Kids

Dear Students, You’re Doing Great. Keep On Going.

by Kevyn Gohu
September 15, 2025

An open letter from online teachers and tutors to the many students out there

Dear students,

We get it. Homework is annoying, and the topics don’t seem to get any easier. You try to ask your parents, and sometimes, even they’re scratching their heads. But don’t worry, everyone goes through this phase. Homework is just a glimpse of what happens in real life: there are moments that you’ll just have to wing it.

It’ll be annoying at first, but hey, that’s why we have a saying called YOLO. Or, “You only live once.”

An open letter from online teachers and tutors to the many students out there

Talk about info overload!

You’re probably looking at your course outline or syllabus and wondering, “Can we even do all of this in a year?”

In a lot of cases, no. Especially when the Philippine weather can’t make up its mind whether to be sunny or rainy, some topics are bound to be removed. Unfortunately, with the way some curricula are designed, some of your teachers will be pressured to squash everything into ten months. Your teachers may not say it, but they don’t like doing that either.

So, what can you do? Honestly, your teachers were all students like you once. So, they’ll tell you the same thing that their teachers did, too: try.

But when you do, sometimes, it’ll be so discouraging that you’ll want to throw in the towel. You can give it your all, and the grade you get is just… embarrassing. What you thought could be an A or the highest grade got you just a middle grade. Or worse, it’s just a flat-out F. But the truth is: you can’t win them all.

And that’s okay.

In any situation, you make decisions based on whatever info you have on hand. Social media and AI may give you the information, but they’re not always correct either. We still have to decide as to what info to keep or believe.

When we do decide, keep in mind that there are no do-overs. Some of the booboos we make, we have to live with them.

It’s understandable why grades can matter so much

Many of us, growing up, lived with the idea that grades decided everything. A few teachers still agree: grades are a manifestation of work ethic and virtues applied.

But they only prove that you do know something. The depth of how you understand the topic, well, that’s something that numbers are not too good at proving straight away.

At the same time, we know the pride of coming home with a big “A” on the paper and showing it to your parents. We also know that you will rant and vent about us to your friends when we give you a C or F. Or, that you’ll hide your papers in shame, especially when you anticipate your parents’ looks of disappointment.

We don’t like giving you those grades either. But we’d be doing you a greater injustice if we didn’t challenge you. Because if it’s not us, Life will throw you a curveball. It’s why some of us adopt ACH philosophy—short for “Anything Can Happen.”

Which is most likely the same sound you’ll make every time you have no idea what in the world is happening.

So, to our dear students, we see your efforts. Keep on going.

We see you trying. We see ourselves in you—all bright-eyed and wanting to change the world. Honestly, we’re looking forward to the day you do. You don’t have to remember us, our names, or whatever we said. What we just want to see you do is fly. Flip a table, fight for an advocacy, or simply free yourselves from your problems because you developed the tools and the knowledge to do so.

But if the world gets too hard or a problem just doesn’t make sense, it’s okay to come back to us. We’ll be right here. Just don’t stop fighting; keep forging on ahead.

Love,

Your teachers