More years doesn't mean more learning

Reports have it that the new administration is seriously considering the addition of two curriculum years to the existing 10 years of basic education. One year is planned to be added to the existing six-year elementary program and another year to the four-year span in the high school. If pushed through a Filipino child will then have 12 years of pre-college schooling.

   The question is, will an augmented classroom exposure result in a better education for the average child? Perhaps it will, perhaps it will not. At this point in time, the advocates of this plan have only their perception to rely on. This, plus the observation that most countries in Asia, except Bangladesh and Mongolia, have a 12-year slot for their primary and secondary school children, is the basis of their advocacy. In other words, the proponents of this plan would want the government to spend tens of billions of pesos on a program whose outcome is doubtful. What a waste of money! Money, we don't have. All these years the country has been operating on a deficit spending buoyed up by extensive borrowing from foreign sources. Of course, if we go on with this curricular add-on this will aggravate our financial situation, which could mean more borrowing, which would mean more billions for debt service, resulting in a continuing fund shortage for development projects.

   Spending huge sums for education would of course be justifiable if the outcome - better educated citizenry - is assured. A well-educated people spells progress. This explains why most Western countries with their top-of-the-line educational system are prosperous. Civilization, one writer says, is a race between catastrophe and education. Or it could be a race between poverty and prosperity.

   In the Philippine scene we know who's winning the race. With more than a third of its 90 million folks living below poverty line the implication is clear: Education, Pinoy-style, has not been functional. But why should it be? With 50 to 70 children stacked in one classroom, usually poorly ventilated and lighted, what kind of learning is gained? With books always in short supply and non-existing science equipment what mental sharpening can occur? Add to this is a clog-up curriculum plus the difficulty of going through Tagalong-based subjects, and you get a good idea of how to de-educate our children in schools.

   Two more years to make it 12? We better go easy on this. The truth is, more school years doesn't make good education. It's the what and the how of the process that counts.

   What kind of learning tools are on hand? What kind of learners are there? And of course, what kind of teachers operate our classrooms? These and how the latter two interact with each other in the day-to-day learning tasks determine the quality of schooling in the system.

   Of learning tools much can be said including errors in contents and inadequacy of book supply. More serious is the kind of learners in both the primary and high school levels. What's wrong with them? Lack of motivation to learn is what's wrong. For some reason, the drive towards the intellectual pursuit of learning is becoming a rarity among our students. Books no longer attract them. They don't thirst to get imbibed with the accumulated wisdom of the ages. Literature and the arts and the humanities are strange stuffs to them. The drive towards excellence is wanting. Pwede na is the mindset of many.

   Yet this lukewarm attitude towards learning is only half the problem. In many countryside schools where about 60 percent of the young do their schooling food security is a problem. Many come to school sans full meal. Many are malnourished. How can learning occur in empty stomachs?

   The kind of students we have suggests the kind of teachers who man our classrooms. Like their students they too don't have a strong conviction towards learning. Many have not gone through a good exposure of the humanities or an in-deep seasoning of their area of specialization. Pwede na too is their mindset. Pwede na with a scant know-how of teaching-learning strategy. Pwede na with a seminar here and there. Pwede na if their kids are half-baked as long as the pay check comes on time.

   More years for basic education? Before taking this step the new messiahs of Philippines education should look closely at what really ails the system.

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