Feedback 2015: On frustrations of a college prof, parenting teenagers, 21st century Islam

The following feedback could serve as “food for thoughts” for candidates for presidency…. Since 1990 I have been writing the non-political columns of Point of Awareness every Thursday on the inside pages of Philippine STAR. Having worked with UNESCO for 25 years many of these articles dealt with functional literacy for urban and rural poor, cultural heritage, communication, natural science, science and technology, social and human science and marine science. This eventually started the weekly Education page of the newspaper. My daughter Sara Soliven de Guzman writes a more political column “As A Matter of Fact” every Monday on the same corner of the editorial page where my late husband Max V. Soliven would write a daily column “By the Way” from 1986 when EDSA Revolution happened to 2007 when he passed away.

Are collegiate schools dumping ground of mediocrity?

“For so many years of my involvement with college teaching, I had the opportunity of handling classes where many of my students have difficulty communicating. It was obvious that these students learned little from elementary and high school.

“They have difficulties in grammar and spelling. One time, I found out that one of my students did not know how to add two sets of four-digit numbers. At least five students did not know how to spell correctly the word “requirement.” Some of my students got the perfect score of zero in a “fill in the blanks” examination.

“I am worried about our chances on succeeding as a nation. I hope that this is only true in the provinces, but even if so, we can imagine the waste of precious funds our government is dumping in the coffers of the Department of Education.

“I interviewed some of my friends in the DepEd. I asked them why they allow mediocre students to graduate and be eligible to enroll in college. They said the DepEd looks at them favorably if there are no failing students. They believe Dep-Ed blames the teacher if a student fails and the concerned teacher is directed to teach the poor students in a remedial class. Because remedial classes are burdensome to teachers, they just take the short cut and pass the weak students. In effect, collegiate schools have become the dumping ground of mediocrity. Unless DepEd provides quality preschool and elementary school, K to 12 will fail to eradicate poverty. Is the top brass of DepEd aware of the problem or they just rely on the sanitized reports forwarded to them? Billions of pesos allotted for K to 12 is just going down the drain.” – College professor from Cabanatuan, Philippines

“I read your article in Philippine STAR and I was impressed by your discussion about preventing ‘kanto boy’ phenomenon with K to 12 curriculum. I am dreaming to have a farm school like what you discussed in your article. But we do not have a bigger area. We had been reaching out to Mangyan tribal children and youth whose parents are very poor and not capable to send them to school. We have a scholarship program from preschool to college, however, we can help just few yet. We just continue to pray for more resources and bigger area so we can have our own farm school.” – Criselda A. Malicdem, Teknotropheo, Mangyan and Youth Development Mission

Hard-up parents’ aspirations for sustainable development education for children

“I read your article from the Philippine STAR on Why the Philippines Needs Food Technologists and not Culinary Arts Graduates and I totally agree with your article. Certainly, we do have a showcase of talented chefs and culinary enthusiasts here and not enough people who offer us how we can sustain ourselves for the next 20 years of so.

“My son is an incoming 3rd year student at the University of Santo Tomas and is taking up Food Technology. I would like to know if you could recommend a foundation or organization that I could apply a scholarship for him. Due to an untoward incident last year in the family, our financial capacities have been crippled. I may not be able to send my son back this semester, which is a pity because he is a conscientious student and he works very hard to maintain good grades.

“We have two more children, one in Gr. 9 and a three-year-old. Although my husband and I are regular employees, we find it hard to make ends meet. We live a simple life. We don’t regularly go to the movies and we rarely go to the malls, maybe National Bookstore once in a while. Most of our hard-earned money go to the education of our children. We strongly believe that a good education could back our children when they are on their own. A good education is to their advantage to strive in this world not only for themselves but to help others.”– Ana Patricia Sawit, Metro Manila, Philippines

“I came across this article A Comparative Study of Education System in Asia, which you wrote and found it very informative. I take special interest in education system across the world. Regarding the quality of schools in India, you have rightly mentioned as “its quality has been questioned.

“Though there has been an increased migration of students from public schools to private schools in India, quality has remained almost the same, at the bottom. One of the reasons for this poor performance is, I believe, that medium of instruction in private schools is English. Private schools and also parents in India, have ignored the fact that mother tongue-based multi-lingual education is best suited.” – Priyank KS from Bengaluru Karnataka, India

“I would like to share with you one aspect of the public education system in Taiwan. The system has divided an area into school districts where all families living in a district send their children to a school (elementary/high school level) located nearby. The attendance of a student is closely monitored. The parents of a delinquent student are visited by a designated school official for reasons of the absence of their children. The school official will decide whether the reason is legitimate such as sickness. Otherwise, the parents are required to insure their children’s school attendance.”–Joseph So from Taiwan

The financial responsibility of children

“I enjoyed very much your topic entitled Teaching Financial Skills to Older Children. It is really very enlightening particularly for typical Filipinos like me who cannot yet afford to retire early and enjoy their very limited time with their children. I see your tips as possible avenues wherein me, my wife and my five-year-old daughter can have meaningful conversations.

 “You also mentioned in your article that you had earlier written about “What is Money to a 21st Century Preschooler. Can I possibly get a scanned image of this article (if not, perhaps a soft copy)? I would like to be able to share this with my friends at work who often do not read the entire newspaper.” – Damito Magpantay from Metro Manila, Philippines

On the column Skills to Help Us Listen to Our Teenagers: “As a foreigner with Filipino wife I totally agree with you. I am an educator and taught in most countries of the world. Parents should learn to be mentors and have to learn to listen too. Old grandma remedies are ok and respect is still needed but the young must have their say. Let them both discuss what is best with common sense.” – Robert Lee from Metro Manila, Philippines

We need city planners not politicians for our metropolis

“I accidentally bumped into your article that was written last year, We Need City Planners Not Politicians for Our Metropolis. I thought that was very insightful and a worth sharing article. I only hope that more people share this kind of point of view. If politicians have any intelligence to think this way and make plans to actions for the benefit of all, our society, tourism and economy will be so much better. Your ideas are spot on and I always think the same before. I believe that there are millions of Filipinos who think like this but all we need is collective action and a leader to inspire us to shape our own cities.

“I want to join a group to help Metro Manila become planned, green and clean and a safer city. You could even be a leader to inspire more people. I want to help now. Much talk have been made by everyone without lifting a finger.”– Christian Job Camerino from Metro Manila, Philippines

Observing what Islam is in the 21st century

“The paragraph that most struck me in your column Understanding Islam is the life of Muhammad and his shift from a life of prayer and meditation while in Mecca to that of political power when he returned to it that most probably accounts for the shift in Quranic revelations from peace to jihad. No wonder, the 60% of Quranic verses relating to political revolution are the controlling verses today since it was used as a political tool to further Islam’s religious aims.

“How do we apply such an understanding to today’s events” This backgrounder is sufficient to place the religion in its proper perspective. While it was revolutionary then, the fact that it has now found its own place in the world with more than 1.5 billion followers should calm down. Thank you for the new lesson for today.”– Maria Flor Luz Garcia from Metro Manila, Philippines

Irshad Manji’s colleague

“Thank you for your Informative and though-provoking article in the Philippine STAR last April 23, 2015. I really appreciate your work. I have assisted Irshad Manji in her great work and know her firsthand.” (William Green from Ohio USA)

Numerous feedbacks to my columns were reactions of our Muslim countrymen to the 21st Century Call for Islamic Reformation and the psychological way to relate to the very sensitive teenagers and enigmatic preschoolers. Now with the official implementation of K to 12, parents, DepEd, TESDA and CHED are reacting to my crusade to providing senior high school with professional skill training that will surely enable the poor high school graduate to be readily employed eradicating poverty in the country.

In case you need any part of my serialized columns please visit the Philippine STAR website, www.philstar.com/author/Preciosa S. Soliven/A POINT OF AWARENESS.

(For feedback email at [email protected])