Relevant Education

Thursday, 17 February 2011 01:52

Written by Louie C. Montemar

Students of the Philippine Normal University (PNU) have been crying hoarse against the hefty budget slash that the country's main teacher training institution has gotten for 2011.It is therefore interesting to note that PNU, in its younger years, was fully and adequately supported by public funds.

PNU students were then given full scholarships and assured a job immediately after graduation given the state's concern to greatly expand the public school system. Then, teachers were needed and the state gave its unqualified support so entrance to the PNU was quite competitive. Today, we see PNU student leaders calling for better access to higher education, and a more “relevant education.”

I just hope these students do not forget their calls when they become teachers or educational managers themselves. I have had my share of “bad” and “good” teachers. It was a teacher too, a history professor, who first suggested to me the kind of “bad” teachers I may have had. During my first year in college that professor challenged my previous knowledge on Philippine history and education by posing this observation: “Why do your teachers in elementary and high school keep asking quiz questions like: ‘Who is the Joan of Arc of the Visayas?’ or ‘Who is the Joan of Arc of the Philippines?’Why? Do the French ask their students, who is the Teresa Magbanua or Gabriela Silang of France?”

To bring home the point, said professor posed another query and observation: “Why do some of us Filipino say, “Ang sarap ng turon, parang apple pie.” when they should be saying “Ang sarap ng apple pie, parang turon.” [Bakit nga ba ako nagsusulat sa Ingles? But that’s another story, for another article]. Yes, there you have the so-called colonial mentality or irrelevant educational meme of some of our people and, tragically, it may be a perspective that is propped up and somehow reproduced in the country’s educational system, especially at the basic education system.

In countries like the Philippines where the introduction of the formal education system as well as of a new written language and the knowledge encoded in them were part of the process of colonization, there is a general predisposition towards undue abstraction of knowledge that is created through the formal system. This leads to the fundamental problem of the irrelevance of the formal system of education to the lives and aspirations of the common people or the discontinuity in what the formal curricula prescribes and what the community requires.

This has led to the training and education of students who are not just under performing at their expected level but, as some studies have indicated: (1) Have a Western consciousness or are biased in favor of foreigners and imported materials and ideas; (2) Tend to favor authoritarianism as a political system or are not pro-people; (3) Lack critical thinking skills; (4) Are sexist or homophobic in attitude; and, (5) Do not value the health of the physical environment.

Current efforts to overhaul the basic education curricula in the country and lengthen the school going period from 10 to 12 years—this K12 proposal—must root itself in a broader historical analysis of the social functions of education. Only then can we meaningfully debate on what education this country needs.

My friends at Gawad Kalinga believe that we need what Tony Meloto calls “patriotic education”. Perhaps. In my field, what I see is our country's urgent need for more community development specialists – people with a heart and mind for meaningful and lasting change.

Let's hope these PNU students can keep their passion for teaching alive, as the call for relevant education remains relevant.

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