Teachers and Students - Partners towards “Painting Excellent Portraits

Teachers and Students

Partners towards “Painting Excellent Portraits

by Eugene Lacson Camillo

 

One of my favorite stories is about a traveling painter whose models come from all walks of life. He journeyed from one place to another and painted anyone who wanted his portrait done. One day, a haggard, hard looking man whose face and eyes showed the wounds of painful struggle and hurts of life, sat on the modeling chair and challenged the painter, “Paint me!” After three hours of artistic labor the portrait was finished. It was a nice looking man, clean, whose eyes and face showed the sparkle of life and the beauty of living and loving. The man in disbelief snapped “That’s not me!” to which the artist gently replied “But you can be that man if you only choose to!”


In the world of campus advising, our students come to us in different expressions and reflections, with different conflicts and confusions of growing and grouping life. They need us though not all of them openly admit it. They want us to “paint their portraits”. AS teachers, we should paint good traits, helping them chisel off and brush off the undesirable ones. They come to us in different and alienable images, full of bitterness, anger, hatred and violence. It’s difficult to handle them. More so love them. But that’s EXACTLY the CORE of our task as teachers. Growing, learning, developing into persons they are capable of becoming our products of intensive efforts. In the campus world, these are social and partnership efforts, although, it is said that “to grow or not to grow” is personal choice, the teacher can perform significant and noble role in their students’ choice to grow or not to grow.


As teachers, we are painters. We are artists bringing out the best in our students. We hold the canvass on our hands while the students are entrusted to our care. They may choose “their colors but we hold the brush! We need to build effective partnership in painting their positive portraits. It isn’t easy. But we can do it! Remember, mountains can be moved by first removing the stones. Add faith and perseverance and we can paint the portrait that we want our students to be. SCHOOL is an extension of God’s artistic hands!




Eugene Lacson Camillo
Former Editor in Chief
The Campus Quill