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.
Showing posts with label issue 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label issue 4. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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
Yahoos Such Us by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (July, 2006)
After his absence for barely nine years, Gulliver came back bringing with him every detail of his adventures. But to his greatest astonishment he could not aligned himself with the style of what men called civilization; and the people who knew him since he left for the seas could not accept him anymore.
In his adventures Gulliver met people in contrasting sizes, diminutive like the size of his fingers, and giants that his size was only their fingers. The giants asked so many questions concerning the management and defense of the state from where Gulliver came. Gulliver the small man among the giants had to say something in favor of his race. He told them England has thousands soldiers standing on guard for any threat. He further said his country is at peace with her neighbors in the region. The giant's queen retorted, "How could you say at peace in the presence of thousand soldiers standing on guard?"
If there are brutes in the world it must be the men in modernization and the Yahoos in the Houyhnms. Animals sustain their living by following the cycle of nature while men in their avarice live by destroying the nature.
In the world of the Houyhnms horses lived in culture and refinement to a high degree. In this country horses can speak and domineering over the other animals particularly the men who had the behavior of the worst savage. The horses called them yahoo. They eat like crocodiles and relieve themselves from excrements like pig. By virtue of his appearance the horses considered him a yahoo. Gulliver exhorted all he can to convince the horses that he was coming from a civilized country and he was not a yahoo. At the end the horses set him to the seas for home once again.
It was home that Gulliver longed so much. He discovered treasures but he threw them away because fortune he did not want for. In the midst of his tribulations he only wanted to wake up one morning with his wife and the things he knew surrounding him. He had all the avenues to go home but thinking on the follies of men he decided not to live with human anymore. He shifted to live in decency among the horses.
But he was back home and his adventures came to the point of risking his name as doctor and the fate of his family in danger. He had to prove he was sober and convince everyone that there are certain people in the other segment of the world who lived in honesty, justice and reverence. But humanity represented by the doctors could not imagine the existence of such a kind of people. For them the world is made up of hypocrites: in the palace as well as in the hovels of the cities.
Men of civilization specially the one in the name of Dr. Bates who saw first the truth of what Gulliver had said and who had the animal desire to Mary, Gulliver's wife are immersed to the corruption of the world. He was blinded and for him evil is a natural thing.
While from far away Gulliver was immersed with culture and refinement of the being he met. He and the doctors could not go hand in hand any more. But the truth came out that he was sober and his faculties in tacked.
There are still good men in the world in rustic and rugged attire but the rogue in a guise of civilization cannot take it.
In his adventures Gulliver met people in contrasting sizes, diminutive like the size of his fingers, and giants that his size was only their fingers. The giants asked so many questions concerning the management and defense of the state from where Gulliver came. Gulliver the small man among the giants had to say something in favor of his race. He told them England has thousands soldiers standing on guard for any threat. He further said his country is at peace with her neighbors in the region. The giant's queen retorted, "How could you say at peace in the presence of thousand soldiers standing on guard?"
If there are brutes in the world it must be the men in modernization and the Yahoos in the Houyhnms. Animals sustain their living by following the cycle of nature while men in their avarice live by destroying the nature.
In the world of the Houyhnms horses lived in culture and refinement to a high degree. In this country horses can speak and domineering over the other animals particularly the men who had the behavior of the worst savage. The horses called them yahoo. They eat like crocodiles and relieve themselves from excrements like pig. By virtue of his appearance the horses considered him a yahoo. Gulliver exhorted all he can to convince the horses that he was coming from a civilized country and he was not a yahoo. At the end the horses set him to the seas for home once again.
It was home that Gulliver longed so much. He discovered treasures but he threw them away because fortune he did not want for. In the midst of his tribulations he only wanted to wake up one morning with his wife and the things he knew surrounding him. He had all the avenues to go home but thinking on the follies of men he decided not to live with human anymore. He shifted to live in decency among the horses.
But he was back home and his adventures came to the point of risking his name as doctor and the fate of his family in danger. He had to prove he was sober and convince everyone that there are certain people in the other segment of the world who lived in honesty, justice and reverence. But humanity represented by the doctors could not imagine the existence of such a kind of people. For them the world is made up of hypocrites: in the palace as well as in the hovels of the cities.
Men of civilization specially the one in the name of Dr. Bates who saw first the truth of what Gulliver had said and who had the animal desire to Mary, Gulliver's wife are immersed to the corruption of the world. He was blinded and for him evil is a natural thing.
While from far away Gulliver was immersed with culture and refinement of the being he met. He and the doctors could not go hand in hand any more. But the truth came out that he was sober and his faculties in tacked.
There are still good men in the world in rustic and rugged attire but the rogue in a guise of civilization cannot take it.
Buffet, Gates and Klinefelters by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (July, 2006)
The richest man in the world is Bill Gates of Microsoft. The second richest man in the world is Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway. The estimated contribution of Bill Gates to the foundation that he and his wife leads amounts to 26 billion dollars. Just a couple of weeks ago, Warren Buffet was reported to have contributed 85% of his wealth to the foundation of Bill Gates.
85% is loosely translated to 37 billion dollars. In Philippine Peso, that is around 20 trillion pesos. Just how huge is 20 trillion pesos?
Try counting right now till the day you die and you will never reach a billion figure. The budget of the republic is a trillion pesos and the estimated internal and external debt of the country is around 4 trillion pesos.
Simply put, Mr. Buffet could easily pay the internal and external debts of the republic and still finance the republic for a minimum of ten years. That is how big 20 trillion pesos is.
It might be an ego thing but I am certain that Bill Gates will not allow Warren Buffet to get the distinction of the being the biggest philantrophist in the modern world. Sooner or later, Bill Gates will make a splash of his own and upstage Warren Buffet.
For the rich people, it is really not about the money but the issue of a neurotic need for recognition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scientifically, a male is composed of XY chromosome while a female is composed of XX chromosome. The females, no matter what they do could only offer the X chromosome during fertilization. It is the male, who either provides the X or Y chromosome that in the end determines the sex of the offspring.
If X is provided, we will have a combination of XX (leading to a female offspring) while if Y is provided, this will lead to a male offspring.
The twist however is that sometimes, around 1% of the total world population, a fertilization results in a combination of three chromosomes (i.e. XXY or XXX). This phenomenon produces individuals who are tagged as "klinefelters". And strictly speaking, these are the only individuals who are licensed to be "confused sexually" because even at the chromosome level, it doesn't know how to classify itself.
The cause of homosexuality is still is a raging debate in the realm of psychology. Klinefelters on the other hand partly explains one facet of homosexuality.
The estimated population of the republic right now is around 87 million people. The conservative estimate of homosexuals is around 20% (some would even claim a higher figure). The point is, not all of them falls under the category of klinefelters.
85% is loosely translated to 37 billion dollars. In Philippine Peso, that is around 20 trillion pesos. Just how huge is 20 trillion pesos?
Try counting right now till the day you die and you will never reach a billion figure. The budget of the republic is a trillion pesos and the estimated internal and external debt of the country is around 4 trillion pesos.
Simply put, Mr. Buffet could easily pay the internal and external debts of the republic and still finance the republic for a minimum of ten years. That is how big 20 trillion pesos is.
It might be an ego thing but I am certain that Bill Gates will not allow Warren Buffet to get the distinction of the being the biggest philantrophist in the modern world. Sooner or later, Bill Gates will make a splash of his own and upstage Warren Buffet.
For the rich people, it is really not about the money but the issue of a neurotic need for recognition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scientifically, a male is composed of XY chromosome while a female is composed of XX chromosome. The females, no matter what they do could only offer the X chromosome during fertilization. It is the male, who either provides the X or Y chromosome that in the end determines the sex of the offspring.
If X is provided, we will have a combination of XX (leading to a female offspring) while if Y is provided, this will lead to a male offspring.
The twist however is that sometimes, around 1% of the total world population, a fertilization results in a combination of three chromosomes (i.e. XXY or XXX). This phenomenon produces individuals who are tagged as "klinefelters". And strictly speaking, these are the only individuals who are licensed to be "confused sexually" because even at the chromosome level, it doesn't know how to classify itself.
The cause of homosexuality is still is a raging debate in the realm of psychology. Klinefelters on the other hand partly explains one facet of homosexuality.
The estimated population of the republic right now is around 87 million people. The conservative estimate of homosexuals is around 20% (some would even claim a higher figure). The point is, not all of them falls under the category of klinefelters.
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.
Types of Students and Teacher Discipline by Marian Jeanette G. Laxa, MA (July, 2006)
Teachers, in order to be effective, should be knowledgeable not just in the subject matter they teach, but also in handling students of different types. The students, especially those we call problem types, can be handled in a way that would be most beneficial for the class.
Student Problem Types Based on Teachers'
Description
Failure Syndrome- The students are convinced that they cannot do the work. They expect to fail, even after succeeding. Signs: easily frustrated, gives up easily, says "I can't do it."
Perfectionist- The students are unduly anxious about making mistakes. They are never satisfied with their work than they should be. Signs: often anxious, fearful or frustrated about quality of work.
Under Achiever- The students do the minimum to "get by." They do not value schoolwork. Signs: indifferent to schoolwork, minimum work output.
Low Achiever- The students have difficulty, even though they may be willing to work. Their problem is low potential rather than poor motivation. Signs: difficulty in following directions, difficulty in completing work, poor retention, progresses slowly.
Hostile Aggressive- The students express hostility through direct, intense behaviors. They are not easily controlled. Signs: intimidates and threatens, damages property, antagonizes.
Passive Aggressive- the students express opposition and resistance to the teachers, but indirectly. Signs: subtly oppositional and stubborn, tries to control, mars property rather than damages, disrupts surreptitiously, drags feet.
Defiant- The students resist authority and carry on a power struggle with the teacher. Signs: Resists verbally with statements such as "You can't make me..."; deliberately does what the teacher says not to do.
Hyperactive- the students show excessive and almost constant movement, even when sitting. Signs: squirms, giggles, jiggles, scratches, energetic but poorly directed, excessively touches objects or people.
Strategies for Managing Students with Problems
Accept the students as they are, but build on and accentuate their positive values.
Be yourself, since these students can recognize phoniness and take offense at such deceit.
Be confident, take charge of the situation, and don't give up in front of the students.
Provide structure, since many of these students lack inner control and are restless and impulsive.
Explain your rules and routines so students will understand them. Be sure your explanations are brief, otherwise you lose your effectiveness and you appear to be defensive or preaching.
Communicate positive expectations that you expect the students to learn and require academic work.
Rely on motivation, and not on your own prowess to maintain order, an interesting lesson can keep the students on task.
Be a firm friend, but maintain a psychological and physical distance so your students know you are still the teacher.
Keep calm, and keep your students calm, especially when conditions become tense or upsetting. It may be necessary to delay action until after class, when emotions have been reduced.
Size up the situation and be aware of undercurrents of behavior, since these students are sizing you up and are knowing manipulations of their environment.
from Strategies of Teaching by BOICER
Student Problem Types Based on Teachers'
Description
Failure Syndrome- The students are convinced that they cannot do the work. They expect to fail, even after succeeding. Signs: easily frustrated, gives up easily, says "I can't do it."
Perfectionist- The students are unduly anxious about making mistakes. They are never satisfied with their work than they should be. Signs: often anxious, fearful or frustrated about quality of work.
Under Achiever- The students do the minimum to "get by." They do not value schoolwork. Signs: indifferent to schoolwork, minimum work output.
Low Achiever- The students have difficulty, even though they may be willing to work. Their problem is low potential rather than poor motivation. Signs: difficulty in following directions, difficulty in completing work, poor retention, progresses slowly.
Hostile Aggressive- The students express hostility through direct, intense behaviors. They are not easily controlled. Signs: intimidates and threatens, damages property, antagonizes.
Passive Aggressive- the students express opposition and resistance to the teachers, but indirectly. Signs: subtly oppositional and stubborn, tries to control, mars property rather than damages, disrupts surreptitiously, drags feet.
Defiant- The students resist authority and carry on a power struggle with the teacher. Signs: Resists verbally with statements such as "You can't make me..."; deliberately does what the teacher says not to do.
Hyperactive- the students show excessive and almost constant movement, even when sitting. Signs: squirms, giggles, jiggles, scratches, energetic but poorly directed, excessively touches objects or people.
Strategies for Managing Students with Problems
Accept the students as they are, but build on and accentuate their positive values.
Be yourself, since these students can recognize phoniness and take offense at such deceit.
Be confident, take charge of the situation, and don't give up in front of the students.
Provide structure, since many of these students lack inner control and are restless and impulsive.
Explain your rules and routines so students will understand them. Be sure your explanations are brief, otherwise you lose your effectiveness and you appear to be defensive or preaching.
Communicate positive expectations that you expect the students to learn and require academic work.
Rely on motivation, and not on your own prowess to maintain order, an interesting lesson can keep the students on task.
Be a firm friend, but maintain a psychological and physical distance so your students know you are still the teacher.
Keep calm, and keep your students calm, especially when conditions become tense or upsetting. It may be necessary to delay action until after class, when emotions have been reduced.
Size up the situation and be aware of undercurrents of behavior, since these students are sizing you up and are knowing manipulations of their environment.
from Strategies of Teaching by BOICER
Monday, June 9, 2008
Just for Fun by Claudio V. Tabotabo, MA (September, 2005)
Filipinos the happiest people in the world. This was the report five years ago. Recently, a similar survey was conducted that shows how the Filipinos maintain their happy mood. Filipinos came out happiest in Asia and second after Venezuela in the worldwide survey.
As the problems of the country turned malignant caused by malingering politicians the happy temperament of the people became obvious and expressive.
One must have observed the wordings in the jeepney's mudguard,
Pulubing Sosyal
Binatang Ama
First Blood - Unang Regla
Don Camote
Pawis ng Saudi
Wala pang baso
Retired playboy
Practicing playboy
Buraot
In the public bathroom when one is relieving himself of his body's demand, he reads on the wall a vandal that says, "The future of our country depends on what you're holding now."
Some observers say laughter is the Filipinos' weapon to counterpart frustration. Well, when a Filipino flanks from an examination he simply says "ay mali pala yun? The Filipinos are born to laugh while the Japanese are born to commit suicide, the Germans to work and the Italian to eat. The exponent of this entire claim is the number of festivals in the Philippines.
In the classroom a teacher is labeled boring and incompetent if he lectures about international affairs, economic depletion, moral recovery or how to solve the unending wars in Mindanao.
To align with the students' taste of life, a teacher invents a story that is flavored with a very shallow joke. The students are then delighted and the greatness of the teacher they sing to the moon.
The Hollywood puts up a standard that made the Filipino-made movie a scratch. Aware of this scenario, local industry had ceased on producing a movie that requires true talent and technology. The industry as a result maintains the slop-stick comedy although not anymore sounding to the intellectual elite of the country but still being praised by the consuming mass. Dolphy is still one of the sources of Juaning's meaningless laugh. Filipinos in other words still laugh at a man who slips on a banana peeling. So it's not surprising why we are still here in the midst of extreme difficulties brought by the dishonesty in the government.
As the problems of the country turned malignant caused by malingering politicians the happy temperament of the people became obvious and expressive.
One must have observed the wordings in the jeepney's mudguard,
Pulubing Sosyal
Binatang Ama
First Blood - Unang Regla
Don Camote
Pawis ng Saudi
Wala pang baso
Retired playboy
Practicing playboy
Buraot
In the public bathroom when one is relieving himself of his body's demand, he reads on the wall a vandal that says, "The future of our country depends on what you're holding now."
Some observers say laughter is the Filipinos' weapon to counterpart frustration. Well, when a Filipino flanks from an examination he simply says "ay mali pala yun? The Filipinos are born to laugh while the Japanese are born to commit suicide, the Germans to work and the Italian to eat. The exponent of this entire claim is the number of festivals in the Philippines.
In the classroom a teacher is labeled boring and incompetent if he lectures about international affairs, economic depletion, moral recovery or how to solve the unending wars in Mindanao.
To align with the students' taste of life, a teacher invents a story that is flavored with a very shallow joke. The students are then delighted and the greatness of the teacher they sing to the moon.
The Hollywood puts up a standard that made the Filipino-made movie a scratch. Aware of this scenario, local industry had ceased on producing a movie that requires true talent and technology. The industry as a result maintains the slop-stick comedy although not anymore sounding to the intellectual elite of the country but still being praised by the consuming mass. Dolphy is still one of the sources of Juaning's meaningless laugh. Filipinos in other words still laugh at a man who slips on a banana peeling. So it's not surprising why we are still here in the midst of extreme difficulties brought by the dishonesty in the government.
Status Quo by Ronan S. Estoque, MA (September, 2005)
GMA seems to have survived a looming impeachment. The voting for the committee report in the plenary session marked a significant victory for GMA and her allies: the official count is 158-51, with a couple of negligible abstentions.
With the sorry miss of the opposition, Speaker De Venecia is now calling for the country to move forward. After the lengthy debate and process to finally decide whether to impeach or not to impeach- it is now time to move forward and tackle other matters of substance and imperatives. While some "spinmeisters" are saying that the thrashing of the impeachment complaint signals the countdown for the end of GMA administration. Such a contention is again debatable because one's mindset is really influenced by one's leanings. If one favors the impeachment, naturally one would say that now is the time for reckoning, civil disobedience and even outright revolution. However If one is not in favor of the impeachment, one would say that the time for unity, focus and reconciliation.
Depending on perspective of the individual, the status quo however remains. There is still the battle against poverty, ignorance and bigotry waiting to be waged. In a Shakespearian drama, we have all our roles to play. I am just glad that my battlefield is in the arena against ignorance. At least in this particular play- teaching, pedagogy and instruction are all rolled into one so as to slay the dragon of ignorance. The enemy is just right in front of the teacher. It is the cloud of ignorance lurking in the mind of the students and the challenge is how to displace that cloud with the ray of learning.
"Dragons come forth, your slayer awaits..." I'd say. There is no time but the present to be a source of inspiration and a beacon of learning in the four corners of the classroom. In the drama of education, the battle lines are far cleaner and far simpler. I pity the legislators for they know not whom to slay nor to wage battle with. Maybe, their greatest enemies are themselves though I doubt if they have that luxury of enlightenment.
The irony of the comedy that is happening within our midst is that Former President Cory Aquino is linking arms and casting her lot with the opposition who, if I am not mistaken are remnants of the Marcos disciples. This is not comedy my dear Brutus, this is classic tragedy unfolding before our very eyes: Some glutton would even pronounce the brew as distasteful, of course that is just one glutton expressing his cheap two cents worth of opinion...
With the sorry miss of the opposition, Speaker De Venecia is now calling for the country to move forward. After the lengthy debate and process to finally decide whether to impeach or not to impeach- it is now time to move forward and tackle other matters of substance and imperatives. While some "spinmeisters" are saying that the thrashing of the impeachment complaint signals the countdown for the end of GMA administration. Such a contention is again debatable because one's mindset is really influenced by one's leanings. If one favors the impeachment, naturally one would say that now is the time for reckoning, civil disobedience and even outright revolution. However If one is not in favor of the impeachment, one would say that the time for unity, focus and reconciliation.
Depending on perspective of the individual, the status quo however remains. There is still the battle against poverty, ignorance and bigotry waiting to be waged. In a Shakespearian drama, we have all our roles to play. I am just glad that my battlefield is in the arena against ignorance. At least in this particular play- teaching, pedagogy and instruction are all rolled into one so as to slay the dragon of ignorance. The enemy is just right in front of the teacher. It is the cloud of ignorance lurking in the mind of the students and the challenge is how to displace that cloud with the ray of learning.
"Dragons come forth, your slayer awaits..." I'd say. There is no time but the present to be a source of inspiration and a beacon of learning in the four corners of the classroom. In the drama of education, the battle lines are far cleaner and far simpler. I pity the legislators for they know not whom to slay nor to wage battle with. Maybe, their greatest enemies are themselves though I doubt if they have that luxury of enlightenment.
The irony of the comedy that is happening within our midst is that Former President Cory Aquino is linking arms and casting her lot with the opposition who, if I am not mistaken are remnants of the Marcos disciples. This is not comedy my dear Brutus, this is classic tragedy unfolding before our very eyes: Some glutton would even pronounce the brew as distasteful, of course that is just one glutton expressing his cheap two cents worth of opinion...
School-wide Behavior Management and Discipline Systems by Rogelio Dela Cruz, Ph.D (September, 2005)
Orderly, safe, respectful, and purposeful behaviors are all elements of successful classrooms and effective schools. Schools that have school-wide systems for promoting positive behaviors and for dealing with distracting and negative behaviors are more likely to foster greater engagement and learning. But, even the earliest writers on schools management, noted that working with a large group of young people in small spaces called classrooms is a demanding and challenging task. In this article we will examine the components of quality student behavior management and discipline systems.
The Components of Successful Behavior Management Systems
There are no simple recipes for successful behavior management systems. They need to reflect the values of the community, the educational needs of students, and best knowledge of how to work with children. Nonetheless, researchers and practitioners have identified a number of components of systematic programs to shape positive and address negative behaviors in schools
A set of beliefs about what behaviors and relationships are valued and important. The school and its community need to address carefully what they truly believe should be the behaviors and social relationships in their school.
A total staff commitment to managing student behavior based on the approach taken. Staff needs to commit to supporting and implementing the program expectations consistently and continuously.
A school-wide attention to the treatment of all persons with respect, concern, and fairness. To make discipline and behavior management programs work, there must first be a focus on the positive, empathetic, and equitable treatment of everyone. This positive focus should be pervasive and reflect a deep commitment to quality human relationships.
A set of clearly defined and widely communicated expectations for behavior. . Students are more likely to follow the school's expectations when they are clear and when they know about them. Regular attention to the underlying values of the school can also reinforce understanding of the reasons for the expectations and rules.
A programmatic effort to help students develop skills in self-control, problem solving, conflict resolution, and the development of positive social relationships. Schools should be proactive in teaching the kinds of social interaction skills that can reduce conflict, defuse problems, and build positive relationships with others.
A set of well defined equitably enacted consequences and clear, fair procedures for addressing students who break the rules. Schools need to have a behavior management system that has procedures that students understand and consequences that are clear and fair. Such systems make the process of dealing with rule-breaking more successful and easier to administer.
A dynamic classroom instructional program that engages students in meaningful, authentic learning that generates motivation and learning. One of the most important ways to reduce behavior problems is to have a rich, meaningful, and authentic instructional program. Active, engaged learners are less likely to break rules, act inappropriately, or bother others. When students are motivated and involved, their energies are focused on the tasks at hand. Classrooms that help students learn in ways that are engaging have significantly fewer behavior problems.
The Components of Successful Behavior Management Systems
There are no simple recipes for successful behavior management systems. They need to reflect the values of the community, the educational needs of students, and best knowledge of how to work with children. Nonetheless, researchers and practitioners have identified a number of components of systematic programs to shape positive and address negative behaviors in schools
A set of beliefs about what behaviors and relationships are valued and important. The school and its community need to address carefully what they truly believe should be the behaviors and social relationships in their school.
A total staff commitment to managing student behavior based on the approach taken. Staff needs to commit to supporting and implementing the program expectations consistently and continuously.
A school-wide attention to the treatment of all persons with respect, concern, and fairness. To make discipline and behavior management programs work, there must first be a focus on the positive, empathetic, and equitable treatment of everyone. This positive focus should be pervasive and reflect a deep commitment to quality human relationships.
A set of clearly defined and widely communicated expectations for behavior. . Students are more likely to follow the school's expectations when they are clear and when they know about them. Regular attention to the underlying values of the school can also reinforce understanding of the reasons for the expectations and rules.
A programmatic effort to help students develop skills in self-control, problem solving, conflict resolution, and the development of positive social relationships. Schools should be proactive in teaching the kinds of social interaction skills that can reduce conflict, defuse problems, and build positive relationships with others.
A set of well defined equitably enacted consequences and clear, fair procedures for addressing students who break the rules. Schools need to have a behavior management system that has procedures that students understand and consequences that are clear and fair. Such systems make the process of dealing with rule-breaking more successful and easier to administer.
A dynamic classroom instructional program that engages students in meaningful, authentic learning that generates motivation and learning. One of the most important ways to reduce behavior problems is to have a rich, meaningful, and authentic instructional program. Active, engaged learners are less likely to break rules, act inappropriately, or bother others. When students are motivated and involved, their energies are focused on the tasks at hand. Classrooms that help students learn in ways that are engaging have significantly fewer behavior problems.
Facing the Dilemma of Speaking in English by Aqulina V. Redo, MA (September, 2005)
Teachers and students alike get amused every time speaking in English is practiced inside or even outside the classroom.
But why is it that instances come when some students seem to be troubled in answering even the easiest questions on explanation? They seem to be tongue-tied every time why- and how- questions are asked. On the other hand, the class becomes a recitation race with raised hands from each seat as long as questions range from who, what, where, and when. When teachers ask for any questions or clarifications about the lesson that was just discussed, a student will enthusiastically raise his hand. After the teacher calls him to stand and he begins to speak, he will then be lost for words to say that instead of continuing, he will be forced to sit down again in surrender. This scenario has become a commonplace that some teachers are frustrated with misery and disappointments.
One observable reason why students produce not so well in voice delivery is because they don't have much practice opportunities. They speak English only during class hours in English classes. But then, they have little time in their English classes, which are most often neglected by some students, who lose the chance of taking advantage of learning moments. After class hours, however, speaking in English is no longer applied so practice is not continuous. For this reason, the students must be motivated enough to use English in logically related situations when English can be used.
Secondly, using English in speaking should be reconciled with the idea of nationalism. "I was born in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. I am used to speaking in Filipino. Why should I speak in English?" These are statements that a philosophical student always tries to reason out. True enough, this cannot be ignored as mere fallacies for using the Mother Tongue is a form of nursing our sense of nationality. And yet, we cannot also forget that English, a second language, is but an important language to recognize and to learn since it is the international language of this modern world where each country acts together as a global village. To be competitive enough in this globalization era, one must be capable in communication skills. When properly emphasized, use of English will soon become desirable and acceptable for the students.
Filipinos are believed to be fast learners in learning a new language. With stronger emphasis and encouragement and with continuous and proper practice, Filipino students can overcome the dilemma of speaking in English. By reading a lot of books, newspapers, and magazines, their vocabulary could very well increase. Watching movies and TV shows, on the other hand, makes one to get used of hearing English for him to notice and copy saying English in its proper diction. Besides, in our very own TIP--- students, enrolled in English 113, English 123, and Literature 203 classes, are required to harness or develop their speaking skills with correct pronunciation, enunciation of words, correct phrasing and the like. Their mentors then must encourage them to attend on their scheduled speech laboratory classes.
Thus, for students, they should be reminded that it is better to try to speak in English in their English subjects than to keep quiet on their seats just to save themselves from the risk of being embarrassed for mistakes. What is a single mistake compared to the many lessons one can achieve by trying to learn? They must remember that there is no such thing as mistakes in life, only lessons.
But why is it that instances come when some students seem to be troubled in answering even the easiest questions on explanation? They seem to be tongue-tied every time why- and how- questions are asked. On the other hand, the class becomes a recitation race with raised hands from each seat as long as questions range from who, what, where, and when. When teachers ask for any questions or clarifications about the lesson that was just discussed, a student will enthusiastically raise his hand. After the teacher calls him to stand and he begins to speak, he will then be lost for words to say that instead of continuing, he will be forced to sit down again in surrender. This scenario has become a commonplace that some teachers are frustrated with misery and disappointments.
One observable reason why students produce not so well in voice delivery is because they don't have much practice opportunities. They speak English only during class hours in English classes. But then, they have little time in their English classes, which are most often neglected by some students, who lose the chance of taking advantage of learning moments. After class hours, however, speaking in English is no longer applied so practice is not continuous. For this reason, the students must be motivated enough to use English in logically related situations when English can be used.
Secondly, using English in speaking should be reconciled with the idea of nationalism. "I was born in the Philippines. I am a Filipino. I am used to speaking in Filipino. Why should I speak in English?" These are statements that a philosophical student always tries to reason out. True enough, this cannot be ignored as mere fallacies for using the Mother Tongue is a form of nursing our sense of nationality. And yet, we cannot also forget that English, a second language, is but an important language to recognize and to learn since it is the international language of this modern world where each country acts together as a global village. To be competitive enough in this globalization era, one must be capable in communication skills. When properly emphasized, use of English will soon become desirable and acceptable for the students.
Filipinos are believed to be fast learners in learning a new language. With stronger emphasis and encouragement and with continuous and proper practice, Filipino students can overcome the dilemma of speaking in English. By reading a lot of books, newspapers, and magazines, their vocabulary could very well increase. Watching movies and TV shows, on the other hand, makes one to get used of hearing English for him to notice and copy saying English in its proper diction. Besides, in our very own TIP--- students, enrolled in English 113, English 123, and Literature 203 classes, are required to harness or develop their speaking skills with correct pronunciation, enunciation of words, correct phrasing and the like. Their mentors then must encourage them to attend on their scheduled speech laboratory classes.
Thus, for students, they should be reminded that it is better to try to speak in English in their English subjects than to keep quiet on their seats just to save themselves from the risk of being embarrassed for mistakes. What is a single mistake compared to the many lessons one can achieve by trying to learn? They must remember that there is no such thing as mistakes in life, only lessons.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Wanderlust by Claudio V. Tabotabo (October, 2004)
After an hour of walking we came to the crest of mountain where houses of stilts stood far and near. In our left the sun appeared over the peak. Its soft morning shaft of light that pierced through the coconut leaves gave us a feeling of well being. Minutes later we took off our sweater. In the distance a wisp of smoke from one of the houses below us bellowed towards the windless space above. Further behind us was the vast ocean, too wide but on the mountain I could measure it with my finger. Boats dotted the blue water. But after three hours of walking, the horizon had lost. What remained it sight was the wide blank in blue.
Further into the south, the mountains were too dark to behold at. Going there was like going to the unknown. Folks in town said that, the mountains of Zamboanga del Norte are penetrated again by another wave of rebels. The folks tried to dissuade us from our mountain wanderings. But their warning and all the other uncertainties like the intense heat of the summer sun, where to pass the night and the questions concerning the food cultivated our natural impulse to wander. We will not go because it was easy. We will go because it was difficult. To reach that cone-like promontory where a hawk looks down at the tiny creatures below was a great success. We wanted to know what lies at the back of the mountains. We wanted to experience how it feels to be on top of the world. So there we were discovering the provinces, and surely we had discovered things.
To make this certain, we came to the highland boundary of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. These two provinces met in the mountains a few kilometers from Pangandao, the farthest barrio of Manukan, a town of Zamboanga del Norte. The plight of people of Pangandao is the picture of the life of the other highland barrios of the twin provinces.
The people are poor. Poor as I say it. Nineteen every twenty residents are Subanun (the cultural community of Zamboanga Norte and Sur). For a living, the residents work as hired hands in the farms own by visayan, and paid as low as P.30.00 a day. Sometimes the work is paid with ginamos -salted fish that is the month-long viand. Occasionally, the copra producers hired Subanun in drying out the coconut. But very bad, copra today is only 18.00 a kilo so that its production is forcibly stopped.
Life is extremely hard. Death of starvation is at the threshold of the houses in the highland. The harvest from the small farm could no longer support the expanding family. Gone were the days when lands of Zamboanga produced plenty out of their natural fertility. The repeated cropping made the lands closed to barrenness.
Supplemental to the people’s staple were fish and crustaceans form the rivers. But this time the presence of gold mining in the surrounding places made every form of life in the rivers toxic.
The people have no other option than to borrow money from the Chinese copra buyer. They presented the land title of their lands, and the copra buyer lent them money. But without completing the year, the lands do not belong to the farmers anymore. And because they have a standing account with the Chinese, the farmers could not sell their products to the other buyer that offers higher prices. This is another meaning of what they call "human bondage".
On the same hand, the people in the highlands of Zamboanga peninsula still engaged in the superstitious medical practice. This happened because the government’s health program failed to go deeper into the enclaves of mountains where the greatest mass of people are the target. The characteristics of road, the weather condition and the peace and order situation hindered the health practitioners in doing out their programs of action.
So why stay in the barrios when the streams of life there are already dry? Many flocked to the cities in the hope of finding a living. They join in the long lines of unemployed. Some found a job, a backbreaking job which salary is not even enough to pay the bed spacer.
These problems should have been the topics of the politicians in their campaign speeches. But no one had touched the issue. The politicians focused their speeches on their autobiographies.
In the afternoon when we came to Pangandao, the candidate for mayor (wife of the mayor, Manukan Zamboanga del Norte) delivered a speech before the barefooted audience. The Chinese copra buyer was asking for the vote of the poor farmers. In return, what could these farmers expect from the Chinese politicians?
Talin Hisula, a professor of literature and a journalist, my climbing buddy said, "pay no attention to the Chinese, let’s go. We will discover our country." We proceeded, and finally came to a small waterfall in the heart of the forest.
For moments we observed the surroundings. The afternoon breeze passed gently giving us a new kind of sensation after walking under the scorching heat of the sun. I looked up at the canopy of leaves. The leaves quivered like small hands waving at us. There was a feeling of excitement like I was meeting my fair lady. I walked few paces and listened. Again my excitement grew stronger. In the forest there is a mystery that none of the human race can unravel.
There was no sign of humanity around the waterfall. Everything was a creation of nature. Between roots of trees intertwined the rocks water came out and formed a swimming hole.
We moved closer to the water. A small snake skittered away across the stream and a couple of rabbits scuttled back to the bushes. Suddenly a hawk swooped above and perched on a branch. The bird looked down at us. Talin said, its sight is sharper than a camera. But John Updike in one of his stories has a superlative description of a hawk. The hawk if only could read, the story master said, it could read a newspaper below even if it is flying high that no human eyes could see him.
For a fraction of an hour, I was free from the dull, humdrum world of everyday. I saw and touched the perfect creation of the Almighty that most city lad missed.
As the hawk was looking down at us, a thought came to me. The bird perhaps was asking and was wary for the presence of a human being in his abode. Wary because the natural set up of things in the world was destroyed by a human being. The hawk, snakes, rabbits and all forms of life in the wilderness are forwarders of ecosystem. While man who claims to be the superior of all these animals is the progeny of destruction to nature.
Further into the south, the mountains were too dark to behold at. Going there was like going to the unknown. Folks in town said that, the mountains of Zamboanga del Norte are penetrated again by another wave of rebels. The folks tried to dissuade us from our mountain wanderings. But their warning and all the other uncertainties like the intense heat of the summer sun, where to pass the night and the questions concerning the food cultivated our natural impulse to wander. We will not go because it was easy. We will go because it was difficult. To reach that cone-like promontory where a hawk looks down at the tiny creatures below was a great success. We wanted to know what lies at the back of the mountains. We wanted to experience how it feels to be on top of the world. So there we were discovering the provinces, and surely we had discovered things.
To make this certain, we came to the highland boundary of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. These two provinces met in the mountains a few kilometers from Pangandao, the farthest barrio of Manukan, a town of Zamboanga del Norte. The plight of people of Pangandao is the picture of the life of the other highland barrios of the twin provinces.
The people are poor. Poor as I say it. Nineteen every twenty residents are Subanun (the cultural community of Zamboanga Norte and Sur). For a living, the residents work as hired hands in the farms own by visayan, and paid as low as P.30.00 a day. Sometimes the work is paid with ginamos -salted fish that is the month-long viand. Occasionally, the copra producers hired Subanun in drying out the coconut. But very bad, copra today is only 18.00 a kilo so that its production is forcibly stopped.
Life is extremely hard. Death of starvation is at the threshold of the houses in the highland. The harvest from the small farm could no longer support the expanding family. Gone were the days when lands of Zamboanga produced plenty out of their natural fertility. The repeated cropping made the lands closed to barrenness.
Supplemental to the people’s staple were fish and crustaceans form the rivers. But this time the presence of gold mining in the surrounding places made every form of life in the rivers toxic.
The people have no other option than to borrow money from the Chinese copra buyer. They presented the land title of their lands, and the copra buyer lent them money. But without completing the year, the lands do not belong to the farmers anymore. And because they have a standing account with the Chinese, the farmers could not sell their products to the other buyer that offers higher prices. This is another meaning of what they call "human bondage".
On the same hand, the people in the highlands of Zamboanga peninsula still engaged in the superstitious medical practice. This happened because the government’s health program failed to go deeper into the enclaves of mountains where the greatest mass of people are the target. The characteristics of road, the weather condition and the peace and order situation hindered the health practitioners in doing out their programs of action.
So why stay in the barrios when the streams of life there are already dry? Many flocked to the cities in the hope of finding a living. They join in the long lines of unemployed. Some found a job, a backbreaking job which salary is not even enough to pay the bed spacer.
These problems should have been the topics of the politicians in their campaign speeches. But no one had touched the issue. The politicians focused their speeches on their autobiographies.
In the afternoon when we came to Pangandao, the candidate for mayor (wife of the mayor, Manukan Zamboanga del Norte) delivered a speech before the barefooted audience. The Chinese copra buyer was asking for the vote of the poor farmers. In return, what could these farmers expect from the Chinese politicians?
Talin Hisula, a professor of literature and a journalist, my climbing buddy said, "pay no attention to the Chinese, let’s go. We will discover our country." We proceeded, and finally came to a small waterfall in the heart of the forest.
For moments we observed the surroundings. The afternoon breeze passed gently giving us a new kind of sensation after walking under the scorching heat of the sun. I looked up at the canopy of leaves. The leaves quivered like small hands waving at us. There was a feeling of excitement like I was meeting my fair lady. I walked few paces and listened. Again my excitement grew stronger. In the forest there is a mystery that none of the human race can unravel.
There was no sign of humanity around the waterfall. Everything was a creation of nature. Between roots of trees intertwined the rocks water came out and formed a swimming hole.
We moved closer to the water. A small snake skittered away across the stream and a couple of rabbits scuttled back to the bushes. Suddenly a hawk swooped above and perched on a branch. The bird looked down at us. Talin said, its sight is sharper than a camera. But John Updike in one of his stories has a superlative description of a hawk. The hawk if only could read, the story master said, it could read a newspaper below even if it is flying high that no human eyes could see him.
For a fraction of an hour, I was free from the dull, humdrum world of everyday. I saw and touched the perfect creation of the Almighty that most city lad missed.
As the hawk was looking down at us, a thought came to me. The bird perhaps was asking and was wary for the presence of a human being in his abode. Wary because the natural set up of things in the world was destroyed by a human being. The hawk, snakes, rabbits and all forms of life in the wilderness are forwarders of ecosystem. While man who claims to be the superior of all these animals is the progeny of destruction to nature.
A Raw Talent to Create by Rohaida P. Maunting (October, 2004)
Some of us believe that good writers simply sit down and the words just come to them. Some believe that writing is a frustrating experience. Others have a special talent but it needs to be nurtured.
Let me share a story about one of my students in an English class who has no idea that she has a raw talent of transforming imagery into words.
The lesson was a poem entitled "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats. I read the poem to the class. I read it again and again. I asked my students to visualize and encouraged them to put on paper what they saw.
One student caught my attention. Her efforts were lame but I saw something she didn’t. She had a raw talent to create. I told her that she has a very special talent that will take her to a very nice future but it needs nurturing.
I sat her down after school to read some poems. I read it again and again until she had learned the most important lesson one could ever learn about writing. She have learned to visualize and to transform imagery into words.
It is true that some were born with a hand that could yield a powerful pen. Others were born with a special talent that needs to be nurtured.
Let me share a story about one of my students in an English class who has no idea that she has a raw talent of transforming imagery into words.
The lesson was a poem entitled "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats. I read the poem to the class. I read it again and again. I asked my students to visualize and encouraged them to put on paper what they saw.
One student caught my attention. Her efforts were lame but I saw something she didn’t. She had a raw talent to create. I told her that she has a very special talent that will take her to a very nice future but it needs nurturing.
I sat her down after school to read some poems. I read it again and again until she had learned the most important lesson one could ever learn about writing. She have learned to visualize and to transform imagery into words.
It is true that some were born with a hand that could yield a powerful pen. Others were born with a special talent that needs to be nurtured.
Vox Dei by Ronan S. Estoque (October, 2004)
A couple of weeks ago, I was able to witness the second round of debate between Senator John Kerry and President George Bush, Jr. The format of the debate was modified to suit the interactive element that is now very popular with the common mass media and I must say that the format of the debate really served its purpose.
The debate showed the grit and the determination of the sitting president and it also showed the presidential side of the contender, Senator Kerry. By the time this publication hit the circulation route, it is a certainty that the outcome of the November election of the next American President is long settled.
What bears telling however, is that there was an exercise to settle and showcase the brains (or the lack of) the candidate. Comparatively speaking, there was never an exercise similar to the American practice of showcasing to the electorate what the candidates can do and will not do for their beloved republic.
In the last Philippine experience, there was no presidential debate. With so many talk shows, so many pretenders (for the position of Chief Executive), there was no Presidential debate worthy of comparison to the American experience.
If my memory serves me right, FPJ did not want to debate with GMA hence the public pronouncement that if there was to be a debate among the presidential hopefuls, FPJ will definitely be absent. GMA on the other hand contends that if FPJ will not present himself in a debate, she won’t bother attending any presidential debate.
And because of this scenario, the Philippines was deprived of an enlarging experience that would certainly educate the Filipino electorate. By the virtue of cable TV, the world was able to witness how the Americans choose their Chief Executive. The envy of every civilized world is that though the American system tends to favor entrenched and traditional politics. The gruesome exercise remains bloodless. Yes, there is the usual mode of negative campaigning-but there is no precious blood that is being shed in the process.
It is precisely because of this cowardice that the republic is not moving forward. The courage to bite the bullet is lacking. The difficulty really is neither the identification of the problem nor the identification of the solution. The difficulty is the implementation of the solution. With so many difficulties besetting this republic, the adherence to the implementation remains the biggest load.
Let me close this piece by saying that the American debate illuminated Philippine politics with bravery and critical thinking. Though the Philippine politics still has a lot of learning and growing up to do. The benchmark is there to follow, to chase and to vie with.
The absence of a presidential debate in the Philippine setting was really a big eye opener. Never again, we must say. A candidate must be able to defend himself in a platform that is acceptable to the civilized world.
As sure as the sun will rise from the east and set on the west. In the next presidential elections in 2010. A presidential debate must be a pre-requisite for the exercise of choosing the next Chief Executive. For a presidential debate illuminates and educates the electorate while it eliminates and shows the unqualified and unfit candidates.
The debate showed the grit and the determination of the sitting president and it also showed the presidential side of the contender, Senator Kerry. By the time this publication hit the circulation route, it is a certainty that the outcome of the November election of the next American President is long settled.
What bears telling however, is that there was an exercise to settle and showcase the brains (or the lack of) the candidate. Comparatively speaking, there was never an exercise similar to the American practice of showcasing to the electorate what the candidates can do and will not do for their beloved republic.
In the last Philippine experience, there was no presidential debate. With so many talk shows, so many pretenders (for the position of Chief Executive), there was no Presidential debate worthy of comparison to the American experience.
If my memory serves me right, FPJ did not want to debate with GMA hence the public pronouncement that if there was to be a debate among the presidential hopefuls, FPJ will definitely be absent. GMA on the other hand contends that if FPJ will not present himself in a debate, she won’t bother attending any presidential debate.
And because of this scenario, the Philippines was deprived of an enlarging experience that would certainly educate the Filipino electorate. By the virtue of cable TV, the world was able to witness how the Americans choose their Chief Executive. The envy of every civilized world is that though the American system tends to favor entrenched and traditional politics. The gruesome exercise remains bloodless. Yes, there is the usual mode of negative campaigning-but there is no precious blood that is being shed in the process.
It is precisely because of this cowardice that the republic is not moving forward. The courage to bite the bullet is lacking. The difficulty really is neither the identification of the problem nor the identification of the solution. The difficulty is the implementation of the solution. With so many difficulties besetting this republic, the adherence to the implementation remains the biggest load.
Let me close this piece by saying that the American debate illuminated Philippine politics with bravery and critical thinking. Though the Philippine politics still has a lot of learning and growing up to do. The benchmark is there to follow, to chase and to vie with.
The absence of a presidential debate in the Philippine setting was really a big eye opener. Never again, we must say. A candidate must be able to defend himself in a platform that is acceptable to the civilized world.
As sure as the sun will rise from the east and set on the west. In the next presidential elections in 2010. A presidential debate must be a pre-requisite for the exercise of choosing the next Chief Executive. For a presidential debate illuminates and educates the electorate while it eliminates and shows the unqualified and unfit candidates.
Seven Languages of Survival by Corazon C. Ruiz (April, 2004)
People could note how the students in the past are schooled in grass-thatched roofs and dirty-floor classrooms, managed to make it this far in their respective professions. Despite the handicaps, students can even mused that they might even be better students than the pupils today exposed to more information and modern educational paraphernalia. But...
Can the students of yesteryears, who were hone only in 3 R’s, namely: reading, writing, and arithmetic survive in the 21st century? May be not.
The 21st century, a distant milestone for science fiction writers and futurists, is here NOW. It is indeed a rare privilege for this generation to witness the passing of one millennium to the other. It is also a moment of challenge to this generation, the children of the future, to find their place in the brave new world.
What is this brave new world?
It is a world of Industrial Darwinism where only the fittest survives. Everyone is racing on the fast track with no one waiting for the others.
It is a world that is technology-driven. Science and Technology proceed in exponential rate that for example the products, manufacturing processes, materials, organizations, jobs, and the ways people live are changing rapidly. In fact, many products and jobs of the 21st century are not even yet defined.
It is a world that is information-driven. The progress in information technology enable the people to capture, retrieve and synthesize data instantly to help them understand, develop, and manage the world around them.
It is also a world that functions as a global village. In producing a product, the invention may come from the Japan; the design of the product using the invention may be done in the U.S.; organization of the production system may be from Germany; raw materials may come from Indonesia; the production plant may be set up in China; while the marketing headquarters may be in Singapore. Amidst intense competition, there will be dynamic networking and collaboration across boarders with players seeking strategic synergy and partnership to improve their product and market share.
This global village is wired together. Glimpses of different cultures and local & international happenings are brought instantly into living room by televisions being programmed beamed through the satellite. Contacting a friend some 10,000 miles away by phones, e-mails, or fax can just be as instant and clear as calling a friend two blocks away.
Tomorrow is today, and today is ticking fast from yesterday. The instant the people gain new knowledge or acquire new product or idea marks the beginning of the passage to obsolescence.
So, in this fast changing world, the unknown rather than the known becomes constant.
This is the brave new world where the young people, the children of the future will carve out their niche as citizens of the country and as a member of a global village.
To prepare everyone for a fast-changing world that is technology-driven, information-driven, and operates as a global village, people must be well equipped with what is referred here LANGUAGES OF SURVIVAL. And what are these languages?
The first is ENGLISH. This universal language is needed not only to converse with the rest of the world but also to understand many of the literatures of science and technology, which are usually in this language. Having mastered the English language, any additional language or dialect is a plus. It is easier to break barriers when other nationalities perceive that one can speak or at least are making effort to understand their own language.
The second is MATHEMATICS. This is the first step and building block to mastering science and technology. People are relating to a world that will be more and more discernible in qualifiedly terms. Distance will not be described as people do in rural areas as being this or that far but in terms of kilometer. Temperature is not described as hot but in terms of centigrade. Efficiency is not looked upon as good but in terms of X-work done in relation to X-money or X man-hours.
The third is SCIENCE. Advances in science are rapid thus enabling the people to understand themselves better, their surroundings, and how things work. The more they know, the more they realize how little they know of their world and how much work needs to be done.
The fourth, which is closely related to science, is TECHNOLOGY. There use to have a saying that science is a general knowledge while technology is applied knowledge. Another differentiation is to say that if knowledge does not make money, it is science while that which that makes money is TECHNOLOGY.
The fifth is COMPUTER. There is no escaping in this. People are just beginning to see the explosive permutations of what computers can do in all facets of their lives. Computers will always be with them not only for office automation but to do simulation in checking out quality of their products; fly airplanes; or aid designs; engineering and manufacturing, etc. So accepted in this notion is that developed countries expose their children as early as 3-4 years to formal lessons with hands-on in computers.
The sixth is FILIPINISM. Adhering to certain values will enable the people to be united, solve problems, complete, reach a higher level of excellence, and soar to greatness as a country, as one. GOD, country community and family must the center of existence. People must think in terms of system, that they are just one of the many parts of a bigger whole and must put in their share in order for a system to work. People must also have discipline, teamwork, sacrifices, spirit of competition, and the will to win.
As what the writer have read in an essay from an English orator and statesman Thomas B. Macaulay’s What Makes a Country Great is that according to him is it is not the country itself that would make the greatness but it is its people.
People must be quick to reward those who perform and work for the common good and neutralize those slacks, abusive, and self-centered.
The last, for me the most important is FAITH or RELIGION. Bright people from leading countries do not necessarily mean are having a better world. Anarchy, terrorism have been waged and countries have been bankrupted morally and economically while being led by bright people who may not have the heart and soul for the common good. A respect for the SUPREME BEING, nature and mankind is necessary to keep our 21st century in harmony and balance.
The first five languages are the languages people can improve fast. The languages of Filipinism and Faith/Religion are the ones need to work harder on and longer with calls for constant learning for the rest of the people’s lives with the will and conviction as these involve the transformation of the heart, soul, and spirit. Unless people have strong moral foundation, not even the most modern sciences and technologies can make a person competitive in the 21st century.
Mastering these languages calls for constant learning for the rest of the people’s lives. Failure to learn these languages will not only make a person obsolete and irrelevant in a rapidly changing world but will increase the gap between the ignorant and knowledgeable and between the rich and the poor.
Entering the 21st century is like entering a house. It is easier to enter a room wherein one is familiar with but he hesitates to enter a chamber that he knows little about. It is easier to live in the past than to confront the future unprepared.
Through all these people must be brave to face a New World. Everyone must dare to face the unknown.
Can the students of yesteryears, who were hone only in 3 R’s, namely: reading, writing, and arithmetic survive in the 21st century? May be not.
The 21st century, a distant milestone for science fiction writers and futurists, is here NOW. It is indeed a rare privilege for this generation to witness the passing of one millennium to the other. It is also a moment of challenge to this generation, the children of the future, to find their place in the brave new world.
What is this brave new world?
It is a world of Industrial Darwinism where only the fittest survives. Everyone is racing on the fast track with no one waiting for the others.
It is a world that is technology-driven. Science and Technology proceed in exponential rate that for example the products, manufacturing processes, materials, organizations, jobs, and the ways people live are changing rapidly. In fact, many products and jobs of the 21st century are not even yet defined.
It is a world that is information-driven. The progress in information technology enable the people to capture, retrieve and synthesize data instantly to help them understand, develop, and manage the world around them.
It is also a world that functions as a global village. In producing a product, the invention may come from the Japan; the design of the product using the invention may be done in the U.S.; organization of the production system may be from Germany; raw materials may come from Indonesia; the production plant may be set up in China; while the marketing headquarters may be in Singapore. Amidst intense competition, there will be dynamic networking and collaboration across boarders with players seeking strategic synergy and partnership to improve their product and market share.
This global village is wired together. Glimpses of different cultures and local & international happenings are brought instantly into living room by televisions being programmed beamed through the satellite. Contacting a friend some 10,000 miles away by phones, e-mails, or fax can just be as instant and clear as calling a friend two blocks away.
Tomorrow is today, and today is ticking fast from yesterday. The instant the people gain new knowledge or acquire new product or idea marks the beginning of the passage to obsolescence.
So, in this fast changing world, the unknown rather than the known becomes constant.
This is the brave new world where the young people, the children of the future will carve out their niche as citizens of the country and as a member of a global village.
To prepare everyone for a fast-changing world that is technology-driven, information-driven, and operates as a global village, people must be well equipped with what is referred here LANGUAGES OF SURVIVAL. And what are these languages?
The first is ENGLISH. This universal language is needed not only to converse with the rest of the world but also to understand many of the literatures of science and technology, which are usually in this language. Having mastered the English language, any additional language or dialect is a plus. It is easier to break barriers when other nationalities perceive that one can speak or at least are making effort to understand their own language.
The second is MATHEMATICS. This is the first step and building block to mastering science and technology. People are relating to a world that will be more and more discernible in qualifiedly terms. Distance will not be described as people do in rural areas as being this or that far but in terms of kilometer. Temperature is not described as hot but in terms of centigrade. Efficiency is not looked upon as good but in terms of X-work done in relation to X-money or X man-hours.
The third is SCIENCE. Advances in science are rapid thus enabling the people to understand themselves better, their surroundings, and how things work. The more they know, the more they realize how little they know of their world and how much work needs to be done.
The fourth, which is closely related to science, is TECHNOLOGY. There use to have a saying that science is a general knowledge while technology is applied knowledge. Another differentiation is to say that if knowledge does not make money, it is science while that which that makes money is TECHNOLOGY.
The fifth is COMPUTER. There is no escaping in this. People are just beginning to see the explosive permutations of what computers can do in all facets of their lives. Computers will always be with them not only for office automation but to do simulation in checking out quality of their products; fly airplanes; or aid designs; engineering and manufacturing, etc. So accepted in this notion is that developed countries expose their children as early as 3-4 years to formal lessons with hands-on in computers.
The sixth is FILIPINISM. Adhering to certain values will enable the people to be united, solve problems, complete, reach a higher level of excellence, and soar to greatness as a country, as one. GOD, country community and family must the center of existence. People must think in terms of system, that they are just one of the many parts of a bigger whole and must put in their share in order for a system to work. People must also have discipline, teamwork, sacrifices, spirit of competition, and the will to win.
As what the writer have read in an essay from an English orator and statesman Thomas B. Macaulay’s What Makes a Country Great is that according to him is it is not the country itself that would make the greatness but it is its people.
People must be quick to reward those who perform and work for the common good and neutralize those slacks, abusive, and self-centered.
The last, for me the most important is FAITH or RELIGION. Bright people from leading countries do not necessarily mean are having a better world. Anarchy, terrorism have been waged and countries have been bankrupted morally and economically while being led by bright people who may not have the heart and soul for the common good. A respect for the SUPREME BEING, nature and mankind is necessary to keep our 21st century in harmony and balance.
The first five languages are the languages people can improve fast. The languages of Filipinism and Faith/Religion are the ones need to work harder on and longer with calls for constant learning for the rest of the people’s lives with the will and conviction as these involve the transformation of the heart, soul, and spirit. Unless people have strong moral foundation, not even the most modern sciences and technologies can make a person competitive in the 21st century.
Mastering these languages calls for constant learning for the rest of the people’s lives. Failure to learn these languages will not only make a person obsolete and irrelevant in a rapidly changing world but will increase the gap between the ignorant and knowledgeable and between the rich and the poor.
Entering the 21st century is like entering a house. It is easier to enter a room wherein one is familiar with but he hesitates to enter a chamber that he knows little about. It is easier to live in the past than to confront the future unprepared.
Through all these people must be brave to face a New World. Everyone must dare to face the unknown.
St. Thomas Aquinas Views on Ethics in the Field of Teaching by Rogelio G. Dela Cruz (October, 2004)
St.Thomas Aquinas was a teacher for the most part of his life. He was born in 1225 and died in 1274. During that time he was engaged, just like us, for the most part in teaching. And like any teacher, not only during his generation but even after his generation, St. Thomas Aquinas had the kind of prominence that he and others encountered. As a matter of fact when he was still a student of the University of Paris, because of the conflict between the seculars and the regulars in the University of Paris, the secular did not want the regulars to be taking up teaching positions. Because of this conflict between the regulars and the seculars, St. Thomas Aquinas who belonged to the regular order was not able to get his degree on that time. And probably what St. Thomas Aquinas said in main part of Summa Theologica, Hardly irrelevance of teaching are reflected in the students that we have.
According to him, teaching involves three kinds of relations; first, the intellectual relation between the teacher and the students; second, the relation between the teacher and his fellow teachers; and third, the relation between the teacher and the school authorities.
Why is the ethical relation important in the learning process? It is important in the learning process because the ethical relation as signified by these three relations that I have mentioned contribute effectively to the learning process, for unless the atmosphere in the school between the teacher and the students, between the teacher and his fellow teachers, between the teacher and the school authorities is ethical then the students will not learn very much. What will come about is some sort of division in the school and as a result of that division the students, instead of attending to their lessons, will be more occupied in promoting divisions in trying to justify themselves against the other.
The reason why ethical relation is very important between the teacher and the students, between the teacher and his fellow teachers, between the teacher and the school authorities is because that ethical relation which is ideal, which is proper, contributes to the concord in the school. St. Jerome makes the following statements about concord. He says, just as concord makes small things works, so discord destroy the greatest things. In other words, if there is concord in the school even the small things can work, the students will learn, the professors will progress, everybody will be happy, the school authorities at the same time can carry on their work in its task of educating the youth. And without it, the effort of the students, the effort of the teachers, and even the school administrators are dissipated in trying to justify themselves against those with whom they are in discord. That is important in promoting concern and concord can only be promoted in the requirements of teaching.
Let us take the first relation - the relation between the teacher and the students. What is the ethical aspect of that relationship? The ethical aspect of the relationship between the teacher and the students may be summed up by two obligations on the part of the teacher. First, there is the obligation in justice and second is the obligation of charity. What is meant by the obligation of the teacher to his students in justice? This means that the teacher in school is supposed to teach. If the teacher does not teach, that means therefore that the teacher is violating his fundamental obligation, which is the obligation in justice. Coming down to the specifics of the matter, what is meant by the obligation in justice? As a teacher, he is supposed to prepare his lessons. Second, he is supposed to communicate what he is supposed to communicate. If the teacher prepares for the lessons but the moment the teacher gets to the class the teacher talks about something else, then, the teacher is not communicating the subject. That again is a violation in justice. So if you noticed that the first obligation of the teacher is preparation, it is required on the part of the progress of knowledge in order to be able to impart something to the students. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who pride themselves in the fact that the kinds of notes, and the kinds of books, the kind of knowledge that they have imbibed when they were still students. I used to remember the University of the East, when a certain teacher would go to class and fondly remember her student days and say, "You know, class, the note’s that I’m using in this class are the notes that I used when I was still a student." And probably she felt that she was doing well by doing that. But, she did not quite realize that doing that kind of statement did not do justice to her as a teacher. There is nothing wrong with a teacher utilizing the kind of notes, which she used when she was still a student. There’s nothing wrong with that except that in so using those kinds of notes it is incumbent upon the teacher to update them and try to find out whether the kind of notes, and the kind of knowledge that she want to impart is up-to-date. Otherwise, the teacher is doing a disservice to the students. That is the obligation in justice.
Together with that, the obligation of preparation on the part of the teacher is the obligation to communicate the subject. Communicating the subject means really making the student learn, and making the student learn is a very complex affair. It’s not merely a matter of a student coming to class opening the book and reading from the book. Unfortunately, that is the practice with so many teachers. A lot of teachers don’t probably realize the evil or the kind of injury they do to the students. That kind of mechanical learning does not really lead to developing one’s mentality. So much so that when the student graduates, if that student ever graduates at all, the students is not quite able to make use of his or her native ability to engage in some kind of independent thinking. When a teacher gets to class it is incumbent upon that teacher to communicate what he or she knows about the subject. Communicating knowledge to the students is a very tricky affair. Of course it is required that the teacher should be able to talk. If the teacher is not able to articulate herself, then certainly that teacher is not fit to be a teacher. And yet, it doesn’t necessarily follow that simply because a teacher is able to talk, that he is already teaching. There are some teachers who believe that every time a student raises a question, even if the question involves an honest difficulty, this particular student is trying to put her or his knowledge to test, which should not be. After all, if the professor is really ready with the subject there is no question of which any teacher can be afraid. These are the two obligation of a teacher. One, there is the obligation of preparation, two, there, is the obligation of communication.
But there is an additional obligation on the part of the teacher, which is also an obligation in justice. That obligation has to do with grading the students. The students must be graded fairly and grading the student fairly means that that student has to be graded on the basis of his own achievement. St. Thomas Aquinas says that in matter of grading the students, they have to be graded according to what they deserve. This is an aspect of what we call commutative justice, it stresses equality.
Distributive justice according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is violated by what we call respect of persons. There is respect of persons when something is given to another not on the basis of due cause but on the basis of this person being this particular kind of person. In class, for instance, if I have to give a higher grade to one students more than to the other because one student belongs to a more influential family than the other, then that is disrespect of persons because the grade given is not on the basis of the due cause. Now, what did St.Thomas Aquinas mean by this: that something is given to another upon reason that is proper for them. In class, students are supposed to be graded on the basis of their abilities, on the basis of their performance, that is due cause. If a student is graded because a student is prettier than the other, or because the student is richer than another or cause this particular student is always nice to this particular professor, then, that is violations of distributive justice, which is respect of person.
Passing on to another relation we now have relation between the teacher and his fellow teachers. What kind of relation should prevail? I think that the very relevant portion of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas that deals with this is friendliness: that there should be friendliness between one teacher and another teacher, among all the teachers in a given school. What is meant by friendliness? Friendliness does not quite mean friendship. Friendliness simply means that a person does not displease his fellow men. Being agreeable to others may be manifested on a number of little ways. They’re so little that probably nobody notices them and probably nobody pays them enough significance. Greetings, for instance, one teacher a good morning, good afternoon, how are you? A ready smile is another example of being pleasant, being friendly. Still another example is doing little favors, being considerate in some little matter, being thoughtful and most of all, not engaging in that kind of gossip that ruins the reputation of one teacher in the eyes of others.
It’s so hard to define in specific terms what is meant by being friendly to others. Friendliness is the kind of attitude that is best exemplified rather than better described. I’m quite sure everybody knows what being friendly means. Even a student can detect what being friendly means. Approaching a professor for instance, asking a question and the professor dismissing the student curtly. The student says, "he is not very friendly, or she is not very friendly." So these are all little ways that somehow contribute to the atmosphere of a school and because they contribute to the atmosphere of a school, it makes very much easier the learning process. Not everybody is a fast learner. There are some learners among us who are little bit slow. A student may find a little difficulty understanding a lesson and the student may dislike going to the teacher if the teacher is not exactly friendly on the matter. The teacher certainly has lost an opportunity of forming a friendship with a student.
Now still on friendliness. Sometimes, we condone because we think it’s a very natural reaction on the part of people. I’m speaking now of envy. St. Thomas Aquinas defines envy as when a person grieves, or he feels sorrow over a good that is possessed by another. Envy is when a person is sorry not because somebody possesses the good but because somebody who possesses the good is not true. What can we do about envy?
Envy has to do with certainty that is conferred upon a person, another person learns about it and that person becomes envious. St. Thomas Aquinas analyzes envy from two standpoints. St. Thomas Aquinas says, "The good that is possessed by one person is possessed by that person either deserving or not deserving the good; the good is either deserved or not deserved." Let us say for instance somebody is conferred a certain good by way of promotion, rank, salary, or anything either deserved or not deserved. Let’s talk about the good that is not deserved. Of course, if the good is not deserved, it should but be any occasion for envy. But then, what should be the attitude? St. Thomas Aquinas says this, "If the good is not deserved, then you must take faith in the fact that in God’s just ordinance, a good that is not deserved is conferred upon a person, either for his correction or for his condemnation."
Supposing for instance, the good is deserved. What should be the attitude? St. Thomas Aquinas says that, "if the good is deserved and you feel bad because he has the good and you are envious then that is your sin." Because If it is a good that is deserved, why envy a person if that person deserves it? St. Thomas Aquinas says that a good that is conferred upon a person that is deserved by that person should never be an occasion for envy. On the contrary, it should be an occasion for rejoicing and emulation and we should act with respect to this good.
Finally, the ethical aspect of the relationship between the teacher and the school authorities may be summed up on observance and obedience. What is meant by observance? Observance, according to St. Thomas Aquinas is paying honor and respect to people who are in positions of dignity and authority. Whether you like it or not, as we are teachers in school, there are people over and above us in matters of administration and these are the people who govern the school and they know the school better than we do. From our own limited perspective maybe we feel we are right about a lot of other things and yet when seen from other perspective we begin to see that we’re not exactly correct. The best way to find out as to whether or not the person is reacting justly with respect to power and authority and then we begin to realize that things are not quite then same when it is there than when he was not there. In another case, St. Thomas Aquinas says that with respect to people, it’s cruel, wrong to question positions of dignity and positions of authority. We owe them honor and respect and because there is authority, we obey. Obedience is something that trends against one’s sensibility. It’s not easy obeying. There are people, having distorted notions than when they obey they are inferior. The feeling is generated that if I were to obey somebody, I am surrendering my will in favor of another’s will that imposes it upon me. That is why obedience is something that is rejected, that is repulsive. But notice what St. Thomas Aquinas says about obedience. The will of one man is not sovereign; the will of another man is not sovereign also. So, I cannot be subject to the will of that particular man. But how can obedience come in? St. Thomas Aquinas says if the will of the person who is over and above me adheres to the will of God then what he wills me to do is something that God wills me to do, assuming only that it adheres to the will of God. In other words, if I obey a lawful command, it is not because I’m inferior. If I obey a lawful command, it is assuming that lawful command in the ultimate analysis comes from God assuming only that it is lawful. The person who commands it has the necessary authority.
If all these, the relation of the teacher to the students, the relation of the teacher to the fellow teachers, the relation of the teacher to the school authorities are harmonious, then we have concord. Now, what is meant by concord? St. Thomas Aquinas says concord does not mean union of opinions. When there is concord it does not mean that people are united in everything that they think about and in everything that they accept. St. Thomas Aquinas says that concord is an effect of charity and when it functions in our institutions, truly, then we have a good school and we have effective students and effective teachers.
According to him, teaching involves three kinds of relations; first, the intellectual relation between the teacher and the students; second, the relation between the teacher and his fellow teachers; and third, the relation between the teacher and the school authorities.
Why is the ethical relation important in the learning process? It is important in the learning process because the ethical relation as signified by these three relations that I have mentioned contribute effectively to the learning process, for unless the atmosphere in the school between the teacher and the students, between the teacher and his fellow teachers, between the teacher and the school authorities is ethical then the students will not learn very much. What will come about is some sort of division in the school and as a result of that division the students, instead of attending to their lessons, will be more occupied in promoting divisions in trying to justify themselves against the other.
The reason why ethical relation is very important between the teacher and the students, between the teacher and his fellow teachers, between the teacher and the school authorities is because that ethical relation which is ideal, which is proper, contributes to the concord in the school. St. Jerome makes the following statements about concord. He says, just as concord makes small things works, so discord destroy the greatest things. In other words, if there is concord in the school even the small things can work, the students will learn, the professors will progress, everybody will be happy, the school authorities at the same time can carry on their work in its task of educating the youth. And without it, the effort of the students, the effort of the teachers, and even the school administrators are dissipated in trying to justify themselves against those with whom they are in discord. That is important in promoting concern and concord can only be promoted in the requirements of teaching.
Let us take the first relation - the relation between the teacher and the students. What is the ethical aspect of that relationship? The ethical aspect of the relationship between the teacher and the students may be summed up by two obligations on the part of the teacher. First, there is the obligation in justice and second is the obligation of charity. What is meant by the obligation of the teacher to his students in justice? This means that the teacher in school is supposed to teach. If the teacher does not teach, that means therefore that the teacher is violating his fundamental obligation, which is the obligation in justice. Coming down to the specifics of the matter, what is meant by the obligation in justice? As a teacher, he is supposed to prepare his lessons. Second, he is supposed to communicate what he is supposed to communicate. If the teacher prepares for the lessons but the moment the teacher gets to the class the teacher talks about something else, then, the teacher is not communicating the subject. That again is a violation in justice. So if you noticed that the first obligation of the teacher is preparation, it is required on the part of the progress of knowledge in order to be able to impart something to the students. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who pride themselves in the fact that the kinds of notes, and the kinds of books, the kind of knowledge that they have imbibed when they were still students. I used to remember the University of the East, when a certain teacher would go to class and fondly remember her student days and say, "You know, class, the note’s that I’m using in this class are the notes that I used when I was still a student." And probably she felt that she was doing well by doing that. But, she did not quite realize that doing that kind of statement did not do justice to her as a teacher. There is nothing wrong with a teacher utilizing the kind of notes, which she used when she was still a student. There’s nothing wrong with that except that in so using those kinds of notes it is incumbent upon the teacher to update them and try to find out whether the kind of notes, and the kind of knowledge that she want to impart is up-to-date. Otherwise, the teacher is doing a disservice to the students. That is the obligation in justice.
Together with that, the obligation of preparation on the part of the teacher is the obligation to communicate the subject. Communicating the subject means really making the student learn, and making the student learn is a very complex affair. It’s not merely a matter of a student coming to class opening the book and reading from the book. Unfortunately, that is the practice with so many teachers. A lot of teachers don’t probably realize the evil or the kind of injury they do to the students. That kind of mechanical learning does not really lead to developing one’s mentality. So much so that when the student graduates, if that student ever graduates at all, the students is not quite able to make use of his or her native ability to engage in some kind of independent thinking. When a teacher gets to class it is incumbent upon that teacher to communicate what he or she knows about the subject. Communicating knowledge to the students is a very tricky affair. Of course it is required that the teacher should be able to talk. If the teacher is not able to articulate herself, then certainly that teacher is not fit to be a teacher. And yet, it doesn’t necessarily follow that simply because a teacher is able to talk, that he is already teaching. There are some teachers who believe that every time a student raises a question, even if the question involves an honest difficulty, this particular student is trying to put her or his knowledge to test, which should not be. After all, if the professor is really ready with the subject there is no question of which any teacher can be afraid. These are the two obligation of a teacher. One, there is the obligation of preparation, two, there, is the obligation of communication.
But there is an additional obligation on the part of the teacher, which is also an obligation in justice. That obligation has to do with grading the students. The students must be graded fairly and grading the student fairly means that that student has to be graded on the basis of his own achievement. St. Thomas Aquinas says that in matter of grading the students, they have to be graded according to what they deserve. This is an aspect of what we call commutative justice, it stresses equality.
Distributive justice according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is violated by what we call respect of persons. There is respect of persons when something is given to another not on the basis of due cause but on the basis of this person being this particular kind of person. In class, for instance, if I have to give a higher grade to one students more than to the other because one student belongs to a more influential family than the other, then that is disrespect of persons because the grade given is not on the basis of the due cause. Now, what did St.Thomas Aquinas mean by this: that something is given to another upon reason that is proper for them. In class, students are supposed to be graded on the basis of their abilities, on the basis of their performance, that is due cause. If a student is graded because a student is prettier than the other, or because the student is richer than another or cause this particular student is always nice to this particular professor, then, that is violations of distributive justice, which is respect of person.
Passing on to another relation we now have relation between the teacher and his fellow teachers. What kind of relation should prevail? I think that the very relevant portion of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas that deals with this is friendliness: that there should be friendliness between one teacher and another teacher, among all the teachers in a given school. What is meant by friendliness? Friendliness does not quite mean friendship. Friendliness simply means that a person does not displease his fellow men. Being agreeable to others may be manifested on a number of little ways. They’re so little that probably nobody notices them and probably nobody pays them enough significance. Greetings, for instance, one teacher a good morning, good afternoon, how are you? A ready smile is another example of being pleasant, being friendly. Still another example is doing little favors, being considerate in some little matter, being thoughtful and most of all, not engaging in that kind of gossip that ruins the reputation of one teacher in the eyes of others.
It’s so hard to define in specific terms what is meant by being friendly to others. Friendliness is the kind of attitude that is best exemplified rather than better described. I’m quite sure everybody knows what being friendly means. Even a student can detect what being friendly means. Approaching a professor for instance, asking a question and the professor dismissing the student curtly. The student says, "he is not very friendly, or she is not very friendly." So these are all little ways that somehow contribute to the atmosphere of a school and because they contribute to the atmosphere of a school, it makes very much easier the learning process. Not everybody is a fast learner. There are some learners among us who are little bit slow. A student may find a little difficulty understanding a lesson and the student may dislike going to the teacher if the teacher is not exactly friendly on the matter. The teacher certainly has lost an opportunity of forming a friendship with a student.
Now still on friendliness. Sometimes, we condone because we think it’s a very natural reaction on the part of people. I’m speaking now of envy. St. Thomas Aquinas defines envy as when a person grieves, or he feels sorrow over a good that is possessed by another. Envy is when a person is sorry not because somebody possesses the good but because somebody who possesses the good is not true. What can we do about envy?
Envy has to do with certainty that is conferred upon a person, another person learns about it and that person becomes envious. St. Thomas Aquinas analyzes envy from two standpoints. St. Thomas Aquinas says, "The good that is possessed by one person is possessed by that person either deserving or not deserving the good; the good is either deserved or not deserved." Let us say for instance somebody is conferred a certain good by way of promotion, rank, salary, or anything either deserved or not deserved. Let’s talk about the good that is not deserved. Of course, if the good is not deserved, it should but be any occasion for envy. But then, what should be the attitude? St. Thomas Aquinas says this, "If the good is not deserved, then you must take faith in the fact that in God’s just ordinance, a good that is not deserved is conferred upon a person, either for his correction or for his condemnation."
Supposing for instance, the good is deserved. What should be the attitude? St. Thomas Aquinas says that, "if the good is deserved and you feel bad because he has the good and you are envious then that is your sin." Because If it is a good that is deserved, why envy a person if that person deserves it? St. Thomas Aquinas says that a good that is conferred upon a person that is deserved by that person should never be an occasion for envy. On the contrary, it should be an occasion for rejoicing and emulation and we should act with respect to this good.
Finally, the ethical aspect of the relationship between the teacher and the school authorities may be summed up on observance and obedience. What is meant by observance? Observance, according to St. Thomas Aquinas is paying honor and respect to people who are in positions of dignity and authority. Whether you like it or not, as we are teachers in school, there are people over and above us in matters of administration and these are the people who govern the school and they know the school better than we do. From our own limited perspective maybe we feel we are right about a lot of other things and yet when seen from other perspective we begin to see that we’re not exactly correct. The best way to find out as to whether or not the person is reacting justly with respect to power and authority and then we begin to realize that things are not quite then same when it is there than when he was not there. In another case, St. Thomas Aquinas says that with respect to people, it’s cruel, wrong to question positions of dignity and positions of authority. We owe them honor and respect and because there is authority, we obey. Obedience is something that trends against one’s sensibility. It’s not easy obeying. There are people, having distorted notions than when they obey they are inferior. The feeling is generated that if I were to obey somebody, I am surrendering my will in favor of another’s will that imposes it upon me. That is why obedience is something that is rejected, that is repulsive. But notice what St. Thomas Aquinas says about obedience. The will of one man is not sovereign; the will of another man is not sovereign also. So, I cannot be subject to the will of that particular man. But how can obedience come in? St. Thomas Aquinas says if the will of the person who is over and above me adheres to the will of God then what he wills me to do is something that God wills me to do, assuming only that it adheres to the will of God. In other words, if I obey a lawful command, it is not because I’m inferior. If I obey a lawful command, it is assuming that lawful command in the ultimate analysis comes from God assuming only that it is lawful. The person who commands it has the necessary authority.
If all these, the relation of the teacher to the students, the relation of the teacher to the fellow teachers, the relation of the teacher to the school authorities are harmonious, then we have concord. Now, what is meant by concord? St. Thomas Aquinas says concord does not mean union of opinions. When there is concord it does not mean that people are united in everything that they think about and in everything that they accept. St. Thomas Aquinas says that concord is an effect of charity and when it functions in our institutions, truly, then we have a good school and we have effective students and effective teachers.
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