English as election issue

The presidential candidates that joined the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development Presidential Policy Debate were asked two questions related to education.

The first question was: “The Philippines has the shortest educational cycle in the world. What do you intend to do about it?”

The second question was: “What is your stand on using English as the primary medium of instruction?”

The two questions were asked of Dick Gordon, Gibo Teodoro, and Manny Villar. (Noynoy Aquino was nowhere to be found, as former President Fidel Ramos emphasized at the end of the program.)

Gordon and Teodoro simply ignored the first question. Villar did not answer the question directly, but said that he believed that a college degree should not be necessary for a Filipino to get a job. Since the present high school curriculum does not prepare students for jobs, that would imply that he wants to add to basic education the missing two years of livelihood training.

“People should be able to get jobs immediately after high school,” he said. That dovetails very well, by the way, with the present plan of CHED to stream high school graduates seeking immediate employment to TESDA and to add a pre-university stage to those that can wait six more years.

It was clear that none of the three had previously thought about the problem. That it was asked is clear proof that voters are thinking about the issue. The staff of all three should start looking at specific educational proposals. So far, all I have heard from the three (as well as from Noynoy) are motherhood statements about the quality of education and the training of teachers. No presidential candidate has come out with a concrete list of things that can be done to improve our educational system.

The three candidates answered the second question.

A non-lawyer, Villar said that he would make English the primary medium of instruction in our schools. That is so totally against the Constitution that I wonder if he has ever read it.

Article 14, Section 6, says that “subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.” Section 7 adds that “for purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.”

Since English can be removed by Congress but Filipino cannot be, that makes Filipino the primary language of instruction. Since the regional languages are the auxiliary languages of instruction, English is only the third choice. How can a candidate go so blatantly against the Constitution?

Since a case against the government’s move to make English the primary language of instruction is pending in the Supreme Court and is sub judice, I cannot write any more about it.

Strangely ignorant of the Constitutional provisions despite being a lawyer, Teodoro agreed that English should be the primary medium of instruction. He even argued that English should be taught as early as pre-school.

That goes against all the research in language learning in the world. Clearly, he is as illiterate in educational theory as he is literate in other fields. Too bad. I was actually considering voting for him despite his having received the kiss of death from Voldemort. For one thing, I was impressed by his honesty during Ondoy. Maybe he can be honest again and say that he knows nothing about the rudiments of education, the way he admitted that government was not ready to respond to emergencies.

Also a lawyer, Gordon was careful not to attack the Constitution. He said that there is no question that we need English today. (Nobody, especially not me, will disagree with that.) He noted, however, that research shows that students learn English faster and better if they use their mother tongue as the medium of instruction. That is in line with the thinking of all educational experts around the world. Gordon said that he would keep the “vernacular” (he should have said “mother tongue”) as the primary medium of instruction.

It was too bad that Aquino could not (dared not?) make it to the forum. I would have loved to hear him answer the second question. It’s time to separate those that will uphold the Constitution from those that will not.

CALLING YOUNG ORATORS: The English Speaking Union Public Speaking Competition 2010 is now open. The Philippines has won this prestigious event twice – first with Patricia Evangelista in 2004, the second with Gian Karlo Dapul in 2008. I attended the 2009 competition in London; although our bet from the UP College of Medicine did not win, he gave the others a good fight. Recent winners were China, Mauritius, Russia, and Yemen. We have won twice; we can win again.

ESU-Philippines will hold the elimination for the Philippine representative on March 6 at the UP School of Economics. If you are a student between 16 and 20 and you want to join, contact the UP Debate Society.