thank you, Ms. Racsag

dear Ma'am Racsag,

my Political Science classes with you are the ones that I will never forget even after I have graduated from the nutshell we, your students, call UP Manila. they say that in colllege, you will come across professors who will make your life a living hell and professors who will leave their marks on you forever. when this happens, you are never the same and their prints will be with you forever- locked in a treasure box where the rest of all the good memories are kept. ironically, you made our lives both a living hell (because of your exams and class recitations) and you surely made marks on our lives which will surely stay there forever (in a good way). again ironically, YOU ARE BOTH these types.

during my POLSCI11 class with you, I wasn't particularly aware that you had a reputation of being a "terror professor" because you were quite easy on us. you did not check attendance and your exams were easy. i will be honest by saying that the best part of being in your POLSCI11 class is the fact that your busy schedule attending conferences around the world and juggling your Masteral classes made you miss classes often. but this did not made you any less admirable and intellectual as you really were. you never ceased to amaze us, your students, whenever you lecture. your lectures were not at all boring, stale, and uninteresting. you had a quirky way of educating us mixing several political theories with your witty remarks and funny comments. you would also throw in bits and pieces of your life which made your classes all the more interesting and worth earning a perfect attendance.

i was more than ecstatic when i saw your name on my registration form again this semester. we met again for POLSCI160. but this time, you weren't the same. you were still quirky, witty, and smart. but we saw the "terror professor" in you. it is in your class that we experienced near fatal heart attacks because you would randomly pick a name on the class list and grill the person with your ever-intellectual questions. you would smile sometimes but sometimes you would wear this firm look on your face- the i-will-not-take-nonsense-answers look. that scared us a lot, you know.

i remember the time when you called on one of your students. when she wasn't able to answer you sent her out of your class. just like that. that scared the living hell out of us. the next day we made sure that we completed all the reading requirements and read it. but some of us are just so hard-headed that they still attend your class without reading your required readings (like me!). so when the day came and my name was called, i thought i was going to faint. my mouth went dry, my hands were clammy, and in my mind a hundred different images played like a slide show inside my head- images of me walking out of the classroom, images of me fainting because of fright, images of me panicking, images of me not knowing what to say. it was scary beyond words. i opened my mouth and tried to speak but instead of my voice, i heard a faint squeak. i cleared my throat and apologized to you, clutched both my hands onto my chest, and told you that i was nervous. you smiled and assured me i wasn't going to be put on death row so i can relax. Di naman kita lalamunin, you said. so i relaxed a little and answered your question. you didn't send me out and that, i was very very thankful for.

despite your being a "terror professor", you have a way of balancing your firmness and quirkiness in ways that other professors wouldn't be able to pull off. we are scared of you when you're in your "terror mode" but we love you still because your being firm taught us to be responsible students. plus, we always enjoy your classes because you always make us laugh with your funny jokes!

you also taught me a lot of lessons (aside from our lessons in POLSCI160) and i hope you know how grateful i am for that. we, your students, still get palpitations when you pick up that class list of yours (that you never fail to bring) but you are one of the best professors the DSS (Department of Social Science) is lucky to have. we admire your intellect, your ability to see what lies beneath the surface, your attitude of not being contented with just mere opinions, and your teaching skills which are VERY effective.

i will be quite honest and frank with you when i say that i'm not sure if i am looking forward to another class with you again for one of my electives (though i'm still thinking about it) because i am still petrified by your essay type exams. i feel like i was a law student while answering your exams and my head literally hurt a lot while reviewing my answers when we had that exam a week ago. that exam gave me only one hour of sleep the night before but i still think you're the best professor ever. you will go far and you will get that PhD degree of yours that you are currently working on at such a young age.

hurrah for people like you who can make learning fun (although hellish sometimes).

your student,
Gail

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no, i will not give this letter to her. maybe after my classes with her. i just want to thank her in my own little way (even if she doesn't know that).