Reaching manhood in the last years of K to 12

(Part I)

Teenagers undergo a critical physical and psychic transformation. Parents and educators must be considerate of these changes and provide them the proper lifestyle and schooling.

At this time, all the glands of internal secretion are affected. The body grows rapidly but not at a uniform rate, thus the disturbance of their equilibrium. The legs grow faster than anything else, so with the body and chest. Consequently, the heart and lungs, which are strained, palpitate and pulmonary resistance weakens. Even muscular strength is not proportional to height due to the increased length of the legs.

The countryside professional farm high school to match the last years of childhood

The Geneva treaty on the rights of the children, CRC defines childhood as the period from birth to 18 years. This makes up the three stages of development: early childhood, 0 to 6; mid-childhood, 6-12; adolescence, 12 to 18.

All physical and psychic changes take place between puberty and adolescence. Thus, the school and home should have the teenager’s heart and lungs examined periodically – even if he seems perfectly healthy. Special attention must go to a diet of non-toxic food that is rich in vitamins and sugar. It should be plentiful, nourishing and preferably meatless. Raw vegetables, fruits, eggs, fish and dairy products are preferred.

Thus, says Dotoressa Maria Montessori, the first lady physician of Italy who planned the Montessori countryside professional high school. The Study and Work Plans said, “Home-grown vegetables and fruits thoroughly ripened on the tree are treasures that can only be had by those who live in the country. For the time when the body is underdeveloped, it is better to live in the country, where long walks may be taken either by the sea or in the woods.” Life in the open air and sunshine, bathing and sunning is recommended. Alcohol and nicotine must be withheld from the adolescent children.

For years, I have been planning to match Dr. Montessori’s high school reform plan. It has a strong alternative human and social angle – not only educational. She believed that human development has not kept pace with technological and scientific progress. Since high school represents a transitional period from a child into a man, two major objectives must be fulfilled: first, the protection of his intense physical maturation; second, his need to understand the society which he will enter as a man.

When fathers handed craftsmanship to sons

We have lost the security of the past, when craftsmanship was handed peacefully from father to son. Business today has expanded too fast and geographically, too wide, thus the need for vocational training and re-training. Today, a college graduate cannot be assured employment.

Man today must adapt quickly and easily. This fierce battle of life requires a strong character, courage and quick wit. Adaptability is essential. There is a continuous opening of new careers, while traditional employment is either closing or revolutionizing. Now, even laborers need education. They must understand the complex problem of our times; otherwise, they are just a pair of hands acting without seeing the relationship of their work to society. If they were educated, do you think our laborers, and even public school teachers, would go on a strike? While the laborer has hands but no head, the intellectual today may have a head, but his hands remain useless.

The psychological danger of treating adolescents as ‘babies'

The adolescents, almost up to their maturation are treated like babies. At 14 or 15, they are still threatened with “bad marks.” The teachers weigh the work of boys and girls like objects on a scale, rather than “judged” as a product of life. Since his future employment depends on these marks, study becomes a heavy and crushing load.

Leading the adolescent to economic independence requires a school of experience in work, academic learning and community life. In Italy, this is referred to as scuola professionale. Dr. Montessori’s concept of professional high schools recalls that of Mary Lyons. In 1873, Miss Lyons made it possible for poor students to earn their tuition by working, as scholarships were limited. This is practiced in many American residential schools. “Self-help” rouses young people who are passively maintained by their families, from inertia. It teaches the value of time and one’s own power. The work does not hinder study, but makes the study better. Working students are generally the best and most successful scholars.

On the other hand, the philosophy and practice of the Montessori professional high school is based on the psychological needs of the 13- to 18-year old. It considers the difficult time of adolescence and suggests the need to leave the ease and comfort of the family and go to the quiet surroundings of the country, close to nature. The open air, the personal attention of a house father and house mother, who provide a moral and protective influence, a healthy diet must be the first consideration to establish a “center for study and work.”

The difference, however, of the Montessori study-work center is its focus not on the country itself, but on the work in the country, which connotes production and earning power. The observation of nature is not just for philosophical and scientific study, but provides the actual experiences of understanding the history, culture and economy of the farm folks.

The opportunity to observe the work of the peasant farmers will be matched by the students’ use of modern agriculture methods (varying from horticulture, seed production, florist courses, kennel raising, butchery, and farm machines, etc.) The philosophy of Supra natura, man’s inventiveness to transform nature to a higher level of beauty and usefulness using her secret scientifically, will be inculcated to make the students wonder at the greatness of both man and God.

The country school is organized on a larger scale and with greater freedom than the family. The hotel-keeping can include simple “hotels” where relatives can stay for a few days and observe their children.

Military high school academies in rural setting

The closest models of such professional high schools are the military high school academies in the east coast of America. A US State Department grant given to me in 2002 allowed me to observe the New York High School Military Academy, which Donald Trump attended as a young man. It is in upstate New York some distance to West Point. Retired army generals headed it. Both male and female students were fulltime boarders housed in two different buildings each with house parents. They were all wearing complete thick military brown uniforms, complete with handsome hats down to military shoes. It’s obligatory for them to wear this even during weekends when they go to town.

My visit to the Charles Logan Military High School Academy in Virginia showed a cluster of buildings in a large estate laid out very well with the administrative building, where I met the retired generals who headed the school. Each of the head directors had a private residence where they lived with their families. The school buildings were close to the dormitories, which again were assigned separately to the male and female students who were supervised by house parents. A small colonial style chapel stood by a neat garden with a huge rock through which a large sword was stuck. Carved below was the word “The Excalibur” referring to the days of King Arthur and knighthood – the ideals of quality soldiers who are prepared to fight for honor, justice and country.

The third academy covered two years of college, the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. Like the other two academies, I with my cousin Richard Silverio and Tom Skinner were presented the full dressed up parade by the whole student body in their complete military uniforms, accompanied by the school band in the middle of the huge campus. Right after, we were invited to the large student mess hall where we were served by the students themselves.

We were so impressed and awed that I could not help but see the vision of a senior high school military academy in our farm in Alfonso, Cavite.

The shop for financial sustainability

Finally, we should like to suggest another important institution – the shop. A shop or store could be established in the nearest big town, where students can bring and sell the produce of their fields and other things they made.

Eventually, they might bring things made by other people who are poor but can produce pretty or useful objects, which they cannot dispose of commercially. This would be real social work, encouraging small village industries that are being lost today with the prevalence of mass production. This trade may help preserve the folk culture.

Looking forward to a time when our teenagers will enter adult society victorious

The shop would also necessitate a genuine study of commerce and exchange, the art of ascertaining the demand and meeting it, and of bookkeeping. But most important, the adolescent has a life of activity and variety, where one occupation acts as a “holiday” from another occupation. Thus, there is no need for long summer vacations.

Can we look forward to a time when our teenager sons and daughters will go to such a special high school, where their dignity will be upheld by work? All work is noble. It is only ignoble to live without work.

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(Part II – “The First Harvest of the Urban Farm School”)

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