Letter to the editor - Let's shun Carabao English in our public schools

My daughter who handled an English class as a practicum teacher in Abellana National High School, 1st Semester 2006-2007, told me the following story:

Norman (not his real name), a graduating student, could not even write a simple declarative sentence much less understand basic English grammar. To make things worse, majority of Norman's classmates fared no better. She and the other practicum teachers have no idea how they passed the lower levels of the secondary education and became candidates for graduation.

House Bill 4701, which seeks to arrest the progression of the dismal reality of deteriorating English competency comes as a welcome solution to an old problem. Some may see the proposed law as a stopgap panacea the positive effects of which will be felt 40 years hence. Nevertheless the idea that we are doing something now rather than later means a world of difference than mere bickering over the pros and cons of the use of English as the medium of instruction in our public schools.

Of course this bill will not be worth the paper its printed on if no sufficient program of enforcement can be assured... also funding for more relevant books, up-to-date instructional materials like computer hardware and software and - the most important factor of all - competent, dedicated, creative teachers. Not the retooled ones but the freshly minted graduates who still carry in their hearts the kind of idealistic fervor our schoolchildren badly need. Not those old foggies who are counting their days till retirement and whose mindset can no longer be enlightened by a mere battery of seminars and workshops. You cannot teach an old dog new tricks, the saying goes.

Our politicians especially those incumbents who yearn to enshrine their good name behind a worthy cause can make good finally over unfulfilled promises, wittingly or unwittingly, left behind in the heat of the campaign trail. Now is the prime time in their political career to jump into this bandwagon of "English renaissance".

Perhaps when all of us unequivocally support this cause we may be able to witness our country in the forefront once again as one of the leading English speaking nation in Southeast Asia.

Edgardo Dequito
Timpolok, Lapu-Lapu City