Letters from the field

Title

Language

English

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

LETTERS FROM THE FIELD 101 Duhat, Rotonda Subdivision Nagtahan, Sampaloc, Manila June 3, 1948 The President, PPST A Burgos Elementary School Buenos Aires, Santa Mesa Manila Dear Sir: ' ' I have just read the annual report of the Executive Secretary-Treasurer through the columns of the Convention Number of the Philippine Educator. I was particularly interested in the part dealing with the magazine being in the "red". As a humble member, I want to voice what I feel may be the reasons for the reluctance of many to subscribe to the magazine. In the first place the subscription price seems too high. In the second place it does not contain much that is helpful to the average classroom teacher in her daily work. We should bear in mind that in 1947-48 the number of classroom teachers in the elementary grades alone reached a total of 53,814. This is the group needing the great help that a teachers' magazine can give. In the third place it does not allot a proportional space to those in the field. The office rattle should give way to more items from the outposts. The following suggestions are given in the hope of making the magazine more serviceable to the greatest number it is intended to serve: 1. Combine the membership fee and the subscription fee into one. Members do not like multifarious fees. This will hit two birds at one time. 2. Make the combined fee only THREE PESOS (P3.00) annually. With every teacher a member and a subscriber, much could be done. 3. Make the magazine more teacherishly human by devoting more space to the trials and tribulations and triumphs of the simple folks in the firing lines, at the contact points. Those in the Ivory Towers have already had enough sweep of the horizon. The various chapters would like to know the details of the doings of other chapters. To illustrate: The former: "Philippine Education" magazine had a monthly column exclusively for the provinces. This column had a personal appeal to the remotest barrio teacher and accounted for the popularity of the magazine. After all the paper is supposed to be the voice of 60,000 teachers. Very sincerely, BENITO GATAL June 10, 1948 Dear Mr. Gatal: Some of the points in your let.ter are taken up in the 1948 annual report of the Executive Secretary - Treasurer (pp. 7 to 11). The cost of subscription is not too high compared with the price of other magazines of similar nature. The subscription cost has been lowered to P6.00, effective next July. If the price is lowered still, shall we not be deeper "in the red?" ''It is not helpful to the average 40 THE PH!Ll PPli\Fl BDUC.\TOR teacher in her classroom work." We said in the report that we receive from teacher-writers very little worthwhile materiaL which can be of help to teachers. Not only that: we want to make the tea,chers inte:fested not onl"y in exercises with filling blanks, in lesson plans, in devices, and in other teaching aids; we also want the teachers to elevate their thinking. Teachers need ready-made teaching materials and aids and lesson plans, because many of them never think beyond routine classroom work. We want to have them think and reason out, elevate their interests · and broaden their minds. We should not forever feed teachers' minds with sampLe tests, routine aids, remedial exercises, and the like. Their minds are now so obviousty crammed with deadening classroom routine. Let us release them from such drudgery as devices and lesson plans and tests, so that they may grow in power to think. Then maybe they will not need to be spoon-fed with dreary material which makes them only mental slaves. The one-peso membership fee is even now difficult to collect. Will it be easier to collect a larger amount? Two pesos does not even pay for the printi7!.g of ten issues, not to mention overhead expenses. • We have invited teachers to write izbout their everyday experiences. Regarding this matter, we said in the report, "The response has been very meager." I wish to thank you for your intent in the PPST A. and its official organ. Very sincerely, MARCELINO BAUTISTA Executive Secretary-Treasurer Mr. Benito Gatal 101 Duhat, Rotonda Subdivision N agtahan, Sampaloc Manila From Prof. Jean Edades, who is teaching the drama at the Arellano University Dear Mr. Bautista, I can't tell you how much I admire the Philippine Educator you gave me, and you for being its editor! The format is excellent and the tone of the whole thing is dignified and inspires confidence. (Sgd.) Jean Edades Brutalization of the Malayan Filipino has been demonst1·ated to be impossible . • Thll merits and vices of a people are not mere racial characteristics, but acquired peculiarities - peculiarities on which climate and events have influence. 41

Media