Better than Static Noise

In about a week’s time, school children from kindergarten to high school would be going back to waking up early and come of age in campuses all over the nation on weekdays. Isn’t it interesting that drum and lyre rehearsals began way before academic classes? That makes you wonder which is curricular and which is extra-curricular. Well, of course, that’s just one consequence of starting the school year close to September. They can’t wait for August. Don’t you notice that it rains almost every afternoon? It doesn’t just rain, it rains hard. Don’t you notice that it pours heavy about the time that school children would be going home? I feel sorry for those socks that would be soaked. Jeepney, tricycle and pedicab drivers are probably excited for the expected uptake in their fare come end of July. The roads will end its rest from heavy traffic to a standstill. Finally, the vendors who sell sweets and chips, toys and chicks with painted feathers will enjoy some boost in business. What toy would trend this year that would follow the way of Rubix Cube and lato-lato? Of course, there’s the Brigada Eskwela along with the enrollment.

This year, schools will launch the MATATAG Curriculum for Grades 1, 4 and 7. Those are the entry points for primary, intermediate and high school respectively, in case, you’re wondering. You probably heard about it in the news a year ago. They’re implementing it this year ago. This should invigorate our education system, lifting learners and teachers from their supposed stagnations. Popular perception has it that this one would have fewer subjects. Well, the subjects would be pretty much the same.

The most obvious difference would be on Grade 1. Good news for parents who equate speaking English with intelligence and hold verbalizing in the vernacular in utter disgust. The subject, Mother Tongue will be no more. Bicolano children will no longer study Bicol. Ilocano children will no longer study Ilocano. Visaya children will no longer study Bisaya. In my opinion, the Mother Tongue learning area was simply a logical step towards cultural identity. It is merely natural for a person of a particular race and ethnicity to learn and be versed in his own mother tongue. Would it be intelligent for a person to be a master of the stores downtown, yet totally unfamiliar of where clothes and cups are kept at home? I heard a parent complain that learning the mother tongue would not be useful in the workplace. Well, is music or physical education useful in looking for a job? Yet, we don’t hear any complaints against those. How do counting beats of notes and distinguishing elements of physical fitness increase your employability? For all you know, communication in the vernacular has been an effective means of delivering services to clientele, even to those who think they’re better off with English. Well, there you have it. Mother Tongue will be no more. Then, you will be hearing about subjects like Language, Reading and Literacy and Makabansa from Grade 1 kids. Wasn’t there a subject called “Makabayan” some years ago? Now, they have this Makabansa. They’re also bringing back GMRC Good Manners and Right conduct. Well, it’s not so much “bringing back”. It’s more of rebranding ESP Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao with GMRC. Between those two, it was called Values Education. The content will be pretty much the same. They just want to switch labels. If you ask me, saying “ESP” slides better on the tongue than saying, “GMRC”. They say that the lessons will be decongested. Let’s see if the children even notice it at all.

Now, they’re telling us that this one’s better, that this one will help the children. How about the previous system? Didn’t the experts who crafted that believe that what they were doing was better that the previous one? Now, a new one comes along, making the one that came before it supposedly less good. Did the people who prepared that old system overlook a whole list of important matters that it has to be largely changed? What then makes us sure that this new system would be free from eventual glitches a few years from now? If the old one was too much, maybe this new one would turn out to be too little. So, would this be a regular swinging of a pendulum left to right and back? Are they all turning a dial to the right and to the left, and not getting it fine-tuned at all? Well, at least, it’s better than not moving the dial and leaving it on static noise.

“15 The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.” Proverbs 18:15