. usong-uso yan (!) re: teacher’s teaching subjects that are not in line with their qualifications. hehehe! we have students complaining about their teachers’ teaching methods, skills, even wrong grammar. ang bilis tuloy ng turnover.
there was even an issue about teachers speaking in filipino even though they know that they have foreign students in their class. duh! LOL.
having a graduate degree does not necessarily make a good, nay, excellent teacher.
Actually, in UP, professors have the prerogative to conduct their classes in Filipino. On the first day of class, they ask foreign students to either change to another schedule or drop the course completely, if they cannot cope with the medium of instruction.
If you go to China or even the US, teachers won’t adjust to your language skills; you, as a student, will have to adjust to them. Why can’t it be the same here? It’s only right that foreign students here learn Filipino… or is it a shame to learn the local tongue? Or, is foreign currency such a strong incentive for schools to pander to foreigners’ needs?
A,
believe it or not, a lot of our schools, colleges and universities have a program of marketing their institution as an “English-speaking school” and even make tarpaulins/banners stating this policy/program.
CEU one of the most prominent ones, hahaha…
On a sadder note: some of my friends–Chinese nationals studying in one of the lesser-known universities–can’t finish their theses. Not because they can’t, but because there’s a catch.
Their professors are asking for bribes worth 500 US dollars.
It seems it’s common practice, because I’ve heard reports of other foreign nationals using our diploma-mill system.
I guess teacher blah was just following the old Filipino tradition that everything sauteed will taste delicious.It’s just like the Filipino way of sauteeing, throwing in the garlic first when it’s the reverse nowadays.Anyway,it still doesn’t excuse him from scolding the kids and telling them categorically that it was wrong.As a teacher, it is his responsibility to be a step ahead of his students– the key is researching and studying too as you go along teaching others.The problem is…many are too lazy and not really serious with their jobs.I believe that however menial your job is, you have to do it right and the best you can. I always tell this to my househelpers and yet many, dont really care ……….kaya di umaasenso bansa natin eh!
I agree with you Beth when you said “however menial your job is, you have to do it right and the best you can.”— My students and my son can attest to what I have always told them on this—” If you have to do something, do it well, or don’t do it at all.”
Pao, I don’t think an education degree is essential at all.
I agree with Beth, it’s more about taking the teaching job seriously enough to research and study to stay one step ahead of the students.
There’s nothing more frustrating for a student than realizing that he knows better than his teacher — especially when the teacher is too stuck-up to admit it.
ms. connie, naku, maraming magagalit na teachers sa ‘yo nyan re: education degree is not essential at all. joke.
faculty educational qualifications are essential in terms of complying with ched, paascu, and other accrediting bodies. however, ched has so many requirements besides faculty educational qualifications that are very hard to comply with and unrealistic.
Eh kasi dami kong kilalang may education degree, di naman marunong magturo.
i agree. that’s my observation too when i mentioned that having a graduate degree doesn’t necessarily make a good teacher.
This discussion reminds me again of my PhD theses’ adviser’s PhD adviser (gets nyo) – Students are better than their professors, they learn from the professors and explore more knowledge than their professors.
Quite Right, you know the saying, “Those who cannot do, Teach”. But not to generalize, there are some brilliant Professors out there. But theses few individuals are often still a practitioner of their Arts. Most often times, passion and the love for what they teach is one of the few characteristics that truly make them a great Teacher. These are the ones who are still open to learning new things, with an open mind and an open heart.
Unqualified teachers with an attitude to boot – this was a major source of frustration when I was still a student at one of the top private schools in Manila. Back in Grade 2, I politely (and privately) corrected our math teacher who taught that 4/3 is less than 1. She refused to acknowledge her mistake and shouted at me in front of the class. Another english teacher claimed that “in” and “inn” are not homonyms because the latter is pronounced “innnnnnnnn”; and that “the library card catalogue is a collection of library cards”. In more recent years, a science teacher identified the stomach as the ‘spleen’ during dissection class. When I pointed out the real spleen and asked her what that was, she said, “That’s beyond the scope of today’s lesson.” I had a reputation in the faculty room for being a difficult student despite never being disruptive or rude.
Gay, I think it has to do with the attitude that after one graduates, the learning stops. So teachers act as though they know everything already.
Ariel, we need more students like you.
This case is not confined to cooking class. We’ve been experience this in DLSU-D for so long now. It’s a good thing that compared to a couple of years ago, our teachers (I’m hesitant to call them Professors just yet) today are much more honest and transparent about their field of expertise and offer a sort of disclaimer from the start of the semester if the subject they’ll teach isn’t really in their field of expertise.
Brain drain, you think? So many professionals with education degrees who don’t earn enough here have been leaving in droves to work abroad as domestic helpers or caregivers.
This is directed to the very witty author of this blog:
Not to offend, I just have one correction on a part of your blog, “If Julie Child were alive and heard him, she might have slapped him.” It’s Julia Child. Apart from that, I love reading your blogs.
thats great that gender roles are slowly being diminished
Mastery of subject matter and teaching technique are two different things. One may be an excellent student but later on still not be able to teach effectively.
I remember a certain study about education I read sometime ago. The study found that individuals (teachers) with even only a bachelors degree but who underwent a stringent three month training in teaching technique were later on found to be more effective than those teachers with a masters degree or even a doctorate degree but had no knowledge of teaching technique.
I have to agree with you Miss Connie, ang dami-daming teachers who really can’t teach at all. So much for calling them teachers. Yes, they graduated with flying colors but it doesn’t necessarily mean na they are good teachers also.