....Very few people realize how multi-faceted Kuya Daniel Razon is. Many people look up to him as a broadcast-journalist, a voice-over talent, a PR consultant, and a TV director. But hardly do many people know that Kuya Daniel was also an educator—a teacher who equipped aspiring broadcast-journalists with the necessary wisdom and know-how in order to make it in the industry, aside from implanting in both their minds and hearts the necessary virtues they ought to possess.
...In fact, Kuya Daniel handled practically all the pertinent subjects in Mass Communication such as Broadcast Ethics and Laws, Radio & TV Speech, Radio and TV Production & Direction, Media Business, Film Theory & Appreciation, and Audio-Visual Communication. And if you admire the way he delivers a news story, or the way he does a voice-over task, the more you would have admired him as he took center stage in the classroom.
..Kuya Daniel loved teaching. He loved imparting to young minds, not just theories, but a clear picture of the ins and outs of the broadcast-journalism world. And his almost two decades of immersion and stints with the country’s leading networks have developed in him mastery and expertise in subjects related to Radio and Television. All these have made him a very competent and effective mentor.
..Each time that a semester would begin, his students would be both excited and apprehensive. They were excited because they would hear from his former students how great a teacher Kuya Daniel is. But they were also apprehensive, not because they dreaded to see him, but because they feared that they might not live up to his standards. Surely they must have heard the way Kuya Daniel would whet and squeeze his students, until he had finally brought out the best in each of them. For one, “Sir Razon”, as his students addressed him, gave very difficult examinations and very tedious projects and assignments. But despite this, students found all these enjoyable and rewarding. Never mind the many pages that they had to come up with, never mind the money that they had to spend for projects, never mind how their hearts pounded during graded recitations, never mind the sleepless rights during shooting and editing. What matters is that they learned and enjoyed what they did.
..Kuya Daniel was a teacher in the truest sense of the word. The moment he took the helm in the classroom—without any effort—he readily captured his students’ attention. The moment he opened his mouth, everybody listened and digested every piece of wisdom he imparted to them. And his students were always rest assured that, at the end of the term, they would receive what they truly deserved. When it came to giving grades, Kuya Daniel had always been very fair and objective. He rated his students, not by what others said about them, not by their affinity to other faculty members, nor by what he thought of them, but by their performance. And for him each day was always a fresh start.
..But more than being a classroom teacher, Kuya Daniel was also a good friend to his students. He was very approachable and always showed interest and willingness to be of help to them, especially when it came to academic matters. And this was extended outside the classroom. In fact for several instances, he would invite his students to come over his own production studio in order for them to have a hands-on experience of different broadcast equipment like TV cameras and editing machines. And typical of his unselfish and magnanimous nature, Kuya Daniel would even bring to school all the pertinent broadcast equipment, from cameras to monitors, to editing machines, to lapel microphones – for free.
..And because of his genuine kindness, he had won, not just the admiration, but also the respect of his students. And even if they did not verbalize it, it seems that they wanted to be where Kuya Daniel was. During the time that he was still in ABS-CBN, a number of his students opted to have their on-the-job training there. When he moved to GMA 7, many of his students followed him there also. And even now that he’s on UNTV, many still want to be with him.
..To this day, a number of students that Kuya Daniel had handled have landed sensitive posts in the country’s top rating programs aired over the country’s leading networks. And most of them, if not all, are all too thankful for the kind of training, tests, and exposure Kuya Daniel had given them while they were under his tutelage. If not for those rigorous assignments, if not for the challenges he had posed on them, they probably would not have the guts, the skills, and the right attitude that a true broadcast-journalist should possess. And, perhaps, aside from giving their best in everything that they do, the other important lesson that will always linger in the minds of his students is for them not to succumb to “envelopmental” journalism because a person’s integrity and credibility is worth far more than what “an envelope” contains. And with his head up high, Kuya Daniel can always proclaim to anybody that never in his life did he practice “envelopmental journalism”. God is his witness.
..Teaching may not be a very lucrative profession in this country, but it remains to be the most noble. Kuya Daniel did not teach for financial gains. In fact, an entire semester would sometimes end without him claiming his pay checks from the cashier’s office. Instead, it was the cashier who would be going out of her way to personally deliver to him his checks. Kuya Daniel taught because it was one of the ways through which he could lead people to God. Although he never used the classroom as a pulpit, yet, with the moral values he exemplified, he, in effect, also taught them a Christian way of life. And that made Kuya Daniel a real teacher who emulated no other than that greatest teacher of all times—our Lord Jesus Christ.