For this month’s edition of “A Cup of Coffee”, we’ll be interviewing the Chairperson of the Mathematics Department, Dr. Evangeline P. Bautista.  Under the Math department, ME students take up Math 18, 21, 22, 151, and various elective subjects are available for us to take, as well.

MEA: Good afternoon, ma’am.

Dr. Bautista: Good afternoon.  So, let’s get started?

MEA: All right.  So, for our first question, what subjects are you teaching now?

DB: Well, I have Ma22.  I have Ma18, and I also have a higher calculus course, Ma171, and a graduate class, Abstract Algebra

MEA: All in Ateneo?

All in Ateneo; I’m not teaching anywhere else.

MEA: Ah, okay.  Next question: How did you get into teaching?

DB: Well, I’m a BS Math graduate from UP, and after graduating, I wasn’t immediately thinking of getting into teaching, but the first available job was actually teaching, so I applied to Philippine Science High School.  I enjoyed the job, and felt that maybe that this was the job for me.  I stayed in Philippine Science High School for 12-13 years before moving to Ateneo.  So when I got into it, I never left.

MEA: How is a typical work day like?

DB: Right now?  Well, wake up, go to class.  Sometimes I’m early enough so that I can prepare for the lessons, and make sure I have everything in order: the exercises I’m going to give, and the examples I’m going to give.  I check what has to be done.  I go to class, and then it’s usually after class that I manage to attend to the departmental problems.  Then, I go home.  I don’t usually check unless it’s a weekend because you still need time to prepare for the next day, especially if you’re handling a graduate class or a higher mathematics class, and you still prepare.

MEA: Do the graduate classes also meet with the same frequency as the undergraduate classes?

DB: Oh, yeah.  Three unit courses, three times a week.  Parang ganun lang din, except that’s it’s a little bit heavier in preparation because generally, the subjects are a little bit more difficult.  It’s not something wherein ah okay, ituturo ko ganito, then you go to class and manage.  You really have to prepare.

MEA: What advice would you give to the ME students currently taking up math subjects this semester?

DB: For the Ma18 teachers, well, they’ve encountered a lot of ME students who have been begging to stay in the Ma18 regular track, but for those who manage to stay in the regular track, I say, one step battle won, in a way.  I suggest that they pay very close attention to what they’re learning in Ma18 and in Ma21 because the next seedy mathematics subjects will involve knowing what they learned previously.  It’s not something that they should forget.  Another thing is maybe that they should learn to relax a little bit.  ME students tend to be very, very grade-conscious, and, well, tense sila, e.   Hindi sila relaxed, unlike the other students, but that’s what makes it nice having them as students because they do what they’re supposed to do, they prepare for the lessons, they listen to the teacher, they ask questions, sometimes even more questions than what the math students to, and that’s what makes them very interesting.

MEA: Who is your role model?  Is there someone whom you look up to, or serves as an inspiration for what you do?

DB: Other people, I go to for advice.  I go to Dr. Marasigan, I go to Dr. Ruiz.  One advantage of the math department is that there are a lot of senior teachers whom we can always go to when things are a bit difficult.  But, as far as inspiration is concerned, I work things out on my own.  I’m not trying to emulate anyone.  I’m not trying to say that this is my idol, and I want to be just like him.  I’m just doing what I want to do.  Well, I think that I’m doing a good job.

MEA: Could you name one memorable experience you’ve had while teaching?

DB: It’s more of memorable students, rather than a particular experience which is memorable.  There are students who leave a mark and whom you really care for, and there are students that you remember because of what they’ve been through life and you get to talk to them.  It’s not the grades, really; it’s what you share with them beyond the classroom.  For ME students, there’s one particular student that sticks to my mind.  The student was female, if I’m not mistaken, and she graduated last year or two years ago.  She was one of my better students during her time.  She listens, and probably got a grade of B+.  Later on, I had Ma122.  She took the class as an elective, and she was out after two days because she was saying, ma’am, this is nothing against you as a teacher, you’re a wonderful teacher, but this is a free elective, and I don’t think that I want to be doing math on a free elective.  There were others that just went out without ever really explaining, but there were a few ME students who stayed.  What struck me with what she said was, as far as ME students are concerned, what is it?  Are you there for the grades or are you there for the learning?  Because if you can get out so fast because it is a free elective…

DB: However, come to think of it right now, I also had a bunch of ME students who stayed in Ma122.  This is Linear Algebra; this is not required for you, but this is a relatively difficult math subject.  These students… I loved them during the time they were with me, because they studied the subject, they learned, at least they think they learned, they did very well in their exams.  All throughout the time, they were listening and they were coming to me after class.  They were the ones who were asking the questions, and they were the ones asking the good questions.  That’s the thing about ME, e.  Sometimes they’re contradictory in the sense that sometimes you feel that a lot of them are really just after the grades, and yet during the difficult times you realize that they are also there for the learning, and that a lot of them mostly enjoy the learning.  So, I don’t want to say that there’s a typical ME student, because… nag-iiba, e.  Depende sa estudyante.

MEA: Thank you, po.  What two or three things about your line of work really keep you up at night?

DB: Checking, just one thing.  Haha!  Just one thing.  No, two things, actually, checking, and preparing for the next day’s lesson.  So sometimes, especially, during the diagnostic exams, wherein you give the exam today and you have to resection the following day.  That keeps you up late.  But otherwise, I think you can postpone it to the weekend.  It’s the lessons that will most probably keep you up more often.  Haha!

MEA: So, this is the second to the last question.  What superpower would help you the most in your daily work, and why?

DB: I don’t think you need a power.  You just have to like what you’re doing.  You just have to enjoy it.  You don’t need any divine intervention, and you don’t need any divine power to keep you doing what it is that you’re doing.  If you’re in a job which you don’t like what you’re doing, then that’s when you start needing some form of superpower.  Me, I like what I’m doing, and that’s enough to keep me going.

MEA: Is there intelligent life in outer space?

DB: I don’t want to think that there’s such a fortunate group of persons that in the vast space we’re the only one’s here.  I think there should be, I think there is.  Parang, hindi tayo ganoong ka-privileged.  Parang, hindi lang tayo ang intelligent, in the vast universe.

MEA: So, we’re done.  Thank you very much, ma’am, for the time.

DB: You’re welcome, and good luck.