Ma'am G, how could I thank thee?

Ma’am G, how could I thank thee?Let this be one of the ways.

I first met Ma’am Lourdes Gamutan, who is affectionately called Ma’am G, when I enrolled in her Literature 1 (Philippine Literature) class. My friends heard so many terrifying stories about her, so that when they learned it was Ma’am G who would be handling the class, they dropped the subject. They transferred to other Lit 1 class handled by an ostensibly more lenient teacher. They persuaded me to follow them, but persuaded me in vain.

Naïve as I am, I stayed with Ma’am G’s class. My friends warned me of an impending doom. Like anything impending, their warning is still impending. I didn’t regret that I stayed with Ma’am G’s class. But my friends did regret their decision to drop out of her class. They shouldn’t have transferred, they told me later. I found out that their teacher was even worse. At the end of the semester, I got 95 from Ma’am G. Their teacher gave most of them 80.

Ma’am G is really generous when it comes to giving grades. I proved this for the second time when I enrolled in English 2 that Ma’am G handled. I think I got 94 or higher in my English 2.

But it was not the high grades she gave me that I will remember Ma’am G the most. Rather it was her antics, which remain as fresh in my mind as when I first heard them.