Weak basic educational system produces weak, inept voters

By Alex P. Vidal

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

THE weak basic educational system in the Philippines as shown in a 2022 global ranking of student performance in math, reading, and science, can be partly to blame why the country has a weak electorate, or voters who seemed hard-pressed to elect quality leaders during the elections.

“Our voters (in the Philippines) are slower in their capacity to choose the right or quality leaders,” observed Marlon Doronila, a US-based Ilonggo advocate of clean and efficient governance both in the Philippines and the United States.

Doronila, 67, who studied elementary school in Paco, Manila, said Filipino kids during his time were the No. 1 in Asia in terms of quality and substance in basic education because Engish was the medium of instruction then.

“When (the late former) President (Ferdinand Sr.) Marcos changed the medium of instruction to Tagalog, the quality of students in the basic education started to decline,” added Doronila.

UNESCO considers that “providing education in a child’s mother tongue is indeed a critical issue”.

In Philippines, the learner’s first language should be the primary medium of instruction at least until grade three. In the secondary education, Filipino and English are primary medium of instruction, wrote Aldin Faith Portillas.

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The Thomasites is a group of about five hundred pioneer American teachers sent by the U.S. government to the Philippines in August 1901.

The Thomasites arrived in the Philippines on August 12, 1901 to establish a new public school system, to teach basic education and to train Filipino teachers with English as the medium of instruction. However, the Thomasites expanded and improved the public school system, and switched to English as the medium of instruction.

According to a poll, which interviewed 1,200 Filipino adults last September commissioned by the Philippine Senate Basic Education Committee chaired by Win Gatchalian, only 4 in 10 or 38 percent of Filipinos claimed they prefer the use of local language as medium of instruction for Grades 1 to 3.

The survey reportedly found 88 percent agreed to use only Filipino or Tagalog in teaching, while 71 percent choose English.

Across major island groups and the National Capital Region (NCR), the Filipino language received the highest percentage in NCR at 97 percent, followed by 89 percent in Visayas, 87 percent in Mindanao, at 84 percent in Luzon.

Based on the respondents’ social class, the groups ABC (88 percent), D (90 percent), and E (70 percent) all preferred Filipino.,

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Learning begins with teachers, and empowered teachers and school heads are at the heart of genuine education reform.

“It is not enough that our teachers just go along for the ride in our drive toward quality education. They must lead the way in preparing our children and young people for lifelong learning. But what are the medium of instruction that teacher must use in the teaching process?” Asked Portillas.

There is constant debate over which language should be use in educating Filipinos: English, Tagalog, or local dialects.

The use of English for teaching math and science as well as English language and literature subjects has endured for many years; however, they said that Using English in public schools is a violation of the Philippine constitution. It also deteriorates the education system in the Philippines and puts the poorer students at a disadvantage.

Requiring its use, schools ironically determine the students’ abilities to learn the language.

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The use of English alienates students from their cultural heritage, impairs their emotional security and self-worth, and results in inferiority complex among lower-class children who are stigmatized for using the native tongue.

Despite a number of studies confirming that learning is faster using the native language, government officials are still pushing for the adoption of English as a medium on instruction (MOI) in Philippine schools.

The country’s weak basic education would eventually lead to a weak workforce and affect economic growth and global competitiveness, according to an advocacy group founded by the country’s top business leaders.

“The weaknesses in our basic education system will eventually translate into the weakness of our workforce, affecting the productivity and key source of our economic growth and competitiveness,” the Philippine Business for Education (PBED) said in a statement following the country’s poor showing in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which the higher and basic education agencies plan to address by improving teacher training, among others.

Filipino students were still among the world’s weakest in math, reading, and science, according to the global assessment, with the country ranking 77th out of 81 countries and performing worse than the global average in all categories, according to a report by Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza of BusinessWorld.

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I received an email from our bank, Capital One, warning me of these four new scams:

GRANDPARENTS SCAM. You receive a call or text message from someone impersonating a grandchild or loved one asking for money to help with an emergency and providing instructions on where to send the money.

These callers “spoof” the caller ID to make an incoming call appear to be coming from a trusted source.

Scammers can now use artificial intelligence technology to mimic the voices of loved ones and attempt to convince you they’re in distress.

CAPITAL ONE IMPERSONATION. You’re contacted by someone claiming to be from Capital One, or any other financial institution, regarding fraudulent activity on your account and asking you to transfer money or send a payment somewhere else. When in doubt, end all communication with the scammer and call the number listed on the back of your debit or credit card.

BUSINESS EMAIL COMPROMISE SCAM. You receive an email from a vendor requesting you to send money to a different account. The email looks legitimate, but it could be from a fraudster who got access to your vendor’s network.

GIFT CARD SCAM. A scammer tells you to buy a gift card, like a Google Play™ or Apple® Gift Card, and give them the numbers off the back of the card. No matter what they say, this is a scam.

No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy a gift card to pay them.

“If you think you may have given a gift card to a scammer—no matter how long ago the scam happened—report it to the gift card company,” advised the Capital One.

The bank also gave me the following tips:

—Neither Capital One, nor any other financial institution, will ever ask you to make peer-to-peer payments for correcting any fraud activity.

—Never send money to anyone who claims your account is compromised or threatens to cut off your services.

When in doubt, end the call and connect with Capital One via legitimate sources using the numbers listed on the back of your debit or credit cards.

—Don’t use search engines to access the Capital One website. Always use capitalone.com or the Capital One Mobile app to sign into your accounts.

— Report any suspicious activity immediately.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)