Breaking down barriers

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OR whatever they are worth, here are my top priorities in the radical reform of education I have always been advocating.

Absolute first priority is universal education. There is no denying education opens doors even as the lack of it is the cause of many social ills. Government must insure that all Filipino children, including those with special needs, get free basic (K-12) education.

To insure that every child gets basic education, government must also provide free food, school supplies, and transport up to grade 12. Having done this government is now justified to enact a law making it illegal for parents to refuse to send their child to basic school.

The free college and higher education the Duterte administration has initiated is a step in the right direction. However, it is most critical that universal education is attained first and fully at the basic education level.

Second priority is teacher quality. Schools are only as effective as teachers are competent. These must not only have a mastery of the subject they teach but are also conversant with pedagogical methods. These are many, some more effective than others. Teachers must know which method best they teach.

Some examples of teacher quality assurance: In Norway, teachers are required to spend four hours only in the classroom and the other four hours in lectures and seminars on pedagogical methods. In Finland, all teachers are required to have a university schooling and a Masters degree in the subject they teach.

Highly qualified teachers must, of course, be compensated just as highly. Taxes should be raised for the purpose. Pork and the Senate can also be abolished and the savings spent to improve the salaries of teachers who play a much more critical role in nationbuilding than much more highly paid senators, lawyers, athletes and film celebrities.

Third priority is the curriculum which should be designed to attain three objectives over and above the mere acquisition of knowledge and skills. One, liberate students from the negative influences of a deeply entrenched colonial culture. Two, instill human values the country lacks direly as integrity and selfrespect, equity and social cohesiveness, patriotism, etc. Three, develop critical thinking, creativity and innovativeness as these are the drivers of progress.

Beyond those objectives, local schools should be allowed to further tailor their curricula to the locality’s peculiar educational needs.

We need a system of education that breaks down the cultural barriers to inclusive progress that corrupt, self-serving political, business and religious leaders, who exclusively reap the benefits of a backward colonial culture, maintain and reinforce.* fits the subject S

INCE this is a weekend issue, allow me to set aside politics and governance and share with you a reflection I had from a recollection I attended way back.

Our facilitator then was Fr. Jose Magadia, a Jesuit. He talked about good and evil choices and discernment of spirit. What was so nice about him was that he really guided us to reflect on the choices we made as we do our jobs and as we relate with our family and friends. Here are my nuggets of insights;

While I was practically raised from a humble beginning, my job over the years prior to joining media entails that I rub shoulders with the haves and blend with the privileged in the community. On such circle everything shines and glitters; pretty faces, flashy cars, fancy restaurants; at one point I was even taught how to talk with flair. I got to learn to blend in. Blending in isn’t much of a problem, I was cultured well by my parents, the bigger challenge I found myself facing was on how to stay grounded and how to keep focused on what’s essential.

Indeed affluence can be blinding, and when one swims in it, it’s so easy for one to lose oneself and submit to the appetite for materialism and beauty.

While I was doing consultancies with politicians and businessmen and even while was mingling with my affluent students, I found myself in a lot of compromises. Somehow, pure idealism just didn’t cut it. What were one’s black and white while I was younger are already in different shades of grey. I still have my principles though, and still hold on to them. Those things get me by when the going gets tough.

Bending some of my principles however seems inevitable, sometimes I find myself treading on thin ice. While I thought that this is bad, I find myself reformed in what I see as good. I am not saying one has to be dirty to get cleaned or one has to sin to be merciful but getting stained or committing mistakes somehow makes it easier (at least for me) to be more compassionate and nonjudgmental to others.

Poor choices humbled me and taught me to see people as more than the totality of what they do. Compassion this time means no longer just recognizing the suffering of the others but personally relating to the struggle as a common experience.

It made me realize that although the pursuit of righteousness may still be as noble as it can be, there is a higher calling than that, and that is to extend compassion to others on the level of genuine concern without the shades of self-righteousness.

Such is a vocation to be bearer of grace.

Compassion is a grace, and it’s just what this world needs now. And somehow, it usually comes easy from those who have sinned more. For when we start measuring others with our own cup, we would always come to realize that we are not quite different from everyone else. We all have our shortcomings and our shares of faults. And bet, that was the reason why one after another, each man left when Jesus said “let he who has not sinned cast the first stone on this woman.”* I I I