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1237 1192 1 PB PDF
1237 1192 1 PB PDF
1237 1192 1 PB PDF
PRISCILLA S. MANALANG
Suddenly education is "in" as an area for re- management know-how, resource allocation,
search, with social scientists rushing in to study are constantly dinned into our ears.
a relatively new field. Since education has been All of this reduces to a basic charge: formal
singled out as an important variable in socio- education has not achieved what it was sup-
economic development, it now merits the close posed to do in the first place, and perhaps the
attention of economists, particularly the plan- social sciences can assist in facilitating such ac-
ners, and other social scientists. Of course hievement. After so much technical assistance
others have preceded them. There are the extended to education, so many new modem
psychologists who have been lending educators approaches and innovations proposed, so many
their expertise in testing and measurement, in theories and principles, you will readily under-
understanding personality development and stand why an ordinary teacher like me doubts
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64 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW
individual with basic social and communication plementation impends, there is a rush to pre-
skills, with values that should make him more vent it, primarily through political methods.
development-oriented, and with specific skills The problem of improving elementary edu-
and knowledge that qualify him to be cation is not as simple as it seems. For one
employed or self-employed. If you read the thing the curriculum is overloaded with some
national, elementary, secondary and higher ob- eight or nine subjects competing for allocations
jectives of education you will find that some of time. The typical elementary pupil has a
aims are virtually unattainable on an opera- schedule of 20 minutes for character education,
tionallevel - another impressive phrase. 140 minutes for language arts, 30 for social
studies, 30 for mathematics, 30 for health and
The constitution states that:
science, 30 for music and arts, 40 for work edu-
All education institutions shall aim to inculcate cation and 20 for physical education.
love of country, teach the duties of citizenship,
and develop moral character, personal We should not harbor any illusions that a
discipline, and scientific, technological and vo- schedule of fragmented subjects like this Will
cational efficiency.
induce love of country, positive attitudes
toward modernization, let alone employability.
This is familiar language to educators; their
Worse, many pupils drop out at the third or
problem is that of translating such exhortations
fourth grade, thus increasing their chances of
into particular courses of action in the school
losing the incipient literacy acquired.
and classroom.
Moreover, there are additional curricular
Some of the new educational reforms are
prescriptions today - moral education, the
actually intended to solve the numbers problem
constitution and tax consciousness, coopera-
or the population overflow in the schools, even
tives and land reform, population education,
as it is claimed that they will also improve the
consumer education, nutrition education, food
quality of instruction. For instance, the Nation-
production and the Green Revolution, Buy
al College Entrance Examination (NCEE) is a
Filipino movement and drug education, wise
mechanism for controlling student population
consumption and utilization of natural re-
at the college level. There is nothing inherently sources. These curricular imperatives have been
wrong with this. For as long as we have a ladder
given such high priority that sometimes they
system of education which emphasizes educa-
. replace the subject content which is presumably
tional credentials, an entrance examination is a
being taught during a particular class period.
logical instrument for selecting those who are
to receive college degrees. The only trouble is Since few from the poor majority even come
that it would also increase the number of un- close to a college education, providing a useful,
employed secondary graduates, just as con- and if possible, inexpensive basic education for
trolling entry into high school would augment them is the heart of the problem. Thus the
the large pool of unemployed elementary Ranis Report recommends that we improve the
graduates. To be fully effective as a selective or quality of elementary education instead of
screening mechanism, the NCEE should be ap- investing our limited resources in expensive
plied jointly with scholarships for poor, able formal vocational/technical training for
students and a national accrediting system. The secondary age youth; it also urges that we
latter, however, is politically unacceptable. invest additional funds in the better state-
With some 600 institutions of higher learning supported colleges and universities. (This is a
serving a small country and representing various self-serving statement, but I am only repeating
interests, it is extremely difficult to impose a other people's views). According to the same
uniform system of accreditation. On a verbal report, it would be wiser to place vocational!
level, virtually all colleges and universities ac- technical training largely in the hands of
cept the necessity of accreditation as a way of nonformal agencies, which can offer short term
rationalizing higher education, but once im- demand-oriented courses as well as longer ones
ISSUES IN PHILIPPINE EDUCATION
.'
too many demands on the schools.
functions; it also facilitates employment to a
The conventional response to new demands
limited extent. It is for this reason that barrio
on the educational system may be described as
people generally regard the school as a place
two-fold: a managerial approach designed to
where their children can learn to read, write
minimize waste through better organization of
and speak English, so that they can qualify for
resources, and curricular accretions back-
jobs. They cite the fact that applicants for
stopped by modern teaching approaches and
janitorial positions must fill up forms in
techniques, most of which are essentially
English; thus this language is essential for
quantitative.
employment. As for elementary mathematics,
in a monetized barrio economy, virtually every The recommendations of the Presidential
child learns how to count. Commission to Survey Philippine Education
(PCSPE) are avowedly intended to rationalize
The question of values is considered crucial
an already existing system, not to replace it
to developmental change. In the sense that the
with a radically different one. Moreover, it is
child learns to be punctual, to observe the rules
and regulations of the school, he is being important to note the distinction between
'.
rich and poor alike a competence in those silence, they develop an elaborate system of
things which ate the riches of a human being- nonverbal communication as if ihey were
his learning, his skills, his opportunities in inmates of a prison or a Tibetan convent.Some
life! .. But history unfolds itself in ways that slum schools are run like jails; maximum
defy the most confident of. our assertions. security is enforced constantly by teachers,
Rather than as an equalizer in society the principal and school counselors. In a sense the
transmission of learning has often reinforced school could be studied as a part of the larger
the inequalities of society. The pursuit of socioeconomic system and viewed as a com-
education can lead along paths that prove plicated machine for sorting, ticketing and
inimical to the realization of national govern- routing childrenthrough life.
ment.
The Philippine educational system was
This turns our problem around and compels
originally an American transplant and still
us to consider whether the schools as they now
retains many colonial features such as the
operate are not only contributing to develop-
ladder three-level structure, a grading system
ment, but may actually be impeding the
based on projects, written work and examina-
process. It would be useful to look at schools as
tion, the programmatic allocation of time during
social institutions and what it is they are
the day, a school calendar, ritual activities such
actually doing. This has been done in the U.S.
as opening and closing ceremonies, rites of
and some Latin-American countries.
passage such as graduation, rites of intensifi-
There are several propositions (Klief 1973) cation such as pep rallies and class reunions,
in this somewhat painful point of view which implicit rules on administrative behavior,
have been derived from a study of American teacher behavior and pupil behavior, a bureau-
education. It is up to us to draw the parallels in cratic hierarchy from which directives to the
our own situation. field are issued. From grade one up the child is
socialized into his role as pupil. By example,
1. Institutions are processing plants for
coercion, and word of mouth he learns what is
people and skills; their chief business is
socialization. If socialization is regarded as and what is not allowed in school. Up to
coterminous with life, then it can be seen that college, he learns to edit behavior and language
the church, clinic, the factory, the college and carefully in the presence of authority. If he fails
ISSUES IN PHILIPPINEEDUCATION 67
the examinations, he does not get the proper adult behavior and the idealized in school
factory label and drops out. This reduces his lessons, this difference is not likely to be lost
chances of improving his lifestyle. The latest on them.
labeling measure is the NCEE exam, essentially
a quantitative measure to prevent a population 5. Schools, as Peter Berger has said, are
churches for drilling children in the religion of
overflow at the tertiary level and consequently
democracy. The perceptual sphere of children is
at the employment level. Employment practices narrowed down to focus only on the history,
based on the possession of these labels that is, official mythology, of a particular
(certificates, diplomas, etc.) reinforce the society and a particular social class ... That
sorting and classificatory functions of the ethnic groups in America, as part of their status
politics for social mobility, had to clean up
school.
textbooks and ask to be cut in on a piece of the
action in American history is not taught in
3. The school, as WaDer maintains, is a school nor in college for that matter.
'museum of virtue'. The dichotomy between
the idealized world of the child and the realistic 6. Schools, as Summer has emphasized,
one of the adult is institutionalized in the teach the predominant orthodoxy of society,
school, The lower middle class teacher who, as not the full range of beliefs and values in
Riesman maintains, had missedbeing trained in society.
poise, turns it into a big industry, a zealous
quest for the all-rounded and colorless personal- In American history the role of the Indians
ity. It is as if the mass media never existed or has been downgraded until recently. In the
never trained pupils in manners and morals. Philippines, until recently Philippine histories
..
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4. Schools, as Durkheim points out, are
guardians of the national character. Teachers
train children in terms of an ideal client, a
person suited to what the dominant group in a
have consistently presented the Filipino Mus-
lims as pirates and smugglers, and the other
minority groups as backward and deprived.
Insofar as ideology is concerned, it does not
society likes to see produced. matter whether it is moral, political or religious
In the American system the middle class - the prevailing orthodoxy is taught -
virtues of the Protestant ethic, patriotism, whatever it is at the moment. In fact within the
hardwork, cleanliness, achievement-orientation subculture of formal education some beliefs
and until recently, a Puritanic code of morals, partake of the nature of religion. To cite one
constituted the values taught by the school. instance, the idea of science and technology as
a key to development has led to the
Here we are trying our best to promote the establishment of science centers, special science
work ethic and social orientation through work high schools, and special training for teachers
education and requiring students to render and prospective teachers. The faith in the
service in some social service capacity within power of science amounts to a religious belief.
the YCAP program. Officially, we are trying to Instruction in science rarely calls attention
rid ourselvesof the utangnoloob and pakikisama to its malutilization.
complex, which observers consider inimical to
development, but in our lessons in character we 7. The school is not only an academy
reaffirm the value of obedience and submission where the pupil acquires an identity. He is there
to authority, respect for age, family solidarity, told what he should do and get, and hence,
what he should be. There he learns to make
politeness and deference.
out, to work the system. How a child is turned
If pupils and students depart from these into a pupil, how a boy is turned into a man
norms, they become "problems," necessitating and how a girl is turned into a woman would btl
a worthy object of study in sociology and
special counseling. The ultimate resort is to urban anthropology.
reject or fail such deviants who will then remain
outside the mainstream of society. Moreover, if Does the school equalize opportunity? In
pupils observe a discrepancy between actual the American system the unhappy answer is
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