The new GE courses

The new General Education Curriculum (GEC) mandated by CMO 20, series of 2013, lists three types of outcomes: intellectual capacities, personal and civic competencies, and practical responsibilities.

The CMO summarizes these outcomes in this way: “In practice these outcomes mean, among others, that GE courses extend beyond the orientation of specific disciplines and require higher-level reading, research and writing competencies. In conventional practice these are requirements that GE faculty tend to leave to major courses. Under the proposed GEC, however, these lie at the core of the program.”

Here we see one effect of the education agenda of President Aquino. When he became president, Aquino moved the competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes, etc., that students are expected to have at certain ages and levels) to earlier ages and levels.

For example, before 2010, the Department of Education (DepEd) aimed to have pupils read by the end of Grade 3 (“Every Child a Reader by Grade 3”). Children then entered the public school system at Grade 1 at the age of 6.

Aquino ordered that pupils should be able to read by the end of Grade 1 (“Every Child a Reader by Grade 1”). To be able to do this, DepEd had to add a year before Grade 1; it made Kindergarten available and compulsory. This still made DepEd accelerate its reading program. While it took three years in the past to get students to read (Grades 1 to 3), it now takes only two years (Kindergarten and Grade 1). Of course, it is much easier now to get students to read, because of new teaching strategies and technologies. In many private schools, in fact, students read even before they are 5 years old.

By moving the reading age lower, it became possible to move learning competencies to earlier grades. Music, arts, physical education, and health (MAPEH), for example, which used to start only in Grade 4, now start in Grade 1. The same logic holds for a key feature of the reform – moving college subjects to high school.

When the reform started, the general idea was to simply move the old GEC subjects to Senior High School (SHS). When experts from both DepEd and CHED examined the new K to 10 curriculum, however, it became clear that some of the GEC subjects were actually being taken up before SHS. This is the reason that the SHS curriculum is much more advanced than the old GEC. (For example, calculus is now in the SHS curriculum for science degree-bound students; the old GEC had only algebra.)

If we follow the logic (Grade 1 reading readiness moved to Kindergarten, old GEC subjects moved to K to 12), then we will see how natural it is for CHED to now say that competencies and outcomes that used to be expected from major subjects in college are now part of the new GEC.

Let me make that a bit clearer. Since students are starting to read earlier (at age 5 or 6 in Kindergarten or Grade 1, rather than age 8 at Grade 3), and since students are taking up college subjects in high school (such as the two literature surveys in the old GEC), then why not move outcomes earlier desired from sophomores, juniors, and seniors in college to freshman year?

Of course, there are competencies we can expect from 21-year-old students that we cannot expect from 18-year-olds. CMO 20 has a provision for this (it mandates that GE subjects need not all be taken in freshman year), but we will go into that when we get to that provision.

The new GEC has been reduced from the previous 51 or 63 units to 36. That does not mean one year of GE subjects (one year normally has 36 units, or 18 units per semester). It means one year’s worth of GE subjects. (Again, we will discuss this when we get to the pertinent section.)

The 36 units are divided into 24 units of core courses or subjects, 9 units of electives, and 3 units of the mandated Rizal course. (In case the mandate is removed by Congress, the 3 units will simply be dropped. The 24 core units and 9 elective units, however, will continue to be required.)

By the way, CMO 20 has a very important sentence in Section 3 (“Revised Core Courses”): “The general education courses may be taught in English or Filipino.” This provision ensures that there will be no debate about the medium of instruction. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) should decide for themselves what language or languages to use in their own classrooms. (This is actually part of the academic freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.)

These are the new required GE courses (3 units each):

1. Understanding the Self / Pag-unawa sa Sarili

2. Readings in Philippine History / Mga Babasahin hinggil sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas (Filipinas if you follow the directive of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino)

3. The Contemporary World / Ang Kasalukuyang Daigdig

4. Mathematics in the Modern World / Matematika sa Makabagong Daigdig

5. Purposive Communication / Malayuning Komunikasyon

6. Art Appreciation / Pagpapahalaga sa Sining

7. Science, Technology and Society / Agham, Teknolohiya, at Lipunan

8. Ethics / Etika

We will discuss each of these courses.

                                                             (To be continued)