Kwentong Peyups: Beyond the Limits of Calculus

It's been more than ten years since I took up differential and integral calculus (more familiarly known as Math 54) during my college days in UP Diliman. I've long forgotten most of the formulas and techniques I learned then, but the memory of the person who taught them to me remains vivid.

She was Ma’am K. The first thing that struck me about Ma'am K was her mastery of the subject she was teaching. She would explain things with conviction and authority, even reciting long theorems from memory. She also remained focused on the exposition of the lesson. Once, while teaching, the chalk fell off her hand, but she continued with the discussion even as she was picking it up from the floor. Later on, it became obvious to me that she possessed an extraordinary intelligence.

But Ma’am K was not just an intelligent instructor, she was also a competent one. I've met some very intelligent professors in U.P., but many of them, sad to say, do not know how to teach. They seem to have come from outer space to teach, in their alien language, esoteric realities to mere human beings. But Ma’am K wasn’t a bit like them. She came well-prepared for class; it was obvious that she put time and effort into making her lectures as clear as possible. She also had the patience to repeat parts of the lecture to those who did not understand them the first time around.

Dedication was another trait of Ma’am K. Two days after an exam she came with our blue books -examination papers- already checked! After a year-and-a-half of studying in U.P., I had already gotten used to seeing my exam results, at the earliest, after two weeks; that is, if I ever got to see them at all. Seeing the results of my exams only after two days was something extraordinary. But that wasn't all. As I was checking my own exam paper, I noticed that she wrote some notes on the numbers in which I didn’t get a full mark. They were problem-solving questions. She didn't just give the partial marks that were due to me, but she also showed how to solve the problem from the point where I committed a mistake all the way to the final solution. What’s even more surprising is that she did this for the entire class! Recalling this incident still amuses me up to now.

Self-giving was another quality of hers. Once, she came to the class looking like she was not feeling well. She confessed that she had missed her Masters class because she felt sick. But she thought that, since we were approaching our long exams, it would be better for her to come to our class in order to help us review. She said, in a rather matter-of-fact way, “If it were all up to me, I would not go to school today and still get the grades that I want.” She was, I heard, getting flat 1’s in her Masters subjects. But she wasn't just thinking of herself and of her flat 1’s.

Ma’am K also showed understanding and trust. At the first half of the semester, I was doing well and getting high scores in the exams. But afterwards, my performance began to suffer. It was due to a project in my programming class, which was a major subject. I took time off in order to work on it and soon, I suffered the consequences. At the end of the sem, she requested her students to get their class cards directly from her. She wanted to talk briefly to each one of us before finally letting us go. When I went to get my class card, she explained to me the criteria for computing the final grade and went over my performance . Then she gave me my final grade- 1.75. She asked me, “Do you think you deserve this grade”? I thought for a while, and, knowing that I would have gotten a much better grade had I spent more time on the subject, I replied “Yes.” She smiled a little and explained that my average was actually closer to 2.0 than to 1.75, but she decided to give me a 1.75 anyway. I initially felt humiliated, but later on I felt understood and trusted. I got a grade that, based on my actual performance for the subject, I did not deserve. She gave it to me nevertheless in the hope that I would put greater effort next time around into getting and deserving the grades that I am actually capable of getting.

More than ten years later, the lessons on virtues that I learned from Ma’am K are still fresh in my mind. I have made use of them often times in the talks on character and competence that I usually give to students . I have now put her lessons into writing as a way of expressing my gratitude for her.

That was Ma’am K. She taught me how to analyze transcendental functions, but she also taught me things that transcend those functions. She taught me limit theorems in Calculus but also taught me lessons that go beyond the limits of Calculus. Her lessons on competence, dedication, self-giving, understanding and trust have left their mark on me more deeply than her lessons on Calculus. And I’m just glad it turned out that way.

This is an article I submitted to 100 Kwentong Peyups, a collection of UP stories published in Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star. 100 Kwentong Peyups is part of UP's 100th year celebration. The article was published in PDI on May 5, 2008, Section F4.

This also appears in 50 Kwentong Peyups published by the University Press and edited by Marie Aubrie J. Villaceran.

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