IT IS NOW generally agreed that we should recognize the validity of international comparisons of educational attainment which show that the Philippines is not globally competitive.
This means that we have a clearer picture of what our education objectives should be. We are looking to provable improvements in students’ knowledge of their local language, English, Science, and Math. I believe also that students can gain some appreciation of scientific concepts at a very early stage and these should not be deferred.
It is extremely important that all students attending school should have experience of some demonstrable success. Since 2005, my family members have attended Bacolod Tay Tung High School. Before that, I was hesitant about whether we should enroll there because none of us knew any Chinese. We soon noticed that our children, and all their classmates, gained a proficiency in writing Chinese characters. This is achieved by repetition. Students, all of them, soon become confident that they can successfully undertake the required tasks. Success is contagious. Once a student experiences, any success, (it does not need to be in writing Chinese characters!) confidence is nurtured and success spreads to all required tasks.
It is no coincidence that Chinese students from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China do very well in international comparisons.
In contrast, it is clear that many students in our local classrooms do not enjoy much success and perhaps become discouraged. I am not reassured by lesson plans to which many teachers refer. These plans mention substantial topics which it is stated should be achieved ‘in 3-5 days’. So what happens when students do not achieve proficiency in this short time-frame? They become discouraged and many do not have much success. The vicious cycle is established where students, sitting silently in the classroom, are not making progress.
Laura Bush, wife of former US President George W. Bush, talked in terms of “no child left behind”. We agree. This concept, applied to US education, should also be an important feature in the Philippines.
Does this have any relevance to ‘support and collaboration’ mentioned by the Department of Education? I believe it does. Parents, even those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are anxious, if possible, for their children to make progress in school. This is underpinned by the Pantawid Pamilya (4Ps) program in which to obtain benefits, children much enroll in school and maintain an attendance of at least 85 percent of class days every month.
Monitoring of children’s progress should be frequent and accurate. If a student is not enjoying success, the problem needs to be addressed by the classroom teacher who should, where possible, notify those who could provide support and collaboration. This requires a cultural change since, all too often, there is a communications gap between school and home.
Success begets success.
Learning can be fun.
Let us make it so./PN
