6

Culture as community creation, property and patrimony

Critique of overspecialized artistry and star system as elitist and separative in bases and consequences

Holistic view of culture as synergy of collective value-systems and practices of the community

Interrelation and balance of aesthetics and functionality

Community's cultural identity and enrichment as a component of collective self-respect and as basis for assimilation

  1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism

  2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine

  3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 

  4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission

  5. Civics and Democratic Governance

  6. Culture as Community Creativity

  7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education

  8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony

  9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice

10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development

11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations

12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology

13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships

14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace

15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart'   

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Philippine Cultural Education

By John Paul Tañedo Olivares

Chair, Sanib-Sining Movement for Synaesthetics

IN OCTOBER 2003, American President George W. Bush visited the Philippines. In his speech in front of the joint Philippine Congress and Senate, he said, “And your President (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) and I agree that Education is the key to eradicating Poverty.”

What he said was aiming at was poverty as the root of terrorism, which I do agree with, although I do see education as a solution is an action that encompasses many other aspects (or “problems”) of life here and in other parts of the globe. And many other people have used this sentiment on the poverty and education time and time again, in different speeches and different agenda. I may agree to a sense, to what President Bush and the other people before him had said. However, I ask, “What kind of education will solve the ills of our country?”

If it were the type of education that we are presenting to our youth now, then I would definitely disagree.

Our present educational system, no matter what innovations have been introduced, is still based on that old American patterned system that revolves around the three ‘R’s, which are Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. In fact, in 2003, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) renewed the drive to instill English proficiency among our students, in the elementary up to the tertiary level. Not that I have anything against this, but it seems that while we try to develop in our English skills, the present system is also creating generations of youth who do not know our heritage and culture, and who are, without a second thought, willing to leave this country if given the opportunity. Not only is this the “brain drain” that many experts are complaining about, but we are also losing our inheritors of our culture and the shapers of our country’s future.

The implementation of education isn’t a standard that can be applied in the same manner all around the world. Education must be based on the culture and sensibilities of the local populace where it is being applied. In the Philippine scenario, we are being bombarded with education that is patterned after a foreign system, more so now, that the higher education (College and Post-Graduate) is leaning towards Information Technology training and Nursing.

To what means?

Training in nursing courses to create future Care Givers
Care Givers . . . People who will leave our country to take care of other people’s children or other people’s sick or other people’s elderly. What about our own youth? What about our sick? What about our Elderly?

Training in information technology courses to create Call-Center operators
Call-Center Operators . . . People who are in communication with the rest of the world, with a job that pushes products to services through the information highway.

People who are only concerned about how much they will earn, and have no drive to further develop themselves and the world around them.

It is not that I have anything against these jobs, per se. But what I happening now, is that many of our youth are all hoping to get the opportunities at high paying jobs while no one even tries to do anything about the very plight of our economy, our society, our environment, and our culture.

What’s the use of pumping in more dollars (American dollars, mind you) to the Philippine Economy, while the very fabric of Philippine Society degrades and slowly goes down the toilet.

Our national hero, Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino once said, “The Filipino is worth dying for.”

Now our youth believe that the Philippines is not worth living in, let alone taking care of and elevating to a higher stature. To them, working and living abroad is the only alternative, and let those left behind to fend for themselves.

Why is that?

These people have no awareness of the true culture that they are opting to leave. And with that lack of awareness, they lack any sympathy of care for the totality of the Philippines and even the world.

So where does “dying for” fit in?
I do believe, as do some other people that Culture is the soul of a nation, the very spirit and essence of a land and its people. But what is our culture now?

To our youth, culture is based on what you get from mass media. Cellular phones, computer games, the Cartoon Network, MTV, Bold Stars and Sexy Films calling themselves “art”, are what bombards us them moment that they wake up. To them, being cultural or cultured is passing by the Art Galleries at the mall.

Many college students do not read books on own their own volition, when they would rather get all their filtered information on the Internet.

Children are familiar of what is the latest song by the F4 or the Sex Bomb Dancers, but they do not know what a harana is. These same kids watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but do not know about the Philippine martial art of Kalis (also known as Escrima or Arnis). They play the computer games of Ragnarok, but never heard of sunka. For a time, our kids thought that the Sarimanok was some image created by the Television Station ABS-CBN. They may know the names of our national heroes, but may not know why they are so important to us, what have they accomplished, even in the present times.

In fact, they know everything that is happening in the life of Kris Aquino, but do not know anything about her father Ninoy.
The only thing that they know of the bayanihan spirit is that of people carrying a house on bamboo poles, as seen in old paintings.

This sorry state of cultural affairs stems further on beyond what our youth believe in.

Our traditional ethnolinguistic cultures are slowly dying out, being absorbed by “modernization” and “progress”. Many of these once proud people are abandoning their old ways and are even denying their heritage and lineage. One sample is that the great Rice Terraces of the Cordillera Region are slowly degrading and may soon erode into the mountains and into history. This is because many of the young Ifugao see no importance in maintaining these Rice Terraces, and move on to the lowlands for a different life and hide their ethnic roots in shame.

Yet to many of our youth, these people are curiosities who create beautiful handicrafts for sale to the tourists and to display in your living room.
Many of our artists, some national artists and others who are just as valuable, are living in poverty and are slowly rotting away in their homes, forgotten by society.

Many of these artists as well as our heroes in sports and other living national treasures, who have brought pride to our nation by winning national and international awards for their field of expertise, they have been forgotten by the people and the government that once lauded their efforts.

Historical treasures such as the Metropolitan Theater have been reduced only as subjects of political debates between government offices and non-government organizations, while they simple rot away as these people continue to bicker.

In fact the only time that the Barasoain Church in Bulacan was given any attention was for the inauguration for President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. But before that face-lift, no politician would lift a finger for its restoration.

A person who reaches out to others in an effort of bayanihan and pagkapwa tao is often subjected to ridicule and defamation as part of a crab mentality of other people.

Respect for our elderly has also waned, now that many people are looking for a place like the Golden Acres, Home for the Aged, where they can dump their parents and leave them there for good. Often, after they leave their parents in the home, they never come back to visit.

Community spirit or pagkakaisa has almost disappeared in some places. People would go about their own business and not care for their neighbors. Much worse, in times of calamity, instead of aiding ones neighbors, some people would exploit the situation, by either robbing the victims or trying to dupe them of their savings.

Most politicians do not know the meaning of palabra de honor or isang salita isang gawa. What they would rather do is to lie and cheat as they slowly steal from our national coffers. Look at the Centennial Expo in the Clark Economic Zone, in Pampanga. Where the Filipino should stand proud with a showcase of Philippine Culture and History, it has become a subject of investigation as billions of pesos were put into that project with only a few million was used, and billions of pesos are unaccounted.

Then there is the saying “Eh, kasi Pinoy!”, which has taken on a negative form, whereas it is used to describe the negative actions of our countrymen. So much for our national pride.

And so on and so forth . . .

Philippine Culture is hidden within us.
Then what is our true culture, or should I say, what should our culture be?

Well, I believe that deep within our hearts and souls, and also imbedded within our genetic make up is our true culture. This is the Culture that is the soul and sensibilities of our traditional people, the way of a proud heroic and ancient race. Not that we have to go back to those years, before that tainting of Spanish, American and Modern Global culture, and in the process reverse any other progress that we have built for ourselves over the centuries. What I see is that we must search within our selves and share with others the sensibilities of the traditional Philippine Culture, reshaped for the present times.

What we have been doing in the past is trying to adopt systems of other societies and try to apply them locally. In the end we tend to forego the way we are mean to live and end up in a schizophrenic and chaotic world. We feel alienated from our own land and all we try to do now is to survive.

In 1994, Ms. Marietta Goco, Director of the Kabisig People’s Movement Moral Recovery Program, said; “. . . I have come to grasp the significance of forging a Filipino ideology, based on our Filipino culture, our own values, and our own experience, to empower the Filipino people. Three decades of research on Filipino values provides the impetus to study deeper the internal aspects of our culture.

Thus, levels of social interaction from pakikitungo to pakikiisang loob, and kapwa were ascertained as indigenous. The intellectual traditions of sikolohiyang Pilipino, Pilipinohiya, ang panatang pananaw sa kasaysayan provides basis for enhancing the vitality of the Filipino sense of being and becoming, and rightly so. . .

Our thick colonial overlay is a temporary but profound distraction that we are set to remedy.”
“. . . In accomplishing this, we have to return to a more sane and balanced perspective – best exemplified by our pre-colonial life. We do so by reformulating or refocusing or remembering our deepest self to recast our condition. And we have the past to guide. Our kabuuan or wholeness of being traces its roots to this era. To me, the present state of the nation reflects a distortion of our true selves, ang ating pagkapinoy. We have forgotten how to live the sane, abundant and prosperous way of life of our ancestors such that our present state mirrors our collective confusion as we struggle with images so systematically tattooed into our consciousness by our colonizers. We must return to our own legacy: the self-defined vision of our destiny.

In doing this, it is imperative to shed our false values by dropping within – to our own kagandahang-loob as an individual and as a people.”
(April 1994, “Spirituality Toward National Identity and Cohesion”, Marietta Goco, Director, Kabisig People’s Movement Moral Recovery Program, Culture for Development, The 1st NCCA Culture Summit)
Amen to that, I’ll say!

It has also been said that for a culture to survive and continue on to the future, on to progress, that culture must be dynamic and that it must also change and evolve with the times. That I do also agree with. However, what kind of change will be beneficial to us?

What do we change in our culture? And how do we change it?
In 1994, the then Senate President Edgardo J. Angara said;

“Development is even more a cultural change – a long-term shift in the technological and organizational substructure of society that results in far-reaching social transformation.”

“We now also know this social transformation is not an relieved blessing. In the process, things, arts, institutions disappear or are lost which we realize too late were well worth keeping.”

“The erosion of loyalties to kin, native village, ethnic group, dialect, religion – the decay of the accustomed morality – the loss of traditional graces, practices, arts, crafts, customs – all of these are part of the pain that progress extracts from a community and the individual.”

“The pain is particularly hard to bear because society often takes its time establishing new values and traditions in place of the old ones that have been cast off. ”

“Oftentimes, the immediate results of rapid social change are anarchy and individual alienation; crime and violence – every man for himself, and a lack of caring for one another.”

(April 1994, Legislative Agenda for Culture, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, Senate President and NCCA Commissioner, Culture for Development, The 1st NCCA Culture Summit)

The State of our Educational System

So what does this have to do with the present educational system? Or in other words, what must our education system do to address this situation?
It has been said, that the school is our child’s second home. With that, the nurturing that may be remised in the domicile, must be given in the school. Yet what are the lessons that our children receive?

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with teaching math, science, reading, writing and language skills, however, how are these and other subjects presented to our youth?

Most schools, specifically the teachers, prescribe by the data overload method. Children are taught to memorize rather than truly learn. When history is presented, the children are bombarded with facts and other data that they fail to see the relevance of the subject.

Another thing is that we fail to see how present society is affecting our youth.
We claim that we were able to study when we were young, but those times were different. They were simpler times. When we were on our way to school in the past, we would pass by open avenues, often covered with trees or were simply very orderly roads. Now our students have to negotiate our streets that are covered with ads of different sizes, snarled traffic, buildings that choke the sky, pollution and such. When the students reach their schools, they are already overloaded with so much stimuli that they have a harder time taking in the lessons in the classroom.

What more is the amount of information presented to them is broader than what we have encountered in our youth.
So how do these kids get to filter these data that we cram into their heads, let alone find any relevance in the subject matter itself?

They don’t. And there is where we fail our children.
Recent studies show that there are more out-of-school youth these days than ever before. A large percentage of these out-of-school youth have chose not to be in school out of disenchantment with their classes rather than poverty. This is so, because they find no relevance in the subject that they are taking.

Relevance in the subjects is one of the keys to truly educate our youth. History, literature, mathematics, and such must be given true relevance to our children. Our educators must present and imbibe to them what is the importance of such subjects to their daily lives and the world around them. Then, from that point, the educators must imbibe to our youth their own importance in society and to the rest of the world.

To stress on the values of these lessons is what will give true importance of culture and education to our youth. Then from these lessons in value, they must illustrate to the students how these lessons are applicable in real life.

Some teachers think that this is a means of spoiling our youth, by spoon-feeding them with this “sensitivity” based teaching. But times are different now, what was a simpler life then, is now a constant barrage of information and images from all around. With all this cacophony and chaos, our youth have a difficult time sorting and filtering out the overload of stimuli. And thus they have a difficult time discovering these values by themselves.

All the students are concerned about is surviving the day-to-day chaos. That is why they have opted for escapist methods of survival, such as the video game, internet surfing, channel surfing, and worse drugs.
And where the proper implementation of the educational system is sorely needed, in some places it is the teachers who add more to the confusion and failure of our students.

In some cases, there are teachers who are not aware of the true value of what they are teaching and do not actually practice what they themselves teach. These teachers live in the world of theories and data that they too are ill equipped in dealing with the new society.

Other teachers do not believe in the lessons that they teach nor do they understand the responsibility and dignity of their profession. These are the teachers who see their profession merely as a means to get by. And these are the dangerous ones who will corrupt our youth.

I’ve even heard of a person teaching the subject of “Values” in a private institution, who told her flunking students to buy her expensive coffee table books to pass the class.

I’ve seen on television, teachers who use the students as workers in their own personal enterprises (without pay), while all this business activity causes the students to miss and even fail their classes.

I have seen many teachers just cram data upon data into our students’ heads, however because no value is instilled upon these lectures, after the end of the semester, the students have completely forgotten the lessons.

In some schools, I have observed teachers whose lessons were merely letting the student copy notes on the board or (as in some art schools) copy photocopied images, yet never teaching them how understand the lesson or how to be creative.

At the mean time, these same students are grilled constantly that they must get a job after they graduate. How can they get a job, let alone survive, if what they have “learned” in school has no meaning.
 

I’ve seen humanities teachers tell their students about histories of individual artists and their individual greatness, yet never mentioning their importance to past and present society. Does this make our students think of themselves solely as individuals and not as a responsible part of a greater society?

I’ve seen teachers lecture their students of the multi-cultural aspect of our people, yet never giving emphasizing of the importance of our folk and indigenous cultures to our heritage, to our personal identity, and to our national identity. Does this make our students look at these cultures and communities as mere suppliers of arts and crafts for tourists, or even as mere curiosities?

I’ve seen teachers talk to their students about values, yet never have them practice these same values. Will this turn our students into future trapos, people who have no values at all, yet pretend to preach of these same values?
All the students know is that they must get a job after school. But what kind of graduates will they become?
Do we leave the sole responsibility to our government, specifically the DECS and the CHED?

I’m not so sure. I had recently attended the 2004 Arts Congress, entitled “Kilos Kultura Para sa Kinabukasan”, where artists, cultural workers, art managers, researchers, scholars, art educators and other practitioners from government and non-government organizations met at the Cultural Center of the Philippine (CCP), Folk Arts Theater, to listen to different organizations speak on the state of culture and the arts in the Philippines, as well as the plans of the present crop of presidential candidates. Apparently, from the expected three to eight thousand attendees, only seven hundred showed up. And from the five presidential candidates, only two cared to appear and another opted to send a proxy.

Raul Roco presented a charming view on his agenda for arts and culture without any concrete plans but a whole slew of anecdotes.

Eddie Villanueva orated to the importance of culture to our nation, but he too failed to give any concrete plans.

Boots Anson Roa spoke of her campaigns for reform in the arts and culture community, but when it came to her speaking on the behalf of the top presidential contender, Fernando Poe Jr., she had nothing to offer but the fact that FPJ was an artist too, who felt for the people.

Ping Lacson relayed his regrets regarding his non-attendance.
But the worst part was, the President herself did not care to appear or send and message or aide on her behalf. This does truly reflect the state of the government’s priority towards culture and the arts.

Even our primary cultural institution the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) finds itself under budgeted. The DECS itself cannot adequately supply our schools with notebooks, let alone classrooms, then how can it re-educate the teaches?

We must have a pro-active and relevant educational system.
However, if we perceive our government as incompetent in providing the needs of our people, we must not abandon it. However, it must now be the individual institutions, both public and private, to initiate and continue pursuing progressive programs of education, that leans towards true cultural and ethical formation. There they must work, through the initiatives of its progressive staff and faculty in implements such activities, rather than wallow in the mire of “standard education”.

In these progressive and proactive initiatives the educational institutions must band together and learn from what has been done by the others. By comparing and assessing these programs, one can formulate a comprehensive cultural and ethical education for our country.
It is only through the groundbreaking works of individual organization and institutions can we form a true comprehensive plan for the proper education of culture and its values.

Schools such as the Community of Learners have institutionalized the integration of healthy children with physically and mentally challenged children, as a means to create a better understanding and nurturing aspect among the children.

The Ateneo de Manila has its “Tulong Dunong” project, where the senior students integrate with public school kids to give tutorials on basic education and find possible candidates for scholarships.

Miriam College has its own Environmental Center, where its thrust is on environmental awareness through cultural understanding.
The Far Eastern University is doubling its efforts on urban development through the perspective of cultural understanding.
Some private and public schools conduct regular environmental field trips, which are followed up by socio-civic activities such as clean-up drives, tree planting activities and even waste segregation projects.
 

ecently, a public school in Marikina enrolled some of its students and staff in a dance workshop that taught the traditional Southwestern Mindanao dance of Pangalay.

The Center for learning and Teaching Styles has been conducting workshop / seminars on multiple intelligences, learning and teaching styles to develop educators who are culturally progressive in their implementation of their lessons.
 

The Warldorf School implements socially active lessons based on nurturing education rather than lecturing.

Theses are just some samples of small concerted efforts, by educational institutions, to rebuild and regain our society. By collating the data on the impact of these small but meaningful activities can we assess the viability of these schools programs and integrate them to other programs institutions that do not have any.

When there are enough schools with progressive programs, then they can be compared and assessed, later, we can later propose to the National Government a truly comprehensive program on cultural education.

The very essence of the Culturally Relevant Educational System must be Progressive, Nurturing and Pro-Active.

What is progressive education?

Progressive education is the program of learning designed and implemented for the “wholistic” development of the student in regards to not just teaching one the skills required in a said course, but design to develop the total well being of the student, through life relevant lessons. Progressive education illustrates to the students the practicality and relevance of all the subjects being discussed.

One sample of progressive education is the children’s educational television program “Eskwuela ng Bayan”, with its shows “Karen’s World” and “Why”. In this television show, lessons in mathematics and English grammar are presented in a rural backdrop, with the implementation of the problems and solutions all based on situations created in that same local setting. Because of this presentation, the viewer feels a certain affinity to the characters in the show and thus easily picks up the lessons in the show. Some of the actors in the show exhibit their local accents while speaking the English language, because of that, viewers who are not as proficient in speaking English, or those who also have very strong local accents do not feel alienated by the show.

What is nurturing education?

Nurturing education is the individualized target implementation of an educational course that meets the needs and wants of the individual student. Nurturing education is geared towards the students learning in the area of mind and self (soul), while taking a specific academic course. Nurturing systems can be realized, even in large classrooms, through the creation of self-friendly environments, and non-alienating subject teaching. In nurturing education a constant interaction between the teacher and the student is developed and geared towards understanding of the lessons and empowerment from the understanding.

In one progressive school I had observed, the teachers in that school rate the performances of their students based on the individual abilities (including the strengths and weaknesses) of the students to comprehend and apply the lessons. With the individualized rating method, the teacher could truly monitor the students’ growth in the class. Here, the individual may not feel intimidated by other classmates who may be “performing better” and may be coaxed to develop one’s self through this nurturing motivation. Because of this method, the students get to be more motivated in the class.
 

What is pro-active education?
Pro-active education is program of learning that is designed for the students to apply lessons acquired in a classroom or lecture in a practical manner to a real life scenario. Such activities are designed to truly imbibe and enlighten the students to the relevance of a subject matter.

In Puerto Princesa, Palawan, public and private school students are educated in environmental awareness, and they are later coaxed to participate in clean up drives and tree planting activities. Because of this pro-active city program, the students themselves become advocates for environmental awareness and often inform visitors not to litter the city streets.

Mission, Vision and Goals of the Educational Institution

In learning from the actions of others, we must take the first steps in developing a Progressive, Nurturing and Pro-Active Educational System for our entire country.

In that development, we must act:

To formulate and implement programs that were not based on studies created in some other culture, some other country, but studies based on activities done here.

To formulate and implement programs which are based on activities that revolved around the life and sensibilities of the locals.

To formulate and implement programs which are truly based on our culture.

I would like to note that these are also undertakings of such organizations as the Philippine Association of Teachers of Culture and the Arts (PATCA) and the Philippine Art Educators Association (PAEA). Loose knit organizations such as the Concerned Artists of the Philippines are also trying to implement small programs in the grassroots level.

In implementing a culturally developed curriculum for schools, educational institutions must fine-tune their mission, vision and goals towards such. In my opinion this is what should be a general vision and plan of action for our national educational system.
 

VISION: Through Education, create a Filipino Society that will nurture the students into moral, responsible and culturally adept citizens of the Philippines, who will be the builders of a truly progressive Filipino society.

MISSION: To create an educational program that is culturally attuned to the Filipino sensibilities and will be implemented in a nurturing system that will instill moral, ethical and cultural values to the Filipino.

GOALS: To identify and understand what are the truly Filipino values that exist and how they are manifested in present society

To create a study on how these Filipino values can be strengthened and instilled into the Filipino people through an educational / academic program

To collate data from different academic / educational institutions that have implemented socio-culturally active programs and see if theses programs can be implemented in the national level

To create a nation wide program on education that imbibes cultural value, and implement the said program in a nurturing pro-active system that will give cultural education truly realizable in the lives of the present Filipino people

To create a nation wide program that will train present and future educators to be skilled and knowledgeable in implementing the cultural education program.
*Some sources were taken from the CPC V (Child Protection Conference V),

Programme of cooperation for child survival, protection, development and participation in the Philippines, Master Plan of Operations between the Government of the Philippines and UNICEF 1999 – 2003

We translate culture as our way of life, thus all the subjects that are taught in school must be view through a cultural educational perspective. We are building the lives of these students, then we must teach them how to live it.

Environmentalist, Junie Kalaw once said, “Our educational system is teaching our youth on how to get a livelihood, but it does not teach them how to live!” He also stated that we must stress on our “Buhay” and not “Hanapbuhay’. And this is where cultural education must be given true relevance.

From memorizing notes on history, to the true understanding of history and making our youth see their own role in history.

From merely churning our plates for art class, writing essays for literature class, or memorizing songs for music class, to understanding the expressive force of the arts and how it influences our society.

From reading about Filipino values in social sciences, to actually practicing these values in socio-civic and environmental school activities.
From merely knowing the technical aspects of any given course, to realizing the true value of every course, job, trade, business and institution is in the building of a society.

In these progressive programs, we can assess how viable is the data we are teaching to our students. For example:

In the field of Architecture and Interior Design, what is the true concept of the Filipino about the use of space? Do we truly prescribe to the horror vaqui? Or is our utilization of space actually for fluid movement and spacious for multiple usage? Are our present architectural designs actually claustrophobic to the Filipino sensibility, that we may be making homes and work areas that create a people who feel alienated from themselves?

In the field of Fine Arts, is the Post-Modern existentialism actually applicable to our local setting, where artists now alienate themselves from the national consciousness, and fail to aid in socio-civic art?
In the field of Information Technology, the Filipino is at home with new technologies that allow them to reach to a larger range of people and all in an instant. However, does this technology actually help us in really understanding each other let alone actually communicating?

In the field of Law and Public Administration, is the Filipino sensibility really made for a Republican and Democratic form of government? Or are we actually programmed for autocracies, that our present system is actually what breeds the corruption and chaos, which is not our way?

In Business and in Sociology, we tend to forget that we are an agricultural nation, and our socio-economic system revolves around that same agricultural life. Even our school schedules, our festivals, and our arts and crafts are all based on the seasons of our agricultural life. If then, why do we continuously try to implement programs and systems that are based on other countries and their different lifecycles? Why are we not trying to empower our farmers to manage their businesses better, rather than neglect them to an impoverished sector? These are the same farmers, livestock raisers, and fishermen who feed our nation and form the backbone of our economy, yet why do we not give importance to them through the business sector?
 

In History, the events that shaped our nation is not just a list of people’s names and dates. Where are the students in the present phase of history? How do they feel to be part of history? How did historical events, affect us up to the present times? The key is to make the students truly feel part of history, and to learn by comparing the past and the present and how to avoid past mistakes. History is the key to solving our problems, why do we do it?
 

We must have progressive teachers.

But if we have institutions are paving the way for our youth, how do we entice the other teachers to adopt such progressive views?

Does that mean we have to re-educate our teachers? Or do we have to be more selective in who do we hire as educators?

Public and private institutions have offered many seminars, conferences, and workshops, however, not everyone avails of these and others don’t care to.
I know that it’s a long shot, but first we do have to raise the standard of living of the teachers. Many fail to see or have lost their sight of their important contribution to society. Most often this is because of the fact that they themselves are also in the poverty line. What do many public school teachers have to look forward to, if they are overworked and underpaid? And come each election time, they are subjected to treats and abuse as poll watchers.

By raising the teachers’ salaries, we can give more dignity to these people. And in turn, they will bring dignity to their work.

Second, the institutions must continue in implementing teacher enhancement programs and teacher evaluation programs. And this must take a tougher stance, where a “if you don’t shape up, you must ship out” is applied. This may be unfair to some people, but education is a serious business, it is our country’s future that hangs in balance.

Third, regular psychiatric evaluations must also be conducted, to review the teachers’ competence.
From these evaluations and enhancement programs, regular educational excellence awards must be conducted to also give our teachers an added incentive.

Let’s face it; we have to think of the personal welfare aside from the idealistic aspects of the teacher.

Beyond all of these, it will all fall upon the individual if one chooses for a higher evolution or just watch as the world marches on.
And that goes the same for everybody, especially all government officials.

Proposed Program Outline
To sum up what I have been writing of, I have listed below a simplified outline on how we must try to implement progressive culturally relevant education to our school system.
1. Reviewing the Educational Curriculum for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Schools
A. Review the educational curriculum of different institutions that provide progressive education to its students and conduct a study on what is applicable to the National Educational System
B. Review and rewrite Philippine History text books so that they may be inclined more to a truly Filipino based point of view, and omitting biases from the narration
C. Review the Regional Educational Systems, and rewrite their curriculum to promote regional culture (example Ilocano Literature in the Ilocos region)
D. Rewrite the educational curriculum in a means that will nurture the multiple intelligence quotients, the relevant application of lessons, and the cultural appreciation and participation of the students
E. Rewrite the application of Tertiary Education towards Nation Building through cultural relevance and application 2. Reviewing the Teaching Capacity of the Philippine Educators
A. Review and rewrite the Teachers Licensure Examination to include knowledge on multiple intelligences and lesson plan composition based on cultural relevance
B. Conduct nation-wide training to School Officials and Teachers on Culturally Relevant Education and Multiple Intelligences
C. Conduct a regular evaluation of Education Officials and Teachers on their aptitude in implementing Progressive Education

Social Action

Aside from the Educational Institutions and the Government’s exercise of progressive programs in Education, society must also act in a cohesive movement.

Parents must inform themselves of what is the best education for their children, and must insist to the schools what is needed for the child.

Private companies and NGOs must support schools with progressive programs and interact with them.

Media must continue to promote schools with progressive programs.
We must all believe in the future as a people, and we must all act in accordance to that vision.

Conclusion

The present crop of students are adopting a watered-down existential point of view in life, and to my opinion, it merely lets them survive this world. Yet to truly live one must live for a purpose beyond one’s selfish ends. One must see that one is part of a whole.

To live, we must see how we live, our way of life, our culture.
A vice-president of one of our prestigious schools once asked me, “Why must we teach the subject of Humanities to our non-arts related courses?” And I answered,

“Without the understanding and appreciation of the arts and culture, we as the human race, will lose our spirit”.

Indeed, I do believe that culture is the soul of a people, and now we must claim it with a whole heart! But to save it, strengthen it and preserve it, we must start with our children, for they will build our future.

But to implement such a radical system of education here in our country must need an iron will, an unwavering dedication, a vigilant eye, and a heart of gold. If not, this dream will be lost in the files of some mediocre politician who would rather sit on his behind and think of how can he skim more money out of our nations coffers. Then we will lose our country to the chaos that besets the world.
 

Noted Sources

CPC V (Child Protection Conference V), Programme of cooperation for child survival, protection, development and participation in the Philippines, Master Plan of Operations between the Government of the Philippines and UNICEF 1999– 2003

Constantino, Renato, “The Miseducation of the Filipino”, 1966, Weekly Graphic, republished by the Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1982, Quezon City

“Culture for Development”, The 1st NCCA Culture Summit, 1994, National Commission on Culture and the Arts, City of Manila

“Declaration and Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy”, UNESCO, Paris, 1995

Tye, Kenneth “Issues in Global Education”

Education in a Multilingual World, UNESCO, 2003

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