Grade VII and Fifth Year Addition

I am not sure how serious the government is in adding Grade VII and a Fifth Year in the elementary and secondary schools. The government believes that with two years more before college, students are better prepared to undertake their chosen careers.

I have no competence to discuss the issue scientifically but I have the following to share.

There were a lot of anecdotes about pre-World War II elementary pupils in our town that continue to fascinate me. During family hours at the living room illuminated with kerosene-fueled lantern, before or after night prayers, my grandparents and parents used to relate stories and tales when they were kids or in their youth.

In their elementary days, they can show right away the map of any country from the rotating globe. Dates and name of historical events and figures were at their finger tips in their History class. If my grandma was not bragging; in their music class, they can read the notes of any song where their teacher stops in opening at random the music book.

When I was practicing conversational English with my Dad, Mom’s patience was short with my grammatical errors before telling that in their time, their English was fluent and grammatical. (The Philippines was under the United States.)

The claim was unbelievable to me until on one occasion, my doubts were cleared. I heard a pre-War high school drop out known to be on the top of her class conversed with her distant granddaughter in English. She did not speak Tagalog because it was not in their curriculum.

True, she was fluent without minding the pauses where she appeared to be looking for the right English word. The old lady knew the Seven Wonders of the World. She was familiar with American history and World geography aside from almost answering instantly what is the capital of a particular country. Shots of gin did not lessen her knowledge on the Pythagorean Theorem that "C equals the square root of A square plus B square". To make her point better, she started grabbing a pencil drawing a right triangle, assigned figures on the sides and started to compute.

In making my day, I saw her reading the defunct Daily Express, an English daily.

Some of us in high school then were really inferior to that old lady at some point if my observation was accurate.

Here in Vigan, there was a Fifth Year in High School but only in the seminary. I never bothered asking acquaintances the contents of the curriculum but I can only guess that further Spanish, Latin, Greek, basic Philosophy and social sciences were in the menu.

There is no question that Fifth Yeared seminarians (or seminarians in general) are smart. That has nothing to do with the additional year but on the strict seminary training and discipline.

So what if students are in school for 12 years before going to college?

Personally, that cannot guarantee academic excellence on the part of the student. What matter is the instructor and method of teaching.

My friend, a professor in one of the universities here in Ilocos told me that he uses a mixture of English, Tagalog and Ilocano to deliver his lectures. “Pure English  diminishes the students' capacity in comprehending the subject matter”.(sic) Well, local languages fully understood by the students are okay so long as they have no plans to leave the country to earn a living with their careers.

Instructor and modules are also part of the problem.

To say that  teachers in the country are mediocre is disrespectful but students with good grasp of the academic subjects are rare these days in the provinces. I am not saying that English is to be  patronized in the country but if we want to compete and interact globally, English is not only recommended but a must.

Many should be familiar that dailies say  once in a while that some books used in school have massive errors in grammar, dates, names, places and the like. Yet, to my understanding, schools continue to use these books. I am not sure if the government is working to correct the errors or if they have funds to do so.

If the government is really serious in upgrading the educational system, the starting point is the re-evaluation of the curricula, method of teaching and the training of instructors and teachers as well. If these are not reassessed, the quality of education continues to deteriorate at a faster rate. -30-