It is very noticeable that during the semestral and summer break, traffic in the metropolis is light. Students that seem to crowd the streets and malls are surprisingly absent - when there is an academic furlough this leads to a city traffic that is inevitably light and easier.
Whenever there is traffic or gridlock – time, manpower and opportunities are lost that are certain never to present themselves again. Like a cancer that is brought about by urbanization, traffic seems to be an inherent problem that is beyond a simplistic solution.
The government, in response the horrendous daily traffic brings, adopted numerous schemes so as to lessen, avoid and if possible, eradicate the curse of traffic. From the multi-billion projects of MRT to LRT, to the construction of “infrastructures” that was designed originally to decongest potential traffic gridlocks.
The government even went to the extent of establishing a government arm specifically tasked with controlling metro traffic. The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), with its annual expenditures of another billion of pesos acts as a main traffic enforcer for the Metropolis.
From a color-coding scheme to an odd-even program to a unified vehicular reduction program, the social experimentation was meant to gather empirical data so as to ease metro traffic and have a semblance of reason in the management of number of vehicles using the road of the metropolis.
The weakness of an odd-even scheme is that even if there is a vehicular reduction, people (particularly students) would still need to commute from their place of residence to their schools. Yes, there is a reduction of vehicles on the road, but there are still students on the road using another mode of transportation and still causes another form of traffic and gridlock.
Crudely, what I have in mind is that instead of focusing on reducing vehicles on the road of metropolis, maybe a more efficient mode of reducing students on the road would be more effective in reducing traffic and gridlock.
Now how do we go about this?
We reduce the number of students on the road by having a school time that does not coincide with the usual time frame of the other sector of society. When employees are usually within the time frame of 8 AM to 5 PM/9 AM to 6 PM, maybe students could be on a 6 AM to 2 PM time frame where there are a lesser number of people on the road since majority of them are still at work.
This suggested arrangement reduces the number of people on the road where instead of adopting a vehicular reduction program, the government adopts a people reduction program. Lesser people on the road means lesser traffic…
This particular set-up is applicable only in Metro Manila since this is where traffic is very heavy. In the province, the status quo of schedule is sufficient to meet the current dictates and imperatives.
Showing posts with label Volume 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Volume 4. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1959) by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
The most telling contribution of Dr. Sigmund Freud is the formulation of the psychoanalytic theory. The “unconscious” became the operative word in psychology in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Accordingly, explaining human behavior, predicting human behavior, and manipulating human behavior became embedded with the unconscious mind. Dr. Freud became what Michael Jordan was in the field of basketball. He became the superstar of the psychology in his time.
The framework for explaining neurosis became plain and simple. Thinking about sex became normal and every psychological problem can be resolved by confronting and embracing human sexuality instead of the usual repression (in whatever form) method advocated by moral police of his era. Dr. Freud also identified and explained disparate manifestations of defense mechanisms, namely:
Identification. The unconscious process that protects the subject from anxiety by adopting traits from a psychological model.
Displacement. The unconscious transfer of an emotion from its original object to something or someone else.
Projection. The unconscious process that attributes other people’s feelings (i.e aggression) which one does entertain himself.
Regression. Retreating to a more immature pattern of behavior.
Repression. Keeping one’s memories and wishes in the unconscious.
Sublimation. Finding a socially acceptable outlet for a morally unacceptable impulse (i.e desire for one’s mother).
Denial. Refusing to accept something that is true.
Rationalization. Justifying irrational behavior or giving/offering excuses to one’s shortcomings.
Reaction formation. Behaving opposite to what one feels. More than anything else, he became the creative architect behind the rest of the personality theorists after him. Majority of them borrowed from his framework minus the overemphasis on sex as a platform for explaining human behavior.
References
Estoque, Ronan S, Dela Cruz, Rogelio G, & Pichay, Marinelle Ivy T (2006), College Psychology, Mindshapers Inc., Philippines.
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia 2000. Oxford University Press (2000)
Accordingly, explaining human behavior, predicting human behavior, and manipulating human behavior became embedded with the unconscious mind. Dr. Freud became what Michael Jordan was in the field of basketball. He became the superstar of the psychology in his time.
The framework for explaining neurosis became plain and simple. Thinking about sex became normal and every psychological problem can be resolved by confronting and embracing human sexuality instead of the usual repression (in whatever form) method advocated by moral police of his era. Dr. Freud also identified and explained disparate manifestations of defense mechanisms, namely:
Identification. The unconscious process that protects the subject from anxiety by adopting traits from a psychological model.
Displacement. The unconscious transfer of an emotion from its original object to something or someone else.
Projection. The unconscious process that attributes other people’s feelings (i.e aggression) which one does entertain himself.
Regression. Retreating to a more immature pattern of behavior.
Repression. Keeping one’s memories and wishes in the unconscious.
Sublimation. Finding a socially acceptable outlet for a morally unacceptable impulse (i.e desire for one’s mother).
Denial. Refusing to accept something that is true.
Rationalization. Justifying irrational behavior or giving/offering excuses to one’s shortcomings.
Reaction formation. Behaving opposite to what one feels. More than anything else, he became the creative architect behind the rest of the personality theorists after him. Majority of them borrowed from his framework minus the overemphasis on sex as a platform for explaining human behavior.
References
Estoque, Ronan S, Dela Cruz, Rogelio G, & Pichay, Marinelle Ivy T (2006), College Psychology, Mindshapers Inc., Philippines.
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia 2000. Oxford University Press (2000)
From Plow to Ballpen to Diaper by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (January, 2008)
Perhaps the clergyman who was also a teacher in the Philippines during the Spanish time had only one problem in the classroom. There were Spanish children but the natives were in farms helping their parents. The natives who were the core of the clergyman’s mission seemed to be far from school.
Life revolved around the farm, it was the orientation of the Filipino family. It was not that Filipinos did not love to learn the rudiments of the Catholic faith. They only found the farm the direct answer of their economic problems. Or the Filipinos did notice other areas of the academe more particularly the subject on self-governance Or Filipinos did not like the “Informal Education” which was the only type of education the Spaniards could give. So the Filipinos who were inferior in physical stature but smarter than their colonizers opted to stay in the farm and enjoy the day under the sun.
Thinking that Filipinos wanted something practical the Spaniards offered trade schools, and as reported established in 1863, but the number of indios going to school remained small.
The Americans came bringing the educational system that is anchored on Booker T. Washington’s proclamation of Vocational Education. Although Filipinos still considered farm labor a source of income, the Americans were not so much challenged by the Filipinos’ indifference to education. The number of natives going to school had considerably increased.
Filipinos began to see education as their avenue towards decent living. They found education the ax that will break the chain that bound them for centuries in the farm. Education for the Filipinos is a magic balm that will put them in alignment with their American masters. But what the Filipinos liked is education without manual labor. In 1925 the Monroe Commission reported a lament on the white-collar orientation of education.
Well it is not the purpose of this paper to analyze the educational system of the Americans in the Philippines. But there must be a paper that will say something about the Vocational Education brought by the Americans. Again it must be education that would direct the Filipinos towards self-governance, and not just to train as technicians, carpenters, welders or care-givers.
The Americans wanted to see the Filipinos as the best workers of the world, and indeed it is what the Filipinos are today. They are the best caregivers and the most fluent English-speaking maids in the Middle East.
There is nothing wrong for Filipinos working abroad. But they must not confine to it. Care giving alone could not govern a country.
Life revolved around the farm, it was the orientation of the Filipino family. It was not that Filipinos did not love to learn the rudiments of the Catholic faith. They only found the farm the direct answer of their economic problems. Or the Filipinos did notice other areas of the academe more particularly the subject on self-governance Or Filipinos did not like the “Informal Education” which was the only type of education the Spaniards could give. So the Filipinos who were inferior in physical stature but smarter than their colonizers opted to stay in the farm and enjoy the day under the sun.
Thinking that Filipinos wanted something practical the Spaniards offered trade schools, and as reported established in 1863, but the number of indios going to school remained small.
The Americans came bringing the educational system that is anchored on Booker T. Washington’s proclamation of Vocational Education. Although Filipinos still considered farm labor a source of income, the Americans were not so much challenged by the Filipinos’ indifference to education. The number of natives going to school had considerably increased.
Filipinos began to see education as their avenue towards decent living. They found education the ax that will break the chain that bound them for centuries in the farm. Education for the Filipinos is a magic balm that will put them in alignment with their American masters. But what the Filipinos liked is education without manual labor. In 1925 the Monroe Commission reported a lament on the white-collar orientation of education.
Well it is not the purpose of this paper to analyze the educational system of the Americans in the Philippines. But there must be a paper that will say something about the Vocational Education brought by the Americans. Again it must be education that would direct the Filipinos towards self-governance, and not just to train as technicians, carpenters, welders or care-givers.
The Americans wanted to see the Filipinos as the best workers of the world, and indeed it is what the Filipinos are today. They are the best caregivers and the most fluent English-speaking maids in the Middle East.
There is nothing wrong for Filipinos working abroad. But they must not confine to it. Care giving alone could not govern a country.
Salubrious Living by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (January, 2008)
Across the sea, south of the Philippines there is a patch of land the early people called “Menelangan”. The Subanun who lived a semi nomadic life around the place are bewildered by the beauty of the sun when it appears above the ridges of mountains. It became their land mark and when their fellow villagers asked them where they go, they said, “to the place where the sun is born”.
Menelangan means sunrise, but the early Visayan who migrated to Mindanao misheard the word to Sindangan. The Visayan did not bother themselves by checking the word. They immediately accepted and used the word. It was further solidified by the existence of a giant fish they called Indangan back to their island of birth, the Visayas. So the name was approved. The migrants in Mindanao latter carried the name Sindangan up to the present generation. The place had turned into a town with its life vested on the fertility of its land.
It is a place of tranquility, the artists’ chosen place to work; a place free from the madding crowd, far from the grating of machines, far from the saturnine look of drug addicts and hold up gangs, far from swindlers and far from the police men. The place is very kind to its people so that everyone is pleased with his assigned lot; there is more than enough what the family needs. And in that place of the world my father farms.
My boyhood experience in the place is always associated with the pulverized farms and the joyous faces of farmers during harvest time. In that place the morning announces its coming by the moaning of pigeons on the branches of the Santol tress surrounding our house, the endless murmur of the brooks as they joined to the wide Talinga River. And I could hear the shuffling of leaves that mingled with the tickling of spoons and plates from the kitchen which told me breakfast is ready.
I just could not explain why men had to leave the pastoral life to suffer in the urban centers. I also could not explain why civilization as men called it, always relates to the destruction of the Earth. The industrial revolution destroyed what God has created, and this technology that we have now is the descendant of that revolution. Technology hastens business but lessens the meaning of life.
Some experts put the solution of economic problem by making the country industrial. Though the Philippines remain in its pre-industrial period, it cannot be classified agricultural because the government has no plans and investment in agriculture. Even the Coco-Levi fund, the money that belonged to the farmers had gone into the some pockets of the government. The farmers suffer and they are branded ignorant and backward.
We must learn the lesson of the New Zealanders. Today they enjoy the life style of the Americans and Europeans yet they remain agricultural. We have the land and human resources; we only do not have the initiative to improve and develop what is indigenous because we always consider ours as inferior compare to something foreign.
Menelangan means sunrise, but the early Visayan who migrated to Mindanao misheard the word to Sindangan. The Visayan did not bother themselves by checking the word. They immediately accepted and used the word. It was further solidified by the existence of a giant fish they called Indangan back to their island of birth, the Visayas. So the name was approved. The migrants in Mindanao latter carried the name Sindangan up to the present generation. The place had turned into a town with its life vested on the fertility of its land.
It is a place of tranquility, the artists’ chosen place to work; a place free from the madding crowd, far from the grating of machines, far from the saturnine look of drug addicts and hold up gangs, far from swindlers and far from the police men. The place is very kind to its people so that everyone is pleased with his assigned lot; there is more than enough what the family needs. And in that place of the world my father farms.
My boyhood experience in the place is always associated with the pulverized farms and the joyous faces of farmers during harvest time. In that place the morning announces its coming by the moaning of pigeons on the branches of the Santol tress surrounding our house, the endless murmur of the brooks as they joined to the wide Talinga River. And I could hear the shuffling of leaves that mingled with the tickling of spoons and plates from the kitchen which told me breakfast is ready.
I just could not explain why men had to leave the pastoral life to suffer in the urban centers. I also could not explain why civilization as men called it, always relates to the destruction of the Earth. The industrial revolution destroyed what God has created, and this technology that we have now is the descendant of that revolution. Technology hastens business but lessens the meaning of life.
Some experts put the solution of economic problem by making the country industrial. Though the Philippines remain in its pre-industrial period, it cannot be classified agricultural because the government has no plans and investment in agriculture. Even the Coco-Levi fund, the money that belonged to the farmers had gone into the some pockets of the government. The farmers suffer and they are branded ignorant and backward.
We must learn the lesson of the New Zealanders. Today they enjoy the life style of the Americans and Europeans yet they remain agricultural. We have the land and human resources; we only do not have the initiative to improve and develop what is indigenous because we always consider ours as inferior compare to something foreign.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
Obsession in Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia is defined as an idea/image that repeatedly intrudes on the mind of a person against his will. Compulsion on the other hand is an irresistible impulse to behave in a certain way. A combination of the two words denotes a fixated ritual where a deviation is difficult (if not impossible) for the subject experiencing the disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder takes many forms, including excessive hand washing, fear of creating hazards for others, a need for order, anxiety over germs or contamination, repetitive checking of irons, ovens and door locks, and fear of harming others with knives or similar sharp objects.
The Most Common Expressions of OCD are:
Relationship Substantiation. A compulsive search for tiny but disqualifying flaws in a partner or spouse. Romances and marriages often do not survive the scrutiny.
Fear of Injuring Other People. A preoccupation with the idea of losing control and injuring or even killing others, it often results in a terrified avoidance of knives, scissors or other sharp objects.
Responsibility Anxiety. A broader fear of negligently hurting others. Sufferers will smooth out throw out rugs or pick up trash from sidewalks so strangers won’t trip.
Scrupulosity. An intolerance of disorder or asymmetry, this is a fastidiousness that goes beyond mere tidiness.
Contamination Anxiety. The hand washing compulsion. Fears contamination can spread from hands to other objects, leading to clothes, belongings and even walls being washed.
Sexual-Orientation Fears. A person who may have no moral or social objections to homosexuality becomes fixated with discovering (homosexuality) in themselves.
Obsessive Hypochondria. This can be a tricky one, often confused with ordinary hypochondria. OCD sufferers tend to disqualify reassurances from doctors with what – if worries, misdiagnoses and other medical errors. Behavior therapy (i.e. exposure and response prevention) is one of the clinical success stories that have been reported. Meaning, constant exposure tends to rewire the brain, reinforcing the perception that such is not that bad, and that whatever it is, such is not a big deal.
The random firing of neurons will correct itself where underestimating things would be much preferable as opposed to overestimating things.
References
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia, 2000.
Kluger, Jeffrey. When Worry Hijacks the Brain. Time, Vol. 170, No. 7, 2007.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder takes many forms, including excessive hand washing, fear of creating hazards for others, a need for order, anxiety over germs or contamination, repetitive checking of irons, ovens and door locks, and fear of harming others with knives or similar sharp objects.
The Most Common Expressions of OCD are:
Relationship Substantiation. A compulsive search for tiny but disqualifying flaws in a partner or spouse. Romances and marriages often do not survive the scrutiny.
Fear of Injuring Other People. A preoccupation with the idea of losing control and injuring or even killing others, it often results in a terrified avoidance of knives, scissors or other sharp objects.
Responsibility Anxiety. A broader fear of negligently hurting others. Sufferers will smooth out throw out rugs or pick up trash from sidewalks so strangers won’t trip.
Scrupulosity. An intolerance of disorder or asymmetry, this is a fastidiousness that goes beyond mere tidiness.
Contamination Anxiety. The hand washing compulsion. Fears contamination can spread from hands to other objects, leading to clothes, belongings and even walls being washed.
Sexual-Orientation Fears. A person who may have no moral or social objections to homosexuality becomes fixated with discovering (homosexuality) in themselves.
Obsessive Hypochondria. This can be a tricky one, often confused with ordinary hypochondria. OCD sufferers tend to disqualify reassurances from doctors with what – if worries, misdiagnoses and other medical errors. Behavior therapy (i.e. exposure and response prevention) is one of the clinical success stories that have been reported. Meaning, constant exposure tends to rewire the brain, reinforcing the perception that such is not that bad, and that whatever it is, such is not a big deal.
The random firing of neurons will correct itself where underestimating things would be much preferable as opposed to overestimating things.
References
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia, 2000.
Kluger, Jeffrey. When Worry Hijacks the Brain. Time, Vol. 170, No. 7, 2007.
The Stylistic Approach in Teaching Literature by Marichelle G. Dones, MA (January, 2008)
The study of literature is a fascinating activity that offers both teacher and learner manifold and tremendous benefits. For what other activity would enable the reader to enter into a multiplicity of worlds and savor the wonders of encountering, albeit vicariously, a vast variety of people (including magical creatures), cultures, places in reality and beyond; defy the boundaries of time to travel to and fro in the distant past then whiz back to the present at the turn of a page?
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Henry David Thoreau (1812 - 1862) by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
Mr. Thoreau principally advocated “Civil Disobedience”. Since the Philippines is one of the early pioneers in People Power, I would like to tackle the topic of “civil disobedience” in the republic.
Historically, I could only recall one incident in the pages of Philippine experience where civil disobedience happened – and this is the ‘tearing of the cedula’ led by Andres Bonifacio in Pugad Lawin, Balintawak. Now this is historically relevant because the “cedula” represents the community taxation that was being imposed by the Spanish Administration. When Andres Bonifacio led the tearing of the “cedula”, he was literally refusing to pay the community taxes, which indirectly states that he no longer recognizes the authority of the Spanish Administration to collect taxes.
Similarly, this was the same refusal that Mr. Thoreau did when he refused to pay the poll tax during the American-Mexican War. Though he still recognizes the supremacy of the American Government, he disagrees with the forwarded rationales for the conduct of the Mexican War.
Using the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, Edsa I and Edsa II cannot possibly qualify as a “civil disobedience” (because it was not about tax payments) but are more appropriately classified as a “revolution”.
Strangely, the so-called Edsa III might even be considered as civil disobedience because by stretching the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, the protesters of Edsa III destroyed a lot of government properties simply because they do not recognize the administration of GMA (i.e. legitimacy issues). Of course, this is a stretch – but the act of disobedience is there.
The concept of civil disobedience has evolved over time. Filipinos still needs to understand fully the uses and disadvantages of civil disobedience. In my personal estimation, success came to easy for the Filipinos (e.g. Edsa I and Edsa II) and now that there is a very strong clamor for GMA to resign, people are at a lost on how to conduct an effective civil disobedience.
Historically, I could only recall one incident in the pages of Philippine experience where civil disobedience happened – and this is the ‘tearing of the cedula’ led by Andres Bonifacio in Pugad Lawin, Balintawak. Now this is historically relevant because the “cedula” represents the community taxation that was being imposed by the Spanish Administration. When Andres Bonifacio led the tearing of the “cedula”, he was literally refusing to pay the community taxes, which indirectly states that he no longer recognizes the authority of the Spanish Administration to collect taxes.
Similarly, this was the same refusal that Mr. Thoreau did when he refused to pay the poll tax during the American-Mexican War. Though he still recognizes the supremacy of the American Government, he disagrees with the forwarded rationales for the conduct of the Mexican War.
Using the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, Edsa I and Edsa II cannot possibly qualify as a “civil disobedience” (because it was not about tax payments) but are more appropriately classified as a “revolution”.
Strangely, the so-called Edsa III might even be considered as civil disobedience because by stretching the theoretical framework of Mr. Thoreau, the protesters of Edsa III destroyed a lot of government properties simply because they do not recognize the administration of GMA (i.e. legitimacy issues). Of course, this is a stretch – but the act of disobedience is there.
The concept of civil disobedience has evolved over time. Filipinos still needs to understand fully the uses and disadvantages of civil disobedience. In my personal estimation, success came to easy for the Filipinos (e.g. Edsa I and Edsa II) and now that there is a very strong clamor for GMA to resign, people are at a lost on how to conduct an effective civil disobedience.
Skills Among Students by Marichelle G. Dones, MA (January, 2007)
The key to achieving the goals of education through the various school subjects is the acquisition and continuous development of thinking skills. Thinking skills refer to the set of basic and advanced skills and subskills that governs a person’s mental processes. These skills consists of knowledge, dispositions, cognitive, and even metacognitive operations. Cognition is the biological/neurological processes of the brain that facilitate thought while metacognition is the process of planning, assessing, and monitoring one’s own thinking. Students should learn how to think. Their teachers should know how to think themselves. In school, students CAN learn to think better if their teachers will concentrate on teaching them HOW to do so. The school curriculum should have all the provisions for the development of thinking skills.
Every subject in the school curriculum has specific purpose to accomplish-math for numeracy skills, language for communicative competence, and social sciences subjects such as history,economics and civics and culture specifically for developing thinking skills.
Why is it imperative for all schools to make sure that thinking skills are developed in every classroom nowadays? With the rapid changes going on in this technologically oriented world, the advances in information technology, the inevitable worldwide knowledge explosion brought about by computerization, and the easy access to information through the internet and electronic communication, learners must have the capacity to process information critically.
What exactly is critical thinking (CT)? How does one think critically? Can critical thinking be developed? Beyer (1985) defines critical thinking as the process of determining the authenticity, accuracy, and worth of information or knowledge claims. Hudgins and Edelman (1986) postulate that CT is the disposition to provide evidence in support of one’s conclusions and to request evidence from others before accepting their conclusions. The cognitive skills of analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, evaluation, self-regulation or monitoring, and correcting one’s own reasoning are at the heart of critical thinking.
Critical thinkers think effectively. Teachers should be alert in noting the difference between those who do ordinary thinking and critical thinking. While ordinary thinkers simply guess, judge without criteria, or offer opinions without reasons, critical thinkers estimate, infer logically, give opinions with reasons, and make judgements based on sound criteria.
If we are to help students develop effective thinking skills, we need to move beyond asking questions that require memorization or mere recall of facts. Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1972) became a popular guide in infusing higher-level questioning into daily lessons in the classroom. Applying Bloom’s Six Levels of Cognition to our teaching can be helpful in promoting higher- level thinking skills among our students.
Teachers will greatly help students if they will opt to make a paradigm shift and contribute to their students’learning strength through activities that develop thinking skills. These learning activities and experiences fall under five categories:
Knowledge and comprehension check-up
Critical thinking Creative thinking
Research skills
Application activities
Fortunately, a set of instructional materials that feature all these is now available for the teachers and their students. It is up to them to respond to the task of making the learners think better by teaching them HOW TO THINK.
Every subject in the school curriculum has specific purpose to accomplish-math for numeracy skills, language for communicative competence, and social sciences subjects such as history,economics and civics and culture specifically for developing thinking skills.
Why is it imperative for all schools to make sure that thinking skills are developed in every classroom nowadays? With the rapid changes going on in this technologically oriented world, the advances in information technology, the inevitable worldwide knowledge explosion brought about by computerization, and the easy access to information through the internet and electronic communication, learners must have the capacity to process information critically.
What exactly is critical thinking (CT)? How does one think critically? Can critical thinking be developed? Beyer (1985) defines critical thinking as the process of determining the authenticity, accuracy, and worth of information or knowledge claims. Hudgins and Edelman (1986) postulate that CT is the disposition to provide evidence in support of one’s conclusions and to request evidence from others before accepting their conclusions. The cognitive skills of analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, evaluation, self-regulation or monitoring, and correcting one’s own reasoning are at the heart of critical thinking.
Critical thinkers think effectively. Teachers should be alert in noting the difference between those who do ordinary thinking and critical thinking. While ordinary thinkers simply guess, judge without criteria, or offer opinions without reasons, critical thinkers estimate, infer logically, give opinions with reasons, and make judgements based on sound criteria.
If we are to help students develop effective thinking skills, we need to move beyond asking questions that require memorization or mere recall of facts. Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1972) became a popular guide in infusing higher-level questioning into daily lessons in the classroom. Applying Bloom’s Six Levels of Cognition to our teaching can be helpful in promoting higher- level thinking skills among our students.
Teachers will greatly help students if they will opt to make a paradigm shift and contribute to their students’learning strength through activities that develop thinking skills. These learning activities and experiences fall under five categories:
Knowledge and comprehension check-up
Critical thinking Creative thinking
Research skills
Application activities
Fortunately, a set of instructional materials that feature all these is now available for the teachers and their students. It is up to them to respond to the task of making the learners think better by teaching them HOW TO THINK.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937) by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (January, 2007)
Just like Dr. Sigmund Freud, Dr. Alfred Adler is an Austrian. He was previously a close associate/disciple of the former and just had a falling out with Dr. Freud because of too much emphasis on sex (mental illnesses caused by sexual conflicts in infancy).
More significantly, the contribution of Dr. Adler is centered on the concept of “inferiority complex”. In 1907 he introduced the concept of “inferiority complex” where it is asserted that the key to understanding personal and mass problem is through inferiority that a person feels and his efforts (i.e. actions, behaviors) in compensating for such.
In a nutshell, everything (behavior, motivation, and attitude) can be explained by the degree of inferiority complex. Man’s behavior can be measured and explained by his feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.
Unlike the bedrock of psychoanalytic theory, Dr. Adler disagrees with the concept that early infant – parent relationships exclusively caused the unhealthy or healthy development of personality. He even denied the doctrine of the unconscious mind. He espoused that individuals (1) shape their own destinies, (2) overcome primitive drives and uncontrollable environment in striving for more fulfilling lives, and (3) improve themselves and the world around them through self understanding.
Regardless of the circumstances that give rise to inferiority feelings, however, a person may react by overcompensating and thus develop what Adler called a superiority complex. This involves a tendency to exaggerate one’s physical, intellectual, or social skills. A person for instance, may believe she is smarter than others but not feel she must show her intelligence by reciting what she knows about movie stars. Another person may feel that he must demonstrate all he knows about movie stars on every occasion to everyone who will listen to him. This person may neglect everything else just to prove he knows more than anyone else about movie stars. In any event, the technique of overcompensation is an exaggeration of a healthy striving to overcome persistent feelings of inferiority. Accordingly, the person possessing a superiority complex tends to be boastful, arrogant, egocentric, and sarcastic. One gets the impression that this individual has so little self-acceptance (i.e. such a low opinion of himself or herself) that only by “putting down” others can he or she feel important (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992).
Dr. Adler also further argued that society and culture were equally responsible, if not more responsible for the development of mental illness.
Personality Theories 1992, 3rd Edition
More significantly, the contribution of Dr. Adler is centered on the concept of “inferiority complex”. In 1907 he introduced the concept of “inferiority complex” where it is asserted that the key to understanding personal and mass problem is through inferiority that a person feels and his efforts (i.e. actions, behaviors) in compensating for such.
In a nutshell, everything (behavior, motivation, and attitude) can be explained by the degree of inferiority complex. Man’s behavior can be measured and explained by his feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.
Unlike the bedrock of psychoanalytic theory, Dr. Adler disagrees with the concept that early infant – parent relationships exclusively caused the unhealthy or healthy development of personality. He even denied the doctrine of the unconscious mind. He espoused that individuals (1) shape their own destinies, (2) overcome primitive drives and uncontrollable environment in striving for more fulfilling lives, and (3) improve themselves and the world around them through self understanding.
Regardless of the circumstances that give rise to inferiority feelings, however, a person may react by overcompensating and thus develop what Adler called a superiority complex. This involves a tendency to exaggerate one’s physical, intellectual, or social skills. A person for instance, may believe she is smarter than others but not feel she must show her intelligence by reciting what she knows about movie stars. Another person may feel that he must demonstrate all he knows about movie stars on every occasion to everyone who will listen to him. This person may neglect everything else just to prove he knows more than anyone else about movie stars. In any event, the technique of overcompensation is an exaggeration of a healthy striving to overcome persistent feelings of inferiority. Accordingly, the person possessing a superiority complex tends to be boastful, arrogant, egocentric, and sarcastic. One gets the impression that this individual has so little self-acceptance (i.e. such a low opinion of himself or herself) that only by “putting down” others can he or she feel important (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992).
Dr. Adler also further argued that society and culture were equally responsible, if not more responsible for the development of mental illness.
Personality Theories 1992, 3rd Edition
Rape by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (January, 2007)
Historically, rape was considered a crime against property. This was tied to the concept that women were just properties and that their prime asset is their virginity. Hence, when one has sex with someone that is not your wife, one is practically stealing from the father (if the woman is single) or from the husband (if the woman is married).
Generally, there are only two types of rape. One is forcible and the other one is statutory. From the word forcible – there is an application of force, a threat or coercion. Statutory on the other hand is having sex with a minor.
There are four classification of rapist and these are:
Power assertive
Power reassurance
Sexual retaliatory and
Sexual sadism
Power assertive rapists are those who commit the act of rape just to show that they could commit such an act and could get away with it without getting punished.
Power reassurance rapists are those who commit the act of rape because they are insecure about themselves and that the act of raping someone gives them a certain amount of psychological lift that they still matter and is still significant (if not to the community but to their victims).
Sexual retaliatory rapists are those who were victims of sexual abuse themselves and are just passing their horror to somebody else.
Sexual sadism rapists are those who derive pleasure from the misery and agony of other individuals (usually, the victim).
Generally, there are only two types of rape. One is forcible and the other one is statutory. From the word forcible – there is an application of force, a threat or coercion. Statutory on the other hand is having sex with a minor.
There are four classification of rapist and these are:
Power assertive
Power reassurance
Sexual retaliatory and
Sexual sadism
Power assertive rapists are those who commit the act of rape just to show that they could commit such an act and could get away with it without getting punished.
Power reassurance rapists are those who commit the act of rape because they are insecure about themselves and that the act of raping someone gives them a certain amount of psychological lift that they still matter and is still significant (if not to the community but to their victims).
Sexual retaliatory rapists are those who were victims of sexual abuse themselves and are just passing their horror to somebody else.
Sexual sadism rapists are those who derive pleasure from the misery and agony of other individuals (usually, the victim).
Language Colonialism by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (January, 2007)
A student asked me why the English speaking policy of TIP did not work well as implemented. I could not give the student a direct and scientific answer. All I got was a humble opinion. It was not the problem of implementation or the people who implemented the policy, but the supposed speakers themselves were the problem (i.e. students and teachers).
Teachers come to the refuge by saying students cannot understand them in English so they are forced to speak in vernacular. The same lament was with the students; they cannot get what the teacher is saying in English.
The point I cannot understand well is that, subjects dealing with figures and numbers are developed in the countries where English is a language and brought to the Philippines in textbooks with English as a medium of instruction and yet these subjects could not be explained well in English.
Readiness does not only mean mastery of what to teach. Teaching methodology always enclosed the kind of language that fit with the learners and not of the teachers. The Ph Ds have their own level of communication, the poets have their own, the novelists have their own and the college students have their own and these levels could not be interchanged with each other. An instructor said students in high school are difficult to teach because teachers have to choose the kind of word to be used. It is true in high school which is also true in college.
Outside the classroom there is another point that needs to be checked. The Filipinos look at English as a status symbol. That anyone who speaks English is somebody and if that somebody flowers his English with a foreign accent he is honored as “sosyal”. The celebrities for instance speak English not because they knew it or they loved it but they used English to identify themselves apart from the rest of their brown brothers. Unfortunately Filipinos learn more from the English of the celebrities than from the English of the teachers. And because the celebrities highlight their American or British accent, the Filipinos strive hard to have the same accent. What come out now is a blatant superficiality and pretensions. An indio with his colonizer’s accent remains an indio no matter what. Some groups call it “colonial caricature”.
English speaking does not mean speaking in American or British accent. The move of call centers now is not accent acquisition but accent neutralization. English speaking people by birth could not do anything than to accept the fact that original English is losing. Today there are more people who speak English who themselves are not English by birth than those who are born with the English tongue. This widening scene somehow erases the English language of William Shakespeare, the original English.
For a purpose of understanding, experts are trying to design something that would maintain the standard. But this standard is definitely not British or American. English in the textbook and words described in the dictionaries are still the most accepted one in a business world. Textbook is still the guiding map for people who venture the correct English and dictionaries are keys to the formal use of English word.
But more than anything else sociologists maintain that a culture cannot be changed by legislation. Language is part of a culture so that it cannot be legislated and cannot be changed overnight. It must be practiced until it become a tradition, and practicing it means using it in the classroom and anywhere in the campus without waiting for making it into a policy. And the prime movers of the practice are teachers.
Teachers come to the refuge by saying students cannot understand them in English so they are forced to speak in vernacular. The same lament was with the students; they cannot get what the teacher is saying in English.
The point I cannot understand well is that, subjects dealing with figures and numbers are developed in the countries where English is a language and brought to the Philippines in textbooks with English as a medium of instruction and yet these subjects could not be explained well in English.
Readiness does not only mean mastery of what to teach. Teaching methodology always enclosed the kind of language that fit with the learners and not of the teachers. The Ph Ds have their own level of communication, the poets have their own, the novelists have their own and the college students have their own and these levels could not be interchanged with each other. An instructor said students in high school are difficult to teach because teachers have to choose the kind of word to be used. It is true in high school which is also true in college.
Outside the classroom there is another point that needs to be checked. The Filipinos look at English as a status symbol. That anyone who speaks English is somebody and if that somebody flowers his English with a foreign accent he is honored as “sosyal”. The celebrities for instance speak English not because they knew it or they loved it but they used English to identify themselves apart from the rest of their brown brothers. Unfortunately Filipinos learn more from the English of the celebrities than from the English of the teachers. And because the celebrities highlight their American or British accent, the Filipinos strive hard to have the same accent. What come out now is a blatant superficiality and pretensions. An indio with his colonizer’s accent remains an indio no matter what. Some groups call it “colonial caricature”.
English speaking does not mean speaking in American or British accent. The move of call centers now is not accent acquisition but accent neutralization. English speaking people by birth could not do anything than to accept the fact that original English is losing. Today there are more people who speak English who themselves are not English by birth than those who are born with the English tongue. This widening scene somehow erases the English language of William Shakespeare, the original English.
For a purpose of understanding, experts are trying to design something that would maintain the standard. But this standard is definitely not British or American. English in the textbook and words described in the dictionaries are still the most accepted one in a business world. Textbook is still the guiding map for people who venture the correct English and dictionaries are keys to the formal use of English word.
But more than anything else sociologists maintain that a culture cannot be changed by legislation. Language is part of a culture so that it cannot be legislated and cannot be changed overnight. It must be practiced until it become a tradition, and practicing it means using it in the classroom and anywhere in the campus without waiting for making it into a policy. And the prime movers of the practice are teachers.
Politics in America by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (November, 2006)
Come 2008, the United States of America will have it’s presidential elections and it will a titanic battle once more against the liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.
Watching the process in picking a candidate that will carry the banner either for the Republicans and Democrats, a debate was organized by CNN and in those debates, one question attracted my attention.
“Are you in favor of adopting English as the official language of America?” Now, I was intrigued right away because I thought that English was the official language of America. As the presidential wannabes answered the query, it was revealed that English is not the official language of America.
English is the national language of America but it is not the official language. Making English the official language requires an act of the American congress and such also requires the usual presidential approval.
Surprisingly, Democrats and Republicans are not in favor of having English adopted as their official language because such an adoption would alienate the Spanish-speaking citizens of southern states and could further marginalize the Native – Americans (who live far longer in the American soil than the immigrants from Europe).
An official language status will dictate that the US will no longer utilize and print information in other language other than English, this is of course unfair to the American – Indians, Asian – Americans and even to the American – Latinos.
Democrats and Republican candidates are for the maintenance of the status quo. Have English as a national language but not as an official language.
Watching the process in picking a candidate that will carry the banner either for the Republicans and Democrats, a debate was organized by CNN and in those debates, one question attracted my attention.
“Are you in favor of adopting English as the official language of America?” Now, I was intrigued right away because I thought that English was the official language of America. As the presidential wannabes answered the query, it was revealed that English is not the official language of America.
English is the national language of America but it is not the official language. Making English the official language requires an act of the American congress and such also requires the usual presidential approval.
Surprisingly, Democrats and Republicans are not in favor of having English adopted as their official language because such an adoption would alienate the Spanish-speaking citizens of southern states and could further marginalize the Native – Americans (who live far longer in the American soil than the immigrants from Europe).
An official language status will dictate that the US will no longer utilize and print information in other language other than English, this is of course unfair to the American – Indians, Asian – Americans and even to the American – Latinos.
Democrats and Republican candidates are for the maintenance of the status quo. Have English as a national language but not as an official language.
The Real Essense of Management by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz, Ph.D (July, 2006)
Management is as old as civilized man. It has been defined as the task of creating the internal environment for organized effort to accomplish group goals. It is the same process in all forms of enterprise and at every level of each organization. The challenge to effective management increases as the numbers of involved people increases; as the geographic territory organized expands; as specialization of activities proliferates; and as a hierarchy of authority develops.
In his fascinating book, Management and Machiavelli, Anthony Jay cited that management is not a new basic institution at all. It is a very ancient art. The new science of management is in fact only a continuation of the old art of government. Other public officials and men of affairs who practiced public administration thought about it and generalized about it long before professors began any systematic study and critique.
It has often been stated that the real genius of the Roman Empire derived from its ability to organize. The City of Rome was an early utilizer, if not the original developer, of the concept of the delegation of authority. Other institutions that contributed to the techniques of management and administration include the military and the religious. The modern concept of the General Staff can be traced to the Prussian armies of the nineteenth century. A noteworthy early example of efficacious formal organization is the Roman Catholic Church. Its successful practices include the establishment hierarchy of authority, functional specialization and the utilization of the staff device in its organizational structure.
Management, as with all the social sciences, is at best an inexact science. Much of its present generalizations are simply the distilled experiences of perceptive managers. Many of its postulates still require testing under controlled conditions before they can be classed as proven truths. Despite the lack of an all-encompassing economic theory of business enterprise, despite the fact that management is foreordained to remain always more of an art than a science, there is no doubt that the principles of management, even as they exist today, are of inestimable value to all who would improve their mastery of the art of management. For science and art are complementary in this field, as in most. A better knowledge of an explanation of the processes of management can only result in an improved ability to be a more successful practitioner of the art.
The traditional approach to the definition and study of management is to identify the functions common to almost all managers, and to all who perform these functions, give the label 'managing.' Ability and skill in carrying out these functions mark the successful manager. They have most often been listed as including the activities of: planning, organizing, staffing, supervising and control.
Management has been defined as getting things done through the efforts of other people, and that function breaks down into at least two major responsibilities, one of which is planning, the other control. Management principles have been formulated to govern managers in the prosecution of their assigned activities. The proper use of these principles should help to bring about desired results and to avoid common mistakes, when applied in appropriate circumstances. A major skill of expert managership is the ability to select the right principle, process or technique from the fund of knowledge that the science of management can provide. Of course, an intimate and perceptive comprehension of one's own organization is the touchstone for maximum beneficial results.
Management, in the last analysis, is intangible. It is compounded of knowledge, intelligence, communication, emotional maturity, courage and the willingness to accept responsibility, and the view that accepts every problem as a challenge and opportunity.
In his fascinating book, Management and Machiavelli, Anthony Jay cited that management is not a new basic institution at all. It is a very ancient art. The new science of management is in fact only a continuation of the old art of government. Other public officials and men of affairs who practiced public administration thought about it and generalized about it long before professors began any systematic study and critique.
It has often been stated that the real genius of the Roman Empire derived from its ability to organize. The City of Rome was an early utilizer, if not the original developer, of the concept of the delegation of authority. Other institutions that contributed to the techniques of management and administration include the military and the religious. The modern concept of the General Staff can be traced to the Prussian armies of the nineteenth century. A noteworthy early example of efficacious formal organization is the Roman Catholic Church. Its successful practices include the establishment hierarchy of authority, functional specialization and the utilization of the staff device in its organizational structure.
Management, as with all the social sciences, is at best an inexact science. Much of its present generalizations are simply the distilled experiences of perceptive managers. Many of its postulates still require testing under controlled conditions before they can be classed as proven truths. Despite the lack of an all-encompassing economic theory of business enterprise, despite the fact that management is foreordained to remain always more of an art than a science, there is no doubt that the principles of management, even as they exist today, are of inestimable value to all who would improve their mastery of the art of management. For science and art are complementary in this field, as in most. A better knowledge of an explanation of the processes of management can only result in an improved ability to be a more successful practitioner of the art.
The traditional approach to the definition and study of management is to identify the functions common to almost all managers, and to all who perform these functions, give the label 'managing.' Ability and skill in carrying out these functions mark the successful manager. They have most often been listed as including the activities of: planning, organizing, staffing, supervising and control.
Management has been defined as getting things done through the efforts of other people, and that function breaks down into at least two major responsibilities, one of which is planning, the other control. Management principles have been formulated to govern managers in the prosecution of their assigned activities. The proper use of these principles should help to bring about desired results and to avoid common mistakes, when applied in appropriate circumstances. A major skill of expert managership is the ability to select the right principle, process or technique from the fund of knowledge that the science of management can provide. Of course, an intimate and perceptive comprehension of one's own organization is the touchstone for maximum beneficial results.
Management, in the last analysis, is intangible. It is compounded of knowledge, intelligence, communication, emotional maturity, courage and the willingness to accept responsibility, and the view that accepts every problem as a challenge and opportunity.
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Stylistic Approach in Teaching Literature by Marichelle G. Dones, MA (January, 2008)
The study of literature is a fascinating activity that offers both teacher and learner manifold and tremendous benefits. For what other activity would enable the reader to enter into a multiplicity of worlds and savor the wonders of encountering, albeit vicariously, a vast variety of people (including magical creatures), cultures, places in reality and beyond; defy the boundaries of time to travel to and fro in the distant past then whiz back to the present at the turn of a page?
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
The greatest values to be gained from these benefits are the potential for growth in knowledge and wisdom; the acquisition of a keen understanding of human nature and of human relationships; and the freedom of choice to enter into each character’s heart and mind and live his life, his adventures fully during the course of one story, one novel, one poem. Such are the acknowledged values of engaging in the pleasurable study of literature.
To study literature, specifically to be able to teach it effectively, means that one must be familiar with the various methods, approaches, techniques, and strategies commonly utilized in such a serious task. To study literature means to study language for literature and language are inextricably bound together. Language indeed is the blood and meat of literature. Hence, the competent teacher of literature must know the structure of the language of the literary work being studied, be it written in English, Filipino, French, Spanish, etc.
To know a language means to know its sound system (phonology), its meaning system (morphology), and its syntactic system (syntax which deals with the structure of the utterances in the language). The three branches, linked together in the science of linguistics, are great aids in understanding the language of literature. Besides these three, two other very important branches of linguistics are semantics and the most recent addition, stylistics.
On this article I’m proceeding on the assumption that many, if not all, of the teachers of English and particularly of literature have had courses in linguistics and possess some knowledge of semantics and stylistics.
Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature.” It is the study of language as art.” As the study of style, it “seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech.”
At the outset I suggest that the teacher should first utilize all the traditional methods of explicating a literary work and then attempt to introduce a refreshing new dimension, an innovative way of looking at the style of a specific literary piece from the point of view of stylistics. This activity could well fall under the enrichment activity as an exciting challenge to the more advanced classes in literature.
These conventional approaches which we will refer to as the “extratextual approaches,” include: the thematic approach, the interpretation of characters, the elements of narration, imagery and the poetic (expressive and suggestive) devices. These constitute the major elements inevitably discussed in the analysis of all forms of literary discourse.
I. Thematic Approach
The theme of any literary work is the main idea or message that the author wants to convey. The theme may have psychological, sociological, ethical, or didactic value. It is the skeletal framework or the “peg” from which the whole story hangs. The author comes up with an idea. It obsesses him and he is compelled to express it; to give flesh and all the “trappings”that give it a concrete form; and to embellish it, so0 to speak, so that it will have both internal and external values. These values distinguish it from all other works of literary art.
Thus, language becomes the author’s main linguistic tool-using sound, meaning, and sentence structure. But apart from the linguistic components, the author will have to clothe his story with style. This is how the theme is expanded. Otherwise, there will be no story or poem.
II. Interpretation of Characters
Under this approach there are four types of interpretation open to the teacher’s or the learner’s choice:
Psychologically oriented interpretation-the characters are representatives of certain mental types.
Sociological interpretation-the characters are treated as members of a certain moment of social history.
Metaphysical interpretation-the characters are images of certain human conditions, e.g., aggressors vs. victims, the damned creatures in hell, etc.
Ethical interpretation-the characters are representatives of a certain morality (or immortality).
This is more popularly known as the character analysis approach. Character analysis is an intriguing activity. Teachers often are expected to fall back on their knowledge of psychology in their attempt to help their students to understand the motivations of the characters in the story and how these affects their social behavior and the outcome of the story.
III. The Elements of Narration
Explicating a literary selection by means of formal analysis of the elements of narration involves analyzing the structure of the story, i.e., taking it apart, element by element. What are these formal elements? Most, if not all stories, contain these basic elements: setting, characters, plot. Each of these basic elements can be subjected or further analyzed to give the reader a comprehensive idea of what is meant by “the structure of the story”.
IV. Imagery and Poetic Devices
A. Imagery
Style is the primary focus of this particular approach which deals with imagery and poetic devices. It is defined as “a characteristics manner of expression in prose or verse; how a speaker or writer says whatever he/she says. The style of a work depends on its diction or choice of words, the figurative language used (frequency and types), its rhythmic patterns, the structure of its sentences, and its rhetorical devices and effects.”
Imagery refers to the images abounding in the literary work, created consciously or unconsciously by the writer’s artistry. There are two generally accepted meanings of image: one in the sense of “mental representation; the other in the sense of figure of speech expressing some similarity or analogy.”
A distinction must be made between imagery and analogy. “In imagery, the resemblance has a concrete and sensuous quality. In analogy, some striking or unexpected common element is observed in two seemingly disparate objects or experiences”.
A study of poetic devices, which are the stylistic resources of particular languages and which increase the power and impact of words, leads us to a “wide range of linguistic features which alone covers: emotive overtones or connotations, emphasis, rhythm, symmetry and the evocative elements.
Closely connected with expressiveness is the element of choice, i.e., the writer is free to choose between two or more alternatives or stylistic variants-the use of synonyms or the use of the inverted word order in place of the normal word order in sentence structure. Inversions, when resorted to, “provides for emphasis, delay and suspense, pathos, finality, irony, parody and impressionism.”
Evocative devices are popular sources of comedy and satire. They derive their stylistic effects from being associated with a particular milieu or register of style.
B. Poetic Devices
In poetry the pervasive employment of imagery, particulary the use of the metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech is a given. Without these poetic devices poetry is not possible. Add to these the other conventional features that attach to poetry as a literary genre.
Specifically, these conventional features comprise meter,(in its various forms), the suprasegmental features,(stress,pitch,intonation contours,juncture), rhyme, alliteration, enjambment,(the syntactic running over of the line), and caesura (a syntactic break inside the line, usually near the middle of the line).
It is a wise teacher who will use his sound judgment in choosing the approach and strategy that best suit to the particular literary work being studied. It is also the pragmatic, versatile teacher who will use a combination of the suggested methods, techniques, and strategies to the best advantage so that his/her students will grow along with him/her, expand their knowledge of the world and its diversity of cultures, and share in the enriching experiences found in literature.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
Obsession in Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia is defined as an idea/image that repeatedly intrudes on the mind of a person against his will. Compulsion on the other hand is an irresistible impulse to behave in a certain way. A combination of the two words denotes a fixated ritual where a deviation is difficult (if not impossible) for the subject experiencing the disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder takes many forms, including excessive hand washing, fear of creating hazards for others, a need for order, anxiety over germs or contamination, repetitive checking of irons, ovens and door locks, and fear of harming others with knives or similar sharp objects.
The Most Common Expressions of OCD are:
Relationship Substantiation. A compulsive search for tiny but disqualifying flaws in a partner or spouse. Romances and marriages often do not survive the scrutiny.
Fear of Injuring Other People. A preoccupation with the idea of losing control and injuring or even killing others, it often results in a terrified avoidance of knives, scissors or other sharp objects.
Responsibility Anxiety. A broader fear of negligently hurting others. Sufferers will smooth out throw out rugs or pick up trash from sidewalks so strangers won’t trip.
Scrupulosity. An intolerance of disorder or asymmetry, this is a fastidiousness that goes beyond mere tidiness.
Contamination Anxiety. The hand washing compulsion. Fears contamination can spread from hands to other objects, leading to clothes, belongings and even walls being washed.
Sexual-Orientation Fears. A person who may have no moral or social objections to homosexuality becomes fixated with discovering (homosexuality) in themselves.
Obsessive Hypochondria. This can be a tricky one, often confused with ordinary hypochondria. OCD sufferers tend to disqualify reassurances from doctors with what – if worries, misdiagnoses and other medical errors. Behavior therapy (i.e. exposure and response prevention) is one of the clinical success stories that have been reported. Meaning, constant exposure tends to rewire the brain, reinforcing the perception that such is not that bad, and that whatever it is, such is not a big deal.
The random firing of neurons will correct itself where underestimating things would be much preferable as opposed to overestimating things.
References
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia, 2000.
Kluger, Jeffrey. When Worry Hijacks the Brain. Time, Vol. 170, No. 7, 2007.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder takes many forms, including excessive hand washing, fear of creating hazards for others, a need for order, anxiety over germs or contamination, repetitive checking of irons, ovens and door locks, and fear of harming others with knives or similar sharp objects.
The Most Common Expressions of OCD are:
Relationship Substantiation. A compulsive search for tiny but disqualifying flaws in a partner or spouse. Romances and marriages often do not survive the scrutiny.
Fear of Injuring Other People. A preoccupation with the idea of losing control and injuring or even killing others, it often results in a terrified avoidance of knives, scissors or other sharp objects.
Responsibility Anxiety. A broader fear of negligently hurting others. Sufferers will smooth out throw out rugs or pick up trash from sidewalks so strangers won’t trip.
Scrupulosity. An intolerance of disorder or asymmetry, this is a fastidiousness that goes beyond mere tidiness.
Contamination Anxiety. The hand washing compulsion. Fears contamination can spread from hands to other objects, leading to clothes, belongings and even walls being washed.
Sexual-Orientation Fears. A person who may have no moral or social objections to homosexuality becomes fixated with discovering (homosexuality) in themselves.
Obsessive Hypochondria. This can be a tricky one, often confused with ordinary hypochondria. OCD sufferers tend to disqualify reassurances from doctors with what – if worries, misdiagnoses and other medical errors. Behavior therapy (i.e. exposure and response prevention) is one of the clinical success stories that have been reported. Meaning, constant exposure tends to rewire the brain, reinforcing the perception that such is not that bad, and that whatever it is, such is not a big deal.
The random firing of neurons will correct itself where underestimating things would be much preferable as opposed to overestimating things.
References
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia, 2000.
Kluger, Jeffrey. When Worry Hijacks the Brain. Time, Vol. 170, No. 7, 2007.
Salubrious Living by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (January, 2008)
Across the sea, south of the Philippines there is a patch of land the early people called “Menelangan”. The Subanun who lived a semi nomadic life around the place are bewildered by the beauty of the sun when it appears above the ridges of mountains. It became their land mark and when their fellow villagers asked them where they go, they said, “to the place where the sun is born”.
Menelangan means sunrise, but the early Visayan who migrated to Mindanao misheard the word to Sindangan. The Visayan did not bother themselves by checking the word. They immediately accepted and used the word. It was further solidified by the existence of a giant fish they called Indangan back to their island of birth, the Visayas. So the name was approved. The migrants in Mindanao latter carried the name Sindangan up to the present generation. The place had turned into a town with its life vested on the fertility of its land.
It is a place of tranquility, the artists’ chosen place to work; a place free from the madding crowd, far from the grating of machines, far from the saturnine look of drug addicts and hold up gangs, far from swindlers and far from the police men. The place is very kind to its people so that everyone is pleased with his assigned lot; there is more than enough what the family needs. And in that place of the world my father farms.
My boyhood experience in the place is always associated with the pulverized farms and the joyous faces of farmers during harvest time. In that place the morning announces its coming by the moaning of pigeons on the branches of the Santol tress surrounding our house, the endless murmur of the brooks as they joined to the wide Talinga River. And I could hear the shuffling of leaves that mingled with the tickling of spoons and plates from the kitchen which told me breakfast is ready.
I just could not explain why men had to leave the pastoral life to suffer in the urban centers. I also could not explain why civilization as men called it, always relates to the destruction of the Earth. The industrial revolution destroyed what God has created, and this technology that we have now is the descendant of that revolution. Technology hastens business but lessens the meaning of life.
Some experts put the solution of economic problem by making the country industrial. Though the Philippines remain in its pre-industrial period, it cannot be classified agricultural because the government has no plans and investment in agriculture. Even the Coco-Levi fund, the money that belonged to the farmers had gone into the some pockets of the government. The farmers suffer and they are branded ignorant and backward.
We must learn the lesson of the New Zealanders. Today they enjoy the life style of the Americans and Europeans yet they remain agricultural. We have the land and human resources; we only do not have the initiative to improve and develop what is indigenous because we always consider ours as inferior compare to something foreign.
Menelangan means sunrise, but the early Visayan who migrated to Mindanao misheard the word to Sindangan. The Visayan did not bother themselves by checking the word. They immediately accepted and used the word. It was further solidified by the existence of a giant fish they called Indangan back to their island of birth, the Visayas. So the name was approved. The migrants in Mindanao latter carried the name Sindangan up to the present generation. The place had turned into a town with its life vested on the fertility of its land.
It is a place of tranquility, the artists’ chosen place to work; a place free from the madding crowd, far from the grating of machines, far from the saturnine look of drug addicts and hold up gangs, far from swindlers and far from the police men. The place is very kind to its people so that everyone is pleased with his assigned lot; there is more than enough what the family needs. And in that place of the world my father farms.
My boyhood experience in the place is always associated with the pulverized farms and the joyous faces of farmers during harvest time. In that place the morning announces its coming by the moaning of pigeons on the branches of the Santol tress surrounding our house, the endless murmur of the brooks as they joined to the wide Talinga River. And I could hear the shuffling of leaves that mingled with the tickling of spoons and plates from the kitchen which told me breakfast is ready.
I just could not explain why men had to leave the pastoral life to suffer in the urban centers. I also could not explain why civilization as men called it, always relates to the destruction of the Earth. The industrial revolution destroyed what God has created, and this technology that we have now is the descendant of that revolution. Technology hastens business but lessens the meaning of life.
Some experts put the solution of economic problem by making the country industrial. Though the Philippines remain in its pre-industrial period, it cannot be classified agricultural because the government has no plans and investment in agriculture. Even the Coco-Levi fund, the money that belonged to the farmers had gone into the some pockets of the government. The farmers suffer and they are branded ignorant and backward.
We must learn the lesson of the New Zealanders. Today they enjoy the life style of the Americans and Europeans yet they remain agricultural. We have the land and human resources; we only do not have the initiative to improve and develop what is indigenous because we always consider ours as inferior compare to something foreign.
From Plow to Ballpen to Diaper by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (January, 2008)
Perhaps the clergyman who was also a teacher in the Philippines during the Spanish time had only one problem in the classroom. There were Spanish children but the natives were in farms helping their parents. The natives who were the core of the clergyman’s mission seemed to be far from school.
Life revolved around the farm, it was the orientation of the Filipino family. It was not that Filipinos did not love to learn the rudiments of the Catholic faith. They only found the farm the direct answer of their economic problems. Or the Filipinos did notice other areas of the academe more particularly the subject on self-governance Or Filipinos did not like the “Informal Education” which was the only type of education the Spaniards could give. So the Filipinos who were inferior in physical stature but smarter than their colonizers opted to stay in the farm and enjoy the day under the sun.
Thinking that Filipinos wanted something practical the Spaniards offered trade schools, and as reported established in 1863, but the number of indios going to school remained small.
The Americans came bringing the educational system that is anchored on Booker T. Washington’s proclamation of Vocational Education. Although Filipinos still considered farm labor a source of income, the Americans were not so much challenged by the Filipinos’ indifference to education. The number of natives going to school had considerably increased.
Filipinos began to see education as their avenue towards decent living. They found education the ax that will break the chain that bound them for centuries in the farm. Education for the Filipinos is a magic balm that will put them in alignment with their American masters. But what the Filipinos liked is education without manual labor. In 1925 the Monroe Commission reported a lament on the white-collar orientation of education.
Well it is not the purpose of this paper to analyze the educational system of the Americans in the Philippines. But there must be a paper that will say something about the Vocational Education brought by the Americans. Again it must be education that would direct the Filipinos towards self-governance, and not just to train as technicians, carpenters, welders or care-givers.
The Americans wanted to see the Filipinos as the best workers of the world, and indeed it is what the Filipinos are today. They are the best caregivers and the most fluent English-speaking maids in the Middle East.
There is nothing wrong for Filipinos working abroad. But they must not confine to it. Care giving alone could not govern a country.
Life revolved around the farm, it was the orientation of the Filipino family. It was not that Filipinos did not love to learn the rudiments of the Catholic faith. They only found the farm the direct answer of their economic problems. Or the Filipinos did notice other areas of the academe more particularly the subject on self-governance Or Filipinos did not like the “Informal Education” which was the only type of education the Spaniards could give. So the Filipinos who were inferior in physical stature but smarter than their colonizers opted to stay in the farm and enjoy the day under the sun.
Thinking that Filipinos wanted something practical the Spaniards offered trade schools, and as reported established in 1863, but the number of indios going to school remained small.
The Americans came bringing the educational system that is anchored on Booker T. Washington’s proclamation of Vocational Education. Although Filipinos still considered farm labor a source of income, the Americans were not so much challenged by the Filipinos’ indifference to education. The number of natives going to school had considerably increased.
Filipinos began to see education as their avenue towards decent living. They found education the ax that will break the chain that bound them for centuries in the farm. Education for the Filipinos is a magic balm that will put them in alignment with their American masters. But what the Filipinos liked is education without manual labor. In 1925 the Monroe Commission reported a lament on the white-collar orientation of education.
Well it is not the purpose of this paper to analyze the educational system of the Americans in the Philippines. But there must be a paper that will say something about the Vocational Education brought by the Americans. Again it must be education that would direct the Filipinos towards self-governance, and not just to train as technicians, carpenters, welders or care-givers.
The Americans wanted to see the Filipinos as the best workers of the world, and indeed it is what the Filipinos are today. They are the best caregivers and the most fluent English-speaking maids in the Middle East.
There is nothing wrong for Filipinos working abroad. But they must not confine to it. Care giving alone could not govern a country.
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1959) by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
The most telling contribution of Dr. Sigmund Freud is the formulation of the psychoanalytic theory. The “unconscious” became the operative word in psychology in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Accordingly, explaining human behavior, predicting human behavior, and manipulating human behavior became embedded with the unconscious mind. Dr. Freud became what Michael Jordan was in the field of basketball. He became the superstar of the psychology in his time.
The framework for explaining neurosis became plain and simple. Thinking about sex became normal and every psychological problem can be resolved by confronting and embracing human sexuality instead of the usual repression (in whatever form) method advocated by moral police of his era. Dr. Freud also identified and explained disparate manifestations of defense mechanisms, namely:
Identification. The unconscious process that protects the subject from anxiety by adopting traits from a psychological model.
Displacement. The unconscious transfer of an emotion from its original object to something or someone else.
Projection. The unconscious process that attributes other people’s feelings (i.e aggression) which one does entertain himself.
Regression. Retreating to a more immature pattern of behavior.
Repression. Keeping one’s memories and wishes in the unconscious.
Sublimation. Finding a socially acceptable outlet for a morally unacceptable impulse (i.e desire for one’s mother).
Denial. Refusing to accept something that is true.
Rationalization. Justifying irrational behavior or giving/offering excuses to one’s shortcomings.
Reaction formation. Behaving opposite to what one feels. More than anything else, he became the creative architect behind the rest of the personality theorists after him. Majority of them borrowed from his framework minus the overemphasis on sex as a platform for explaining human behavior.
References
Estoque, Ronan S, Dela Cruz, Rogelio G, & Pichay, Marinelle Ivy T (2006), College Psychology, Mindshapers Inc., Philippines.
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia 2000. Oxford University Press (2000)
Accordingly, explaining human behavior, predicting human behavior, and manipulating human behavior became embedded with the unconscious mind. Dr. Freud became what Michael Jordan was in the field of basketball. He became the superstar of the psychology in his time.
The framework for explaining neurosis became plain and simple. Thinking about sex became normal and every psychological problem can be resolved by confronting and embracing human sexuality instead of the usual repression (in whatever form) method advocated by moral police of his era. Dr. Freud also identified and explained disparate manifestations of defense mechanisms, namely:
Identification. The unconscious process that protects the subject from anxiety by adopting traits from a psychological model.
Displacement. The unconscious transfer of an emotion from its original object to something or someone else.
Projection. The unconscious process that attributes other people’s feelings (i.e aggression) which one does entertain himself.
Regression. Retreating to a more immature pattern of behavior.
Repression. Keeping one’s memories and wishes in the unconscious.
Sublimation. Finding a socially acceptable outlet for a morally unacceptable impulse (i.e desire for one’s mother).
Denial. Refusing to accept something that is true.
Rationalization. Justifying irrational behavior or giving/offering excuses to one’s shortcomings.
Reaction formation. Behaving opposite to what one feels. More than anything else, he became the creative architect behind the rest of the personality theorists after him. Majority of them borrowed from his framework minus the overemphasis on sex as a platform for explaining human behavior.
References
Estoque, Ronan S, Dela Cruz, Rogelio G, & Pichay, Marinelle Ivy T (2006), College Psychology, Mindshapers Inc., Philippines.
Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia 2000. Oxford University Press (2000)
The Formal and Informal Nature of Logic by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz, Ph. D (January, 2008)
Logic is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. Logic arose from a concern with correctness of argumentation. The conception of logic as the study of argument is historically fundamental, and was how the founders of distinct traditions of logic, namely Plato and Aristotle, conceived of logic. As a formal science, logic investigates and classifies the structure of statements and arguments, both through the study of formal systems of inference and through the study of arguments in natural language. The field of logic ranges from core topics such as the study of fallacies and paradoxes, to specialized analysis of reasoning using probability and to arguments involving causality. Logic is also commonly used today in argumentation theory.
Traditionally, logic is studied as a branch of philosophy, one part of the classical trivium, which consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Since the mid-nineteenth century formal logic has been studied in the context of foundations of mathematics, where it was often called symbolic logic.
In 1903 Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell attempted to establish logic formally as the cornerstone of mathematics with the publication of Principia Mathematica. However, the system of Principia is no longer much used, having been largely supplanted by set theory. As the study of formal logic expanded, research no longer focused solely on foundational issues and the study of several resulting areas of mathematics came to be called mathematical logic. The development of formal logic and its implementation in computing machinery is the foundation of computer science.
Form is central to logic. It complicates exposition that form in formal logic is commonly used in an ambiguous manner. Symbolic language is just one kind of formal logic, and is distinguished from another kind of formal logic, traditional Aristotelian syllogistic logic, which deals solely with categorical propositions. On the other hand, informal logic is the study of natural language arguments. The study of fallacies is an especially important branch of informal logic wherein the dialogues of Plato are a major example.
Furthermore, formal logic is the study of inference with purely formal content, where that content is made explicit. Formal logic is often used as a synonym for symbolic logic, where informal logic is then understood to mean any logical investigation that does not involve symbolic abstraction; it is this sense of 'formal' that is parallel to the received usage coming from formal languages or formal theory. In the broader sense, however, formal logic is old, dating back more than two millennia, while symbolic logic is comparatively new, only about a century old.
Traditionally, logic is studied as a branch of philosophy, one part of the classical trivium, which consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Since the mid-nineteenth century formal logic has been studied in the context of foundations of mathematics, where it was often called symbolic logic.
In 1903 Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell attempted to establish logic formally as the cornerstone of mathematics with the publication of Principia Mathematica. However, the system of Principia is no longer much used, having been largely supplanted by set theory. As the study of formal logic expanded, research no longer focused solely on foundational issues and the study of several resulting areas of mathematics came to be called mathematical logic. The development of formal logic and its implementation in computing machinery is the foundation of computer science.
Form is central to logic. It complicates exposition that form in formal logic is commonly used in an ambiguous manner. Symbolic language is just one kind of formal logic, and is distinguished from another kind of formal logic, traditional Aristotelian syllogistic logic, which deals solely with categorical propositions. On the other hand, informal logic is the study of natural language arguments. The study of fallacies is an especially important branch of informal logic wherein the dialogues of Plato are a major example.
Furthermore, formal logic is the study of inference with purely formal content, where that content is made explicit. Formal logic is often used as a synonym for symbolic logic, where informal logic is then understood to mean any logical investigation that does not involve symbolic abstraction; it is this sense of 'formal' that is parallel to the received usage coming from formal languages or formal theory. In the broader sense, however, formal logic is old, dating back more than two millennia, while symbolic logic is comparatively new, only about a century old.
People Reduction Program by Ronan S. Estoque, DPA (January, 2008)
It is very noticeable that during the semestral and summer break, traffic in the metropolis is light. Students that seem to crowd the streets and malls are surprisingly absent - when there is an academic furlough this leads to a city traffic that is inevitably light and easier.
Whenever there is traffic or gridlock – time, manpower and opportunities are lost that are certain never to present themselves again. Like a cancer that is brought about by urbanization, traffic seems to be an inherent problem that is beyond a simplistic solution.
The government, in response the horrendous daily traffic brings, adopted numerous schemes so as to lessen, avoid and if possible, eradicate the curse of traffic. From the multi-billion projects of MRT to LRT, to the construction of “infrastructures” that was designed originally to decongest potential traffic gridlocks.
The government even went to the extent of establishing a government arm specifically tasked with controlling metro traffic. The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), with its annual expenditures of another billion of pesos acts as a main traffic enforcer for the Metropolis.
From a color-coding scheme to an odd-even program to a unified vehicular reduction program, the social experimentation was meant to gather empirical data so as to ease metro traffic and have a semblance of reason in the management of number of vehicles using the road of the metropolis.
The weakness of an odd-even scheme is that even if there is a vehicular reduction, people (particularly students) would still need to commute from their place of residence to their schools. Yes, there is a reduction of vehicles on the road, but there are still students on the road using another mode of transportation and still causes another form of traffic and gridlock.
Crudely, what I have in mind is that instead of focusing on reducing vehicles on the road of metropolis, maybe a more efficient mode of reducing students on the road would be more effective in reducing traffic and gridlock.
Now how do we go about this?
We reduce the number of students on the road by having a school time that does not coincide with the usual time frame of the other sector of society. When employees are usually within the time frame of 8 AM to 5 PM/9 AM to 6 PM, maybe students could be on a 6 AM to 2 PM time frame where there are a lesser number of people on the road since majority of them are still at work.
This suggested arrangement reduces the number of people on the road where instead of adopting a vehicular reduction program, the government adopts a people reduction program. Lesser people on the road means lesser traffic…
This particular set-up is applicable only in Metro Manila since this is where traffic is very heavy. In the province, the status quo of schedule is sufficient to meet the current dictates and imperatives.
Whenever there is traffic or gridlock – time, manpower and opportunities are lost that are certain never to present themselves again. Like a cancer that is brought about by urbanization, traffic seems to be an inherent problem that is beyond a simplistic solution.
The government, in response the horrendous daily traffic brings, adopted numerous schemes so as to lessen, avoid and if possible, eradicate the curse of traffic. From the multi-billion projects of MRT to LRT, to the construction of “infrastructures” that was designed originally to decongest potential traffic gridlocks.
The government even went to the extent of establishing a government arm specifically tasked with controlling metro traffic. The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), with its annual expenditures of another billion of pesos acts as a main traffic enforcer for the Metropolis.
From a color-coding scheme to an odd-even program to a unified vehicular reduction program, the social experimentation was meant to gather empirical data so as to ease metro traffic and have a semblance of reason in the management of number of vehicles using the road of the metropolis.
The weakness of an odd-even scheme is that even if there is a vehicular reduction, people (particularly students) would still need to commute from their place of residence to their schools. Yes, there is a reduction of vehicles on the road, but there are still students on the road using another mode of transportation and still causes another form of traffic and gridlock.
Crudely, what I have in mind is that instead of focusing on reducing vehicles on the road of metropolis, maybe a more efficient mode of reducing students on the road would be more effective in reducing traffic and gridlock.
Now how do we go about this?
We reduce the number of students on the road by having a school time that does not coincide with the usual time frame of the other sector of society. When employees are usually within the time frame of 8 AM to 5 PM/9 AM to 6 PM, maybe students could be on a 6 AM to 2 PM time frame where there are a lesser number of people on the road since majority of them are still at work.
This suggested arrangement reduces the number of people on the road where instead of adopting a vehicular reduction program, the government adopts a people reduction program. Lesser people on the road means lesser traffic…
This particular set-up is applicable only in Metro Manila since this is where traffic is very heavy. In the province, the status quo of schedule is sufficient to meet the current dictates and imperatives.
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