I began my 65-year career as a high school and college teacher; and wound up my formal employment as a graduate school professor. To this day, I consider those jobs as the hardest of all my undertakings. Looking back, it seems to me that teachers are unnecessarily burdened with administrative tasks, many of which should be reconsidered in order to enhance their effectiveness as facilitators of the basic learning processes.
The poor performance of our 10-year-olds in international competitive tests on reading and mathematics certainly deserves priority and critical attention. Certainly, more than “national security” as indicated by budget allocations requested by the Vice-President and concurrent Secretary of Education.
The problem is truly serious because the capability of our youth determines the future of our country. Each year that we ignore this crucial problem brings our country down as a nation to live in and raise our children in. Citizens need to thrive in an environment that enhances their capabilities and ability to live comfortably and to contribute to a productive community.
First of all, we must rethink the framework for designing our systems of education. The traditional thinking of education as “teaching methodologies” has to be cast aside in favor of student-centered “learning methodologies.”
Teachers are not depositors of information for students to play back in order to get good grades. Teachers should be facilitators of the learning process that makes good use of students’ initiatives, sharpens their natural talents and skills, and enhances their ability to develop critical thinking.
This calls for radical reorientation of the education of our teachers. It also demands more intelligence and dedication to their craft. This means we must encourage the best and the brightest of our high school graduates to become teachers for at least a few years or as a career. It will help if the government decrees public school salaries to be higher than ex-President Duterte ordered for cops and soldiers.
As a teacher I considered preparing and recording grades as very burdensome. In order to have a basis for giving a grade of “82 or 84” for instance, I decided to give daily quizzes. And the easier they were to check the better for me. So, I ended up with True or False, or “pick among listed alternative answers.” Naturally, these usually called for data-driven questions and answers. All these because of administrative requirements and in compliance with “teaching methodologies.”
Perhaps if we adopted the grading system used at the Asian Institute of Management which provides three alternative “grades” (Pass, Fail, Distinction) teachers can focus on learning methodologies like independent research and class discussions and debates, with class participation encouraged. Group work on projects also enhances judgment and critical thinking and ability to work with peers.
Perhaps during the earlier years, such as in elementary levels, instead of loading our curricula with data and knowledge much of which becomes obsolete anyway, we can focus on developing basic skills such as reading, writing, and ’rithmetic.
The network of normal schools and colleges should develop, test, and propagate radically new learning methodologies to enhance the effectiveness of our schools in developing the skills and competencies of our youth. These will be more effective and sensible investments instead of intelligence funds for “national security.”
Teresa S. Abesamis is a former professor at the Asian Institute of Management and fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines.