CONCERT FOR EDFD 120 & EDUC 186 STUDENTS

For those who missed the fund-raising concert for my EDFD 120 and EDUC 186 students, who are coming with me to present our research output at a conference in Harvard University on 27 May 2014, take time to catch up by listening to the songs of one of our guests here: https://soundcloud.com/easy-fagela. It's Easy Fagela's music. Easy, a lawyer by profession, is a graduate of UP Law and UP School of Econ. He was also former Collegian writer. Two years ago, Easy won the Nick Joaquin Literary award. If you'll listen to Easy's cool, original, and highly creative music, you'd think that Easy's an excellent musician rather than a fine lawyer. But he is both, I promise you. (Thanks for the free performance and CDs Easy!) Don't forget to listen to Easy's (1) Balloon, (2) OMGSOUL, (3) Red Paint, and (4) If you Hurt Your Children....

I should not neglect to thank Bullet Dumas! I was too shy to invite Bullet to sing at the concert for free. But Bullet didn't give me a hard time and I wondered why. Then he appeared at the concert to be the first one to sing. He was grinning at me, like I've done something naughty, when I saw him outside the Benitez Theater, and I started to feel that, perhaps, we know each other. Then he told me, still grinning, that he was once--4 years ago only--my student in EDFD 120, hahaha! Well, there was simply a wide gulf between Bullet the EDFD 120 student and Bullet Dumas the highly talented Filipino music artist. Of course, it was easy for me to place his name and face as Bullet was mentally active in my class. Bullet majored in Physics and he was once a teacher of Physics. (Bullet, thank you for your generosity. We really appreciate your time. I didn't realize it's you flying with big guys in the Phil. music industry. But I agree, there's indeed only one Bullet among the many big guns in the country. Keep writing songs, man. Your music is superb!) Guys, you must listen to Bullet; start here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVd5EhSE9Lc.

Dr. Ramon "Montet" Acoymo, former dean of the UP College of Music and a world-class tenor, was also there to make the evening unforgettable. (Thanks Montet!) Ehem, I didn't know that Prof. Althea Abigail Canuto COULD SING. Seriously! I should not forget the band called Drink This--sana ay malayo ang maabot ninyo. 

Mabuti na lang talaga at nandito pa rin ako sa UP at napapaligiran ng mga highly gifted at talented na kapwa Pinoy. John Paul Fererria and company were also excellent performers. Ganoon din sina Courtney Gormley and her choir. Also, it was fun listening to the music of Reden and Kenneth Cuden. Siyempre naman, ang husay din nina College Secretary and Prof. Vanessa Lusung-Oyzon at Dr. Maricris Acido-Muega. (Maraming salamat din sa iba pang dumating at nag-tanghal o nanood. Salamat din sa mga bumili ng tickets na 'di nanood pero nagtitiwala pa rin sa mga undergrads ko.)

IJAS CONFERENCE ACCEPTS ANOTHER UNDERGRAD SUBMISSION

ANOTHER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT SAYS OUR SUBMISSION TO THE CONFERENCE AT HARVARD HAS JUST BEEN ACCEPTED. So, after the HK conference, Eleennae Ayson, an EDFD 120 student of mine last sem, is "running" with the pack one more time. How exciting! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND YOUR PARENTS, NAE!

THIS SEM'S NEW GROUP OF ACADEMIC TARAHUMARAS

THIS TIME IT'S A CONFERENCE AT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY. Yes, I and my undergraduate students will be reading our paper in Boston this year, at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences conference! Our submission has finally been accepted for oral presentation. Congratulations to the following EDFD 120 and EDUC 186 students: Katherine Ayn Gonzales, Marti Trinidad, Izzah Mei C. Caballero, Patricia Erica Rodriguez, Moira D. Vargas, Emmanuline V., Balgos, Andrew James D. Jiao, Sarah D. Fulgencio, Reynante Fajaro, Edwin del Rosario, Frauline Tadle and Kayla June H. Gormley.

OF MARATHONERS AND RESEARCHERS

(More on Andrell, Nae, Hirome, and Charmaine downstairs). Have you ever seen a real ghost? Seriously, no kidding. If you haven’t seen a Tarahumara runner, then you haven’t seen any real ghost. You’ll see ghosts only when the Tarahumaras wish to reveal themselves. Silly you if you’re now looking around or behind you; the Tarahumaras live only in the treacherous and unforgiving Copper Canyons of Mexico. The Tarahumara (read: Tara-oo-mara) runners are known in the community of marathoners as the best--literally the best--runners in the world. We don’t know the Tarahumaras because, like I said, they are a ghost, an historically ultra-shy phantom. But they could be defined by saying, A triangle is to three angles as a Tarahumara Indian is to running. Tarahumara runners are known to be capable of covering long distances that are equivalent to multiple marathons (i.e., hundreds of kilometers). (The UP academic oval is only 2.2 kilometers.) Some Tarahumaras are known to have even run nonstop for more than two days. Are they superathletes then? Silly you. Of course, they are. But were they born runners? For this question, if you answered “yes,” again, silly you. Of course, no one was born a runner. To say that is an exaggeration, one that’s fit only for titling a book. Obviously, unlike horses, the Tarahumaras, just like any humans, were born with weak legs. So here’s the point, even the Tarahumara runners, who are known for their demonic endurance and ferocious legs, are built—rather than gifted—by their own cultural and environmental circumstances.

And just as no human was born a runner, no pre-service education major was born a researcher. The latter is quite obvious, all right. I want to write about the place of research and, inevitably, publication, too, in the pre-service program of the UP College of Education as, aside from turning out professors of future schoolteachers, one of the things that should separate the UP Educ from other teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the country is its ability to turn out high-caliber researchers. This, understandably, could not be accomplished within the span of four years of training and education at the undergraduate school, but UP Educ students should be introduced to research and publication as a way of life of those who enter and graduate from the College. Ok, this will sound like I’m already very old but I assure you that I age very slowly and, perhaps, if you’re some kind of a marathoner in the department of aging, you’ll be able to catch up with me in no time. Ok, here it is: Since I started teaching in UP Educ, I’d hear one chancellor or UP president after another doubting the validity
of continued existence of the undergraduate program of the College. Sadly, we barely let out a squeak to justify why it should go on living. The only high-ranking UP official that I had personally heard saying he wanted—and I believe him—to keep the educ undergrad program was former UP president Fidel Nemenzo. But after his term, I’d hear from our former college officials that UP administrators tend to ask why the educ undergrad program should be kept when there are other TEIs that could accommodate those who want to pursue a career in teaching after high school. First, our own pre-service education students remain significantly better prepared to teach than their counterparts in any TEI. No slight intended to the faculty and educ students of other TEIs. I'm just stating a fact. Second, unlike other TEIs in the country, the business of UP Educ undergrad program does not end in the mere production of effective schoolteachers as school teaching is just a means to our higher end. UP Educ trains its undergraduate students with the vision that they will become educational leaders or professors of future schoolteachers someday. And third, unlike other TEIs, the UP undergrad school of education is also a school of research and publication for the future professors of schoolteachers.

Today I’d like to focus on the production of researchers at the undergrad level. Doing so is comparable to the making of ultra-runners in the deepest regions of the deadly Copper Canyon. I opened this post with a brief talk about the awe-inspiring Tarahumara runners. I can’t help it because just like the Tarahumara runner, an ultra-educational researcher can’t just appear in the scene without having been made. But the question is, How should researchers be made? I’ll respond to this problem not as an expert in research, but as someone using his reason and commonsense.

In the Tarahumara culture, the making of the ultra-runner begins at a very young age. The Tarahumara children also play the game called "rarajipari," a Tarahumara sport played by men. The women’s version of rarajipari is called "dowerami." Both events require the players to run hard, but it's the adult male Tarahumaras that cover a longer distance of around 150 miles on a rugged terrain, where each member of their competing teams would take turn dribbling a baseball-sized wooden ball all throughout the race. When the Tarahumara children play rarajipari, they are preparing themselves for some serious running in the adult stages of their life. Since rarajipari is just a game, even if by childen's standard it's as exhausting as the more serious Tarahumara business of hunting-by-running-till-the-prey-drops-from-exhaustion, the little ones and the adults enjoy this part of their culture.

Research in education is like a marathon or long-distance running. Without training, relevant experience, or appropriate preparation, one can expect failures, errors, or frustrations in research, which is often a protracted activity. One, for instance, may later realize before reaching the finish line that his/her research instrument or the whole of his/her methodology is defective. Worse, one finds that he/she has nothing to offer but sheer journalistic information, something that everyone already knows. Nevertheless, if research training at the undergrad level must succeed in the long run, the conduct of which should be nothing like a ridiculously narrow-minded and obsessive pursuit of the so-called truths in the realm of education. For this is not fun. And anything that is not fun is often avoided by the students. Mistakes and failures in research thus should be regarded as a natural part of the educ undergrad school’s academic rarajipari. I'm not saying that we just laugh off all sorts of mistakes. But undergrad research should be done the way rarajipari is played by the Tarahumara children. It's highly relevant to what many of them will do in the future yet it's fun. Take note, even the Tarahumara adult runners initially failed, owing to their lack of proper knowledge, when they were first brought to the Unites States to compete at the Leadville 100-mile run in Colorado. The failure of the Tarahumara to win at the Leadville marathon was attributed to their lack of familiarity with the race course and equipment. At night, they held their flashlights as though they were carrying torches. At the aid stations their natural shyness had rendered them weak and nearly helpless. They were too shy to ask for food and drinks. Dehydrated and unable to keep up with the well-nourished marathoners, they had had their first taste of defeat.

At the Hong Kong International Conference in Education, Psychology, and Sciences (HKICEPS), our first Leadville academic marathon, I’d say that I was scared to death for some of my former EDFD 120 students, whom I tasked to lead the presentation of our research outputs. But they had played their rarajipari well in October 2013, two months before attending the HKICEPS, our first Leadville academic marathon. Thanks to Dr. Mariciris Acido for opening the doors of the graduate students’ conference to my EDFD 120 students. Thanks, too, to the DELPS faculty for accommodating my students, free of charge, as research paper presenters at the National Conference for Research and Teaching in Education. In both events, there probably was a lot of pressure but no one passed out due to emotional or mental exhaustion. In both events, my EDFD 120 students were given the opportunity to present their initial findings--without any teacher taking the limelight from them--before finally concluding their respective studies.

At the HKICEPS, Nae Ayson was the first one to stand among us. She led the presentation of our research output. Her whole family was right behind us during the entire presentation. I was hardly breathing while I was synchronizing the slide presentation with what Nae was saying. I must admit I was irrationally nervous until Nae had concluded the presentation of our work. Then I found myself wondering why I should be scared when Nae knows so well her way around our work. Silly me. Then there was Hiromi Urabe, Andrell Guiseppe Flores and Charmaine Go doing the presentation of our research output via poster presentation. The poster was the research output of around 11 people whose names I shall insert here later. I didn’t actually tell Charmaine, Andrell and Hirome that the poster presentation scares me more than the oral presentation because our work was out there, on display, naked, all throughout the day for everyone to see and scrutinize line by line. Those who are curious about our study had all the time in the world to formulate the most devastating questions, if any, about our work. But it seems that we are now out of the woods. Then, it was Andrell’s turn to lead the presentation of our research output in the afternoon. Andrell, too, has just got the kind of panache UP scholars are known for when presenting a well-done work. All things considered, it was a perfect day for all of us. I was the last one to present a paper, my own paper. My students then, I believe, had already left the conference site for more pleasurable pursuits. After all, they were in HK and not in the Copper Canyons.

Nae is now back to the Philippines. Andrell is still enjoying the abnormally chilly weather in Hong Kong at this writing. I think Charmaine and Hirome are also still vacationing in Hong Kong. Me, I ate all the noodles--about 10 miles long--that I could eat there before heading with my family back to the Philippines. Perhaps, my ultra-eating in HK is the reason why I suddenly spotted a significant overlap between the making of the lean runners of the Copper Canyon and the production of academic Tarahumaras in our institution.

It’s been fun running side by side with young ultra-academic marathoners in the making. The good thing about this exercise is that we are all just getting warmed up. And, mind you, more young academic Tarahumaras shall be joining the pack sometime next year. I just hope, I will still be around to run with the rest when it’s their turn to show what we got in our research. Because I think the next scenes will be in the US, Canada, and other parts of the world, places where my students said last sem they want to go and read their papers. Truly, it’s fun and I want to run with ultra-academic Turamaharas in the making. But OMG, where will I draw for my airfare, after my first and, probably my last, trip abroad next year? I hope I could find a pair of flying "huaraches," the Turamahara running sandals made from used tire and leather straps. Hahaha!

I know, I know. You've just done a marathon reading. Hahaha!

MTB-MLE: WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE PROBLEM WITH IT?

The mere presence of  which in the Philippine school system is not enough. The teacher must also have what it takes to turn out well-schooled and educated individuals and citizens. The ability to (1) think, write, and speak clearly; (2) reason effectively; and (3) solve problems using logic and critical thinking are some of the most important things that every teacher must be able to demonstrate to students, who are looking for a model of a learned, well-schooled, and well-educated person.

It is somewhat unfortunate that our country has many regions where it's just difficult to decide which language is the mother tongue of the students. But it's also a bit puzzling to know that many highly intelligent Filipinos, since before World War II down to the 90's, had managed to avail themselves of high-quality education, with English as the medium of instruction and learning in the Philippine schools they had attended.

There are good reasons to suspect that the real solution to the problem in view is not necessarily the regional language that the teacher is using when teaching. It's actually the teacher, his/her mental capacities to get his/her students to cross the gulf between the shores of ignorance and wisdom, that matters most in this issue. MTB-MLE? Think about it one more time. If it's just a simple bundle of languages, then the teacher may not go that far with her teaching.  Any one teacher may have a good command of any dominant regional language, but if he/she cannot think logically, then he/she cannot teach effectively.

We should be concerned, too, with the QUALITY of language that the teacher is using. MTB-MLE is too narrow in scope in that it does not, in any way, entail that the language of the teacher, whether it's MTB or not, is logical or intelligent. We should go beyond the narrow limits of the concept of MTB-MLE by replacing it with the broader idea of "EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION BASED EDUCATION", which implies the intelligent use of of the mother tongue and other languages.

This, to my mind, means that teacher education institutions should revitalize their focus on the pre-service education students' ability to THINK (independently, critically, creatively, imaginatively) and TEACH (i.e., teacher training and education) effectively before sending them down there to educate the so-called future of the motherland.

Again, textbooks!

It's not world-class basic ed textbooks alone that we need so badly after all. This idea crossed my mind after talking to Teacher Gayon, professor of science education and chemistry, at the Radyo Edukado. Since many Filipino teachers of science (bio, chem, and physics) have no formal training and education in these areas, it's necessary then to publish a type of science textbooks whose contents untrained science teachers could VERY easily follow and, hence, teach effectively despite their lack of training and sufficient knowledge in the field. But then again, where are these textbooks? 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's tired of hearing statistics about the unfortunate state of Philippine education. We already heard lots of sob stories from the TV reporters.

What most of our schoolteachers urgently need are good textbooks.

It's the textbook, enough of the curriculum

All right, teacher training is an important component of our efforts to advance the Values Education of young Filipinos. But it will take time--perhaps, more than four years--before we could fix the teacher-training problem. So, again, I propose that the DepEd should focus first on the production of a WORLD-CLASS values ed textbook that untrained teachers of values ed could use while waiting to be fully trained to teach the course. 

A good textbook could be produced by a team of INTELLIGENT experts within the span of one to two years, especially if the values ed curriculum is a sound guide. (Unfortunately, at this point, it's not.) While this is not a cure-all remedy, a well-written textbook could certainly help solve a huge part of the problem (i.e., content and pedagogy). The publication-of-a-world-class-textbook approach, apparently, applies to Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies) and other areas of study. I would like to reiterate that the first ones to attempt to write a model textbook should be the curriculum makers themselves. That is to say, the curriculum designers should demonstrate first how their curriculum is to be construed by the textbook writers. 

What's a world-class textbook? One that will pass, with flying colors, a rigorous academic and practical test. Think of the internationally acclaimed math textbooks from the Singapore. Meaning, a merely published textbook from the curriculum makers does not immediately count as a world-class textbook. That status, anywhere in the world, could be attained only through greatest efforts, which typically begins on the day we start building a curriculum. Nevertheless, absent a good curriculum, the publication of a good textbook is nothing like an impossible thing.

HOW DO YOU TEST THE CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR VALUES EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES (GABAY SA KURRIKULUM: EDUKASYON SA PAGPAPAKATAO-Jan. 2013 draft)?

Easy. First write a textbook using the curriculum guide. But the first ones to produce such textbook, which should serve as a model for writing values ed textbooks, are the people (i.e., the consultants) who constructed the questioned curriculum themselves. Such book shall not be sold for profit, of course. It's just a model textbook, granting that one could be made from the current form of the Gabay sa EsP, that the government should distribute for free to all those who wish to write a textbook in EsP. This is to prove that the makers of the Gabay themselves know exactly what they had written in the Gabay, that they could indeed write a decent textbook out of it. This is a fair and necessary test so that the public, especially the major stakeholders in education, could tell if the curriculum in question was not slovenly done, i.e., that its makers indeed know exactly what they had created, its logic including. If the makers of the Gabay themselves could not prove that they can write a decent book from their own guide, the public should readily take that as a sign that the curriculum is nothing but a bunch of beautiful-sounding words in the wind. 

Already I have heard a number of intelligent UP professors, who are also parents of elementary schoolchildren, complaining that the proposed contents of Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (in Jan. 2013 draft) are a mere list of unexamined and haphazardly selected "virtues." I agree it's "unexamined" because the Gabay offers no clear and precise, much less logical, definitions of key concepts in and proposed contents of the EsP. I likewise agree that the proposed contents are "haphazardly selected" virtues because the Gabay has no clear criteria for the selection of proposed values to be taught at various levels of schooling. Again, what, for instance, makes those who crafted the Gabay think and say that "konsensiya" (conscience) should be taught from K-3 and not at the other levels of EsP? No answer. Because no criteria for the selection of such value could be found in the Gabay. The same could be said about the other proposed contents of EsP. Hence, I and the other parent professors are wondering how on earth did the makers of the Gabay decide what to teach at various levels of EsP. Try reading the Gabay yourself here: http://www.depedbataan.com/resources/11/k_to12_-_gabay_pangkurikulum_sa_edukasyon_sa_pagpapakatao_baitang_1-10.pdf. Then try, in your mind, writing a book from this curriculum. And you'll most likely see what I mean. Since I could not think of a good textbook out of this problematic guide, I think it's just but right for me--and perhaps the other parents and other stakeholders, too--to make the same demand, i.e., require the makers of the Gabay to be the first ones to write the first textbook themselves. Don't you think that this should be part of the deal? Whenever an educationist is consulted to fix a curriculum, as a rule and matter of fulfilling one's academic duty, he/she should join his/her fellow consultants in proving that a good textbook could be written out of his/her and other fellow consultants' creation. To do that , they should write the first textbook from their own guide themselves. 

Since I cannot write a decent textbook out of the existing questioned curriculum, I'll just give an outline of what I believe to be a logically tenable textbook in Values Education. Soon.

HIGH-QUALITY LOCAL TEXTBOOKS FOR FILIPINO SCHOOLCHILDREN: WHERE ARE THEY P-NOY?

Hey, I must say the National Conference on Research in Teacher Education (19-21 Oct.) was a successful gathering of educationists from different regions of the country and other parts of the world. I was part of the panel discussion this morning and Philippine basic education was the center of everyone's academic curiosity. Well, it's obvious that the country's basic education suffer from many "diseases." It's kind of awkward to be saying this in the presence of our foreign guests, but it's just difficult to talk about solutions when we don't honestly articulate our problems. We have many problems in education, all right, but I'll identify only three in this post and these are the following: (1) outdated or questionable curriculum; (2) poor teacher preparation; and (3) lack of high-quality (or model) textbooks from K to 10/12. Of these three problems, the easiest to fix is the curriculum, but then, a beautiful curriculum would amount to nothing if teacher preparation program in the country remains wanting in form and substance. This means, of course, that professors of teacher education and training should actively help in addressing the teacher prep problem. Now, of the three problems that I have identified, common sense tells us, and we know this already since the day Moses was born, that the most difficult problem to solve is teacher prep. It will take years before we could solve this problem as it takes time before a nation could produce highly competent teachers. Read how highly competent teachers are made in Finland, and we shall be on the same page on this matter. Because a beautiful curriculum is just a bunch of words in the wind without a huge army of good schoolteachers, I'm currently more interested in the production of high-quality local textbooks from K to 12. I'll take the risk of saying that we have none of these yet. Having good textbooks could help us lessen the impact of teacher prep problem on the learning and education of young Filipinos. Sad to say, we can't seem to pull out, at this point, any one basic education textbook that could withstand rigorous criticism. Ok, but if you know one exists, show it first to me.

I'd turn green with envy each time I open a ministry-accredited Singapore math textbook because, indeed, any student who could read, write, and think could effectively learn from it even when the teacher is not around. We don't have anything like those Singapore textbooks, both in math and in other areas of study. It's really disappointing to see that in our country one government administration after another did not seem to use the taxpayer's money to finance the writing and printing of high-quality (i.e., model) textbooks in various areas of education (i.e., science, math, values education, art education, physical education, etc.). Of course, highly-educated parents, private tutors, and other stakeholders should likewise be consulted before proposed textbooks are printed or distributed. For these stakeholders, especially parents, have many legitimate issues over the way textbooks are written. For example, a six-page reading text on people of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao is too long for a grade 2 to process everything that he/she is expected to learn in one sitting. Also, some books in values education would instruct students to indicate whether "Honesty is the best policy" is true or false when this statement is neither true nor false, i.e., it's a non-cognitive statement. I need not go to any school of book writing in order to know that this is not the way to write books for little children whom we expect to develop a passion for reading and learning. If books are written this way from grades 1 to 6, most of our elementary school graduates will, probably, never find it fun to read. Badly written textbooks, that is to say, would just burn our young ones out long before they enter college. I haven't done any study on this, but I'm tempted to think that badly written books could be one of the reasons why many Filipino teenagers do not seem to have a passion for reading, much less writing.

My recent advocacy is the production of high-quality textbooks for the young Filipinos because if we have good textbooks to offer in public and private schools, a huge part of our problem could be solved even if our teacher prep and basic education curriculum, at this point, are far from ideal.

Let's not forget that financing, using the taxpayer's money, the writing and printing of badly written textbooks is reprehensible as these textbooks will be distributed to millions of public schoolchildren whom, we know, are not yet fully equipped to sanitize or question what the badly written textbooks will preach and many ill-equipped teachers will unwittingly teach. I therefore suggest that all textbooks for public schoolchildren should be subjected to rigorous public scrutiny before WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, THE GOVERNMENT, i.e., not just the select few, decide whether such books are worth using in elementary and high school. By public scrutiny, I mean, parents, even students, columnists, university professors, tutors, school administrators, and other stakeholders in education should be GENUINELY consulted by the administration running the government before textbooks are purchased using the taxpayers' money.

A dangerous Gabay sa Pagpapakatao (January 2013 draft)

This is just an outline of my critical comments on the "Gabay sa Kurrikulum: Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (January 2013)." I'm posting here my thoughts on the Gabay under the assumption that it has not been revised significantly during the August 2013 workshop in Tagaytay. Such is my assumption because I still hear from its proponents the exact same things that I question about it (i.e., problematic substance and form). I hope I'm wrong.

Why is this so important? Well, because the current draft of the Gabay is untenable, yet it could be institutionalized in its current substance and form. And what does that imply? Textbooks--and they will be likewise so flawed--will be written according to the standards of a seriously problematic curriculum guide using the taxpayers' money. So? Seriously flawed textbooks will be studied by little children (i.e., your future children or younger siblings in the coming years) who, more often than not, have no mental capacity to critique what their textbooks and teachers are saying. Consider then my observations. They are raw, but I think there are good reasons to believe they are true.

1. There is a disturbing discord between the bases of the expected outcome of Philippine public schooling and the proposed contents of Edukasyong Pagpapakatao from K to 10. While the opening part of the curriculum suggests that EsP promotes the use of intellectual values in order for the youth to meet the requirements of being a good person (i.e., productive citizen and good individual), the proposed contents of the curriculum, in general, will not do to ensure the acquisition of skills that are necessary to produce moral agents who are capable of higher order thinking and effective problem solving.

The bases of the desired end result of public schooling are the following: (1) may kakayahang makipagtalastasan; (b) nag-iisip nang mapanuri at may kakayahang lumutas ng suliranin; (c) ginagamit ang mga likas na yaman nang mapanagutan para sa susunod na salinlahi at; (d) produktibo, napauunlad ang sarili at ang pakikipagkapwa, at (e) may malawak na pananaw sa daigdig (p. 2). Obviously, all of these suggest that the student of EsP shall be trained to be a good thinker and problem solver. It is thus not surprising that the Gabay requires that one must likewise be capable of (1) pagunawa, (2) pagninilay,(3) pagsangguni, (4) pagpapasya at (5) pagkilos (pp. 2-3) in order for the product of the EsP curriculum to qualify as a good person (i.e., productive citizen and good individual). Up to this point I have no significant quarrel with the Gabay.

The real culprits, I am fully convinced, could be found in the proposed contents. For instance, K to 3 students shall be taught instead the following: (1) under the theme Pagpapakatao at Pagiging Kasapi ng Pamilya, (a) konsensya (conscience), (b) kalusugan (health), (c) pangangalaga sa sarili (care for oneself), (d) pagpipigil sa sarili (self-control), and pagiging tapat (honesty) (p. 7). How should these subject matters be taught is an issue that finds no answer in the Gabay. This makes teaching and book writing in EsP a difficult, and even dangerous, task. For, again, these contents do not jibe with the intellectual values (i.e., problem solving skills) that EsP claims to promote (pp. 2-3). My comments on the said theme apply to other themes at the next higher levels of basic education.

2. The Gabay is not consistent with the principle of spiral curriculum. Though there is a claim that it is an expanding spiral curriculum, the specific contents for different levels of schooling (i.e., K to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 10) under each theme are actually loosely connected. Worse, these contents do not necessarily ensure that the students of EsP shall be able to master the relevant skills for (1) pagunawa (comprehension), (2) pagninilay (reflective thinking) ,(3) pagsangguni (consultation), at (4) pagpapasya (decision-making--leave the pagkilos (making a move) to the students).

3. How can we teach the concept of “conscience” to K to 3 students? Gabay should be clear about this and other similar concepts if its framers would insist that these concepts should be taught as though they are universal values. (I use my reason--not my conscience--when I solve moral problems.) Also, the proposed contents of Gabay should be age appropriate.

4. The proposed EsP Gabay content should be made faithful to the intellectual values it promotes (pp. 2-3 of EsP Gabay). Note that the existing themes in the current draft are not in keeping with the principle of spiral curriculum. What need to be spiraled are the intellectual values (i.e., pagunawa, pagninilay, pagsangguni, at pagpapasya), their subjects are moral or value concepts, moral principles, moral and practical issues, moral theories, etc. This means that some of the proposed contents in the EsP Gabay may be retained for as along as they are age appropriate. The intellectual exercises from one grade level to another should become progressively more challenging, while the objects (i.e., not the means which are intellectual) of inquiry may vary as students advance with their learning.

5. The Gabay should also define clearly and precisely all the intellectual values teachers are expected to teach and textbook authors must write about.

6. I tried to examine the Gabay very carefully and imagined myself writing a book on the basis of its proposed contents. And hitherto I cannot think of any way to defend a Gabay-based book should smart parents, teachers, and administrators subject it to rigorous criticism, especially if the criticism is something like millions of taxpayers’ money shall be spent to finance the printing of a book whose questionable contents shall be delivered to little children who do not have the mental capacity to question the books they read and whose contents are being endorsed/taught by their god-like teachers.

7. I think we should not call the subject "Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao." The subject should be called Values Education.

8. I'll say more later.

Kray the krobbit

Once upon a time, a thousand krobbits woke up and found themselves inside a huge magician's hat. Krobbits are neither hares nor rabbits. Though they hop and have long ears like bunnies, they have the face of a Persian cat and a tail of a Samoyed pup. Inside their little and dark limited world, they all wanted to escape and see what's beyond the brim of the hat. After weeks and months of jumping, the krobbits decided to pile up so each of them could take turns climbing onto the peak of their hill and try to make a big leap to freedom. But no one ever made it to the brim of the magician's hat. Despondent and exhausted, they all went down and decided to give up jumping, except for one krobbit, Kray. Unperturbed, Kray continued jumping, looking at the sky, wondering what those little twinkling things are during the night and what that burning thing is during the day. The krobbits would watched Kray and together they would tell her to just give up jumping, because there's no use, they say, jumping. But unmindful of what her fellow krobbits say, Kray kept jumping.

One day the krobbits woke up and found that no one in the hat is jumping. They looked around and searched for Kray, thinking that she has finally given up jumping. But Kray is not with them. They looked up to the brim of the magician's hat and there they saw Kray looking down at them. Kray smiled and waved at everyone triumphantly before she finally left to have a taste of the world outside the magician's hat.

No one realized Kray was a deaf krobbit who didn't hear that she had been told many times to give up jumping. So her legs became stronger and powerful enough to make one big leap after years and years of jumping.

Sometimes, indeed, it pays to not hear krobbits who'd say, "Give up trying." It also pays to think there's no magician who will pull us krobbits out of the huge hat we are in.

Is speed of time relative?

The last 60 seconds of a basketball game is a signal that the game is coming to an end. Whether your team is defending to win by a margin of 1, 2, 3, or 10 points, working twice as hard for a deadlock and extension, or gunning for a one-point advantage, one minute is not the same in length FOR the two competing teams.
      
Sixty seconds of red light on the road could be like the whole morning.  You drum your fingers on the driving wheel impatiently as though it will hasten time. Instead, you feel that it turns into a viscous substance that flows sluggishly whenever you're in a hurry. You won't feel that way though if you're driving for someone whose company makes you forget the limits of space and the passage of time.

And if you're a boxer, the last 60 seconds of the fifth and succeeding rounds, granting that you will last, could be a lifetime if you happen to be an outclassed boxer who is running out of wind and wits. And for the superior boxer, the fight could be happening with inconceivable rapidity that he feels dissatisfied with the quick passing of his moments of glory.

For breakfast: Meaning of life

I woke up this morning asking, "What, by the way, again, is the meaning of life?"
 
If life's meaning is the search for its meaning, then such conception will render many lives meaningless. For many people have or had never spent any part of their life attempting to find the meaning, if any, of life. What are we to say, for instance, of children who have special conditions (i.e., profound mental disorders)? Of people who are unphilosophical? Of those who wouldn't care to think about life's meaning? Such elitist conception of life's meaning exclusively applies only to those who search for life's meaning. Would you agree that those who do not seek it are living a less meaningful, if not totally senseless, life?

I wonder, not all the time though, what, if any, it really is. 

Perhaps, the meaning of life is simply the manner by which it is lived. But what are the implications of my meaning? Whether or not one is capable of independent living and choice-making, the meaning of life remains how life is lived? Hhmn. I'll think some more about this matter. Perhaps, it will also be good to answer the issue, What ought to be the purpose of living? To this my tentative answer is: to enjoy life and to maximize our happiness. That is to say, the purpose of life is a well-lived life. But what kind of happiness should we chase?  

And what counts as a well-lived life? One where misery had been kept at bay most, if not all, the time? But what is misery? Hahaha. I should stop now.

I'm supposed to be just saying hello. I've been out not blogging for a long time. It's nice to be back. I'll have my breakfast now.

Hard work

A code of action that requires its valuers to carry out a certain task with sustained and unwavering effort in order to achieve a lofty goal (e.g., breaking a record or winning a gold medal in the Olympic games). With discipline and guidance of a sharp mentor, hard work almost always leads to excellence. And excellence, you can bet, to success.