Elementary graduates, some even before
finishing the 7th grade, in the post-war Philippines have been tapped
to teach the succeeding generations, as compared to today when there are some who
still can hardly read at this level, or if they can read, have below acceptable
comprehension.
The United States, with its “Thomasites”,
Peace Corps, and beyond, has left a significant mark in the Philippine
Educational System for decades since the American colonization in 1898, that for
a long time the Philippines was looked up to as a leader in education in South
East Asia, that we were taught that of the colonizers, Spain’s gift to the
Filipinos was Catholicism while America’s was education.
Attendance to a kindergarten school
for an introduction to letters of the English alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors,
or for the poorer ones, the “Katon” for basic knowledge of the Spanish alphabet,
with the LL (“Elle”) and Ñ (“Enyi”), syllabication and phonetics were just
optional until the early part of the 1970s. Montessori and clones have just become a fad
for kids with rich parents much, much later.
But all fared well and finished
primary and secondary education and landed jobs, with a few exceptions
secondarily to various factors including poverty.
Recent researches claim however
that “children who underwent Kindergarten have better completion rates than
those who did not, as children who complete a standards-based Kindergarten
program are better prepared, for primary education,” disregarding perhaps the
poverty factor.
The issue of poverty to this day remains
to be an issue affecting the Philippine educational system. The poor can hardly send their children to
school as they have no money to buy school supplies, uniforms, expenses for
school projects, and for daily expenses instead of sending children to
school they are forced to work to help in the family finances.
Another modern-day expense that
taxes parents in secondary and tertiary education are the ridiculously
mandatory field trips, many of which have no bearing on the curriculum.
The brain drain in qualified school
teachers is also because of poverty. With
the very low salaries and benefits of teachers, many are tempted to go abroad
and work as domestic helpers to earn better salaries for their families. And because of low salaries and benefits, the
best and the brightest are not attracted to take up education courses.
In the ’60s, teachers have all the
supplies they need from the government, but slowly have to buy their own
chalks, and other supplies, spend personal money for school room improvement,
traveling expenses to attend training and spend hours preparing lesson plans
that in the early 1980s a significant departure from the teaching to the
non-teaching positions in the bureaucracy was noted.
The many hours spent in producing
one very nice and detailed lesson plan, and all the visual aids would often
result in an elementary grade teacher spending more time writing and letting pupils
copy the lessons on the board instead as they have no more time explaining the
lessons to the pupils.
The teaching assignments also
contribute to the deterioration of basic education. Because of the distance, it
is not uncommon for teachers to report to their respective assignments on
Tuesdays and go home on Fridays.
All these are the primary factors
contributory to the degeneration of the quality of education.
Times have changed from when
teachers are one of the most admired or looked up to in the community, not only
because of their economic standing but also of the presumption of knowledge.
Basic education may not be
that complex beyond the 3-Rs, namely “Reading, (W)Riting, and ‘Rithmetic”, and
when arithmetic was confined to the four fundamental operations of
multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division. That was before the introduction of “modern
math” which just complicates things in a young student’s mind.
Sir Isaac Newton with his Law of
Motion, Pythagoras with his a2 + b2= c2, or Albert
Einstein with
his E=m c2 may just have the four basic
fundamentals of mathematics as the core of their equations and scientific
theories and not the absurdities of “modern math”.
Students before had to cope with
just the basic government-issued textbooks that include those written in the
local vernacular and had more time for simple after-school leisure which is
healthy for both mind and body as well as for the development of ethical social
interactions, values that many are wanting in contemporary times.
Earlier students may have been
performing academically well compared with the textbook-weighted students of
today, worsened by the enticement of online games like DOTA and the culture of dependence
on short messages, social network sites, and online search engines.
With Google and other applications,
students tend to be less resourceful, analytical, and discerning. Many views uploaded information on the
internet as the gospel truth that the researchers merely “copy-paste” for a
voluminous output.
The age of computerization in Licensure
Examinations, except for admission to the Philippine Bar, may have waned the
ability to think, strive and put into use the rudiments of the
discipline. The chance to pass an examination
may be largely left to chance, guesswork, or even luck.
To go further, many schools herald
with great pride their passing average as relatively high at 100% average, when
in reality only one took the exam and passed.
Statistically, that is 100% but is not reflective of a school’s
actual performance.
I call this claim “Statistical Fallacy”
as insufficient information is
provided, in this case, the number of examinees, to make a complete comparison
that the logical validity of the result is undermined.
During the Martial Law regime of
the 70’s came the “mass promotion” policy in the elementary grades, espoused by
the context of the impossibility for a student not to learn anything throughout
his six years stay in the elementary school. With this benefit of the doubt,
all are entitled to graduate in primary education.
But evidently, the concept was but a
government budgetary measure rather than to address academic issues. The zero retention in schools would mean less
demand for teachers or classrooms, among others.
College education was however
subject to the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) which is not
actually a true measure of college education readiness because the mean used
was the standards of basic public education.
It is like applying one quality standard for both apples and oranges.
“A recent study showed that scores
of Filipino children between 9 and 14 were two standard deviations below the
international mean in mathematics, sciences, and reading.
‘Experts suggested several factors
in this deterioration. They cited that Philippine education is one of the
shortest in the world. The educational ladder has a 6+4+4 structure, six years in elementary, four in secondary, and usually four to gain a bachelor's degree (Evelina
Z. Almedejar , The deterioration of
education in the Philippines, The News Today, May 14, 2010 Iloilo City,
Philippines).”
For “global competitiveness”, the
Philippine government starting in the school year 2012-2013 has adopted the
K-12 Program of the Department of Education to enhance the current educational
system from 10- years of basic education into 12- years “to provide
sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners,
and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development,
employment, and entrepreneurship”.
Neil Cruz in his 2010 column in the
Philippine Daily Inquirer solicited support for the program because “another
good reason why we should support K- 12 is that the graduates of this program
will be more prepared to enter the labor force. As we all noticed, high school
graduates of the current curriculum are not yet employable for the reason that
they are not yet competent and well–equipped with the skills needed in the workplace.
In addition, most high school graduates are not yet reaching the legal age of
18. With the new curriculum, senior high school students can choose a field
that they are good at and that they are interested in. As a result, they will
be equipped with the skills needed for a specific job even without a college
degree. At the age of 18, the age when they graduate from high school, they
will be employable and competitive already. Thus, adding up to the nation’s
manpower.”
Perceptibly, the program is not to
improve the educational system for global competitiveness in the corporate or
technological world, but to augment the labor force for export, as Mr. Cruz
says - “for high school graduates to be equipped with the skills needed in the workplaces.”
The program is actually not to wean
us from the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) economy through the improvement of
the educational system.
On the other hand, the Program
centers on the revision of the academic curriculum to be congruent to that in
foreign educational systems but has nothing to address the scarcity of quality
teachers, particularly in the public primary schools.
The revision of the curriculum
would find no meaning unless there are capable teachers which can only be done
with the proper incentives and acceptable norms.
Even graduate and law schools are not
spared from academic quality degeneration, judging from the rise in enrollment
in law schools viz a decline in mortality rate per semester as compared to the
1970s trend.
Many law graduates and lawyers of
today can’t even write logically, articulately and concisely, which skills
deficiency are also the shortcomings of most other graduates of other courses.
The English language deficiency is
attempted to be hidden with illogical and ridiculous re-inventions of words,
like “the invite” for an invitation, and other absurdities of “verbing” the
noun and “nouning” the verb.
Even pronunciations are not exempt
from the ridiculous. Many would
pronounce “magna cum laude” as “manya cum laude”. What is “manya” when the “magna” comes from
the Latin word meaning “large”, probably confusing it with the way “lasagna” is
pronounced? The pasta dish by the way is
statistically a favorite food preparation of those pretending to have elegant
breeding by pretending to know how to cook.
The upward trend of enrolling in
graduate schools started when in the late 1980’s the Civil Service Commission
revised the Qualification Standards for Division Chief level positions in
the Philippine bureaucracy, that a Masters's Degree is required for appointment.
With the rise in enrollment in
master's degree programs even the so-called “diploma mills” thrived, or was it
the demand that precipitated the neo “diploma mills”?
The quality of graduate studies is
visible from the choice of dissertation or theses topics, or simply by the way
papers are written as many lack the scholarly finesse and relevance though pregnant
with irrelevant rhetoric.
Prevalent also is the
“roller-coaster” style, where at one point it is well written but on the next
page, the style differs significantly. An
obvious indication of “copy-paste” from the world wide web sans acknowledgment
of the source or author.
One thing I dread about school year
closings is that I get to be immensely stressed by supposed theses that may
have better use as part of one's morning daily routine hygiene. Although my
foreign travels are partly funded by editing works I am tempted to pay
instead a researcher just for him or to throw his or her papers into the
Yawa River, and probably follow suit.
A columnist in a national daily recently
wrote that because of a shabbily written address by a congressman as a college
graduation guest speaker (I was able to read the full text and indeed it was
but labyrinth of unrelated words), the United States of America Embassy may
pull out from the Philippines for failing to inculcate among Filipinos and
safeguard the proper use of the American English language.
I came to edit a masters thesis
written by a student based in the United States on a firm operating in one of
the Southern States. Now, I would say that with the style that paper was
written there is the danger that the entire Union will collapse and Wall Street
will crash.
Many papers written as a
requirement for the completion of master's degree programs, sadly, won’t even
pass as a weekly assignment in the premier State University.
Why really has the quality of
education deteriorated unlike in the state universities and colleges, or in respected
private institutions?
Many private schools have high
enrolment demand from the upper social strata for prestige and exclusivity, and
State Universities enjoy government subsidies making them independent from
enrolment rates for financial sustainability that both can impose premium
standards.
In contrast, less prominent private
schools for economic survival dread the prospects of losing students secondary
to strict academic policies.
A stringent policy for some years
will certainly contribute to a downward trend in enrolment because of dropouts
and non-retention of the less deserving that migrate to less exacting
institutions.
But an upward trend will subsequently
be achieved as the school becomes more competitive with Manila-based schools in
terms of discipline and academic standards.
The University of the Philippines
is the most sought-after school for the middle class and upper-middle-class in spite of the stringent requirements for admission and exacting grading and
retention system. But because of the high
quality of the U.P. System, it never has run out of enrollees.
BEING NOSTALGIC
Attending high school and college
graduations brings to light the value direction of many schools with their
choice of commencement speakers.
Schools invite as graduation
speakers politicians, known personalities, or an alumnus that has hit the
jackpot in the business world, never mind if the latter boringly reads from a prepared
text that most often is actually nothing but something synonymous with an unimpressive narrative corporate report. Many of the graduates don’t mind anyway as
they are more concerned with the euphoric thought of graduating and of the party food at
home that is getting cold.
Never have I seen or known that a
farmer or an alumnus that chose the road less trodden and remained in social
obscurity gets invited as a speaker. Isn’t it that the invited speaker is
supposed to inspire and impart important and lasting ideals to the graduates to
influence their behavior and serve as a broad guideline in all situations?
It is otherwise. It has become a disguised time to show off,
to hypothesize that the measure of success is money, power, and influence. This is the reason why many of the alumni
are hesitant to attend homecomings for they are not as fortunate as they perceive
themselves to be.
The world has so much to learn from
failures and of matters left in the dark as much as from success stories. From failures, we get life’s true lessons.
What have I gained from my alma
matter during my academic years? DUC IN
ALTUM, to launch into the deep, unafraid and with confidence. To launch into the deep without pretensions,
with self-respect, and with humility, to uphold one’s principles even at the
cost of being unpopular.
Nobody can set sail unprepared, as
the sea is perilous with the high winds of reality and the dangers of the
squalls of avarice and selfishness.
Fortunate are we to have been
forged in values, ethics, service, and academic excellence typified by the quad
letters DWCL.
DISCIPLINE, coupled with ethical principles is lacking in contemporary times.
Like honesty, it is such a lonely word as a song goes.
As high school students, discipline
is a way of life that it metamorphosed into self-discipline. I was sent to this school not only for
academic excellence but for the discipline imposed by the administrators.
Erring students, including me, are
often sent outside, to kneel with arms outstretched in the corridor because of misbehavior;
or the entire class is made to stand on the basketball court under the heat of
the mid-afternoon sun, or made to run on the court for five to ten rounds for
unruly behavior while the Father President, Fr. Florante Camacho, reads the
breviary in the shade.
The same punishment applies for
tardiness that I have never been late for school, including during the years
I’ve spent at the Bicol Teachers College Laboratory School, which is also the best school for teachers and elementary pupils in the Bicol Region.
While the Divine Word College of Legazpi is not run by the
Benedictine order, the rule of “ora et labora” (pray and labor) had become a
part of our discipline. In high school
the Friday mass and prayers before each class are mandatory, and we were
required to do manual work as part of the curriculum, like doing work for the
construction of the high school building aside from the usual gardening chores.
College life is not devoid of
laxity in discipline, from compliance to academic requirements to proper
decorum. I remember the strictness of the Dean of Women even on the precise
length of skirts that should be then two inches below the knee.
Discipline has contemporarily become
a rarity because of ridiculous laws, erroneous appreciation of human rights, or
simply because of indifference attendant to poor upbringing. Proper values are the true mark of a good
pedigree or breeding. How a person
conducts himself reflects the kind of family he was raised from.
Consistency of actions, firm
decisions, and loyalty are attributes of discipline. As in our morning prayers,
we always proclaim to “Christ the King, Loyalty!”
But it was not all about adversity
as one may call it. So much support was extended by the school in terms of
facilities, extensive reference collections, and even magazines that are a
delight to high school boys. Never mind
if the fathers have the vow of poverty to keep as long as the student has what
they basically need. The Father Principal sees to it that the library has a
regular and updated copy of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Life
Magazine, and other foreign publications. Good reading materials were then our
luxury provided by the school.
Strangely though when I was
thinking of entering a seminary I was not attracted to the Order but to another
one.
Discipline, it all adds up to what
we are today.
WISDOM– There is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. The latter is nothing more than the
absorption of information or the gain of skills, but wisdom is the integration
of both skills and information and putting that into positive action.
This is the difference between
liberal education which teaches the “why’s” of things, while other courses
provide the “how’s” of skills.
Of course, there is the wisdom to
balance personal needs and social needs; and personal preferences over family
preferences. With these, we carry on
social responsibilities in whatever discipline we pursued.
In all ways, the alumni have been
competitive. All local banks and offices
were then dominated by “Divinians”.
The lesson that I still carry with
me is what I learned from a professor in college, a Doctor of Medicine. He emphasized that in learning we must be
concerned with the implications of facts, rather than confine our understanding
to facts and figures as they are. It was
also he who encouraged us to write in a scholarly manner.
What we are today we all owe it to
our teachers.
CHARACTER – Our characters
were molded by discipline and wisdom, to be productive members of society, and to
earn the mark of the integrity of a Divinian.
Almost no day pass that a high
school student gets into trouble and gets a scolding from the Father Principal,
Fr. Joseph L. Bates, and how he dislikes it if the student bows down his head
in remorse or shame.
The good priest, a benevolent
disciplinarian, would always say while scolding a misbehaving guy: “Look at
me. Be a man. Don’t just stand there
like an ikus (bicol for cat) or a kabayow (horse). Look at me in the eye.” The point is we should be responsible for our
actions, reason out if right, and take responsibility for our actions.
Some fraters have also shaped our
characters and views, to take action in times of wrong, and be able to answer
the next generation as to what we have done during our times to correct a
wrong. These are my fond memories of Fr.
Ed de la Torre.
LEADERSHIP – As the school had aptly wrought its students, many
have emerged as leaders. There became
mayors, congressmen, and other political figures, while others have become
leaders in the professional and corporate worlds.
After nine years in this school I have gone to several other institutions including Aquinas University of Legazpi for a law degree; Bicol University, supposed to be for master's studies; and the University of the Philippines for masteral and several specialized studies. But Divine Word College of Legazpi is home, though strangely when I was invited to enter a seminary I was thinking of joining the Redemptorist fathers rather than the Society of the Divine Word.
After several decades, is the school the same as before in values and excellence? Are the graduates of today
similarly trained? It is only them that have the
precise answer, or perhaps the answer was blown by the wind.
Graduates of today however seem to
have forgotten the importance of social responsibility as the work or academic
institutions themselves have similarly forgotten so.
There are things more important
than money. If one pursues nothing but
money, there will always be this emptiness, this longing for the unknown which
is actually the thirst for meaning in life that can only be quenched through
service to others.
We were like that before, with
meaning, purpose, and direction. How are
you today?
