And now comes Perlas

Even as DepEd engages itself with its banner thrust – the K+12 – with all its constraints and difficulties, it has embarked on another initiative called Public Education on the Rule of Law Advancement and Support or Perlas. As its name implies, Perlas is a form of curricular redirection designed to mold students into “becoming responsible and law-abiding citizens,” in the words of Secretary Armin Luistro. A joint project with the Supreme Court, the set of lessons or “exemplars” that have been designed will be mainstreamed in the learning framework of the elementary and high school in the forthcoming school year.

Rule of law – who can question its importance as a lesson for young minds? Yet there are serious concerns to take into account as the education office prepares to introduce this thrust into the system. First, internalizing a sense of respect for the law involves value acquisition. Rationalization of why one should obey and respect the law has its role, but it is a shaky basis because one can also rationalize why he can’t respect the law. A more solid foundation is the acquisition of a firm conviction that prescriptive behavior is a crucial element in a free society. Conviction is the outcrop of personal values, hence, learning the rule of law is an aspect of values acquisition.

Can respect of the law be taught? It can, but mere verbalizing achieves little. Like all values the best way is teaching by example. In other words as the child is taught the concept he must also be guided to observe factual happenings in which people uphold and respect the law. Positive examples abound right in the school environment. For instance, the teacher can point out to her learners that to earn a grade a pupil must attend classes regularly and must pass a series of tests. At the same time, however, negative happenings can also be observed. A teacher who is habitually late in reporting to her class is one. Gossiping is another. Worse is crankiness in the class and the unwillingness to accept contrary opinions. For these transgressions the perpetrator ought to be disciplined. But since no such thing is happening, the learner comes to realize that these are acceptable behaviors, hence the tendency to initiate them exists.

It exists and gets strengthened especially if the observed behaviors are reinforced by what the child observes in the community. And there are plenty of these. “Ayaw ilabay diri ang inyong sagbot,” the sign says. Yet the child can see garbage deposited right on the spot. Gambling is against the law, the school tells the child. Yet right in his barangay he can see adults playing “hantak” or indulging in card games. These are minor infractions to be sure. But as the child goes to high school or college he would get a generous exposure of more serious unlawful activities such as crimes against person or property and corruption in the bureaucracy. Does Perlas have measures to counter these negative factors?

Another concern relative to the Perlas project is that it will clog up the already clogged up basic education curriculum. The current one is already a halo-halo of several adds-on such as lessons on nutrition, environment, anti-drug, computer, land reform, taxation, entrepreneurship, food production and others, plus such major redirection as Makabayan (which places 5 subject areas under Filipino as medium of instruction), Alternative Learning System, and the newly prescribed kindergarten education.

As one can see, these learning elements are oriented towards what is called utilitarian education, a trend which education experts decry as off-track to the purpose of true education, one which is rich in the humanities and aimed at seasoning the learner’s mind and heart. This one targets the development of the whole man, hence such subject as arts and letters, science and mathematics, anthropology, psychology, and the like constitute its academic package.

Clearly, this is contrary to current educational thrusts in most countries especially the developed ones like the United States where high premium is placed on science and technology. This approach tends to close the American minds from whatever is true, good and beautiful in life, according to writer Allan Bloom. But more than 200 years of democratic governance is counter-balancing this possibility, and social equilibrium is maintained.

In the Philippine setting, however, the situation is different. With negative anti-social forces – insurgency, separatist movement, corrupt bureaucracy, etc. – threatening the social equilibrium, the thrust towards utilitarian education characterized by infusion of “practical” learning chunks like Perlas is likely to have a doubtful impact.