US teacher warns Pinoy educators who want to teach in US: 'The higher the pay, the harder the job'

By ALEX P. VIDAL / PNS
July 1, 2006

ILOILO CITY – A visiting science education teacher from the University of Georgia, USA has warned Filipino teachers intending to teach in the United States "to be strong" saying US public school teachers are currently facing a "difficult cultural problem" and that Filipino teachers "might lose their important values because of the problem of the culture of teacher."

Dr. Deborah J. Tippins, now assigned at the West Visayas State University (WVSU) under the Rotary Foundation University Teacher Grant, told members of the Rotary Club of Jaro-Iloilo City during its 45th regular weekly meeting last June 16 at the Amigo Terrace Hotel, that "the job of teachers in the US is harder even if the pay is big."

"Inter-city schools (in the US) are difficult to work at as students don't respect the teachers there," Tippins said.

Eager To Learn

She said unlike in the Philippines where students are not hard to motivate and are very eager to learn, "students in the United States are undisciplined; they carry knives, and they call their teachers bad names, throw chairs and piece of paper at them."

Tippins said she learned of so many Filipino teachers in the US that are "oftentimes struggling" in their workplaces.

It is illegal to pray in a US classroom, she said, because of their strong adherence to the separation of state and church. "If you pray in the classroom, you are automatically fired," she warned. "You can't have religious icons inside the classroom."

On the contrary, most classrooms in the Philippines, the only Catholic country in Asia, start their morning classes with prayers and with icons of the crucifixion and the Blessed Virgin Mary conspicuously displayed above the blackboard.

Values

"Money is not the only thing in the world (for Filipino teachers)," Tippins stressed. "Important values might lose (if they can't withstand the problem of the culture of teacher)."

Tippins said most American teachers are shying away from inter-city schools but would demand a "hazard pay" if prevailed upon by the institutions to work there. And because American teachers avoid inter-city schools, many Filipino teachers are assigned in these schools, she opined.

In US schools, teachers are allowed only a 15-minute break for lunch unlike in the Philippines where teachers can have enough time to prepare for the next session, Tippins said.

The biggest problem US schools are facing today is shortage of teachers especially in the fields of science, Spanish language, mathematics, and special education "that is the reason why we recruit from the Philippines."

P.E. Teachers

Ironically, she said, there is an abundance of teachers in the physical education subject "as everybody wants to teach in sports."

American teachers, Tippins pointed out, preferred to work in pharmaceutical firms "where the pay is good and the hazard is less."

There is a shortage of teachers in the US because American schools have more classrooms, she said.

"We have no special classroom for special students. All students whether bright, gifted, blind, impaired, artistic are in the same classroom," Tippins stressed.

Jampacked Classrooms

They only have a maximum of 21 students per classroom unlike in the Philippines, she said, where a jampacked classroom can still accommodate from 30 to 50 students.

American teachers, Tippins added, also have multi-cultural schools and most of the students are Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants who don't speak English making it difficult for them to deal with their different backgrounds and history.

Tippins, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Athens, Georgia District 6910, will be here until August 2006.

She majors in anthropology research and has been visiting the country since 1999.