One Week Later

Thank you all for your kind words regarding my last entry. I'm glad that Dinah and Petri commented, and I hope everything is fine over there.

First, some links, as found through the same people as last time (Tina and Martin): a file outlining the official policy regarding the issues; the official statement from the faculty; two perspectives on other issues regarding the current graduating batch, from Arghs and Martin; and, to bring it full circle, my sister's take on things.

I'm suddenly hearing from people I have not had the pleasure of talking with in a while (hi, Elenore, Chang, Pio, Punzki, Joy [ans: NTU], Art, and Ma'am Aguila), which is one positive effect. I'm not likely to be as vocal as I am, sporadically, but it shows that there are means of communicating. One thing I take to heart from my own time in Pisay is that communication is the backbone of a good relationship. I just usually don't feel I have anything to say to the world at large. You, however, I always have something to share, so feel free to contact.

Likeliest way to find me being exhibitionist is through Facebook, though I am accessible through Friendster and LinkedIn. I have another blog, under a different mask, but that has been updated less frequently: I used to challenge my students to find out about that side of me, and am assured that only those who are interested can find out.

I Cannot Sit by Idly

There is an issue that has come up at Philippine Science High School (Diliman Campus), my secondary school alma mater, and my first regular long-term employer. It seems yearly now that there would be an issue, and I do not like dredging up the past, since each year promises something that is different (and yet the same) as those before. My sister pointed out the blog posts of Jonathan de Guzman Isip, a graduating student, Ma. Cristina Bargo, formerly (?) of the PSHS-Diliman Math Dep, and Martin Perez, Batch 2011 adviser, and Social Science teacher at PSHS-Diliman.

Mind you, I am currently ill, and worried about a project due later this week that I have yet to put mind and effort to, so you can take that if you will. I feel the need to put my own voice to this din, for reasons that I will tackle momentarily.

I graduated from Philippine Science High School (Diliman) in 1995, and most of my closest friends did, as well. After getting my BS in Mathematics from UP Diliman, I had taught at PSHS-Diliman from 2000-2003, and in hindsight, those were not my best years teaching. My students would probably not vouch for me, but I am certain that I could have done better by them, and that my only hope is that they are better for having been with me for their year than not---I know that I am wiser now than then. I left Philippine Science partially due to the strain of my final year teaching there and my personal situation at the time. I returned to teaching in the UP-Diliman Computer Science department in November of 2003, and last taught there in the semester ending November 2008, during which I finished my MS in Mathematics from Ateneo de Manila University. Currently, I am overseas, trying to get a doctorate in Mathematics.

My impromptu resume is meant to establish what life-path I have undertaken, with respect to Pisay. I had taken, I had given, I had left, hopefully not for good.

In my first two years, I was teaching Computer Science, mostly programming. In my fateful, final year, I asked to be moved to the Mathematics Department, under Sir Alex Alix, and I ended up teaching Mathematics 5 and 7, the former with Dinah Gutierrez and Petri Espanol.

I had known Kuya Petri from the year we had both been in the Boys' Dorm annex, him in 4th year, me in 1st year. I knew of Dinah from my sister, who graduated in 2000, so I knew that I was in good hands.

I was the worst of us teaching Math 5 that year. I had no inclination to give homework, because I was loath to check them, and felt that they didn't properly convey a student's understanding, which meant that my grades were mostly from quizzes and exams. A quite public scolding made me change my mind after the first quarter, and I was thankful, because it would be better for the students to be reminded of what was expected of them, and to have an idea of who was having problems with the content. My personal situation was tenuous, so I barely kept my consultation time, but made time if the students needed it---I was not likely to seek them out, unless their quarterly grades were low.

Through all this problematic period, I heavily relied on Dinah, Petri and Sir Alex, to make sure that I was covering what I should, to get ideas when I couldn't seem to push my students past the obstacles provided by the course, to get focus when my vision of what a student should be was not holding up to the reality. During much of the latter part of that year, I felt like I was not cut out to teach.

You see, these were teachers that had given time, effort and commitment to teaching at Philippine Science. They had established themselves as teachers, and distinguished themselves due to these virtues. The only reason I had been able to see the year through, for my students, for myself, is that they were able to keep me righted, saw that I would not harm the students, and made sure that we were all keeping as close to the school's mission as possible.

Yes, this was years ago, and people change. Yes, one year cannot be compared with another, since components, environments and conditions change.

I cannot help but identify with the problem, because during that year, I had an advisee fail to graduate.

I don't see the need to outline our methodology for these cases: the student handbook is clear. What may seem unusual is the effort that is put in by the department and by the teachers to place all possible considerations so that students, especially those who have put in four years at Pisay, to pass and to graduate.

Why is that? There is the purely economic reason: the government has spent on your four years of education, and wants returns. Your diploma signifies government service. I'm not sure if this applies to when you don't actually get a diploma. There is also the emotional welfare of the student to consider. I'm not certain if the continuity of education is a problem; I hear that colleges will take you based on the entrance examination (and other factors, such as grades through the third year for UP for example).

Nobody really thinks about how teachers are affected by this. Nobody I have worked with has been blase about failing students; nobody I have worked with has doled out failing marks with malicious approbation, or with even the smallest bit of levity. Each time that I had failed a student, first-year, second-year, fourth-year students, I had to worry about what I had not done, because I was, with the help of other faculty, already trying to do as much as I can at that point. You can always doubt yourself, which is why these accusations are so damning---every teacher has a bit of him or her that is taking that tack from within.

Starting from the year-level teachers within the department, the department itself, the year-level teachers for all subjects, then the entire faculty, failing students is something that is questioned and has to be defended with full accountability---in fact, any grade that seems out-of-the-ordinary is a matter for discussion, good or bad. This is before the grades can be put on record. Teachers are taken to task by those we work with, those who have seen the same students, through the different lenses of their respective subjects (and the dorm managers, if relevant), been in the same halls, have seen different aspects of those situations to which everyone has been subject.

Questioning these grades now holds not just the system, but the integrity of all involved, under the same interrogation: these two teachers, who have been labelled as incompetent and malicious, are implicitly backed up by the entirety of the faculty body, to each one. To label them such is to cast a net on all of us who have worked with them, who have been helped by them, and to all who have had the privilege of their tutelage, whether student or co-worker. I, for one, owe them, and by extension, so do all of my students.

I stand by the school, as it stands by its teachers. Academic freedom allows us to teach to the best of our abilities, regardless of methods, subject to the standards to be upheld individually, by department, and by the faculty as a whole. Compassion is what drives us to find what the grades and the numbers cannot tell, and possibly hide, to ascertain that each student is realizing his or her potential, and sometimes, to determine if what has been done is enough or is not. We teachers do not play dice, though it may seem so, from our "god-like" juggling of percentages, but we are not magicians: we cannot make points appear out of nowhere, even when we feel like it. It is so much easier to just tweak numbers to lower passing rates, such as what had happened, to avoid having to declare who among your students do not deserve another chance, to curtail the privilege of graduating with that ballyhooed piece of parchment---we always feel that every student is deserving, innocent until.

Enough rhetoric. Put up your dukes. I left Philippine Science because I was no longer convinced that I was doing well by the students; everyone is entitled to an opinion as to how well anyone is doing, but some opinions matter more than others. If Dinah and Petri are turned out, which I highly doubt, I will sympathize with the grief that will arise, but I will not fight it. If this situation aggrieves them sufficiently to leave on their own accord, then I know whose hands will be unclean, but again, it no longer my fight. In either case, I will, however, immediately FedEx my diploma---untarnished and unmolested---because by then, it will no longer mean as much to me. All of you alumni, who yearly have been asked to reconsider the value of your diplomas, can mark this that time of the year.

Welcome to the Next Level

Well, my experiment in extemporaneous exposition on being a graduate assistant went bust as things got busier. What would not be chronicled were the instances of actually substituting for professors in their classes: Dr. Raffy Saldana's Math 19 class, Dr. Cathy Vistro-Yu's Math 22 class, Dr. Felix Muga's Math 124 and numerical class and Dr. Roden David's AMC 124 class. There were the instances of proctoring for examinations, of course. Somewhere down the line, I was keen on writing on the unique experience of being a "veteran" instructor having to be a graduate assistant, and seeing the power-play that that entails whenever having to substitute for a real professor, but that can no longer be written with what humour and urgency the situation would have evinced, some four or five months past.

And there were the ES 26 classes, with the typical drama and excitement that my previous CS 11 classes had entailed, but with older cast members, like the second season of a school-based TV series - that is, to say, dropping slips, people trying to get to the mythic 480, failing students, well-deserved grades high and low. Again, 2/3 passing.

And then there was the thesis. There was a trip to Cebu reprising the MSP presentation for SMACS 2008, featuring some hemming and hewing on wording and proofs and re-approaching the major result with something that still-doesn't-quite-sting-more-than-itch. Lesson learned: never schedule your thesis defense during what could be the last game of the UAAP finals, especially if the teams playing for the crown are wearing blue and green. Finally, the thesis was accepted, and I graduated with a Master of Science in Mathematics degree from the Ateneo de Manila University.

There's so much more that I learned of the Mathematics Department in that one month than in the semesters I spent purely as a student. It would have been enjoyable to have been a part of that faculty, or even to continue being part of the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the University of the Philippines, but that was not on the schedule, and so, by late October, I was uncoiling my tendrils from the two universities straddling the ends of Katipunan avenue.

Middle of December found me taking Fred Ezerman's suggestion, with the Letter of Offer secured, to take PhD studies in the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in Nanyang Technological University, on the western end of Singapore, coast-to-coast from Changi Airport. Aside from Fred, and my beloved, I have settled in with the help of Jayrold Arcede, who is finishing his own degree at the National University of Singapore, and the accommodations of Dr. Noel Cabral, who is witht the National Institute of Education until June of this year.

The seeds of this migration, other than the fact that my lady love had been here for almost two years, was visiting Fred during his first semester, while I was looking for a job here with a spotty resume. (That was Plan A. Finishing the thesis and applying for a scholarship in NTU was Plan B. Protip: They're looking for three years industry experience - Plan C would have involved this route.) Having foregone my MS during my industry phase, Fred's suggestion to try applying for my PhD turned me back to the academe - and that, as they say, was that.

So, I moved into the Graduate Hall within a few days, walked my matriculation papers, celebrated the late-year holidays and, as the new year rolled in, I started my PhD studies.

We are currently in week six of the semester, with a week-long recess scheduled next next week. I'm attending three classes: MAS 710 Continuous Methods (Real + Complex + Functional Analysis); MAS 723 Multivariate Analysis PhD section; MAS 726 PDEs in Image Processing. We've already had Lunar New Year celebrations, and the next holiday seems to be Good Friday (the only day in the Christian Holy Week that is taken off). Tomorrow, my first stipend check clears, and I will be self-sufficient somewhat once more.

Hopefully, this may mean that I will write more. Hopefully, this also means that I will write more here.

So, to all, I hope the new year has given you new life, as it has for me.

Hell Breaks Loose (For About 30 Mintues or So)

Yesterday, I conducted Machine Exercise 3 for my ES 26 classes at 8:30-11:30 and 2:45-5:45. At around 12:15, I was being contacted by Ateneo to see if I was arriving there by 12:30, which I wasn't because of my experience on conducting Machine Exercise 1, and how tired I often got rushing to and from campuses. At this time, all of us graduate assistants had something happening (although with me, it was in-between classes, a lunch break, but I was in UP), so when something else came up, it had to wait until the GA that had been subbing for a 11:30 class could do it.

I hope it doesn't get this hectic most of the time: I am only worried about machine exercises and long exams, which I cannot have anyone else cover. Well, with only two more machine exercises (July 11 and August 1) and long examinations on Monday mornings (or Saturdays, depending on the conflict-resolution), I think it shouldn't come up for me, past this.

Slight Confusion

Paperwork and schedule to come make for a little bit of confusion, but hopefully things will settle into some comfortable rhythm soon enough. Added a little more work for myself, but hopefully it just leads to a full mouth and not too much to chew.

This Week

This week promises to be on the wrong side of sanity, what with a machine exercise to proctor, check, make solutions for, and explain. It immediately follows that, with the next two weeks following the same schedule, followed by a long examination, the first month is not too friendly to me. Add the paperwork I am juggling, and my goal for the next half-month may just be survival.

Been Busy

The first few weeks have found me fairly busy, but fairly uncoordinated. Am still adjusting to the new sleep schedule, and have only recently finalized my weekly itinerary. This, of course, does not account for the random variance of work that will find me at Ateneo. On top of this, I am assured of neither paycheck at the end of the month yet. And the deadlines for the scholarship applications loom closer.

Sigh. Onward and upward.

APIO '08: An Overview

The PNOI held last March was a lead up for the Philippine delegation to this year's APIO. The contrast between contest styles and difficulty are marked, and I will strive to later give my thoughts on each of the problems.

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday marked the first time in eleven months that I had checked in to work. To make things extra special, this is also the first time that I have two concurrent jobs, albeit for the span of one semester. I am still adjusting to the sleep schedule, and the noontime sun is not my friend, but I'm pretty perked up for the coming months.

Now if I can figure what to put on the Math Department's bulletin board...

PNOI 2k8 Problems: Input for Multiple Data Sets

Problems from PNOI2008

I had not given attention to the methods of getting input for multiple data sets. This presents an additional challenge, on top of the problem itself, especially when not used to the usual methods that problems in programming competitions provide the input.

The problems in PNOI 2k8 did not try to make parsing input too difficult, using only spaces and newlines to separate data, and without additional parsing issues.

It's best to keep the loop mechanism for getting input as simple and unobtrusive, making sure that it keeps out of the way of the solution itself: this usually means that the solution should be put into a function that is called by the main function.

There were two types of data set input shown in PNOI 2k8. First, as in problems A, B, E and F, the first number in the input gives the number of data sets in the input. Generally, this is easier to implement:

int main(void) {
  int numCases, currentCase;
  input numCases;
  for (currentCase = 1; currentCase <= numCases; currentCase ++)
    solveProblem();
  return 0;
}

The other type of data set input shown was the header type: basically, each data set is preceded by a header line which tells how many lines are in the data set, a trivial value (such as all zero header values) indicates the end of the input. This is seen in problems C, D and to some extent F. For problem D:

int main(void) {
  int numPeople, numPairs;
  for (input numPeople, numPairs; numPeople > 0 || numPairs > 0; input numPeople, numPairs)
    solveProblem(numPeople, numPairs);
  return 0;
}

Generally, with just numbers and separators, reading the data from the input is simply reading the next number. In problems E and F, though, strings have to be read, with different expectations: F required that a line have an alphanumeric string followed by a space, then a number, then a space and a number again; E required the whole line of characters, spaces and all, until the newline as a string.

This is where familiarity with the input schemes of the language you are using will come in handy. If you are experienced with separating a string with spaces into "words", and then converting some or all of these "words" into their proper type, such as integers, or floating-point numbers, then you can always read input line-per-line and then do the conversion: this will apply to both E and F, although the second step is not needed for E. In C, the function to use is gets() or fgets() for file input (or stdin); in C++, the function to use is getline(), which can be used with cin or a file stream; in Java, the method readLine() of a BufferedReader object does the job - you will have to import the package java.io.* and use an InputStream object - read here for more details.

For problem F, you have the added option of taking into account that there are input functions that only reads strings only up to a blank space or a newline. In C:

scanf("%s %d %d\n", name[item], &cost[item], &size[item]);

Note that the newline in the end is necessary so that the next call to this command does not read the previous line's newline character.

In C++:

cin >> name >> cost >> size;
item[currentItem] = new Item(name, cost, size);

In Java, the only available option is to read per line.

Parsing is a skill all programmers must grasp up to some extent (even those that deal with GUI need to handle text input now and then), and the more experience you have with different types of file input, the better prepared you'll be. My advice is to always test your parsing before working on the solution: make the parsing code then have the program output what it had parsed to ensure that you are getting the data correctly.