Are we headed down the road to perdition?

School Year 2019-2020 opens today in many public and private schools across the nation. Education Secretary Leonor Briones has underscored the department’s programs, projects, and activities to ensure the readiness of almost 62,000 schools to accommodate the projected 27.8 million learners.

Aside from the lack of schools and teachers not to mention their cry for higher wages, there are two pressing issues at hand for DepEd and CHED: (1) the removal of Filipino and Panitikan from the core subjects in college, and (2) the implementation of ROTC in senior high school.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled with finality that Filipino and Panitikan (or Philippine Literature) can be excluded as core subjects in college. In a five-page resolution, the SC en banc stood by its ruling last October 9 after the petitioners failed to present substantive new arguments that would have swayed the justices to change their opinion. The justices pointed out that while the Constitution mandates the inclusion of the study of Filipino and Panitikan in the curriculum of educational institutions, “the mandate was general and did not specify the educational level in which it must be taught.”

There have been several arguments presented on the issue. One argument is, if the objective is to teach structural Filipino in college, then it can be said to be redundant, simply because the lessons have already been taught from Grade 1-12. However, if the objective is to teach Filipino as a higher linguistic course, it will be teaching more than just the language. It becomes a synthesis of all learnings about the Philippines – its history, culture, traditions, government, society and others. It develops critical thinking, something that is not taught in other subjects.

 My friend, Virny Dy-Malabana, a language teacher points out the fact that Filipino language and literature in college is not merely a repetition of what has been taught in primary and secondary education. They are naturally brought to another level of discourse honing the intellectual and civic competencies of the students. The problem is that traditional teachers look at college only as a preparation for future careers. They don’t realize that college is also the time when we have to ensure that students in their final years of education understand their roles as part of the Filipino society. We urgently need to empower them to contribute to the progress of the country.

By the way, the idea of teaching Filipino and Panitikan solely in senior high school poses problems. First, lessons and stories need to be age-appropriate. There are stories that need deeper discussions and analysis like teaching Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. In high school, students can understand the significance of characters and the plot but a deeper analysis is usually taken in the collegiate level.

Second, the DepEd offered different strands in senior high school. Did our officials forget that STEM which is one of the most popular strand doesn’t require Filipino? The best solution to this problem would have been for DepEd to offer only the General Academic Strand (GAS) in senior high school and let the tertiary level deal with specializations (other strands) which is done in other countries around the world. But this is another issue.

Anyway, my question now is, why remove Filipino and Panitikan from the college core subjects and have it taught in senior high school knowing all of these issues? Why do we need to remove a subject that can best help us become more Filipino?

 Why stop teaching Filipino in college while overcrowding high school with it, not to mention the possible inclusion of ROTC in senior high school (or did they decide to put it in college)? How can the senior high school students absorb everything? Susmariosep!

President Duterte said that mandatory ROTC training will help prepare young Filipinos defend the Philippines during wartime. He added that in passing the bill, we can instill patriotism and love of country to the youth. Is this the best way to prepare our students to defend and protect the country without cultivating a deeper appreciation and understanding of being Filipino?

What is the rationale behind implementing the ROTC at the SHS level? Is it the need for a citizen force that can be called upon in times of need? The framers of this program have to make their objectives clear, lest we waste time, energy and money once again in implementing changes. Remember not all battles are won by guns in the battlefield. Many are won in the hearts of men. Our youth must first love their country and the only way for them to love it is to know their identity as Filipinos. Those stakeholders and public servants who removed Panitikan and Filipino in the college level are destroying us. They are not thinking. They are the very ones killing the idealism and nationalism of our youth.

The youth must first be equipped with Filipino values of resiliency, valor and patriotism through learning Panitikan, Filipino and Aralin Panlipunan. As a matter of fact, every Filipino college student must have a core requirement of Philippine studies to strengthen their knowledge about our country in the different segments of society be it social/ cultural, economic, business, political, civic, etc. ROTC should not preclude the youth from civil service alone but also involve them in Environmental Protection and Awareness, in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response.

The framers must break their silence and inform the stakeholders of their plans and programs. No one from the AFP, DepEd or CHED has come forward to explain the program. Why are we kept in the dark?

There is a must-watch movie in town. Directed by award-winning director Matthew Rosen, Quezon’s Game revolves on the hidden chapter of the former Philippine president’s life. It explores the time when he, together with his contemporaries in the government, rescued Jewish refugees from the ghettos of Germany and Austria in 1938. Franz Zorilla IV of Philippine Tatler wrote in his review of the movie, “Quezon’s Game re-echoed Filipino hospitality, respect for women, and the plight for equal rights. By focusing its lens on a particular plot, it successfully achieved its objective of portraying Quezon’s principle of putting his moral values and faith in the Filipino people ahead of personal political agenda.”

Go watch it! Hopefully it will inspire our public officials and make them feel proud to be Filipinos.