Messages

31

Education and Teaching / RECOGNITION FOR EXCELLENCE

« on: November 27, 2009, 11:54:08 AM »

I had the opportunity to be with a panel interviewing candidates for the Group Study Exchange for the Netherlands, a popular Rotary International project sponsored by The Rotary Foundation--a vocational, cultural and fellowship opportunity that will foster peace, goodwill and international understanding-- last November 13, 2009. Among these young professional were three outstanding teachers and a medical doctor.

What struck me about the teachers was that being with the Dep Ed (one transferring from a higher pay position in a private institution in Manila and relocating in Bataan; another a young, energetic principal in Sta. Cruz, Zambales) and its myriad resource problems was not a hindrance to their performance and success as a teacher or an administrator. Creativity and innovation allowed them to go beyond those limitations, utilizing their resourcefulness and involving all the stakeholders in the community. They have touched and changed the lives of their students, their fellow teachers, and gone beyond them into the communities where they serve. Their personal stories are refreshing rays of light in the darkness that is the Dep Ed.

For the lone doctor, who also happens to be a nurse (she took up nursing during the mad diaspora of physicians to get out of the country to look for greener pastures), she abandoned her plans to leave and decided instead to stay in the country where she could serve better as a physician in her own specialty, choosing to serve in government because the poor patients gravitate to government hospitals.

What does this tell me? It's not always the money. It's the satisfaction of being able to render service in the best way one can, challenges notwithstanding. They believe that obstacles can be solved with a little bit more of ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking.

This kind of thinking by a few will hopefully ripple out to more teachers and students and end up as a tsunami of sizable proportion that will help institute changes in the educational system. I know there are many more out there who have made outstanding contributions to education in their own small ways. Their voices have not been heard nor noticed. They need to be recognized. Recognition of excellence has a way of stimulating the honoree to higher levels, improves self-esteem, affirms one's dedication to only the best, and serves as stimulus for others to strive for excellence, as well.

Our club has been doing that for the last 5 years. We are now into our 6th year honoring outstanding teachers in government high schools and elementary schools in the Baguio Division. To be among Baguio's Exemplary School Teachers (B.E.S.T.) is now a coveted distinction and honor. One of those who topped the high school category, Mr. Warren Ambat of the Baguio City National High School, was nationally honored as one of the Lingkod Bayan awardees about 2 years ago. This has served as a stimulus for change and excellence and has brought Baguio from several rungs below all the way up to 2nd place in overall ranking among Dep Ed schools in the country, according to the Dep Ed division. On another vein, it has also served as a basis for promotion among teachers. Some have become principals as a result.

Agreeing with Florlaca that reforms are much needed in academic research, high quality researches should be major criteria for promotion and recognition, not number of years of service. My little experience with B.E.S.T. has shown the need to upgrade the quality of research studies being performed. So-called researches/theses submitted for masteral or even doctorate levels leave much to be desired and are probably not scrutinized and evaluated very well by "qualified" educators. I fear the evaluators and advisers themselves suffer from the "good enough syndrome" that allows teachers to become "Masters" or "Doctors of Education" without true, rigorous academic research evaluation and quality researches. The enemy of the best is "good enough".

Quality research is done for the value and impact it can have in upgrading education--not as a mere formality in the pursuit of a title. The latter has no place in an environment of true reform. Academic excellence can and will stand on its own and goad others to be the best.

For the Dep Ed, there is nowhere to go but up.
 
tonybau

32

Use and Misuse / Re: Comparatives

« on: November 24, 2009, 03:11:06 PM »

Whoever comes up with the better slogan should get an honorarium of huge proportions from Victory. If the company decides to change its slogan to anything that was mentioned in the forum, you'll know why. :-)

As far as advertising, there doesn't have to be rhyme or reason. Just watch tv ads and look at those scattered along the roads or browse the papers (which I don't do anymore). What is catchy and grabs the people's attention and sticks in their minds is all that matters.

For Victory, "Better. Safer." Of course, backed up by the kind of better quality service one would naturally expect plus the assurance of safer passage en route to one's destination.

I don't ride their buses, BTW.

33

Use and Misuse / Re: Comparatives

« on: November 23, 2009, 04:58:23 PM »

Dear vinzvonvan,

I would have said, "We move people better!", emphasizing and implying the company's greater efficiency than other carriers.  To me, the addition of  "...safer" destroys the impact and makes the motto open to attack by English critics.

My personal opinion.

tonybau

34

Use and Misuse / Re: Where do we find Technical Editing Softwares?

« on: November 23, 2009, 04:35:31 PM »

Hi, Madgirl!

I thought you were just teaching in Japan. It seems you are dipping your finger or fingers into much more. :-) And that is absolutely great!

As far as I know, there are no online medical (M.D.) certificate courses in the country. Copyediting a medical manuscript can be a tedious job and a big challenge for a non-medical copy editor. Just editing a research paper can be a big, big challenge. Put in the grammatical errors and that will make it even more of a headache.

It is not impossible to do. The danger is you might find yourself in technical jargon too deep to fathom.

tonybau

35

Use and Misuse / Comparatives

« on: November 23, 2009, 04:05:50 PM »

Emblazoned on the rears of Victory Liner buses:

    "We move people better...safer."

It probably was decided on because of the two words "better...safer." rhyming (my presumption). I feel "more safely" should have been used.

toonybau

36

Education and Teaching / Re: THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

« on: October 23, 2009, 10:49:18 PM »

Dear Max,

Walkabout. That's a new one. I thought we were being given the run around, which is probably the same thing.

Yup. I'll be watching this closely.

You didn't mention any similar experiences, if any. :-(

tonybau

37

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / Re: So many serious grammar errors in six local textbooks teaching English!

« on: October 21, 2009, 11:17:05 PM »

"What kind of England is being taught you in school?"

This is what I jokingly tell my son when I catch him making an obvious error in English usage, such as verb-subject agreement.

I would say it is ridiculous and a total disgrace for the authors of those books and those who screened and certified them. How much money did they get for releasing them?

tonybau

38

Education and Teaching / Re: THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

« on: October 21, 2009, 10:40:50 PM »

Dear Maxsims,

The PTA, as far as I know, has the funds. These won't be enough.

I'm interested in finding out if you have had similar experiences, or worse.

Thanks for your interest.

tonybau

39

Education and Teaching / Re: THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

« on: October 16, 2009, 04:18:11 PM »

Thanks for the question, Maxsims.

Recognizing that there was a dire need for water, especially for the ladies who had no decent comfort rooms to use (about 400 in the science classes with only 2 functional CRs so many students would walk to SM to use the amenities there), we, parents, took the initiative to plan for a decent comfort room that would accommodate 10 people at one time. We engaged the parents in a fund-raising effort, soliciting cash and donations in kind. We encouraged all the parents to participate. Sad to say, it was practically only the officers of the PTA who worked. I know that I raised a substantial amount of the funds (that's according to our treasurer).

We brought the project to the attention of the city officials, went to our congressman who told us that he had no available extra budget for that project but that the DepEd may have some surplus from a science fund. The schools division superintendent was called to the meeting and "asked" to look into it. She was very supportive of the project, as was the school principal. Who in their right minds wouldn't support it? But, talk is easy.

There was some money available for 2008 and we were told that the plans, prepared by an engineer parent, had to be revised and submitted to City Hall. It seems that the plans must originate from the DepEd and so the engineers from there came to inspect the site. When their revisions were done, the estimated PhP 700,000 plus doubled! At the very least, we were told that this was approved and that the project would have to go through public bidding.

That was the last I heard of it. Meantime, the school year came to an end and everything was put on hold. We were hopeful, of course.

When classes opened, I was informed that the DepEd Secretary, abolished the PTAs. That was it for me, even if they wooed the PTA officers back after getting the flak from such a hasty decision.

I asked for an update from the schools division superintendent just now but it seems she couldn't pick me up. I presumed she was in a meeting. Here's the text message:

"Good afternoon, Doctor Bautista. Thanks for ur query. Didnt we refer that back 2 th PTA 2 try other  sources?That ws discussd n th SEF brd and also th Div MANCOM and the final agreement ws 2 refer bk 2 u 2 try other sources. Hope u can, doctor. Thanks."

It seems even the past president, who was kept from following it up by the two typhoons, doesn't know about this. His remark, "y nmn ganun? mali dn pl ung folow up namin, kc s citihall."

Make your own inferences.

tonybau

40

Your Thoughts Exactly / Re: ENGLISH PROFICIENCY: HOW MUCH OF A PROBLEM IS IT?

« on: October 03, 2009, 01:23:46 AM »

Born in the Philippines and born to Ilocano parents, I will be the first to admit that I cannot fluently speak "true" Ilocano nor the Tagalog-based "Filipino". The latter is my Waterloo.  This inability or deficiency, however you call it, does not lessen my being a Filipino.

The global means of communication is now English, whether distorted or not. Being facile in its proper use and understanding of its nuances gives a decided advantage to anyone who exerts the extra effort to study it and use it. I marvel at the ease of delivery and confidence of anyone who fluently speaks this language and who can express themselves in writing or speak their ideas with clarity and simplicity.

My comfort zone, including that of my youngest son, who, incidentally is also Filipino-challenged, lies in English. I would never attempt to express myself in Filipino or Ilocano, orally or in written form, for fear that I may corrupt them further. I also fear that I will not be able to get my point across because of poor proficiency. When my son needs assistance with English, I help him. When its Filipino, I back off and send him over to my Manila-born wife.

That being the case, I have no problem with English and I'll settle for it. I will not forget "Filipino" even if most of what I use is "Tag-lish", a combination of Tagalog and English, which everyone really uses in their everyday lives.

I am certain even the Filipino advocates do the same.

tonybau

41

Your Thoughts Exactly / ENGLISH PROFICIENCY: HOW MUCH OF A PROBLEM IS IT?

« on: October 01, 2009, 12:51:36 AM »

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY: HOW MUCH OF A PROBLEM IS IT?

For many of us, the state of education in a country speaks volumes. Where English is spoken and taught as a second language, fluency is deemed a basic requirement for proper communication and propagation of ideas and connotes success. Does this fluency actually translate to a country's economic success and overall standing in the world of nations?

Back when American influence on teachers was still strong in the 1950s, I recall instances where all of us, pupils then, were required to speak English in English class or be fined five centavos per instance of speaking in Ilocano, a major dialect of northern Philippines. Five centavos then was a hefty sum. Tagalog, now Filipino, was not commonly in use at the time. Each one of us would try to catch anyone who committed the "sin" and report it to a classmate assigned to collect the fines who, in turn, would submit the list of offenders to the teacher. We never asked where those collections went. Teachers were the bosses and their word was law. No one questioned them. They stood on pedestals and we looked up to them with much respect. Teaching was a very respectable profession.

Looking back, I now realize that our teachers in elementary and high school, then spoke or at least taught us proper English and with much enthusiasm. Perhaps my siblings and I had the added advantage of being raised by parents who happened to be teachers. Several of their brothers and sisters were graduates of the Philippine Normal School. Books we used were brought in by the American teachers and ministers--from readers, to hymnals, to almanacs. There were practically no Filipino authors that we knew of. American influence gave us a decided advantage over our Asian neighbors. The country enjoyed a privileged status in the region as a consequence of this.

In Silliman University in Dumaguete city, a school founded by the Americans in 1901, English was the lingua franca on campus and maybe of the country at the time. Our English teachers and those who handled other subjects, spoke English well, taught us well, to say the least, and  I am personally grateful to all of those dedicated teachers who had touched my life and left their lasting legacy.

An instance in medical school showed a glaring example of English deterioration. An instructor, while lecturing, got distracted by some classmates who were giggling. Irate at the distraction, he called their attention and gave a stern admonition, "I don't want to happen it again!" You can imagine how much more eyebrow-raising and giggles ensued after the incident.

For a while, a short teaching stint in two medical schools, one after the other, in the early 80s, further  showed how much English usage had deteriorated. This was where I noticed that our students were severely English-challenged. Grammar was often mangled and students could hardly express themselves or write their ideas down in a manner deserving of a medical professional-to-be. Initially, I exercised diligence in correcting grammatical errors in the hope that they would, at least, learn correct English from me. Soon, I gave up in frustration.

Post-graduate trainees and other medical professionals showed similar problems. I wondered where things were going. If even supposedly well-known lecturers, medical and non-medical, and many other professionals, including teachers and media people, were suffering from the malady, could the students they taught or the people they communicated with, be far behind? I believe that the disease has gone beyond control and has become an epidemic of worrying proportions, a national problem.

Should it be a problem? Many from our neighboring ASEAN countries could hardly speak English and yet, economically, they have surpassed us. Koreans realize this and they send their students over to the Philippines hoping to learn the language, or the kind of English that is being taught over here. Korea's economy is way beyond ours. The same is true with Japan. What this seems to tells us is that good English is not necessary for success or economic upliftment. As long as one can communicate what he or she intends to and is understood, correct English or not, then the job is done. Why worry about English?

Is this where we are going? Is this what we want? How much of a problem or a headache has this become, or should we even consider this a problem? Will our success as a country depend on how we speak English?

Your thoughts, please.

tonybau

42

Essays by Joe Carillo / Re: Is “presently” present or future?

« on: September 30, 2009, 10:15:18 PM »

"...Since then, some language critics have became partial against the “now” sense of “presently,” ..."

"...Since then, some language critics have become partial against the “now” sense of “presently,” ..."

I believe the edited version is the correct one.

Your thoughts?

tonybau

43

Education and Teaching / THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

« on: September 30, 2009, 12:07:25 AM »

Hi, Everyone!

OOOPS, I missed that (...most of which) should be as corrected by Joe (...most of whom)!

It seems the topic has generated some interesting responses, but just from a few. What is interesting is that I have yet to see anyone from Dep Ed post a reply. Don't you think we are losing out on feedback from the horses' mouths, so to speak? Out of the 307 members of this forum, aren't there any from that sector? Of course, the private sector should also be actively participating here, given their possibly better working conditions than those in government.

tonybau

44

Education and Teaching / Re: THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

« on: September 08, 2009, 07:08:16 PM »

Friends,

I'd like to call you friends, if I may, and I am glad we are all in focus as far as the topic is concerned. I was worried, after reading some of the responses, that quotes from the excerpt may have misled others. I hope I have not. Allow me to post the whole article just so it will be seen in the right context--a gloomy vision which I do not adhere to.


Baguio In The Next Century

Early this morning, I wondered how Baguio City, in Benguet Province, The Philippines, the highest city in the country, would be like a hundred years from now. Here's how I imagined it to be.

First the negative. The influx of new migrants to the city, added to the existing residents, mostly migrants, would put the population at about a million. Bursting at the seams in a city originally intended for some 20,000 people, this dense population, heavily dependent on outside resources for basic necessities such as food and water, building materials would be dependent on a power grid run by fossil fuels whose price would have quintupled. Hydroelectric power has now ground to a halt, deforestation having had its toll. The city air is heavy with pollutants. People walk around with masks. The incidence of pulmonary diseases has shot up to unprecedented heights. Ancient fossil fuel-run vehicles still ply the city's routes, barely moving for the congestion. Students, who make up a majority of the migrant population, even if only seemingly temporary, crowd each other on the way to and from school, tiptoeing or jumping over piles of uncollected garbage. Vehicles could hardly weave through this street mess and throng of people. The confusing tangle of overhead power lines has quintupled, power poles creaking at the sheer weight of the load of copper wires. The clear blue sky of yesteryears is forever gone. Children now imagine blue skies instead of seeing them.

The health system just cannot cope up with the high incidence of hospital admissions from communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases (cancer, diabetes, etc.). New viiruses have been introduced into a population whose immune system has been compromised because of the poor health conditions, leading to novel diseases for which health experts are futilely trying to solve with the limited laboratory facilities existent in the area. Mortality and morbidity rates have shot up beyond normal predictions. Many young people are dying at an early age. Expansion, for hospitals which targeted only 150 beds as their maximum capability at the time they were built, can no longer expand. Space has been eaten up by residences no different from the previous ones set up by squatting migrants who deem it their right to set up anywhere they want. Hospital corridors now maintain regular, overworked staff outside of the wards. Never has there been a time of more cranky, even hostile doctors and nurses and paramedical staff. The burden is too heavy.

The education system continues to churn out students, majority of which are products of an environment where teachers are there only to earn their keep. This has given rise to a different culture of indifferent, dog-eat-dog products who compete with each other, instead of cooperating with each other, to survive.The lack of qualified teachers has resulted in the decline of quality education the city was once proud of. Government schools' capacities have gone beyond limits, rejecting prospective students on account of this. Education now ranks a mere number 20 in the government's agenda, preferring to subsidize the military heavily in order to keep itself afloat in these uncertain times.

The national government looks the other way, preferring to let their local city officials deal with the problems that they created in the first place. They have now come to a "hands-off" policy when dealing with such problematic local governments. They are local governments, not under the national government, after all. Tax collection has become a nightmare and has declined to such a degree that basic services could not be deivered anymore. Opportunistic businessmen charge exorbitant fees for services. Prices have skyrocketed.

The city is an incoherent mass of unconcern and apathy. "I live only for myself and my family" is the offshoot culture.

THIS IS NOT MY CITY!

Watch out for the next blog post.



A hornet's nest normally should be left alone. You'll never see the insides of one if you don't attempt to open it up, however. Be wary of the stingers, though. The same is true with our educational system.

tonybau

45

Education and Teaching / THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

« on: September 07, 2009, 12:49:52 PM »

Hi, Joe,

This is in response to your request.

Tony

THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION


 This is an excerpt from my blog at Yahoo, which arose from my early morning musing, that I titled "Baguio in the Next Century":

...

"The education system continues to churn out students, majority of whom are products of an environment where teachers are there only to earn their keep. This has given rise to a different culture of indifferent, dog-eat-dog products who compete with each other, instead of cooperating with each other, to survive. The lack of qualified teachers has resulted in the decline of quality education the city was once proud of. Government schools' capacities have gone beyond limits, rejecting prospective students on account of this. Education now ranks a mere number 20 in the government's agenda, preferring to subsidize the military heavily in order to keep itself afloat in these uncertain times."

For some reason, I was forced to get up early to write my thoughts down before they completely left me. Dwelling on the negative scenario first, I thought that the more positive side I envisioned the city to be a centennial later, would be my next blog piece. And then I thought that this excerpt might make an interesting post for Joe Carillo's forum.

Let me be clear from the very beginning. I am not an educator in the strict sense of the word, as in a member of the academe, and so I speak from the standpoint of an ordinary observer on the state of education in a very small part of the country that I happen to be in. Indeed, these are my personal views.

Being a former president of the school PTA last year, I had a brief exposure to problems faced by the educational system at Baguio City National High School, a government-run school. My added exposure to dire conditions in elementary schools that are beneficiaries of our rotary club, the Rotary Club of Baguio Sunrise, has allowed me a microscopic, but perhaps representative state of our country's educational system.

Just four things: First, overcrowding. Second, teacher overload. Third, lack of basic facilities, like clean water, libraries. Fourth, malnutrition.

Overcrowding, to accommodate new enrollees, creates awesome problems for learning and teaching. Attention spans are sure to go awry what with all the distraction created by students and a noisy environment. Have you ever listened to the sounds of a school in recess with kids making do with staircases and corridors to play in or eat, especially where the school sorely lacks a wholesome place for these kids to take their breaks in? The ratio of students to books, also necessarily falls short of ideal in such a situation. Could you ever imagine a government-run school with a teacher-to-student ratio of 1:20 or 1:15 ever happening in the country, or having a 1:1 ratio for all books used?

Where the ratio of students to teachers is 1:50 on the average, not much time probably happens for more effective personalized interaction because of the sheer number of students to take care of. The paperwork, in addition to added responsibilities assigned to school teachers for various school projects and concerns, is enough to overwhelm them. It would be safe to say that most computations for grades are done manually. For those who are computer-literate and who have the facilities, life would be much easier than the rest. This should be an interesting aspect to look into.

Provisions for general cleaning purposes, let alone clean, potable water for students and teachers alike are sorely lacking. In this particular high school that my son goes to, we felt, as doctors, that clean, running water should be available at any time. We donated 2 water tanks for the purpose. We never saw the tanks installed. When the country was faced by an increasing incidence of AH1N1, the Dep Ed suddenly woke up and required that water, whether running or not, should be made available for hand washing. For a set up that provided nothing for water storage (this was left to the creativity of the teachers) this was a big problem.

An interesting feedback from the principal of a school that was a beneficiary of a drinking water project is that she, as well as her teachers, prior to the project, became cranky by about 11 o'clock in the morning, and even crankier after that. Jokingly, I asked if she tried to find out if the ladies were menopausal. When a water distribution system was established in each and every classroom, they realized that they had been drinking only two glasses of water in eight hours. Coffee provided the rest of the fluids.  Now they were drinking more water. The crankiness disappeared. If the teachers were that affected, what more for the growing children of whom some 80 percent brought no water and relied on juice drinks bought in school, or drank from a polluted spring water bubbling through a rip-rapped wall through which a pvc pipe was stuck in? The kids had been doing this for years!

Anyone can imagine how uncomfortable comfort rooms look like in schools with no such provisions. One teacher even suggested that each classroom should have its own. Without water? Forget it.

We have seen how books being distributed by DepEd, as pointed out elsewhere in Joe's forum, have so many errors that are heaped upon our unwary students, as well as our teachers, who should know better than to just dish them out as is. To think that these were supposed to have undergone very close scrutiny for content. As for references, show me a school with a decent enough library that students would flock to in their spare time. It is sad to note that even libraries have been converted to classrooms for lack of space. They lack books to read anyway so why not convert them to classrooms?

On top of the above, malnutrition affects a significant percentage of students, even in the city of Baguio and probably more so in other institutions in the provinces. Supplemental feeding programs in place for lucky schools help mitigate the hunger pangs of students from poor families. This treats the effect, not the cause. Poverty is the cause. This is why many families bring their kids to government-run schools. Education is free. A constantly hungry kid's stomach and brain are, however, detrimental for these kids. They will soon be dropouts.

To claim that to provide education is the only job of schools is naive, to say the least. A lot more concerns continue to crop up that indicate that a total overhaul of the educational system was needed--yesterday. Four major concerns--if we address them, will probably alleviate them and help make for better products. However, let's not overlook the quality of the kind of education that is being inflicted on our population of young minds. But that's another story.