Catch ‘Em While They’re Young

Catch ‘Em While They’re Young

I remember a book by Robert Fulghum which my friend and I found in downtown Booksale. It was entitled Everything I Need to Know About Life, I Learned in Kindergarten. Through anecdotes of the author’s kindergarten life, the book says that on top of other things, kindergarten teaches children to share. It also says that kindergarten teaches children how to socialize, how to play with others, how to be less self-centered, how to wait, how to follow instructions, how to take turns, how to work in a team, how to interact with their peers, and so on. These are priceless things that children learn early on, and that they carry with them along the way.

Today, we are relearning that everything we need to know about life, we learn in kindergarten.  

Republic Act 10157 otherwise known as “An Act Institutionalizing Kindergarten Education into the Basic Education System and Appointing Funds Thereof” was signed into law last January 20 and formally presented by Education Secretary Armin Luistro in Malacañang last Monday, February 27. This means that starting school year 2012-2013, all children from age five will have to undergo mandatory kindergarten before formal education.

President Aquino underscored the importance of kindergarten in a child’s life, saying that the “first step” in the country’s education process is also when the child’s mind is most active. In the long run, this will provide the people the ability to improve their lives.

Research also supports this idea. A study by Raj Chetty, Emmanuel Saez and others suggests that kindergarten can have lasting effects on students. The study examined the life paths of almost 12,000 children who had been a part of a well-known education experiment in Tennessee in the 1980s and who are now in their 30s. The research was primarily concerned about adult outcomes and not test scores by the students.

Based on test scores, those who had good kindergarten education fared no better than their counterparts by junior high. However, test scores excluded, students who had kindergarten appeared more likely to go to college, to earn more and save more for retirement, to be less likely to become teenage parents and even to be less likely to die young. Moreover, even small differences in skills and knowledge acquired through early childhood education can have a bigger effect on pay, since those who had kindergarten were found to have a 7% increase in annual earnings at age 27. Roughly translated into monetary terms, a student who had kindergarten could expect to make about $1,000 more a year than a student who just stayed at home. This finding alone could justify the enactment of RA 10157, especially since we are in an age where money and income is the top priority.

But more than the financial gains, the researchers say that good early education can impart skills that make the difference in the students’ lives – skills like patience, discipline, manners, and perseverance. Apparently the lessons five-year-olds learn make a mark in their lives, even if it doesn’t translate into test scores.

The problem is that many parents question the importance of kindergarten in their children’s lives. It is assumed that Grade One teaches the same skills children learn in Kindergarten. As far back as I can remember, I myself attended kindergarten for as long as three days only because our teacher had to give birth and there was no substitute. After that, I wasn’t interested in going anymore; anyway, I had my mother to do the teaching as she is a teacher herself. In those days though, kindergarten education wasn’t as important as it is now. Or, its importance wasn’t given more proper attention than it receives now.

Of course, not all of us have the benefit of having a mother who is a teacher at the same time, and can teach you the basics in math, science, reading, writing, and more. Kindergarten accomplishes this job for our children. If your child skips kindergarten, he may still be prepared, but not as he should be if he had kindergarten education, especially now that they’re teaching more skills in kindergarten than they used to before. Also, your child can always learn the basics of socialization, of good manners, teamwork and the like in your home, but these lessons will be learned better in the school, in the real world where he is not an only son or an only daughter, where he is not pampered as he is at home, where there are other children as demanding, as brash, as mischievous as himself.

Children’s early learning experiences have a profound effect on their development. If we give our Filipino children positive early experiences in school, if we can give them a good kindergarten education that provides challenging and engaging learning experiences, we will build their confidence, we can encourage them to see learning as both enjoyable and useful, and we can provide a strong foundation for their future well-being.

 If we catch ‘em while they’re young and drum into their minds the basic skills that they can use in later life, then we wouldn’t worry about catching them when it’s too late.

My Selfish Gene

My Selfish Gene

            Biologist Richard Dawkins named the selfish gene in 1976, a gene that, contrary to the traditional concept of serving as a vehicle of inheritance, rather, exploits the organism in which it occurs as a vehicle for its self-perpetuation. This view also explains altruism at the individual level in nature, especially in kin relationships: when an organism sacrifices its own life to protect the lives of its relatives, it is essentially acting in the interest of its own genes. Thus, this self-sacrifice is for the genetic well-being of the remaining species, and the perpetuation of the gene itself.

            To borrow Jane Austen’s words, I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. This selfish gene certainly sheds light on my assumption of selflessness, in sacrificing my interests in some occasions, for the sake of others. Dawkins tells me that all the while, I have been acting for my sake alone. The times I gave the last slice of my favorite cake to my sister, or helped a stranger, or given my time in service of others – all of these I (un)consciously did for myself.

            But nowhere is my selfishness more evident than in my reluctance to talk about my place, or help in its development. As a writing neophyte, but writing still, I definitely have the opportunity to make known what I want to be known, especially politically, to help my place progress from being a 5^th class town to something a little better. But out of selfishness, I don’t. In the words of US writer Henry David Thoreau in Walden, or Life in the Woods, my argument was that, “By avarice and selfishness, and a groveling habit, from which none of us is free, of regarding the soil as property...the landscape is deformed.” Our town was now in danger of exploitation by foreigners starting a gold mine in the island across us even without being known to the outside world, how much more exploitation would happen if the road connecting our town to the national highway would already be constructed and finished, when everyone could reach us in just a matter of minutes?

            You see, the main problem with our town is that we don’t have a road connecting us to the other towns in Samar, and therefore, to the national highway. That’s why people often mistake our place as an island, because the only means of transportation is through motorboats when in fact, we are just next to Sta. Rita on the map, just a few hundred kilometres away from the national highway. By writing about our town, and this crippling lack of land transportation, I could make things better for my fellowmen.

Again, I reasoned out that the availability of land transportation would mean not just development and progress for us in the long run, but also destruction and corruption of our natural resources. Even though this reluctance to write is essentially denying myself the benefits of a better and faster transportation going home and back, and that I am depriving myself of the comforts of going home after a busy week at school, I argued that this was for the best, especially for the future generations, to still be able to enjoy the clear blue skies, green mountains and blue seas in our place. Honestly, though, I didn’t want to have that road made so that I’d still be able to enjoy the wind and the sea breeze on the trip going home and back. And this selfishness was denying my fellowmen the chance to a better life.

But a very close friend once reasoned with me, did I think my sentiments were the same as the sentiments of my people? Good for me that I was studying in the city, that I wouldn’t be living in my place forever. But what about those who will build their homes there? What about my classmates who weren’t able to go to college and were left with no choice but to stay? Was I helping to perpetuate my kind of people by leaving my fellowmen in my town while the more privileged of us get out and live in the city? More importantly, of what worth am I as a struggling writer if I don’t help my place, of all things?

            I used to rationalize that I wouldn’t write about my town just to smooth things further for the politicians and businessmen to grab the opportunity of big money through the road construction and the prospective businesses that will be set up in my place. But I realize I am hindering my fellowmen more; because it is they who are most affected. I know I wouldn’t live in our town forever; it is my duty to at least make it better to live in for the people who will stay there.

            My selfish gene has to be mutated so that I will now be selfish, but according to the definition of US writer and journalist Ambrose Bierce, ”devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others” (in this case, the people who will take advantage of this road). With apologies to Celtic Woman, Talalora, you’re calling me, soon I will write about you, soon I will go home.

Mga Sugo ng ABaKaDa

Mga Sugo ng ABaKaDa

This was the title of a documentary I recently watched sponsored by the Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS). The documentary described the rigors of the Mobile Teacher Program of the ALS. It also featured three teachers hailed as the Best Mobile Teachers of 2003: Cerelina Mulato, Arnel Marte and Jasmin Molo, all teaching in remote areas of Compostela Valley, Surigao and Romblon, respectively.

ALS is a parallel learning system that provides a viable alternative to the existing formal education instruction. It encompasses both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills. The Alternative Learning System (ALS) Mobile Teacher Program was conceptualized because of the DepEd’s desire to make education accessible to out-of-school youth and adults who live in remote barangays of the country, in line with the concept of bringing education where the learners are. The ALS Mobile Teachers are bachelor degree holders and are duly licensed professional teachers. The mobile teachers then live among the people in remote barangays of the country to conduct intensive community-based training for illiterate out-of-school youth and adults who are willing to learn basic literacy skills.

The ALS mobile teachers will not teach subjects from the textbook, instead, they teach practical reasoning skills, entrepreneurship and hone natural talents outside the formal school. This is primarily because as the Philippine Human Development Report said, out of the 120 Filipino who actually finish college from a starting number of 1,000 pupils in Grade 1, only one will come from the poorest of the poor, those who belong to the bottom 10% of the income ladder. Thus, there is a need for mobile teachers to help the deprived, depressed and underserved citizens of the country, an estimate of 11 million plus out of school youths and adults.

Initially, 600 mobile teachers have been deployed and assigned to areas where the unreached and underserved population of the country are. Learning sessions take place in the community using ALS learning modules for at least 3 months or until such time that the learners have become literate (for Basic Program) or has acquired necessary competencies (for Accreditation and Equivalency Program) before moving on to another barangay.

Carolina Guerrero, director for Bureau of Alternative Learning System, in an interview with the Philippine STAR said it is very necessary for them to train their mobile teachers so they would know what to do in case they were placed in a compromising situation during their tour of duty in rural areas. “Sometimes mobile teachers will have to go upland to meet the indigenous people which is so hazardous, that’s why we have to train them in basic survival techniques,” she said.

How very noble for teachers to ensure the expansion of access to educational opportunities for an education for all. How very dedicated of them to undertake this extraordinary task of walking upland for at least five hours to meet the indigenous people of their designated rural areas. What a show of commitment and passion for the job to be spending time away from family and loved ones just to fulfill a mission. How selfless of these mobile teachers to renounce the benefits of a regular job, a promotion, a comfortable every day journey to school just to teach ALS learners to read, write and compute. And this does not even guarantee a fixed schedule since mobile teachers follow whatever is the available time of the ALS learners. Plus, the lack of budget cripples the entire system since BALS is only getting less than 1% of the DepEd’s budget. The lack of materials and lack of support from the community and the government just makes the task more difficult. Also, mobile teachers do not enjoy a good career path as Guerrero said that “they (mobile teachers) don’t receive any promotions, if they wish to have a promotion, they need to go back to the formal school system to acquire it.”

The prospect of a five-hour walk every day to go to an indigenous area that is probably inhabited by insurgents and fugitives from the law is not all that inviting, but it may be the ultimate test of a teacher – to go forth unwavering in passion, dedication and commitment. Frankly, I would like to experience being a mobile teacher at one point in my life. I assume it will not be a heavy ordeal to walk those several kilometers to an assigned rural area since I am used to that in our town. Besides, it’s healthy for our body to exercise; although this ten-hour every day walk is a bit too rigorous for exercise. However, Mother Nature has its benefits of cool air accessible anytime. More importantly, this is an opportunity to experience what teaching in the Philippines really is like. I know this kind of teaching is not for an impatient and city-oriented person like me. This noble job is for better, more dedicated, more selfless teachers. But I still want to try. Who knows, I will find something very useful to me as a teacher, plus I’d be able to help those who really need my help. After all, as a teaching quote said, “A teacher is like a candle that consumes itself to light the way for others.” I would like to add that the teacher is also a star that explodes after it has shined enough light to the world, but in this explosion, its particles scatter to form part of other stars, other celestial bodies, so that the exploded star never really dies, but lives on through the lives of others. Kudos to the mobile teachers who are truly in service of the Filipino people and are real teachers in the extreme sense of the word!

Love on Valentine's Day

Love on Valentine’s Day

With the possible end of the world at hand, people have been resorting to all kinds of predictions. One Facebook post said that by numerology, Valentine’s Day will be cancelled this year since 14-02-12 = 0. Probably the mathematical statement of a broken heart, or a ‘loveless’ person. Those who are more hopeful this Valentine’s and already have partners, light a violet candle to symbolize continuity of your relationship, a white candle to symbolize the purity of your love, and so on, but for those who have no one this Hearts’ Day, pagdagkot kamo hin katol para diri kamo namokon, a forwarded message said.

Instead of lighting katol, here is an article on the internet on How to Love. It begins with the statement: While there are many different ways to define love and there are many different ways to love someone (or even yourself), here is a general guide to loving. With apologies to Keith Taylor and 159 others who edited that article, I also modify the pronouns and apply it to self-love (anyway, the article said at the outset that this can be applied to ourselves).

                How to Love Yourself

Steps:

1.    Know it. First of all you should know if you like yourself or not. (Be positive.)

2.    Watch. See if the self you are interested in is engaged with someone else, if yes then wait till they break up or leave him, if not then see if you like yourself too or not. (Of course you do; you wouldn’t be reading this if you don’t.)

3.    Say it. When you say the words "I Love You", they should carry with them the desire to show someone that you love them, not what you simply want to feel. When you say it, make sure you really mean it and are willing to do anything for that special person (in this case, yourself). [Say I love myself! (with feelings)]

4.    Empathize. Put yourself in your own shoes. Rather than impose your own expectations or attempt to control yourself, try to understand how you feel, where you come from, and who you are. Realize how you could love yourself back just as well. (Try to be more sensitive to your own needs.)

5.    Love unconditionally. If you cannot love yourself without attaching stipulations, then it is not love at all, but deep-seated opportunism (one who makes the most of an advantage, often unmindful of others). If your interest is not in yourself as such, but rather in how you can enhance your experience of life, then it is not unconditional. If you have no intention of improving your life, or allowing yourself to be yourself and accepting yourself as you are, and not who you want yourself to be, then you are not striving to love yourself unconditionally. (Be yourself, and love it.)

6.    Expect nothing in return. That doesn't mean you should allow yourself to mistreat or undervalue you. It means that giving love does not guarantee receiving love. Try loving just for the sake of love. Realize you may have a different way of showing your love for yourself; do not expect to be loved back in exactly the same way. (So maybe your disappointing score in an exam is not how you love yourself, but maybe it is when you treat yourself to ice cream after that you do love yourself back.)

7.    Realize it can be lost. If you realize that you can lose the one you love (in this case, yourself), then you have a greater appreciation of what you have. Think how lucky you are to have yourself to love. Don't make an idol of the person you love (don’t make an idol of yourself). This will place you under undue pressure and will likely result in you losing yourself.

8.    Never stop loving. Even if you have been hurt before you should not stop giving love, especially to yourself.

Pretty ridiculous right, especially that bit when you have to know whether you like yourself or not. But pretty sensible, especially that bit about not making an idol of yourself – this will place you under undue pressure and will likely result in you losing yourself. This Valentine’s, even if you have no one to share it with, at least you have yourself.

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            Lovers call this day, February 14, Valentine’s Day, ‘loveless’ people call it Tuesday. Lovers have hearts today, loveless people have hurts. However I don’t think that someone could be ‘loveless’, or that a person can have a heart so broke it can’t love anymore. These terms are probably in relation to a certain someone, but I think they should not be, for everyone.

One year ago to this day, someone somewhere left me alone for Valentine’s Day. Lucky I had different things to do so I didn’t mope. I triumphed over the evil forces of depression and sadness with a date with my Korean buddies at the Astrodome while still wearing my uniform, and a group date with my circle of friends at Mang Inasal. I needn’t tell you we were all single.

All the same, the depression of Valentine’s Day can’t get to you if you do something with it. Maybe you don’t have someone, just like I did, but you do have your friends, just like I did. And you still have a heart, just like I do. I know it because I love my favourite cheese sticks which we ate at the Dome, I love the unlimited rice we can avail at Mang Inasal, I love how I survived Valentine’s Day unscathed, although only physically. But I still love ice cream. I love adobo, halo-halo, I love Christmas in the Philippines, I love it that I go through everyday surrounded by things I love, people I love, I love it that I am loved, and I love. These I love. I love. We love. And that’s more than we can say about this jaded world, and this jaded time we are living in.

Pagbag-o / A Conversion

Pagbag-o

          Diri ako maupay nga Waraynon. Diri ako maaram han aton mga tinipigan nga tradisyon, mga susumaton, mga epiko. Diri ako nakilala hit mga tanom, mga hayop, mga pagkaon nga dinhi la ha aton makikit-an. Diri ngani ako nakilala kun hira hin-o it akon mga igkasi-Waraynon, igkasi-Talaloranhon, bisan dida la ha amon bungto.

Ini nga mga butang tungod kay dumako ako nga an nakikit-an ngan nababasahan hira Judy Abbott, hira Cinderella, pinaagi han telebisyon ug mga inglis nga libro. Dumako ako nga ginyayam-iran an muron, puto ngan duma ha lamesa, kay an spaghetti, cake, salad, mango float an ginbibiling han akon banyaga nga dila. Dumako ako nga nag-iinukoy la ha amon balay, kun makabati han mga iru-istorya han kadagkunahan, sulod ha usa nga talinga, gawas ha usa an nababatian. Dumako ako nga kulang han sustansya, kulang han kinaadman nga tikang han mga iru-istorya, han mga pinulongan, han aton tradisyon nga Winaray.

            Kakulop, Pebrero 4, 2012, gintawag ako ni Sir Voltaire Oyzon tikang han akon maupay nga kalingkod ngan ginyaknan ako nga ako an magigin emcee ha programa han syahan nga Katig han Sinirangan Bisayas: 2012 Regional Taboan ngadto ha amon eskwelahan, an LNU. Dinhi hini nga pagkatitirok, tumambong an magkadiru-dilain nga mga manunurat han Waray tikang ha iba-iba nga parte han aton rehiyon, tikang ha Biliran, ha Este, ha Weste, ha Leyte, pati na tikang han harayo nga dapit han Capul ha Norte. Kon kikitaon, diri na gad udog ako angay kulbaon hadto kay may pipira na ka beses nga nag-emcee ako han amon mga programa ha eskwelahan, ngan usa pa, ginsidngan ako ni Sir Volts nga natural la it pagyakan. Pero an akon pag-emcee hadto kay ininglis man. Diri ako natapod han akon Winaray nga kayakan.

Nakatalwas gad ako hit nga akon tigdaay nga pag-emcee, pero adi la gihap an kaawod ha akon kalugaringon nga bisan ako nga ungod nga Waraynon, banyaga nga dila an nahigaraan. Bisan ngani an amon mga tigyakan kakulop diri namamag-Waray, dara gihap hin kolonyal nga panutdoan. Kadako nga karat-an han Waray-waray nga diri nahibabaro pag-Waray.

Yana nga may MTBMLE na kita, gin-aaghat an mga manunurat, an mga Waraynon nga gamiton an aton kalugaringon nga dila ha kada adlaw nga pakigharampang ngan pakig-istorya, ngan pati na ha panutdoan hit aton mga eskwelahan. Pinaagi hini nga MTBMLE, han Taboan, ug han iba pa nga mga workshop ug seminar nga nagduduso hin paggamit hin kalugaringon nga dila, hinay-hinay nga natatagan hin importansya an aton yinaknan, hinay-hinay nga nagprepreserba kita han aton kultura, han aton kinabuhi, han aton pagka-Waraynon, ug naghihimo hin bag-o nga mga hinumdoman, pinaagi hin pagsurat. Tungod nga nagsusurat kita agud diri naton mahingalimtan – an aton mga hiagi, an aton mga gin-agian, an aton mga inop, aton kinaiya komo mga Waraynon.

            Sanglit siring pa ni Sir Volts, “Kadako hit responsibilidad nga magsurat ka ha Waray.” Ha may sobra tulo ka milyon nga tawo ha Sinirangan Bisayas, pipira-pira la it nagsusurat ha Waray, maiihap la it nagdudugang hit aton hinumdoman. Diri gad sidngon nga angay liwat naton hingalimtan an ininglis kay kinahanglan liwat naton ini nga linggwahe. Kinahanglan ipreserbar naton an tradisyon, pero kinahanglan liwat naton hin inobasyon para kita magpadayon. Kay it tubig hit aton kultura Winaray nga natatambak, tubig nga diri na naawas, nagigin hinungdan hit kamatayon – kamatayon han aton kultura ngan yinaknan dara han mga lamok nga kita la gihap an nagpadako.

Maaram ako nga panmerkado pala it akon Winaray, dara hin trese ka tuig nga pag-inaram hin Ininglis samtang an Waray kinakalimtan. Ginagamit gad, pero diri gin-aadman, diri gin-eestudyohan, diri gintatagan hin atensyon. Diri ako magsasaad nga Winaray na pirmi it ak gagamiton, pero tikang yana, mag-aaram na ako paghigugma han aton kalugaringon nga yinaknan, pinaagi hin mas agsob nga paggamit hini. Mamamati na ako hit istorya hit mga dagkuna, bisan diin, bisan an pinaka-ordinaryo nga mga tawo, kay damo gihap it nakukuha nga kinaadman bisan ha merkado. Siring pa ni Ma’am Merlie Alunan, “This is how you love your country.” Ginsusugad hini it paghigugma hit imo bungto, hit imo nasud.

Diri ako maupay nga Waraynon hadto. Yana, magbabag-o na ako.

A Conversion

          I am not a good Waraynon. I don’t know our treasured stories, our epics, our distinctive culture. I don’t know the plants, the animals, even the food, which can only be found in our place. I don’t even know who my fellow Waraynons are, my fellow Talaloranhons, even just in our town.

          These are because I grew up watching and reading about Judy Abbott and Cinderella through the television and the English books. I grew up frowning on muron, puto and the root crops served in the table, because it was spaghetti, cake, salad, and mango float which my foreign tongue craved. I grew up in the confines of the four walls of our house, that whenever I hear talks among adults, the things I heard would enter my left ear and exit through the right ear. I grew up ignorant of the wisdom coming from these adult talks and stories and deficient of the nutrients of our words, of our Waray tradition.

          Yesterday, February 4, 2012, I was called by Sir Voltaire Oyzon from my comfortable seat to tell me I was to emcee the program of the 1^st Katig han Sinirangan Bisayas: 2012 Regional Taboan in LNU, our university. Waray poets from the different parts of the region, from Biliran, Eastern Samar, Samar, and Leyte, and even from the far town of Capul in the North came to attend this gathering. Strictly speaking, I should not have felt jitters upon receiving the news since I have already emceed on different school occasions, and besides, Sir Oyzon told me not to worry, because I can speak the way I would normally do with others. But those times I emceed, I spoke in English. In comparison, I don’t trust my spoken Waray.

          I have survived that on-the-spot hosting stint, but the shame that I got used to a foreign tongue even when I’m a full-blooded Waraynon remains in me.  Even our resource speakers yesterday did not speak in Waray, also as a result of a colonial education. What an anomaly of the Waraynon not knowing how to speak Waray.

             Now that we have MTBMLE, writers, the Waraynons are encouraged to use the mother tongue in everyday conversation, up to the language used in our schools. Through this MTBMLE, this Taboan, and the other workshops and seminars pushing for the use of the mother tongue, our native language is slowly accorded its proper significance, we are starting to preserve our own culture, our lives, our identity as  Waraynons, and we are making new memories and repositories of thought, all through writing. This is because we write so as not to forget – our possessions, our experiences, our dreams, our character as Waraynons.

            As Sir Oyzon has said, “You have a big responsibility in writing in Waray.” Among the three million people in Eastern Visayas, only few are writing in Waray; only few add to the preservation of our collective memory. This is not to say that we should forget English, because we do need English in our lives. We need to preserve tradition, but we also need innovation in order to continue. Because the stagnant waters of our Waray culture will be the cause of death – the death of our culture and language because of the pests that we ourselves harbor.

            I know that my Waray-Waray is only good for the marketplace, as a result of the thirteen years I spent learning English and taking Waray for granted. Of course I use it, but I don’t study it, I don’t give it attention. I don’t promise that I would always speak Waray, but from now on, I will start loving my own language through more frequent use of it. I will listen to stories by our elders, everywhere, even to the most ordinary of peoples, because there is still wisdom to be gained, even from the marketplace. Ma’am Merlie Alunan states, “This is how you love your country.”

             I was not a good Waraynon then. From now on, I will change. 

Inventorying the IRI

Inventorying the IRI

Standing next in line for the IRI, her edginess only hinted at by the nervous biting of her index finger, Ellalene quietly sits down on the bench with me and after a few introductory words, we begin the IRI. She stops biting her finger and focuses on the task at hand. In fifteen unruffled minutes that were as neat as the way she tucked her hair into a ponytail and put a flower headband to prevent the hair further going astray, we were finished. After letting her sign her name on a sheet of paper, Ellalene quietly went and took her seat at the front of the class. Ellalene is a nine-year old third grader I met when I was doing the Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) for one of our major classes. She is one of the top three in her class and speaks in an unusually loud and rather brisk manner for someone her age. She reads very fast and breezes through reading selections of the IRI in less than a minute. Apart from the understandable faulty vowels (she tends to pronounce /e/ as /I/ as in /git/ for get) – sounds which are not really a part of our native language that’s why children mispronounce them – her reading is impeccable; she even reached Level 5 in the Word Recognition List, a considerable feat for a third grader. When it comes to comprehension however, Ellalene becomes silent. Compared to the Word Recognition List, she easily reached frustration level at Level 3, her ideal instructional level supposedly. Although she could still answer the questions given enough silent reading time and a few repetitions of the question using Waray, it was clear that she was having a hard time in understanding the selection. She even refused to answer two questions altogether. Towards the end of the reading test, she had resorted to nervously biting her left index finger, a sure sign of uneasiness and frustration. We had to stop the test right there. Ellalene is only one of the millions of pupils who go through the IRI every year to determine their reading levels, whether independent, instructional, or frustration level. This Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI) is an initiative of the Bureau of Elementary Education of the DepEd anchored on the flagship program of the department with the slogan, “Every Child a Reader, Every Reader a Learner”. With the program’s goal of enabling every Filipino child to communicate proficiently both in English and Filipino through effective reading instruction, the IRI provides greater insight into a pupil’s reading level. The IRI does not provide a specific diagnosis; rather, it provides the classroom teacher greater understanding of the child’s abilities, which in turn may lead to more accurate instruction. Apparently, the teacher already knew of her reading level, which, it turns out is just the norm. The teacher was aware that her pupils are very good when it comes to word recognition, but falls below par in comprehension. And there seems to be nothing that can be done about it, since five decades ago, several years before the 1973 Bilingual Policy of Education was implemented, researches on reading in the Philippines already revealed that the average accuracy in reading was equivalent to a retardation of two years. Another research in 1988 found that the greatest difficult is mispronunciation in oral reading, and word meaning in silent reading. Since reading in itself is a survival skill that has to be learned and mastered in our age, it becomes imperative that our Filipino children be certified readers by grade three, the so-called threshold for reading, so they could be lifelong learners. It is this significant language factor which leads to the high functional illiteracy and low learning outcomes of Filipinos that the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) policy seeks to address. According to a 2003 functional literacy survey, 1 out of 3 Filipinos, between 10-64 years old, could not understand what they were reading. Now nine years later, and two years since the institutionalization of the MTBMLE policy in 2009, pupils like Ellalene are still having difficulty with reading comprehension in English. Tacloban City is still a long way from the 100+ pioneer schools in the country implementing MTBMLE in 2010. However, it is expected that this year we will have enough trained teachers and developed materials for MTBMLE to be mainstreamed at Kindergarten and Grade 1 levels in every region. In 2013, and every year thereafter, a new grade level under the MTBMLE curriculum will be added until the new program covers the entire elementary cycle. This would mean that MTBMLE will never catch up with Ellalene and others her age. By the time the policy will cover the entire elementary cycle, Ellalene will be in second year high school already, a long way from her formative years, her errors possibly fossilized, and her reading comprehension abilities below the ideal level. By then it will be too late for Ellalene and the others who will not benefit from the MTBMLE anymore. But it is hoped that the MTBMLE will be just in time to help the other younger learners, the ones who will soon assume responsibility for themselves and for our nation.

Holidays at Home

Holidays at Home

            It was a much-awaited event when I finally hopped into the motorboat and sailed for home at about 8:30 in the evening on a Friday. Never mind that I came home a full hour later, with my hair all frizzy from the sea air and my eyes drooping for sleep, I was home for two days and I let the familiar noises envelop me.

            My mother set right away on the task of clearing my head of any fantasies why I went home on the special boat – I was needed here to help with the preparations for tomorrow’s fiesta; that was all. The hearty food was enough of a homecoming party for me.

            My cousin was the hermano mayor for the year’s Feast of Sto. Niño. This meant he was the leader for the year’s festivities. The next day, the Feast Day, started with the Mass followed by the Fluvial Procession. Our church was decorated with red, from the hermanitos to the other churchgoers, all in honor of the Child Jesus. Later, 35 to 40 motorboats, bancas, including the four passenger motor vehicles and a speed boat, all adorned with buntings joined in the fluvial procession, leaving two barangays of our little town unusually quiet.

The hymn to the child was sung during the procession, with adult members of the group urging the younger ones to join in the singing. Several joined a few minutes later, adding their own rhythm and beat to the hymn. We went on a glacial pace rounding the other barangays of the town before finally picking up speed for the beach. At around this time, the quiet singing was drowned by the motor’s engine and our attention was diverted to the speed boat which darted in out of the way of the motor vehicle we were in. In the end, though, the erratic trail of the speed boat which moved in and out of sight proved no match for the little motorboats that soon caught our attention, racing unofficially with each other to the beach. One particular red motorboat left us in awe with its uncommon style of ‘jumping’ at the waves like a little fish. It soon overtook the others with its speed, owing to its peculiar feature: the engine was placed at the front part of the little boat.

At the beach, everyone was welcome to enjoy the gifts of sea and sun and air, and of course, food. Then came the parlor games where young and old alike participated in the spirit of fun and merriment. Especially admirable were the adult ones who showed remarkable stamina for filling up a small pail using mineral water containers that had holes all over them. It seemed the children’s energy were all inherited somewhere in the family tree.

            Then it was time to go home. My cousin, the hermano mayor, still had to perform the dulong, where he would turn over the responsibility of being the fiesta leader to the next hermano mayor, and then the image of the Child Jesus was to be returned to the church. After these were done, we were finally able to go home.

            One thing I particularly like about fiestas is the extravagance of native food: there were suman latik, moron, and a few root crops, crabs and other seafood, all so dear and priceless to me if only because they couldn’t be found in the city; or if they were, the experience isn’t as remarkable as those savoured at home. I would not have any hesitations in jumping on the next boat home despite the late hour if only I could taste these.

            More importantly though, I love fiestas, or patron in the native language, because it is when our community comes together in the lavishness of the celebration. During a fiesta, every home is open to everyone, including people from neighbouring barangays of the nearest town, even strangers, without a thought on the finances. Even the former mayor, the other town officials, the doctors and nurses, were there celebrating with us.

As Florentino H. Hornedo said in his book Culture and Community in the Philippine Fiesta and Other Celebrations, the fiesta endures in the country precisely because it is “rooted in the communitarian and expressive instincts of human nature,” is a “durable venue for Filipino culture and expressions,” and is a “symbol of Filipino sense of community” as they struggle against modernization, involving individuals in their community.  

More importantly, Hornedo sees the Philippine fiesta as a “cultural anchor”: “It is to this small community, that is annually recreated by the fiesta, that he goes home to renew his identity and sense of belonging—belonging to a home and familial village.” 

Hornedo couldn’t have been more right. In this age where young people like me go to the city for better education and better jobs, these fiestas, and other celebrations at home, remind us who we are, and where our community is. In fact, this sense of identity and community is why spending a holiday at home without the comforts of city life is infinitely better than spending it alone in a city that can be lonely at times. 

When Curiosity Leads the Cat to Kill

            January 10, 2012. Alyssa Bustamante, a teenager from Missouri, USA, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of a nine-year-old neighbour Elizabeth Olten on October 21, 2009.

            At the hearing, Bustamante looked straight at the judge and told him she strangled Olten, stabbed her in the chest and cut her throat. She also told him that she understood that by pleading guilty, she was giving up her right to a trial. Bustamante could face between 10-30 years to a life sentence for the murder charge and three years to a life sentence for armed criminal action.

Juvenile murder cases are one of today’s most controversial issues within the court of law. They have been described as an effect of media violence on children through videogames, television shows, movies, magazines, and violence-portraying toys. A 1994 National Television Violence Study in the USA revealed that juveniles who watch a lot of television seem to be less disturbed by violence in general and are less likely to see anything wrong with it. Having seen so many acts of violence, children may lose their capacity for empathy and become less distressed by real acts of violence.

Other experts maintain that there is no conclusive evidence that links media violence to aggression. They argue that child abuse is a much more conclusive cause of juvenile crime than violent images in the media, and that it is the parents’ responsibility to teach their children the difference between fantasy violence and reality. Other factors for juvenile murder cases may also include broken homes, abusive parents, rebellious tendencies, peer pressure, and gang influence.

When the deed is done however, many people, especially the victims’ families, believe that murder is still murder, and one does not have to be psychologically mature before he/she understands what is the possible outcome to the act. Some people even go so far as to believe that even at age 14, a child is fully responsible for his mind in many aspects of life especially concerning the outcome of crime and violence.

On the other hand, others believe that at a juvenile age, a child is psychologically not fully introduced into the world of maturity. He is not capable of thinking through their behavior and predicting the outcomes as a mature person is. Juveniles may be somewhat responsible for their mind probably in certain basic aspects of life such as the wellbeing of oneself, but not when it comes to strictly right and wrong viewpoints about life. As a US mental health worker put it, if the society underestimates juvenile intellect, categorizes them under less responsible persons, and as an end result would not allow them to vote, smoke, nor allow them to drink until a certain age of imperative mental maturity is reached, then why would the society all of a sudden want to hold them responsible for certain delinquencies they commit?

Comments and posts in the internet about this news ranged from possible causes to outright condemnation of the act. Criticisms centered on the lowering of the plea from first-degree murder to second-degree murder and racial discrimination issues between urban black and white youths. Meanwhile, others defended Bustamante by quoting juvenile justice officials that Bustamante attempted to commit suicide in 2007 and had been receiving mental health treatment for depression and cutting herself.

The fact remains, however, that Bustamante had, at 15 years of age, knowingly caused the death of a nine-year-old neighbor, telling the judge that she knew what she was doing at the time of the attack. She wanted to know what it felt like to kill.

Curiosity as an emotion represents a drive to know new things, and is a major driving force behind scientific research and other disciplines of human study. An old proverb warns us, however, of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation, “Curiosity killed the cat.” It was the cat’s curiosity that led him to his demise.

But in Alyssa’s case, a bright girl who, witnesses at her adult certification hearing say, ranks roughly in the top third of her class at Jefferson City High School, and who has not been in trouble at school or with the law before her arrest in Elizabeth’s killing, what went wrong when this same curiosity leads her to bring about the demise of others?

PNoy's 2012 priorities

    With the signing of RA 10155 or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2012 on December 15 of last year, President Aquino assured the Filipino people that every peso of the P1.816-trillion National Budget would be used wisely, allowing his administration to fulfill its Social Contract with the Filipino people.

“We’re hoping that we will be able to weather the current economic storm; that we will do a lot better than what we did this year [2011],” the President said. “And we are done with the learning curve. We’ve already put in place many systems that should correct the issue with regards to making sure that corruption is being combated,” he added.

            The so-called Results-Focused Budget represents 16.5 percent of the country’s GDP and is 10.4 percent higher than 2011’s budget of P1.645-trillion. This budget aims to allow the administration to deepen the reforms being set in place, to go one notch higher in the fight against corruption and the pursuit of good governance, poverty reduction, and employment generation from inclusive and sustained economic growth.

Building capacities through education

           

            Investing in education remains one of the central strategies of the government to combat poverty and build national competitiveness. The Department of Education (DepEd) received the largest appropriation for this year with a budget of P238.8 billion from its budget of P 207.3 billion last year.

            To secure education for all (EFA), a universal kindergarten program will be crafted, with 3,000 kindergarten teacher positions created in preparation for this. Also, 13, 000 teachers will be hired to fill in the gap for teacher shortage.

            Part of the budget is also allotted for the provision of crucial resources. Basic educational facilities are allocated for to lessen the classroom and facilities gap. The funds will be used for the construction and repair or rehabilitation of 45,231 classrooms; procurement of more than 2.53 million school desks and chairs; construction of 25,667 water and sanitation facilities; and the procurement of 45.4 million textbooks and teachers’ manuals.

The Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) remains an innovative program to help decongest public schools and give poor but qualified students an opportunity to study in private schools. One million grantees will be supported by the GASTPE in 2012. In addition, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will also finance its Student Financial Assistance Programs (STUFAPs) which are expected to benefit 47, 330 grantees belonging to the poor and disadvantaged sectors.

Meanwhile, the five-year amortization by the national government of unremitted premiums to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will also begin. This will restore the membership status of more than half-a-million DepEd personnel, so they may now avail of all the privileges as bonafide GSIS members.

Advancing public health

The health sector received P44.4 billion of the national budget with a view to meet the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality, by three-quarters the maternal mortality ration, and by half the incidence of malaria and other major diseases by 2015.

Pursuant to Republic Act 10152, the basic immunization for babies and children under five years of age is mandatory. Under the law, all infants should be provided with the Hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. The Expanded Program on Immunization also aims to reduce infant mortality and morbidity by decreasing the prevalence of immunizable diseases including tuberculosis (TB), diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles and rotavirus. The target clients under this program are the 2.6 million Filipino children, aged 0-5 months.

The Doctors to the Barrios program will also be continued, with some 200 doctors, 1,021 midwives and 12,000 nurses deployed in rural health units (RHUs), barangay health stations (BHSs) and hospitals nationwide.

To provide wider access to health services, the premium subsidies for indigents under the National Health Insurance Program were also increased, from P3.5 billion to P12.0 billion, to help ensure cover for all of the 5.2 million indigent households.

Strengthening the rule of law

With the protection of our national territory and boundaries, strengthening of the rule of law, and institutionalization of an efficient and impartial justice system that delivers equal justice to the rich and poor all priority thrusts under the Aquino administration, the judiciary received the 10th biggest allocation with P15.7 billion.

To ensure that the violators of laws on trade competition are apprehended, Executive Order No. 45 was signed which designates the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the Competition Authority to investigate cases that break such laws and to protect consumers from abusive, fraudulent or harmful business practices.

The National Justice Information System (NJIS) will also be strengthened. The NJIS seeks to link all databases in the justice sector to provide for seamless exchange of data and real time information on offenders. The Witness Protection Services is also included in the budget, with the evaluation of 700 witnesses and the provision of security and protection to those identified as credible.

Government efforts against human trafficking will likewise be intensified with the establishment of the Anti-Trafficking Task Forces in local ports that will track down trafficking activities and prosecute human trafficking offenders. Along the same vein, an Office for Cybercrime will be created to address the increasing number of cyber crimes in the country. This office will put up a crime information network that will link up with various law enforcement and government investigation agencies.

The increase in the budget will also boost the Enhanced Justice on Wheels (EJoW) Program of the Supreme Court, which brings mobile courts to areas where there are no judges and where the whole judicial process, from prosecution to conviction, can be conducted.

The DOJ budget also provides for the construction of a 12-storey Manila Hall of Justice along Taft Avenue.