Another Research Questionnaire...

What is this?

I was giving Camille, a grade six pupil, the look. “Sir, the grade chairman asked me to give this to you. This is from the office." Camille said. "From the office" was the magic word here. I didn’t know if the effect that “the look” I was giving Camille seemed humorous to her  because she just smiled and walked away. I smiled at her, too. 

I am allergic to communications from “the office” especially documents that look like they come from the higher offices. Who are not, I supposed. I’m allergic to them because there are times they arrive to the concerned teacher very, very late. There are some instances where teachers receive memos asking them to attend seminars the very day the seminar is supposed to be held. Anyway, things happen. Not anybody’s fault, I guess.

I looked at the documents and I was not surprised to find out that it was one of those things again: questionnaire for the paper of a Ph.D. candidate. The fifth or the fourth I have answered since I came here. I took it and put it on my desk. (This is called the 3T's : tanggap, tupi, tago or in English: receive, fold, and  keep.)

After a few minutes, another pupil approached me asking for the accomplished questionnaire. I told her, “Wait, I’ll read them first.” I put the questionnaire on my desk and left it there to be perused after the classes. This was a Ph. D. research so even though the questionnaire was in Filipino, the language was wordy and wordy, maybe, to give the illusion of academic acceptability of some sort. I mean, dissertations are purely for academic consumption or mold and mushroom culture or paper recycling purposes. Who'll read them anyways...I have the theory that even the professors do not even read the whole thing.

After a few minutes, another pupil came and asked me, again, to submit the accomplished questionnaire because the office needed it, now! Of course, I had the urge to shout at the pupil (not her fault really, she's just the messenger) that this was a research questionnaire that needed my careful reading before accomplishing. But, I was beginning to get irritated so I sat down, got my pen, randomly checked the boxes and then submitted the "accomplished" questionnaire. There goes the Ph.D dissertation. I supposed no busy teacher would carefully read and think about and then accomplish questionnaires like these. Just check them boxes and be done with the thing.  

This made me think about the quality of these educational researches. Well, anyway...just thinking out loud.