Degree work, a pedagogical process

Title

Creator

Estacion, Alfredo M.

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow Volume III (New Series No. 4) April 1961

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Degree Work, a Pedagogical Process WB ALFREDO M. ESTACION, PM Mt. Kaladias Lodge -91 The landmarks and tenets of Ma sonry are ideological in composition and nature. Being spiritual and moral in orgin and general in adapta bility, they will forever remain true lor all time. The transmission of these tenets and landmarks in all degree work follow the pattern ol pedagogy most useful and impres sive, thus all kinds of aids are used. Visual aids, in the lorm of symbols: audio, in sound diet is; spiritual and moral by religious and moral imple ments: are all taken advantage of in the degree work to leave lasting im pressions in the mind and soul of the neophyte, each aid being used al the proper time and calculated to emphasize each detail. All instruc tions arc done in all solemnity to tune the mind and soul to the les sons thus imparted, to leave impres sions unforgettable. l'remasonry, therefore, has es tablished customs which are to be held intact, and see ate enjoined never to deviate limn them. Devia tion from our established customs would result in deviation front our tenets and landmarks, hence till ef forts must be centered on the proper impression on the minds and souls of the learners the principles of Free masonry can be ingrained and become their second nature. Our rituals, instruments for the establishment ol such customs, are universal in com position and acceptability hence their fundamentals should not be deviated from, yet being pedagogical instru ments they may be enriched as dictat ed by time and circumstance. But enriched as they are, the fundament als must ever be present and clearly defined to be clearly understandable in all languages and where ever found, lot being universal in accep tance and used in examinations for proficiency, deviations from the fun damentals will produce confusion. Thus is the ritual is closely followed, not because: the rituals teach the es tablished customs or tenets, but be cause their universality is proof of proficiency and identity ol masons. Even our own rituals base enrich ed certain fundamentals in the form of optionals if time permits and pre vailing condition necessitates. The apron being an emblem of innocence and a badge among masons can never be understood as such unless the en riched portion is thus recited and at that particular instance when the candidate is in the mood to receive it. Or the ballot box being inviolably secret and the casting being equiva lent to that sacred promise to cast it in accordance with the obligation can never be understood as such unless explained and explained in a man ner and time when the brother is in that mood and setting to understand 109 it. Enriching them that way would never be deviating from our establish ed customs, rather hastens and makes lasting the learning of our customs to live cleanly and vote broadly, for getting and relegating self for the good of our God, Country, and Mankind. Even in appendant bodies of Masonry, we cither communicate these customs and tenets or enrich the transmission by full form and in sertion of beautiful phraseology in degree work to make impressions more lasting. Sticking to the exact wordings of the ritual on delivery when not thoroughly memorized is sacriligeous to our beautiful and meaningful tenets. The candidate will be jarred out of the ethical and psychical con dition into which the work has placed him to receive a particular lesson if a brother fumbles for words inadvcntly lost, delivery becoming more of a mockery because of promptings from all sides causing confusion to the brother delivering it and making him an object of pity by all the breth ren including the candidate to whom said lesson is to be imparted. In all degree work, the central point, the element to be most consi dered is the candidate. Is he receiving the lessons that degree work desires him to learn? Has the work given him impressively the kind of reac tions to conditions, in short, the customs to habituate? Is he getting the tenets and landmarks of the fra ternity so that he should never de viate from them? Or, are we sacrific ing him to show our ability in being able to memorize the rituals or go through the floor work with perfec tion? Or still, is the degree work done in a inatter-of-lact way as if it has got to be done to boost the can didate to that degree without regard to spiritual and moral integration desired in the personality of the can didate? In education, the learner is the most important element, so is the candidate the most important consi deration in all kinds of degree work. The fundamentals of the rituals should never be changed nor deviat ed from because these arc universally accepted, but surely they should be enriched if necessary in older to have effect on the candidate so desired bv the rituals. Slicking to the ritual even how poorly delivered or pre venting enrichment thereof to better impart learning of established cus toms and way of life of a mason, arc formalisms bordering on dogmatism and regimentation which we should t r a m p 1 e underfoot wheresoever found. Such is the pedagogical order in our degree work, our ritualistic cere monies as instruments of learning to teach customs, tenets and landmarks from which we should never deviate and the utmost effort at producing the moral and spiritual integration within the candidate so desired by our rituals and so aimed at by our ceremonies. The candidate must learn the lessons at all cost, to make him a better man; not that the for mality of teaching be the be-all and end-all as if the ritual is far above the soul of man. For did not the Scriptures say, "The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath?” In the same manner, the ritual is made for the Mason and not the Mason for the ritual. 110 THE CABLE TOW April, 1961

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