EDUCATING EFFECTIVELY
PRECY S. BUGAYONG
Walking into a math class on a typical day would probably see students that are distracted or in different degrees of boredom. This, more than low literacy level of Filipinos or the high number of Filipinos who do not go to school, is the sign of how education has failed society.
One of the factors that affects if the student will go to school is his/ her interest in the subject or lesson. Although it may not seem as big of a problem as poverty is, this is actually the sign that the educational system is a failure. The government spends millions of pesos in trying to form a curriculum that is said to make our students “globally competitive”, but in reality, students just lose their interest in learning. Because when students dread going to school or when they spend their day waiting for a break from school, then there is something definitely wrong with what we have in our curriculum.
Mathematics should not only be about algebra, geometry or statistics. It should give students the skills to understand their reality. Take Japan and Singapore for example. Both countries are considered effective in their educational system and there are quite a few things we could learn from them. One thing is how they design their curriculum. Instead of the spiral curriculum the present educational system of our country has, they first teach their students lessons that will be important for later on in life such as manners, household chores and etiquette. Later on, they would teach their students in mathematics in such a way that the students actually learn from experience. Like in how they teach addition and subtraction, students are given “money”, which are then used by the students to buy from their canteens. In such a way, the students can actually see and integrate the lesson in their daily lives.
Yes, it is important that students graduate high school with strong math, science and communication skills. But it is also equally important that they graduate with hearts and minds that are geared towards being agents of change. Education should not only be geared towards creating intellectuals, rather, they should also be geared into empowering and engaging students in relevant issues facing the country.
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The author is Teacher III at Pampanga High School