Click here to read Part I It is also heartening to know that under the new curriculum, good manners and right conduct will be integrated in all learning areas. What is the good of literacy if we turn out ill-mannered youth with no civic spirit. I sometimes wonder whether the problems of teaching have more to do with the language used than the skill of teachers or the soundness of the curriculum. I’ve seen high school graduates wrestling with the convoluted English of public documents and wonder if it would have been better had they been simplified or translated into Pilipino. Even traffic rules might be better obeyed if they were understood although I have seen some already being translated into Pilipino. After all, literacy has to be functional and usable in daily life.
Another important area of change is in high school math which shifts from the spiral system which introduced all math subjects in every level, to the linear sequential approach where only Elementary Algebra is taught in 1st year, Intermediate Algebra in 2nd year and geometry in the 3rd year. This would address the preparation needed by young Filipinos who will have to compete for IT jobs. The rationale of the change is Algebra gives the basic discipline for creative computer programming. "Without this theoretical framework, IT teaching may only produce mere encoders — "the hewers of wood and drawers of water in the knowledge society." Roco said making it clear that curriculum making is a dynamic process and will continue to develop as the need arises. The BEC was the subject of 16 years of study conducted under the various secretaries — Lourdes Quisimbing, Isidro Carino, Bro. Andrew. Schools, parents, students, business, trade and industry, NGOs and experts in the Education department who administer the education system were all consulted.
Does an entry from the Philippines to an international exhibition on art for environment have to be "Filipino"? Sometimes one learns from the least expected places and occasions. That was the case with me when I agreed to be a judge in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources unique sail poster painting contest in Boracay recently. I thought this was another of those sleepy events from a department wishing to be seen as keeping busy. I understood that the event was in preparation for the UN World Summit on Sustainable Developments in Johannesburg, South Africa as well as the high point of the celebration of May as Ocean Month.
Even the description of the project
"Sail Poster Painting Contest: A Water Arts Festival in Boracay, Bohol and Batangas" failed to move me until I got to Boracay. Whoever’s idea it was, the beleaguered DENR Secretary Heherson Alvaarez or his wife, RM awardee Cecile Alvarez, the contest was a spectacular idea and should have been more widely publicized. It is in times like this that one regrets our free-wheeling system which allows more space to non-productive criticism than the substantial achievements of public officials who want to make a difference. The contrast of what one reads in the press about the deplorable campaign to stop Secretary Alvarez’s appointment and the work he is doing for environment was not more stark than it was at Boracay last week-end.
As Secretary Alvarez said the paintings will provide a "harvest of images to raise awareness of the degraded state of our water bodies. It will also be an effective way to highlight the urgency of rehabilitating, conserving and generally promoting united community action to clean and protect our rivers and oceans, our seas streams and lakes." But for me, the contest was a memorable experience. Seeing an entire community in Boracay, led by Mayor Cicero Kawaling and Aklan Congressman Gabriel Calizo in action was a revelation. It was possible to use art to educate the general public on conservation. Even when the festivities were over, the sails with their messages on the boats carousing by the pristine blue waters of Boracay could not have failed to attract attention. My favorite poster painting was a bland, could be anywhere piece made by an independent artist named James Haresio. It was a poster with a light blue background perhaps portraying a clear sky and three fish skeletons or the membrane of leaves depending on how you want to interpret it with the title "
Daing ng Kalikasan". As my co-judge, Jarius Bondoc put it, ‘it was a clever way with words since
daing could mean either the fish or
daing (accent on the second syllable), a moan or cry from Mother Nature. It was the very tentativeness of meaning that gave the painting power. The ‘it could be anywhere’ and ‘mean whatever you want it to mean’ that would commend Filipino art as sophiscated and ready to take on the global spirit. After all, concern about the environment is universal as also are the dictates of art. The closer the poster is to these standards, the more superior the poster painting is. Unfortunately,
Daing ng Kalikasan, only garnered the third prize, third after other judges favored more "Filipino" posters from the more organized AAP with images of Botongesque fishermen rowing boats, and the first prize, one with a medley of fish in water as we would find in postcards. Haresio might not have won first prize but he was prophetic.
My e-mail address:
cpedrosa@edsamail.com or
c.pedrosa@qinet.net.