‘You can’t teach what you don’t know’

Mr. Ambrose Bennett authored a recent publication in your paper about public sector collective bargaining subjects, triggering some points needing clarification. I fired off some basic questions for clarification that subsequently appeared in your paper as well, but he ended up being hysterical over what I thought only as points of information question.

I wrote a thesis on “Public Sector Collective Bargaining” as a course work for a master in Public Administration degree I earned from the University of Guam. This dissertation, about 300 pages long, is kept in the archive of unpublished research at the Robert F. Kennedy library of the university. Over 15 years of a career in public human resource management, I served as an employee-management relations officer of the Public Employee-Management Relations Office. As a professional practitioner in this line of work, they provided a huge impact on my career. Additionally, I was first in the government of Guam and first in the CNMI to earn the SHRM’s senior professional in Human Resource designation, a valuable achievement in the human resources management field. So, Ambrose, I know that I know about public sector collective bargaining.

Let me just say, Ambrose: You can’t teach what you don’t know. You talk about your mother’s advice about failing to listen because one disconnects and shoo away moments of conversation. While this is somewhat agreeable sometime, it is useless for one to listen and not hear. If one closes the process of hearing, it would not matter even if you use the loudest loudspeaker. You see, Ambrose, listening alone does not mean hearing which is the fundamental internalizing process that ignites the mind’s purposeful engagement.

Lastly, a story of sort about a 5th grade teacher completing teaching his day’s lesson plan can illustrate the point here.  When the teacher completed the lesson for the day, he administered a test to evaluate the performance of his students. After giving the test, he found that his students did not fare well in the test. So he was very frustrated and disappointed with the test results. The next day, he told his students: “If any one of you that is an idiot, please stand up.” All were seated except for Johnny, sitting at the back of the classroom, who stood up. The teacher then asked Johnny: “Why in the world did you stand up?” Johnny, looked frightened for a split moment, said: “But, teacher, I felt sorry and ashamed for you are the only one standing. I just wanted to help you.” Ambrose, take this as your lesson.

Francisco R. Agulto
Kannat Tabla, Saipan