Rewards of the faculty

Title

Creator

Florentin, Angel A.

Language

English

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

REWARDS OF THE FACULTY* ANGEL A. FLORENTIN, M.D. College of Medicine University of the· Philippines Rewards of the faculty do not include only tangible or material rewards but encompass the entire returns that may accrue to the faculty member. And I would speak in terms -0£ the tangibles and intangibles that return to us either directly or indirectly by being members of this Faculty of Medi-cine. Among the tangibles are the financial aspects and the security of position. R"egarding the financial aspect, one considers whether the pay scale or the monetary return is adequate or inadequate. The adequacy of a pay scale will have to be measured in terms of the living conditions that exist as well as the relative proportion between that actual financial return and what one might have been able to get elsewhere. Although there had beo:;?n rumors that there are larger monetary rewards from teaching in other institutions, these are -essentia11y unfounded. The monthly stipend in a private institution may be occasionally larger than the corresponding stipem;l in the College but the total annual income is much less, primarily because in a private institution the salaries are paid monthly and only for each working month, i.e., on the average about eight months a year and the rest of the year there is no pay. Thus, an instructor, who would be getting something like P3,600 a year here, may be commanding a salary of about P400 a month elsewhere; but when the final reckoning comes, these same instructors in other institutions have to secure other jobs in order to assure themselves of some income during the period When they are not teaching. There are others who may disagree with me but I·do know • Delh'ered during the Fourth Teaching Institute (The Teaching of Sur-sery), COiiege of'Mediclne, April 16, 1959, at 1he Philippine General Hospital Science Hall. 71 72 ACTA MEDICA PHILIPPINA. for a fact than an average private institution will pay you on, the eight-months-a-year basis. Of course, the other factors in, so far as adequacy of pay scale are concerned in teaching and other services is the perennial question of clinical practice versus teaching. Everybody will agree with me that the financial reward of going into clinical practice, if it is for finances alone, wilJ certainly be much greater than if the same time is. devoted to teaching alone. The security of position is already guaranteed by the per-· manence of appointment after a probationary period and the availability of retirement benefits. On the other side of the scale, we have the intangibles like prestige, recognition, satisfaction and the opportunity for service. The prestige refers tobelonging to a body or group of bodies that has gained recognition locally and internationally as a premier teaching institution for the propagation of medical education. It is with justifiable pride that we point to the fact that our College of Medicine has been recognized as the only in8titution in the Far East classed side by side with A-1 medical institutions abroad. It is also with justifiable pride that whenever we speak at seminars among our colleagues we are introduced as. members of the faculty of the College of Medicine. This one intangible factor to me is something that cannot bemeasured in terms of monetary reward, something to. Strive for and something to earn. Aside from being a member of a team, there is the recognition that is due one probably as a reflection of the prestige of the organization, the recognition that members of the faculty are acknowledged authorities in their respective fields of endeavor. The return in terms of a flattering of vanity, or in terms of clinical practice, an acknowledgment by your collegues and probably an increase· of your prestige is such that they will not hesitate to seek your services in helping them with difficult cases. That type of prestige and recognition will of necessity carry with it certain things that have to be lived up to, a very high standard of ethics to be maintained, a very high standard of morality tobe adhered to, a very high standard of intellectual capacity to bC shown. The recognition does not only come from Our local' colleagues, they also come from international organizations. FOURTH TEACHING INSTITUTE 73 And it is always a source of pride to hear that one or another of our faculty members had been selected or recognized for their endeavors. I may be one of those who would like to bask in the light reflected by such recognition on a member of my own faculty but, secretly within me, I probably would also like to have the ambition to add to the light that is shed on the institution because of such recognition -which brings us to the third point, satisfaction. Satisfaction entails an ambition or a problem that has to be satisfied. And no one deserves being a faculty member if he does not have the love for knowledge and who does not consider the search for truth as paramount. This institution offers us facilities and opportunities. They are lying around and are not given to us in a silver platter. A few years ago, upon my return, I was very enthusiastic about research work. I wanted to continue some work that I had started, but I found all around discouragement and I was told, I will have to fight so hard for it. With encouragement from the Administration of the College, I begged, borrowed and almost stole equipment from various sources. I hereby acknowledge my debts to the Biochemistry Department, Physiology Department, Institute of Hygiene, the Chemistry Department from whom I got pieces of equipment to be able to do that something. And that very modest beginning was the start of a small research organization that has since continued to function. After that it was much easier asking for help. The intellectual atmosphere that exists in this institution is something that you cannot find elsewhere. Go around and they will speak to you and listen to you, it may be facetious sometimes but always there is an underlying current of understanding which makes you feel that no matter how trivial the problem you are working on, it will eventually be accepted and adopted to the greater good and the greater need. Finally, the opporhmity for ~ervice. The opportunity in helping to mould the thinking of our future physicians, the opportunity of being able to search for and to develop new technics and the opportunity of being able to help fellow colleagues. Many of us have an opportunity to go around to the provindes, and wherever we go we meet our students, and ACTA .MEDICA PHILIPPlRA their welcooie give us an inner glow- of satisfaction that cannot ·he ·measured iD terms of monetary reward. Many of us have an opportunity to go abroad and wherever we go, we meet some of our former Stlidents. We· always take pride in the fact that they have been adjudged as having had sufficiently good training and are given responsible positions in whatever institutions. they are assigned. And you take pride when they come up and introduce you to their admihisttative officials and say, "he was one of my professors who made me what I am".

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