Two in One Times Two

I will finish 9 units of credit this term for my PhD. I understand that a doctorate degree is not just for everybody. I would listen to my classmates how they find it difficult to pass through their teacher's scrutiny and judgment, when those professors they have are just some kind of "character" in UP.

I am enrolled for 9 units, but I'm like taking twelve units all in two meetings a week. In my core subjects, our class has decided to fuse two courses since we have the same professor and we are the same faces belonging to those classes. In my cognate course, it was the professor's decision to fuse two classes together in one meeting. Should I consider that luck, or was I at the losing end?

I could manage with completing the course requirement. My professors found my presentations commendable. Yet, I have not received any graded paper back. That's the system in the University, professors return papers when they want to, or they don't. That's the instructional dialectics. But PhD students have to deal with that and keep on. I would have felt luckier if I enrolled the other class as cognate so I would be able to earn 12 units - two in one times two, without the hassle of coming to class "frice" (four times).

Would I learn out of that convenience? Earning a PhD and learning from PhD are two different things. I am earning my PhD because I want to learn, as I have embraced learning to be crucial to my teaching and training profession. It would benefit me financially and professionally, but my ultimate goal in earning a PhD simply boils down to the fact that I have to expand my horizons. A PhD degree is not equivalent to learning.

We can never measure what learning we have gained from attaining any degree. Learning is not dependent on the professor, although teachers can have great impact to students' learning and achievement. Learning largely depends on the students. As for me, I have learned to accept what one UP professor told me, before I enrolled --"You can pick some things from your professor, or during your discussions, but you have to learn much by yourself, if you want to gain more in earning your degree." This i understand that I have to go beyond what my teachers are reading or have read to broaden my knowledge and expand my own learning.

While my classmates complain that they have not gained so much from our professors, I feel and think otherwise. I have tried to find enjoyment in doing my courseworks in writing papers. If my teacher picks a book and asks us to read that material, I would read two or more from the same author, and look for what critics say about them. Then, from there I make my analysis or rather a synthesis. Did I learn from my professors? Two in one times two, twice much better from what they have offered us, and much greater from what I know.