A dismal report on education

[Lee]

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IF the report purportedly from Edcom 2 is to be believed, catastrophe has indeed befallen education in the Philippines. Our pupils trail their counterparts in the Asean region by disturbingly several paces in reading, comprehension and mathematics. Put quite directly, our pupils cannot read — and that distressing disability manifests itself in the students who make their way to higher education.

Give them a simple paragraph to read aloud, and you will hear pauses where there are supposed to be none, and no pauses, despite commas and clauses! If they cannot read aloud intelligently, then there is no doubt that they cannot understand — and if they cannot understand, we should not be surprised that they rely solely on the bits and pieces that they can pick from their teachers' lectures and have yet to discover the promise of supplemental reading.

We are paying the price of never-ending experimentation in basic education. Whenever some instant pedagogue arrives from a foreign fling of supposed advanced study in education, her theories — no matter how bizarre or outlandish — become educational policy, and hapless teachers are compelled to attend seminars to undo all they have learned and acquire the skills demanded by the new, ridiculous routine of the dizzying classroom mazurka. We have had continuous progression, "no child left behind," open classrooms, rubric rating and the list of inanities goes on. This is despite the fact that what could be read only from expensive encyclopedias in the past is now available at the click of a mouse. We have not yet tapped into the rich resources that digitalization has made available to our learners, and that says a lot about the educators that we claim to be. An assiduous educator seizes every possible opportunity to teach — and to make use of learning opportunities circumstances offer. Elementary school teachers in the 1960s did not have access to the many aids now available to teachers. To be sure, there were well-written textbooks, free of atrocious grammatical and factual errors. But above all, teaching was a passion. A teacher consecrated herself to her pupils. This is not to say, of course, that such dedication is not to be found in today's teachers. But we certainly could do with more!

But it is as true that parents have abdicated their roles in the education of their children. My mother supervised our study periods, checked our notebooks and regularly asked our teachers how we were doing. Our parents wisely understood that education was too important to be left to teachers alone. It is possible, of course, that parents do not know the subject matter and so cannot teach in this respect. But they can insist that their sons and daughters devote a part of their day to serious, non-nonsense study, that their notebooks are kept up to date, that assignments are accomplished, and that computer or tab time is limited! And most assuredly, it should not be too difficult for them to ask the teachers what problems there might be with their children — and how they can help.

The complex is best approached by keeping things simple. When schooling emphasized reading, writing and arithmetic — the proverbial 3 R's — pupils fared very well. It will be argued that the world has turned several times over since those halcyon days, but the fact is that fundamental insights remain fundamental — and one glosses over them to one's own disadvantage. Communicative efficiency demands the same skills in reading and writing that were standard fare decades ago. What is distressing is that Araling Panlipunan has apparently left distressing lacunae in our pupils. I remember that our social studies teachers told us about the pre-Hispanic Philippines. Of course, part of the lessons we learned is the now-discredited story of the sale of Panay, Datu Marikudo and the golden salakot! Science was as contemporary as contemporary was in those days — and our Grade 6 teacher did teach us about atoms and even sub-atomic particles such as electrons and protons and the radioactive character of uranium.

This takes me to my concerns with higher education — particularly what goes on in our colleges of teacher education that form the teachers of years to come. The Bachelor of Elementary Education curriculum presently admits of areas of concentration but, unlike the Bachelor of Secondary Education, has no major fields. This was no different in our elementary days. Elementary school teachers were supposed to know enough of each subject to teach, and to teach competently and effectively. Of course, at the time, "Modern Math" had made its way into our curriculum — and that meant the study of sets and subsets, unions and intersections — the components of what advanced students in logic and mathematics will recognize as the chapters of set theory, whether intuitive or axiomatic. Of course, in the elementary grades, it had to be more intuitive than strictly axiomatic — but even then, we already paid the price for this early experimentation because in high school, algebra presupposed dexterity in arithmetic, which somehow we had not adequately acquired because "modern math" and the traditional algebra taught in high school just did not dovetail!

There is yet one more matter. What presently obtains is the absurd situation of distinct regulatory agencies for basic and higher education that neither communicate with each other nor exchange notes. What happens is that colleges of teacher education prepare future teachers for imaginary scenarios that do not match the theater of action on the ground that is regulated by a distinct agency.

When evaluating the qualifications of students we admit into teacher education courses, we tend to rely solely on entering credentials. It is time we looked at attitude as well — dispositions of the heart, for being a teacher is having an educator's heart so that one can form educated hearts. This is not about waxing sentimental. It is rather recognizing that education means so much more than just passing on information and transferring bits of knowledge.

 

https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/02/26/opinion/columns/a-dismal-report-on-education/1934098

[Mike J]

No concrete ideas to address the problem.  Easier for the author to blame outside influence and the teachers rather than administrators and the culture?  

<snip>Whenever some instant pedagogue arrives from a foreign fling of supposed advanced study in education, her theories — no matter how bizarre or outlandish — become educational policy, and hapless teachers are compelled to attend seminars to undo all they have learned and acquire the skills demanded by the new, ridiculous routine of the dizzying classroom mazurka<end snip>

<snip>When evaluating the qualifications of students we admit into teacher education courses, we tend to rely solely on entering credentials. It is time we looked at attitude as well — dispositions of the heart, for being a teacher is having an educator's heart so that one can form educated hearts.<end snip>

[craftbeerlover]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

Easier for the author to blame outside influence and the teachers rather than administrators and the culture?  

Agreed the blame needs to be equally spread to all of the above.  The education system here is an absolute fn atrocity.   Just one of the reasons this country will never move forward, and will in all likelihood move backwards.   One example of millions: My wife's youngest brother missed an entire week of school last week because the teacher was in charge of some asinine activity that involved a handful of students.   The kids literally just did not go to school the entire week;  faculty was ok with this, administrators were ok with this, parents were ok with this.   haysss this country

[craftbeerlover]

https://pbed.ph/blogs/47/PBEd/State of Philippine Education Report 2023

 

[Gator]

12 minutes ago, craftbeerlover said:

teacher was in charge of some asinine activity that involved a handful of students.

Let me guess - a dance competition?

A similar (if not the same) situation is occurring at my wife’s school. All approved by the LGU and board of ed. And oh, she and another teacher get the “honor” of going by bus to Cebu City to get their costumes (about 4 hours each way). Cost of the costumes: 500 pesos per student and 1,500 per teacher. And of course they get the honor of paying for their bus fare and food out of their own pockets. Makes me so happy the board of ed places such a high emphasis on dance competitions (and sporting events too) and less so on giving the kids a real education! 

[Lee]

I posted the highlights of CB's link above.

• Equitable access to quality education remains elusive throughout the years of formal education. In 2019, while 82.4% of Filipinos aged 25 and over have reported completing primary education, completion rate for secondary education significantly drops to 30.5% for the said cohort. Completion rate for a Bachelor's or equivalent degree decreases even further to 24.4%.
• Additionally, while 49% of the richest decile attend higher education, only 17% from the poorest decile can do so.
• An average Filipino student spent more time in school but was less productive than their counterparts in comparator countries
• The enrollment rate in Philippine higher education is on par with middle-income countries' average. This is, however, rapidly eroding as neighboring countries continue to rise while the country's enrollment rate has stagnated
• In the 2018 PISA, The Philippines ranked last among 79 participating countries and economies in reading and second to last in science and mathematics. At least 78% of students in the Philippines failed to reach minimum levels of proficiency in each of the three PISA subjects.
• 19% achieved the minimum proficiency level of Overall Reading Literacy.
• 19% achieved the minimum proficiency level of Overall Math Literacy, Level 2 or higher. 22% of students attained Level 2 or higher in Science.
• The low share of 15-year-olds represented in PISA reflects a large proportion of school leavers and out-of-school youth in the country.

[Lee1154]

When you find out that the average high school graduate reads at a 5th grade level, I can only think of two reasons.  Either most of the students are mentally challenged or the educational system needs repaired.  I have a hard time believing that most students are mentally challenged.

We have decided to home school.  I am still looking for a good curriculum if anyone knows of any.

Edited February 26 by Lee1154

[scott h]

“I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans.” That’s the famous statement by the Philippines’ second president Manuel Quezon 

[Possum]

3 hours ago, Lee1154 said:

We have decided to home school.  I am still looking for a good curriculum if anyone knows of any.

IXL is a good one. You can choose which country the education is centered on. We used Singapore for math and english. US for science and social studies.

[Tommy T.]

After all the above, there is something you all seem to ignore....

I believe Filipinos are probably in the top 95% of cell phone proficiency and 100% for FaceBook!