The seventh grade again

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XVII (Issue No.7) July 1965

Year

1965

Subject

Seventh grade (Education)

Educational programsn

Elementary educatio

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

A well-known university administrator and mathematics and engineering professor tells us here that the revival of Grade Seven in elementary schools does not necessarily improve education

Fulltext

■ A well-known university administrator and mathe matics and engineering professor tells us here that the .revival of Grade Seven in elementary schools does not necessarily improve education. THE SEVENTH GRADE AGAIN The raging controversy re garding the restoration of the seventh grade has finally been settled — unwisely and without thorough study, I fear. The Municipal Board of Manila has decided to restore it. To this august (pronoun ced with accent of the last syllable not like the month of August as many congress men do) body that approved its restoration, to Mayor Vil legas who must have recom mended the restoration, to Vice Mayor Astorga who even visited me in my office and left; promising that it shall not pass because he had bet ter plans, to the city superin tendent of schools who pro mised to call on me to discusss the matter but never did come, to the columnists who rejoiced over the deci sion and finally to the edi torial writers who praised the action of the Board — to all these and sundries I ask these questions: 1. Do you know of any scientific study showing that the abolition of the seventh grade in 1940 is the princi pal cause of our educational deterioration? 2. Have you explored other possibilities perhaps not even as costly, which might bring about better re turns? If you cannot answer these questions in the affirmative, then you acted without due deliberation and therefore unwisely. Please do not cite the Swanson recommendation contained in “A Survey of the Public Schools of the Philippines — 1960” as the Mayor did in his letter to me. I happened to be a mem ber of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Filipino and American team that con ducted the survey. The re port did recommended the restoration of the seventh grade, but it was third in its July 1965 21 list of eleven (11) recommen dations. I am afraid that most of those who favor the restora tion have been guilty of that mortal sin in logic known as ADHOC ERGO PROPTER HOC, which means that if EVENT B took place after EVENT A, then EVENT A is the cause of EVENT B. Here is an example, in sim ple language, of this kind of fallacious reasoning: Pedro swallowed his tongue after his girl had kissed him. Therefore the kiss is the cause of Pedro’s swallowing his tongue. The reasoning is not necessarily valid. The conclusion may or may not follow. The reasoning is va lid only if Pedro swallows his tongue everytime he is kissed by his girl. It is only when this “necessary and suf ficient condition” is fulfilled that the reasoning is valid. In the case of the restora tion of the seventh grade, I claim that a simple restora tion will not improve our educational system. If the kind of seventh grade that will be restored is of the same quality as the present quality of instruction pre vailing in general in our educational system, the resto ration will only mean an other poor year to an already poor system. It will only mean more quantity, not quality. And improving our educational system, I thought, meant improving the quality, not quantity. And do the supporters of the seventh grade know that there was no seventh grade before 1907 and the gra duates of the high school then were much better than our graduates today? Do they know that even today the sixth grader in our better schools are much better pre pared than the first or second year students pn our average high schools? This statement can be verified by the unbe lievers by a simple test in reading. If a second year stu dent in the * average high school is not as well prepared as the sixth grader in our bet ter schools conclusions can be drawn? Two conclusions: (1) that adding one more year is a waste of money and (2) it is quality, not quantity that is needed to improve our edu cational system. One need not be a councilor or a mayor to see these obvious things. 22 Panorama There is only one justifi cation in restoring the sev enth grade which is: IT IS THE LAW. But in mitiga tion may I call the attention of the Superintendent of the City Schools and Mayor Ville gas, that there are many laws of the land that are not fol lowed. And not following an ill-conceived law is not as bad as not collecting the garbage or not fixing the streets of the City of Manila — I beg your pardon, I mean MAHARNILAD, or is it MAHARLIKA? Incidentally I am not in sanely obsessed with relegat ing the seventh grade to ob livion because I never had the privilege of going through the seventh grade. But I am not for it NOW. Not until we have improved what we havel Not until we are sure, after a careful study by competent men, that the restoration is the best way of spending what little mo ney we have not got. Not until we have studied the other ten suggestions of the Swanson report to see which will be the best to adopt! And not until we have listen ed and considered the reasons of the oppositionists. I un derstand there was a public hearing. I read about it on ly in the newspapers after our return from a short trip. But for months if not vears I have been begging all au thorities to hear the other side of the question and to no avail. Perhaps I should resort to the favorite pas time of challenging all and sundries in a public debate. Oh, but it is so useless — and so infantile^. And with this last article of mine, I give up! — By Vidal A. Tan,, Former President of the University ■of the Philippines, as pub lished in the Manila Times, July 10, 1965. July 1965 23

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