The parallel transformation of teachers and students

(Part IV, last of the series Maximizing ECE to Achieve Primary School Competence)

Generally, we adults are too preoccupied with scolding our children. We keep looking for their defective tendencies whether they are preschoolers, gradeschoolers or teenagers. “Removing the beam from our own eyes” consists of the spiritual training of the teacher, says Dr. Maria Montessori, who believed that the fundamental problem of education is conflict between the adult and the child. This does not mean that we must all develop into saints overnight. Rather, it means inner preparation directed not to the acquisition of all virtues, but of those most needed in our relations with children.

There are two sins which tend to distort our true vision of the children. They are pride and anger. Hence, humility and patience are the opposite virtue most needed.

Why educational reform seems impossible

Since the solution to educational reform is psychological, not pedagogical, the social revolution in education does not take place. No progress in educational reform is possible until tyranny on the part of the teacher changes. The teacher does not have to give up her authority but she needs to exercise it in a different way. The solution, therefore, is the psychological transformation of the teacher and not pedagogical solutions in teaching methods.

First step is to purge herself of these defects of tyranny with an act of humility. Dr. Maria Montessori says, “From this humility will be born a new respect for the soul of the child.” Once the teacher has made this act of humility, she will no longer look upon herself as someone whose duty it is to mold the growing personalities in her charge. She must regard herself “as one that serves.” Like a humble laborer who works at the task of building up the child’s freedom. This is a lowly task requiring minute knowledge and patient attention.

A world of difference between a child transformed by work and the capricious child

Together with the discovery of the “new teacher” is the discovery of the “new children”. Their traits of order, persistence, love for work, independence etc., Dr. Maria Montessori observed, are products of self-transformation through work in a well-equipped class. The conversion takes place also within the Montessori children they guide.

It requires an act of faith on the part of the teacher, or trust this power of choice within the child and not always taking it upon herself to say, “do this - and do not do that!” There is a world of difference between trusting a child who has been “normalized through work” and the capricious whims of a deviated newcomer. “When the deviant child comes to school the directress has before her — a child who does not yet exist.”

The continuous monitoring of Pagsasarili preschools

In 1983, OBMC launched the O.B. Montessori Child and Community Foundation to officially undertake the outreach projects for underprivileged families. As the Foundation’s president, I organized the O.B. Montessori Pagsasarili (Help Me to Help Myself) preschools in Manila’s slum-improved areas in coordination with the National Housing Authority Community Relations Office (NHA-CRIO), under the leadership of the late General Gaudencio Tobias. These affordable Montessori Pagsasarili preschools started then with a tuition of P30 a month. After 25 years, tuition fees range from P500 to P1,000 monthly, while private preschool charge P1,000.

To date, there are seven Pagsasarili preschools located in the EFA-DAKAR pilot of Pulung-Bulo Elementary School, Angeles, Pampanga; West Crame, San Juan; Tramo, Pasay; Bagong Barrio, Caloocan; CAA, Las Piñas; Olandes and Flamingo in Marikina. Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto had 113 Batangas Day Care Centers charging P200 monthly and 18 converted DepEd public preschools, which are not financially sustainable due to the “free tuition” policy, and therefore are likely to close down.

A social revolution in the improved slum areas

Let us see the parallel transformation of teachers and their students in the former Bagong Silang, Caloocan and West Crame, San Juan.

Mrs. Erlinda Leonardo has been O.B. Montessori Pagsasarili preschool teacher in Bagong Silang Caloocan since 1985. During her first two years, she admitted to having difficulty in normalizing her students. Then curly-haired Annaliza Divinagracia entered the scene in 1988.

“I cannot forget how she wept the loudest and the longest whenever it was time for her mother to leave her behind. This fair-skinned, chinita, four-year old preschool pupil refused to talk to her classmates but she would pinch them when no one was watching. I noted that she loved to repeat sweeping the floor and cleaning the shelves. This slowly transformed Annaliza into an orderly child. By the time she got to Advanced Casa, the Movable Alphabet Box was her favorite. She could analyze the various sounds of nouns and then compose the words with loose alphabet cut-outs. By the end of the school year, she was awarded “Best in Language.”

“Her parents, jeepney driver Bong Divinagracia, and housewife Merlita, have been so proud of her. She continued to excel in the public school of Bagong Silang, where she was an honor student from elementary to high school. At 16, she worked full-time as stockroom checker at Ever Gotesco. She attended night classes as a B.S. Education student at Polytechnic College. Annaliza dreamed of being a Pagsasarili teacher since she keeps to this day fond memories of her preschool days.

The honor student of Cubao Elementary School and Roces High School

Mrs. Mercedita Esgana, Pagsasarili preschool teacher of San Martin de Porres, Quezon City recalls, Amante Castañeda - “He stayed with us since Junior Casa. He used to cry and would like to stay with her mother outside of the room, so we allowed his mother to come inside the classroom so that he would come to school. However, when he learned how to work with the Color Boxes, he began to enjoy working. He also was fascinated working with the stages in writing exercises. He now wanted to come to school even without his mother anymore.” At 12, Amante became valedictorian of Cubao Elementary School.

“Now, at 16 years old, he will graduate as high school salutatorian of Roces High School, Quezon City, and has gained recognition in different school competitions that he joined.”

How the teacher was transformed by the pupil

Meantime, at our Pagsasarili pre-school at West Crame is Ms. Joji Dellosa, a Chemical Engineering graduate who passed the Licensure Board Exam but found her teaching vocation instead at O.B. Montessori Pagsasarili West Crame, San Juan, where she has been teaching for the past 25 years. As the head teacher, she recalls how the transformation of Catherine Bagalayos, molded her into a true Pagsasarili teacher.

“Plain-looking, five-year-old Catherine was often called ‘negra’ by her classmates. Therefore, she was shy and timid, seldom participating in news sharing. However, her mother described Catherine as a talkative child at home. To ignite her love for work, I succeeded in finding the materials she could use repeatedly. The Classified Nomenclature Cards in Botany and Zoology did this. Every morning, she independently would also work on another material like Geometric Tracing Insets. Here was an orderly child who simply loved to work in silence. She went to school even if she was sick. She didn’t like to miss being ‘server of the day,’ donning on the apron and setting the table. She became so active in class that she joined most of the school activities. By graduation day, Catherine had been transformed into a bright and charming little girl oozing with self-confidence.”

“Her proud mother, Coronacion Bagalayos, a carinderia owner, says Catherine became one of the top 10 students at the Ramon Magsaysay High School. She provides great help with the marketing, cooking and selling in their store. Catherine graduated with a degree in B.S. Advertising and Public Relations at Polytechnic University of the Philippines.”

The adult and the child’s part in national reconstruction

We must cultivate a national policy to defend the enormous power within the child and to help teachers to acquire a new outlook, which will transform their task from dreariness to joy.

Our world has been torn to pieces, and is in need of reconstruction of which a primary factor is education. Men are not sufficiently educated to control events. So, they become their victims. Both the child and adult form the two poles of humanity: One is in the process of development; and the other one has reached the norm of the species. Therefore, the adult (teacher and parents), must provide the environment of work “to help the child become.”