For: Those who will take the LET

Values, Moral, and Character Education

You'll probably find some helpful information here:

1. A brief history: Character Education and approaches to Moral Education
2. Teaching moral values
3. Values Education: Theory/Practice/Problems/Prospects
4. Character Development
5. Moral Development
6. Values are Caught and Taught
7. Character Education and Cognitive Training

"I am the Highway" (Audioslave)

I'd heard this music somewhere, a long time ago. My wife and daughter don't like it, but I honestly feel today that it's cooler than the first time I heard it.

UP Diliman Lantern Parade 2009

This is only one of the lanterns from the hall of famer College of Fine Arts. The parade is is still going on at this writing.

What do these pictures mean?

Well, the pictures mean that I need a better camera as I've not done justice to the beauty of these campus scenes this Christmas season. The U.P. Diliman Theater (top photo) is my favorite night spot this time of the year. It's a beauty to behold, something that could make you smile even when you're sad and scared.

The U.P. Diliman Oblation area is another place you must not miss if you're visiting your Alma mater. It's not only what's there to see but also the memories this ethereal spot brings that will lift your spirit up. You must come here if you have time and smell again the cleanest and that familiar December air in the city.

The Quezon Hall and the Oblation, as always, stand imperiously like they are witnesses to the coming and going of the best and the worst University graduates and non-graduates that once set foot and stirred up their minds in this celestial part of the world.

Advanced happy Christmas to everyone.

For: Those who are reviewing for the LET

The links below will take you to some sites whose content might be helpful in the Philosophy of Education part of the licensure examination for teachers in the Philippines:

1. Idealism, Realism, Existentialism, and Pragmatism
2. Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, and Social Reconstructionism
3. Learning Theories
4. ARISTOTLE; AUGUSTINE, ST.; BAGLEY, WILLIAM C.; BODE, BOYD H.; BRAMELD, THEODORE; CHILDS, JOHN L.; COMENIUS, JOHANN; COUNTS, GEORGE S.; DEWEY, JOHN; FREIRE, PAULO; HERBERT, JOHANN; JAMES, WILLIAM; KILPATRICK, WILLIAM H.; MONTESSORI, MARIA; NEILL, A. S.; PESTALOZZI, JOHANN; PLATO; ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES; WHITEHEAD, ALFRED NORTH.

Why teachers need a vacation?

Teachers deserve a long and paid vacation in the Caribbean Islands, right? Why, read the selected excerpts below from student tests:

"Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the organ of the species" (ADPRIMA, 1997-2009). 
"Benjamin Franklin produced electricity by rubbing cats backwards" (ADPRIMA, 1997-2009).

"The theory of evolution was greatly objected to because it made man think" (ADPRIMA, 1997-2009).

Home Education (Part 2)

What is a good learning home environment?

A well-modified (i.e., well-planned and organized) learning home environment is highly helpful in giving children, ages 0 to 3 years, a strong foundation for future schooling and life experiences. The content of the home environment as a learning place should be more than what a child could take as a learner. This is to maximize what his/her learning faculties would permit him/her to absorb. It's like an eat-all-you-can buffet set up in a restaurant where the foods are always more than what the diners could stuff into their stomach. Only in a similar arrangement could a child have the opportunity to learn so many things that are, nonetheless, just a fraction of what has been made available for him/her to learn. This, I believe, is the best kind of learning environment for infants, toddlers, and other pre-school children.

Home Education (Part 1)

The learning experience of the child in the home environment should be foundational to his/her future formal, informal, and non-formal education. Here, the purpose of teaching, prior to attending school, is to develop cognitive, creative, psychosocial, and other life skills. Learning in the home environment should, of course, include development of important habits and acquisition of certain values and attitudes. While play activities are a natural part of the infants’ and toddlers’ life, advanced learning of the said skills should be centrally¹ imbedded in the infants’ and toddlers’ home environment and daily routine. If this could be done from birth up to age 3, it is possible to turn out “home school graduates” who have the potential to learn things at a rate significantly and inconceivably faster than the speed of learning of average and above-average schoolchildren today.

An essay on guilt and forgiveness

Guilt and Forgiveness, this article caught my attention as it is probably related to my post titled Sinning and seeking forgiveness. I'll get back to this later.

Thesis / Dissertation Topic or Outline Proposal (Part 3)

What to write for an introduction?

Researchers usually begin with a brief history of the topic. Whether the issue is something new or not, the circumstances and facts surrounding the issue/s that the researcher wishes to address are usually presented. The introduction commonly informs the readers of what the planned or finished work is all about. It also states the most compelling reasons (e.g., important facts, relevance) for your wanting to do research on the topic.

Thesis / Dissertation Topic or Outline Proposal (Part 2)

"To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. 'Tis much better to do a little with certainty, and leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of any thing." Isaac Newton

Would it still be possible to come up with an outstanding research that stems from a pioneering work or other similar projects?

On how to write your thesis / dissertation

You'll find a good piece of advice on thesis/dissertation writing here. You'll find some more here on what is good research, here on taking notes, and here on rewriting.

To be rich is to be happy

To be truly rich is to have all the things that you need to be happy and sustain happiness. If you're lonely, despite having oodles of money, it's difficult to say that you're truly wealthy. Of course, money is often necessary to indulge the needs of your body, but it's not enough to satisfy the higher wants (e.g., love, contentment, self-esteem, cognitive-intellectual growth, security, living with someone your equal or greater than you are) of the soul. Well, the matter is really nothing complicated. If you're not completely rich, then you're not rich at all. Money is very important, all right. It may not be everything, yet it's something. But, again, it's not a sufficient, much less necessary, condition to be rich and happy.

Do you believe in "it"?

This one is cool, but if you have a heart condition, I advise you not to click on the link. It might kill you, okay? I'm serious. I don't have a name for it. Just watch. Turn on the speaker or, better yet, wear your headphone so you won't miss a thing. Are you ready? You might not see it right away, but look closely.

Thesis / Dissertation Topic or Outline (Part 1)

Graduate students are forbidden to rehash any study and pass it as their thesis or dissertation. A mere change of research venue, subjects/participants, and retention of a more or less similar conceptual framework, related literature, problems, hypotheses, and instruments of a previous study will not amount to a pioneering research. For that means that one is not about to embark on an investigation that would bear a fresh contribution to the present pool of knowledge. Being the first of its kind should be a quality that all graduate theses and dissertations must hold in common. The UP College of Education should thus exhort its graduating masters and doctoral candidates to submit a proposed topic that could lead to a pioneering research in education.

Ang Totoo at Mahalaga

What else could be truer and more valuable than what Pendong and company are saying here?

I miss the 70's Bistro. Maybe, I and Maricris should go there before the 2nd sem registration begins.

Comment deleted accidentally

I think Eric is the name of the commenter. Thanks for that comment sir. I was about to publish your response, but I had clicked on the wrong word, "delete", which was too close to "publish." Sorry. You may send again the comment if you like.

Science (and math) education

Several years ago, I stumbled on an article that talked about a research showing that the problem of young American students in science and math lies in their lack of conceptual understanding of the things that they are supposed to be learning in such subjects. Probably, according to the study, this has to do with the American students' tendency to focus on computation rather than on gaining conceptual understanding.The same study states that Japanese students are not wanting in conceptual understanding in science and math. There are good reasons to believe that our own students here in the Philippines are comparable to their American counterparts. Evidence for this is our students' dismal performance in the TIMSS. We could, however, say that while our students could do the numbers game, they could not articulate the central concepts in the problems that they are asked to solve. I think, the study finally suggests that students shall improve greatly with their performance in the TIMSS if only they have a firm grasp of the key concepts that figure in the problems that they are asked to solve. Here, of course, they need the assistance of well-trained teachers. I believe that some fine examples of excellent teaching of scientific concepts could be found in William Laurence's old article titled A Primer of Atomic Energy, T. Ryan Gregory's Understanding Natural Selection: Essential Concepts and Common Misconceptions, and Stephen Hawking's books, A Brief History of Time and Black Holes and Baby Universes, and youtube lectures.

Schoolteachers

Where do you think will you be today without them?

So, don't you dare make fun of them even if you think that you are now smarter and more moneyed than they are.

The raison d'etre of the UP College of Education

Every teacher education institution exists to train students who wish to become school teachers. It is thus quite obvious that this task is not the one that distinguishes the UP College of Education from other similar institutions. But even if the UPCOE produces highly competent school teachers, such societal contribution won't simply do to say that it is an august institution. It's nobility rather lies in it's unique and heroic function of turning out highly trained and well-educated teachers of future school teachers.

Sinning and seeking forgiveness

The man solemnly sought forgiveness from God, but it's quite easy and inappropriate, so he never felt forgiven. He turned to the people he had wronged, but he can't bring himself to say he sincerely regrets wronging them, so he remains soiled and unforgiven.

Teaching children intelligent thinking

I received the invitation letter below on August 22 and I think I should share it with all of you. Let me know if you want to attend the workshop so that I could email the registration form to you. See you.

Dear Friends

Warm greetings!

The Popular Education for Peoples’ Empowerment (PEPE, Inc.), in cooperation with the Office of the Dean of the UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (UP-CSSP), would like to invite you and your colleagues to “A Meeting Of Minds: Helping Local Communities Address Bioethical Issues Through Participatory Teaching Methodologies in Basic Education.” The 2-day training workshop will be held on September 16-17, 2009 at the UP Bahay ng Alumni.

The training/workshop for teachers and other stakeholders in the field of education will attempt to bridge the gap between bioethics' concepts and the local issues actually confronted by local communities through participatory approaches to teaching in basic education.

Experts in the fields of community organizing and learning methodologies will present philosophical and methodological principles along with examples of best practices that will lead to workshops among the participants who will in turn share and document their own best practices on how these principles and exemplars can be applied to their surrounding communities.

To help defray the cost of the 2-day workshop (which includes meals and workshop materials), registration fee of P400.00 will be charged. We would appreciate that interested participants accomplish and submit to the training workshop Secretariat c/o Ms. Abby Salacata, the attached registration form on or before September 11, 2009 (Friday) at philo4children@yahoo.com or send it by fax to tel/fax number (02) 426-4473.

Hoping for your positive response, we remain.

Respectfuly yours,

Dr. Rainer Ibana, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Ateneo de Manila University

Mr. Noel Valencia, Executive Director, Popular Education for People's Empowerment(PEPE)

Raw thoughts on Howard Gardner's MI theory

People from different places have different conceptions of intelligence. And Gardner’s view of intelligence is only one of the many ideas of intelligence that we could find in different cultures all over the world. We could say thus that Gaardner's meaning is true only insofar as it coheres with his own system of findings and claims about intelligence. And it may be thought unsatisfactory by those who do not share his view of intelligence.

Koronadal visit

I was born there. Last week I made an unplanned visit to that place to make some quick bread. I arrived at 10 a.m. and left the place the following day at 6 a.m. Now I'm back to where I belong, my office and the classroom. Except for the scary plane rides, my trip was generally smooth and memory stirring. I managed to shove into my tight schedule three meetings with my brightest Auntie. My niece was still asleep the first and second time I came in to see her at my Auntie's place on Osmena St. I had had to go back there one more time. It was good to meet some old friends in the neighborhood. My Auntie had her old house, where we once lived, completely demolished and replaced with new structures that now stand on the old surrounding space of her property. I was thrilled to see some of the stuff that are unforgettable parts of my childhood--pre-elementary and elementary school years. The headboard, the steel image of a peacock, and some pictures of my now-middle-aged cousins are still on display in my Auntie's new house. And the piano, too! It's still there! I played with my lovely 2-year-old niece for more than one hour, ate chicken at the plaza with my sister, and finally settled at my father's place all throughout the night. I was afraid my high school classmates will come to snatch me and make me drink till sunrise of the following day. Well, I did a good job hiding from them, LOL. I met only one good childhood friend and he stayed with me until ll:30 p.m. I didn't have a good night sleep before I returned to Manila, but I felt so relieved after completing my mission. I thank God for delivering me back safely to my family here in Manila.

Are you rich?

"If you are happy, then you are rich. So, are you happy? If yes, I conclude that you are rich."

Or should I say,

"If you are rich, then you are happy.
So, are you happy? If not, I conclude that you are poor." (Poor you.)

Or is it rather the case that,

"You are rich if and only if you are happy"?

Now, if you are moneyed, are you rich? Well, that depends on your meaning of being rich.

John Watson's experiment on little Albert

I'm not sure if a similar observation has been raised elsewhere about Watson's ethically questionable experiment on little Albert, but I noticed that Watson himself--or his presence--was likewise a conditioned stimulus to Albert. Had Watson performed that experiment many times on Albert, anyone can bet that the little one could have learned to display a scared behavior at the mere sight or even thought of Watson. The theory, however, includes only the role of the rat, rabbit, monkey, dog, etc. and the loud metallic noise in the transfer of the putative inborn fear of Albert. Watson's presence during the experiment could have likewise turned into another potent conditioned stimulus. So, the finding could have been something like this:

WATSON'S PRESENCE > RAT > LOUD METALLIC SOUND > ALBERT BEING SCARED

And if this was done many times, it could have advanced into this:

WATSON'S MERE PRESENCE > POOR ALBERT AUTOMATICALLY SHRIEKING IN FEAR (or something like this)

Furthermore, I believe that it won't matter at all if Watson showed Albert a rat or offered him a chocolate bar. I'd wager just the same that he would have achieved the same effect with that startling noise even if it was paired with three lovely roses or a cone of ice cream. The point here is that Watson didn't realize that he played an unplanned role in eliciting fear behavior from Albert. His theory, on this count, has a missing element: his own presence.

Just a fleeting thought.

God and Guilt

In court, it is said that where there is no evidence or sufficient proof for someone's guilt, he can't be held liable for his alleged wrongdoing. It is so, however, only because we follow the principle of ignorance: "One is innocent unless proven guilty." But we do know that one could be guilty as hell just the same, even if he cannot be judged guilty and penalized for lack of evidence. This applies to the claim that God exists. It does not follow that there is no God simply because there is no evidence or sufficient proof for God's existence. Of course, I do not mean to suggest that I know for sure that He is a spiritual entity. Neither do I think that His being is physical. No one knows for sure what substance God is made of if, indeed, there is an entity that is God. The trouble with the atheists is that they are too strict with their evidential standards when it comes to questioning theism, but they loosen up their requirements when they turn to their atheism. It does not logically follow that there is no God simply because you have no proof for that entity's (granting that He/She/It exists) existence. So, no double standard please.

SOME OF THE THINGS CHILDREN NEED

1. TRUTH. So, don't lie to little children, unless (on certain occasions) they are not ready or may not be able to handle the truth. Telling them the truth is an effective way of gaining their trust and confidence. Being truthful is also a good way to teach them to be honest to people they could trust. Believe it or not, it helps a lot to assume that little children will always find out that you lied to them, if you did, for that is the surest way to lose your credibility to them.
2. PLAY AND FUN. So, don't keep them from running around; it's a biological need of little children. Of course, keep an eye on them because accidents usually happen within a fraction of a second. Play activities are a foundation, and thus a necessary ingredient, of maximum development of human beings. Restraining them is dehumanizing them.
3. EVIDENCE. So, don't tell them that if they will not stop crying, a ghost is going to come and get them. It's a sin to little children to get them to believe in something for which no modicum of evidence could be pulled out.
4. INDEPENDENCE. So, don't bring to them what they want, you are not their servant. Assist them so they could get it themselves. If they are too short to reach it, carry them and let them use their own hand/s to get it.
5. RESPECT. So, talk to them with respect. Don't treat them like they are little fools who know nothing but childish things. They will have a hard time getting to where you want them to be if you will not start where they are. Just remember, children want to learn. They always ask themselves, "What is that/this?" And they are not certain about their answer, if any. So, don't ignore them when they seem to be curious about something. Watch their eyes and surely you could tell if they want to know. Talk to them about what you see and what they see. Be a good guide, just like a competent tourist guide.
6. HAPPINESS. Figure out what could make them happy and happier. And if it is good for them, waste no time in making it available to them if you could. Remember, we all have only one life to live and life is so short. Children will always remember and love you if you are a constant source of fun. Nothing could be lovelier than being remembered and loved. Ask yourself, how frequent does a child in your company smile and laugh? Your answer could tell you if you are fun to be with.
7. LOVE. So, ensure that the child is well-fed, -clothed, -and -sheltered. Be sure that he/she is happy in your company. Play with him/her till he/she is tired and satisfied. One of the greatest injustice adults could commit is to let children grow without them knowing what it is to be actually loved. Neglecting a child is a sin whose cost could turn out to be more than what we, adults, could hope to bear. Loving a child, of course is not easy; it requires lots of time and energy, and it may even make you spend a significant amount of money. But all your efforts and sacrifices, so long as they are genuine, will make you happy beyond words. It's only love that promises a reward so great and divine that it might take a poet and a philosopher to express its value in more exact terms. I sometimes wonder why, despite its importance to human development and existence, love is the least studied thing inside and outside school.
8. ADVENTURE. So, be imaginative. Think of things that are really cool, something that will thrill, amaze, and excite little children. You may take them to a place where there are things that they don't typically see. But really you don't have to set foot in that far away place they call Neverland. For there are just too many things around us--very very big, very very small, and the ones in the middle world--that are more than enough to make a child think and wonder for the rest of his/her life. Talk about some of such things, one at a time, and notice how the child's eyes are filled with wonder and amazement. If you do this regularly, it won't be long before the child would dilate his/her pupils at the mere sound of your name. Meaning, you have become adventure yourself.

DISP 1-5

Hah! Here's the complete video! I started uploading this one at 11:30 a.m. and then I left to meet my undergrad students, take my daughter to school, and eat my lunch. I've finally confirmed that this task is doable if only I will not sit in front of the computer and wait till the work's done. Right now it's 2:30 p.m. I hope you'll like this output.

DISP Part 1

Ok, DISP people, this is the first part of our final video. Hah, it took me several tries, one conversion, and ages to finally upload and post the first part of our video. Like I said, there will be 5 parts. You'll see the rest as soon as I find time to shove the uploading--a bloody work--of the remaining videos into my sked.

My little daughter

We were enjoying our pop corn while watching the Michael Jackson tribute and memorial service on TV when my almost-3-year-old daughter turned to us and seriously asked, "Who's the king of pop corn?"

For: DISP VALUES SUMMER '09

Believe me, I'd tried for the nth time posting the video that I promised you. But I think there's a need to break the final output into at least 5 parts, 1 minute per part. So, just hang on there. It's been a busy period here in UP. I hope the "registration dust" will settle sometime next week.

I who?

"I" is a weird pronoun, right? When you use it to mean yourself, do you include the person you were 10 years ago? If not, does it mean the person you are right now and not the other one, if you believe you were different, 5 minutes or an hour ago? I think I should suggest instead that we may or may not be the same person we were 1 year or 2 days ago. If you lost a love one a few moments ago, would you rather say that you remain the exact same person you were awhile back? The person you are right now, if you're a father of an adorable kid, must be different from who you were at the time when you were just dreaming to be a father. When you use "I," who exactly is the person that you are referring to? The person you are right now? But then again, here, the temporal referent of “now” is gone. What we actually have appears to be a simple series of nows, but this does not solve the problem. Saying that now covers the past, present, and future, is definitely unacceptable. Well, no one would like to say “now-now-now-now” either; that’s plainly crazy.

Raw thoughts on teaching and research

1. At this point, undergraduate education students are not required to defend a research output (i.e., thesis) in order to get a bachelor’s degree in education. One may say thus that education undergraduate students are not as familiar with methodical research as other undergraduate students from other colleges after graduating from college. I think I would be stating the obvious if I will explain at length why education undergraduate students ought to be familiar with research in education when they enter the graduate school. The purpose of which is very simple: to become fully prepared when they enter the graduate school, which is basically a research school.

2. In terms of value, research in education has yet to be placed at the same level as teaching, I believe, in all teacher education institutions in the Philippines. The U.P. College of Education could make a difference on this. (Research writing need not be an individual task; it could be a group work).

3. It's hard to promote a culture of research in education if it is not an equal of teaching, when it is of lesser value than teaching during promotion period. While teaching performance is important, teachers should also treat research as its equal in terms of value. For it is always necessary, if we do not wish to remain a simple practitioner of some theorists' thoughts in education, to continue to challenge and verify the purported truth of educational theories by way of carrying out confirmatory research. It is only through research that we could test in a disciplined and scholarly fashion the soundness of theories that we often import into our system. It is through research that we could widen and deepen our knowledge of our profession. In addition, it is also equally important for us to come up with our own theories that could be more responsive to the requirements of the unique realities of the Philippine educational culture and situation. Hence, research should be equally valued in the College of Education.

4. It is simply not enough to say that teaching is more important than research in education because the majority says so. It’s no less invalid than saying that the neck of a cow could be found in its stomach simply because the majority believes so. So far, no sufficient reason was presented to fully justify the position that teaching is more important than research that is why the latter should be of prime consideration when we evaluate the merit of one’s application for promotion.

5. I do not mean to suggest that there are no good teachers. There are and they could very well get high scores in the Student Evaluation of Teachers (SET). But does it follow that if your SET score is high, you must be good at teaching? And if your score in the SET is low, does it follow that the teacher is bad at teaching. Note that the teachers’ SET is based on the students’ interpretation—not far removed from their opinion or personal standards—of the evaluation elements. Teachers too may have their own standards of good teaching which may not be identical to the students’ or SET's criteria.
6. This opinion is not being stated to suggest that research is more important than teaching. I am just trying to articulate what I believe to be a more tenable view: that research is as important as teaching. There was a time though when universities were more interested in research than in teaching those who were interested to learn from those who had advanced knowledge were invited to come and be the first students in the history of schooling.

7. We have graduate programs where students are taught not only to teach but also to conduct disciplined research. The purpose of which is to cultivate a culture of independence for it is difficult for the Filipino teachers and educators to apply theories that were built abroad, for these could turn out to be constructs that are not sensitive to the realities of our own changing environment here in the Philippines.

8. In teaching, we cannot expect to effect so many changes. What we could expect is a simple maintenance of the status quo in the sphere of pedagogical theories. For instance, teachers would have largely based their approach in teaching on Skinnerian psychology if no theorist had ever offered a “better” alternative view of the human mind and learning. To be not contended with the existing versions of truths in teaching, learning, pedagogy, curriculum, and other areas of education, we should encourage research. But this, again can't be done effectively if research is not viewed as an equal of teaching.

9. The matter on the value of teaching and research should not be reduced into a simple case of shared issue of teachers wanting to be promoted. A simple casting of vote would allow the teacher, who thinks that research is not as important (or as easy as teaching), to go for a set of criteria where the highest promotion points go to teaching. Apparently, this is not without a problem as, again, the valuation of the teacher’s teaching performance comes from the students alone. Research, as well as publication, should likewise be given equal weight in promotion as it is a proof of the teachers’ individual capacity and independent ability to generate knowledge and to contribute to the current fund of knowledge in education, especially in his/her own country.

10. I don’t see any problem if we are going to place equal premium on research and teaching. It’s a win-win situation as it encourages the teacher to be good both at teaching and research. Whereas, if we are going to put research somewhere below teaching—and note that, so far, no good reason has ever been produced to support this hierarchical setting of value—this can’t be a real case of encouraging research in education. “Encouraging” here is nothing but a mere word from someone who thinks, regardless of the amount of arguments for the research-an-equal-of-teaching thesis, that if you are a teacher in the College of Education, then your research is not as and no more important than your teaching. This is not a win-win situation. Research, here, is apparently at the losing end. A teacher who is dominated by thoughts about promotion points will most likely angle for a high SET score rather than work on research projects THAT ARE CONVERTIBLE INTO PUBLISHABLE JOURNAL ARTICLES, OF COURSE.ⁱ

11. Simply because we are teachers of the College of Education, it does not follow that teaching should be greater in value than research in education. To the question, “Where is the required justification to fully support the view that 'if you are an education teacher, you ought to place the highest premium on teaching and not on research because the latter is lesser in value?'” It's nowehere near in sight. Maybe,that cannot be justified. Teaching should be equally valued even in other colleges and research should be of the same worth as teaching regardless of the college where the faculty is teaching. All teachers, regardless of the college in which they teach, aim to train and educate their students, and such tasks could not be accomplished satisfactorily if teaching and research will not “work” as equals. Every faculty, regardless of his/her college, should place equal premium on research (or its equivalent).ⁱⁱ Every faculty should be both good teachers and researchers (whose works should get published).

ENDNOTES

i I’d like to add that a UP Diliman teacher has three functions: teaching, research, and extension. But I do not know if I could produce a sufficient reason to defend the view that extension is no less important than teaching and research.

ii The College of Music and the College of Fine Arts, and probably several other colleges, have something in place of research. In any case, these counterparts of research, I believe, are not viewed as something of lesser value than teaching. For all we know, some specialists are wont to believe that they could even be more important in value than teaching (e.g., concert performance of music teacher, art products of fine arts teachers). But then again, I shall be quite contented with the view that in education, teaching, and research should be equal in value.

VALUES AND MORAL EDUCATION: AIMS, CONTENT AND PEDAGOGY (Part 3)

Conceptions of Values and Moral Education

In a separate research that I have yet to conclude, one of my findings is that our school teachers have different conceptions of Values and Moral Education. Of the 201 respondents, 43 % believe that Values and Moral Education is critical thinking about evaluative issues, 32 % believe that its function is to transmit a ready set of non-religious values, and 17 % believed that it is a case of inculcating in the students a ready set of religious values. In sum, 49 % of the 201 respondents believe that Values and Moral Education is basically values transmission, inculcation, or indoctrination. The rest, or the remaining 8 %, thought that their notions of Values and Moral Education are not reflected in any of the given definitions.

You are probably asking now: What does this mean? Should the finding that schoolteachers have different notions of Values and Moral Education be a problem? Yes, it is a problem.

The lack of uniformity in AIMS, CONTENT, and PEDAGOGY is often raised about Values and Moral Education. It is said to have no stable, singular identity, and this is a problem that cannot be raised about Math and Science as the conduct of education in these areas of study are more or less stable and uniform in the modern schools.

As we all know, Science education has factual claims to offer and examine. Knowledge in Science, furthermore, is generated by way of inductive thinking and reasoning. In this area, a sound knowledge claim is grounded in material or observed evidence. So, when you say, for instance, to state the Law of Inertia, “A body will remain in its state unless it is acted upon by an outside force,” you are not saying this as though it is true in itself, as though it is a doctrinal truth. Galileo arrived at this general formulation after gathering first the relevant data from which he based his generalization that is the Law of Inertia. Meanwhile, in Mathematics, one cannot just claim that a mathematical proposition, say, 2+2 is 4, is true for no reason at all. There has to be a reason why such proposition is true. The truth of which is demonstrable by appeal to mathematical evidence. Now, the key word in Math and Science is REASON. The use of which is a necessary condition in order for Math and Science to exist the way they do in the context of formal education. And there simply is no quarrel about this among the teachers of Math and Science. The agreement as to the role of Math and Science education--that is to develop the critical, cognitive, inductive, and deductive reasoning abilities of students--remains the same, and there is no impending quarrel as to the meaning of such elements of formal education.

Values transmission

Such is not the status of Values and Moral Education as it comes in many forms. Allow me to discuss what I believe to be the most familiar version of Values and Moral Education. This is Values and Moral Education in the form of values transmission, indoctrination, or inculcation. These expressions suggest the kind of aims, content and pedagogy of Values and Moral Education when it is conceived as a formal education component whose purpose is to transmit selected doctrines which are, more or less, thought to be universal or trans-cultural values. The proponents and those who share this version of Values and Moral Education see no problem in transmitting values that are believed to be the requisites of living a good or righteous life. The set of values, despite the belief of many that it is universally accepted, of course, could vary from one school to another. But the endorsers of certain values are, more or less, dominated by the attitude that what they preach, if adopted, will transform a human being into a morally upright person.

Moral and evaluative reasoning in Values and Moral Education

What should Values and Moral Education be? Just like Math and Science, Values and Moral Education should place equal premium on critical thinking, rational doubting, reasoning, and logical skepticism. Specifically, because it should deal with rational thinking, Values and Moral Education should aim to cultivate the moral or evaluative reasoning abilities of the students. Only through this approach could we possibly maintain the thesis that Values and Moral Education is as meaningful as Math and Science. Only when Values and Moral Education places the same value on the use of reason, when addressing a certain problem or issue, will it count as a legitimate equal of Math and Science.

Will Values and Moral Education then be so useful in real-life situation if it is going to be chiefly concerned with the cultivation of the moral reasoning and other intellectual abilities of the students? Yes, of course. Let me give some examples where having a good deal of training and education in moral and evaluative reasoning is practically valuable.

In any country where the people are supposed to have the freedom to CHOOSE their local and national leaders, good moral and evaluative reasoning is highly important. What will happen to a country whose electorate is composed of voters who are dismally lacking in sophisticated rational VALUATION skills is not difficult to tell. We don’t have to look at other countries in order to say that it will be easy for the incompetent politicians to take those voters who are not capable of reasoned valuation for a ride. Let me give some names: Erap, Noli De Castro, Jaworski, Sotto, Jinggoy Estrada, Lapid, the Revillas, and Freddie Webb. They are a bunch of proofs that a huge number of our voting population lack the capacity to rationally evaluate and choose our national leaders. I think I don’t have to go as far as naming some more clowns that many voters chose to represent them at the House of Representatives. Please pay attention to the word “CHOOSE” because valuing is an instance of choosing. We value by choice. And again the question is, “Do our voters choose or value by rational means?”

Just imagine if all our voters are capable of making highly rational choices. Of course, I am not meaning to suggest that all those who voted for the likes of Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla are stupid valuers. But neither do I mean to say, and I will never do, that most of Lapid’s and Revilla’s supporters are highly rational valuers like you. Did you ever ask yourselves why the likes of Lapid and Revilla will never ever campaign for their candidacy in academic institutions like the University of the Philippines? Yes, because it is not easy to take rational, educated, or well-schooled valuers for a ride. Rational valuers cannot be persuaded by a simple appeal to emotion and popularity, which is what actors- and actresses-turned-politicians are usually doing during the campaign period. Rational valuers can only be persuaded by appeal to reason.

Aside from this, of course, we need a good deal of abilities to do evaluative and moral reasoning if we wish to arrive at a resolution to important value or moral issues. Some of such issues are the following: (1) Should I continue with my pregnancy even if I don’t have the means to support my child? (2) Should we re-activate the death penalty? (3) Is it right for parents to have their child baptized long before the child could make his/her own choice? (4) Should I leave the country and work for the people of other countries? (5) Is it right to legalize same sex marriage? (6) Should we allow divorce? All of these are important value issues for which rational answers are hard to come by when the valuer was schooled in the tradition of VALUES INDOCTRINATION. What the valuer needs, to be a rational solver of value issues, is a solid training in moral and evaluative reasoning.

I'll begin with the aims of Values and Moral Education in my next post.

UP DISP Values Ed. Summer '09 Class

Hi there! I'm still fixing the video. Send me some more pictures that you want me to include in our final output. See you, thanks!

"ATLAS SHRUGGED" THE MOVIE: WHO'S GOING TO BE DAGNY?

Hey! I've been hearing that Angelina Jolie will portray the character of Dagny Taggart, but I've been hoping too that it's nothing final yet. It's quite a relief thus to hear that other actresses have been recently considered for the role: Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, and Anne Hathaway. Check it out here. Well, I just don't think that Jolie has the required character depth to play Taggart. Roberts? Nah. Hathaway? I don't think so either. Maybe, Theron. Perhaps, Jodie Foster. Well, I just can't wait to see this Randian piece in motion picture.

VALUES AND MORAL EDUCATION: AIMS, CONTENT, AND PEDAGOGY (Part 2)

Values and Moral Education: an independent subject

I must be absolutely clear now about one thing: Values and Moral Education should be an independent subject like Math and Science. It ought to be as it is a legitimate equal of Math and Science. Unfortunately, many stakeholders in education tend to regard the language of Values and Moral Education as less meaningful than the language of Science and Math. This, I believe, explains why Values and Moral Education in public school has been relegated to the lower rung of academic activities as it is no longer considered an independent subject like Math and Science. There are, of course, those who tend to believe otherwise, but rarely will we hear them laying down their arguments as to why the language of Values and Mroal Education, even if it is non-cognitive, is no less meaningful than the cognitive language of Math and Science. Part of my task, therefore, is to show why the language of Values and Moral Education is no less meaningful than the language of Math and Science.

In the past, I encountered a number of people who are quick to say that there is no more need to do this as what they expect me to say is already self-evident. But when I pressed them to proceed and give a summary of what they believe I am trying to say, their silence, to my mind, is an indication that they know very little, if not absolutely nothing, about what I wanted to say regarding the meaning of the language of Values and Moral Education.

Furthermore, some of my critics have been always quick to ask the question, Why is addressing the issue on meaning so important? It is very important because the non-argumentative or non-rational aspect of the language of Values and Moral Education is the very reason why it continues to be viewed as a lesser subject when compared to Math and Science. TAKE NOTE THAT I DID NOT SAY, ‘IRRATIONAL.’ Today, Values and Moral Education is an inferior area of academic interest, especially in public schools, because it is has no independent existence as a subject. It is an area of study that does not bear equal weight as Math and Science.

What seems to be the problem then? We ask this question. Much of the problem could be traced to our problematic conceptions of Values and Moral Education. NOTE HERE THAT ‘CONCEPTIONS’ IS INTENTIONALLY IN PLURAL AS WE HAVE VARIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF VALUES AND MORAL EDUCATION. More shall be said on this later.

VALUES AND MORAL EDUCATION: AIMS, CONTENT, AND PEDAGOGY (Part 1)

THIS IS FOR VALUES ED. TEACHERS WHO WISH TO GET A GLIMPSE OF MY THOUGHTS ABOUT VALUES EDUCATION FOR YOUNG FILIPINOS

In spite of our differences as regards the meaning of education¹, we can agree that there are certain requirements that every human being has to meet to be considered educated. This means that someone who counts as a schooled person may not readily qualify as an educated person.

We can further agree that no person is born educated. The popular view seems to be that human beings are born, whereas educated people are made. It is often thought that a person becomes educated with the assistance or direct supervision of the school, church, media, family, and so on. Meaning, no one could possibly avail of education for him-/herself without the aid that may be obtained from such institutions, which, again, are agencies other than the self of the learner. We, therefore, question the meaning of the expression “self-educated person.” For within the context of the modern education for the citizen, the learner has to tap certain resources in order to meet the requirements, whatever those are, that were set by the society so that one can belong to the league of the so-called educated.

The idea of “requirements,” that is the societal criteria, brings us to the question of educational program that could help transform the student from a simple human being to an educated person. Specifically, this leads us to the question, What sort of things must a human being have in order to count as an educated person? We know that a widely accepted answer to this question will give us an idea of the things that a given society prescribes in order to count as an educated person. Unfortunately, this question proved to be difficult as it continuously gives rise to a wide variety of educational programs that had been inspired by different world views.

Let’s now turn back to our first concerns. Am I an educated person? If yes, why yes? What criteria have I satisfied to say that I am predisposed to claim that I am an educated person?

It would be an embarrassment for us, students and teachers of education alike, to say that we are hardly educated. But what sort of criteria have we satisfied to say that we are, indeed, an educated class of humans? If we are not sure about our possible answers to this question, then, perhaps, we are not clear about our notions of education.

So far, in effect, we are also asking the question, What constitutes education? We should like to answer this question so that we could tell, if indeed, we are an educated person, if not universally, at least within the range of the accepted standards of the society in which we belong.

Having an infinite amount of learning in Solid State Physics, Advanced Algebra, and in other such-like sciences is far from enough in order to count as an educated person. A great deal of knowledge and training in all the physical and formal sciences will not suffice to say that a person is educated while he/she could be so dumb when it comes to dealing with his/her own aging parents, siblings, young children, or fellow human beings. I am using the expression “dealing” here in its moral sense as I am suggesting that aside from the learning that one could get in Science and Mathematics, in order to count as an educated person, one must also be morally educated. To put it more poignantly, expressions like Ph.d., M.A., Attorney, Dr., Judge, Justice, Chief Justice, or even Honorable, are mere titles before or after a person’s name; they are not a sure-fire sign that one is educated if any of such titles is attached to his/her name. One could still be considered maleducated despite his/her profession.

For now, you must be starting to get a grip of my drift. Science and Math education, though they had been tested to be reliable instruments in obtaining higher learning and education, they are by no means sufficient.

Values and Moral Education is a vital component of the concept of education. And it is as important as Math and Science education. From here on, I shall be talking about Values and Moral Education, its problems, and some possible solutions, as it is a necessary part of a process that is aimed at turning out educated people. But before I proceed, allow me to say that I am not suggesting that Art Education is not as important. To my mind, it is an equal of Values, Moral, Mathematics, and Science education, but it is not my place to justify the role of Art Education in the production of an educated person. Just allow me to focus on Values and Moral Education and leave the other task to the specialists in Art Education and Aesthetics.

Now, one who wishes to be considered educated cannot just turn his back on matters of values. Life would be boring—and I doubt if it is worth living--if it is nothing but proving scientific and mathematical claims. The truth is, hardly would we end a day without confronting a number of value-related issues or problems. Should I remain loyal to a friend who is betraying me? If there is such a thing as just punishment, when can I say that a punishment is just? Should I return the extra change that I received from an ill-mannered vendor? Should I also issue defamatory statements against an acquaintance who is spreading slanderous rumors about me? Can I blame a wrongdoer who claims to be a creation of his environment rather than by his own mind? Is death penalty right? How should I regard the Filipino politician and why? Is it wrong to break a promise? If not all the time, when can it be right, if it could be right, to break a promise? And why is it right? What does it take to be a good citizen? When can I say that I am not only a good citizen but also a good individual? Which is nobler, if any, the good of the citizen or the good of the individual? Whose good should we pursue first and foremost—the good of the individual or the good of the citizen? Most of these problems, aside from being important, are as perennial as the grass. It is for these and other similar problems and for the RATIONAL manner with which we should address them that Values and Moral Education should exist.

So, again, the value aspect of our education is evident in Values and Moral Education and I wish to be concerned with this area alone at this point. In sum, what I had been trying to say was that an educational program, without Values and Moral Education, is in no way sufficient.

My next blog will be on Values and Moral Education as an independent subject.

ENDNOTE

1 Education for me is the product of the human beings interaction with certain elements and forces in his/her environment. This product comes in the form of acquired valuable knowledge and skills. I share the belief that to be educated is being able to function effectively in different areas of worthwhile human activities, being able to exercise good judgment in addressing evaluative or moral issues, and being creative and imaginative in analyzing and solving problems. Knowledge and skills in education are tools that the educated could use to achieve his/her individual ends without sacrificing the interest of other human beings. It is possible that in the process of one’s utilizing his/her knowledge and skills, his/her fellow humans will benefit from such use. In any case, education for me, first and foremost, is something that one can use to live a better life. This definition, of course, is still very general but our time and space won’t allow me to get down to the finer details of my notion of education.