Report on WOTP fifth delegate assembly

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Part of The Philippine Educator

Title: Report on WOTP fifth delegate assembly
Language: English
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Fulltext: REPORT ON WOTP FIFTH DELEGATE · ASSEMBLY PEDRO T. ORATA A embly Meets in Malta The Fifth Delegate Assembly of the WORLD ORGANIZATIO OF THE TEACH! G PROFESSION met in the historic City of Valetta, in the Island Fortress of Malta in southern Mediterranean, July 20 to 26, 1951. The theme of the Conference was: How National Teachers Organization Help their Individual Members to Become More Effective in their Individual Service, and in their Professional Oroganizations. Other !Problems taken up were teachers' salaries, professional ethics, edut!ation for international understanding and human rights, and education for world citizenship. Thirteen countries were represented by 47 delegates from Canada, Ceylon, England, Haiti, Iceland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Norway, Philippines, Scotland, Switzerland, and the United States. There were fourteen observers represent. ing Australia, Erie, Israel, Japan, Liberia, UNESCO, and the two international teachers organizations IFTA and FIPESO. Among the decisions reached at the Conference were : 1. Acceptance of the proposed constitution of a World Confederation of the Teaching Profession, with a proviso that in case IFTA and FIPESO failed to raitfy the 20 same, WOTP would continue as a separate organization. 2. The following were added to the list of Member Associations: Japan Teachers Union, Federation of Educational Associations of Korea, and Teachers Union of Turkey. Thirteen associations were accepted as affiliated members-11 from the United States and 2 from Japan. Four Member Associations were suspended for failure to pay dues for more than two calendar years. 3. The Assembly decided to continue its study and discussion of the problem of teachers' salaries, and requested the Genaral-Secretary to gather certain basic information about teachers' salaries in different countries and to furnish the same to Member Associations. 4. On the teaching of inJ;ernational understanding and world citizenship, the Conference went on record as favoring an overall, integrated, and highly vitalized scheme embracing all grades and Jevels, including teachers a n d adults, emphasizing both duties and rights of individual citizens, and taking into consideration in teaching the three factors of motivation, understanding and action. 5. The 1952 budget was $16,600. The Assembly decided to request THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 21 Member Associations to campaign for additional funds in their respective jurisdictions through such means as associate membership by individual teachers. 6. Dr. William F. Russel was unanimously- re-elected President of the Organization, but he made it clear that it will be for one year only. The following were elected new members of the Executive Committee: Mr. Amaranatha Jha of India, Mr. James W. Scholes of Scotland, and Mr. Alfred Buhagier of Malta. The delegates were entertained royally by the Maltese teachers and officials, shown the historic places of the Island Fortress and of the sister island of Gozo, and given all the facilities that they needed for a most successful conference. Dr. Russel, at the dinner tendered in his honor, was presented with books from different Member Associations as fitting souvenir to him, including three volumes from the Philippine Public School Teachers Association. Dr. Russel expressed his profound gratitude for the gifts that he received and said that he and Mrs. Russel will have constructed a special case for them in their home in New York. 'reaching World Citizenship VALETTA, MALTA, 24 July. -The World Organization of the Teaching Profession, meeting at Malta on July 23 and 24, 1951 discussed at length the problem of educating youth for world citizenship. The basis of the discussion was an oral report by Dr. William F. RusseL President of Teachers Coilege, Columbia University and of WOTP, of a project on education citizenship in the United States which is being financed by Carnegie Corporation to the amount of one million dollars. Starting in a few schools and communities in New· York two years ago with an appropriation of some $50,000.00 the project has since been extended to 130 schools in 32 states. Its aim is to develop an effective programme of secondary education that will provide the young boys and girls with numerous and varied opportunities to learn the ways of democratic citizenship, not only by reading, studying and thinking about citizenship but more particularly by acting on what they may consider and accept as duties and rights of a good American citizen. Dr. Russell, who is Director of the project, together with Dr. W. S. Vincent, its active promoter, presented the plan to the delegations of the United Kingdom, Ceylon, Scotland, Haiti, Canada, Northern Ireland, Malta, Norway, the Philippines, and the United States, and a number of observers from Australia, Israel, Japan, UNESCO, IFTA and FIPESO. The group was requested to evaluate the project on its own merits and then determine if the principles on the basis of which it operates could be applied as well to teaching young people all over the world the rights and duties of world citizenship. One of the principles underlying the project is what is known as "behavior approach to citizenship,'' and it is applied in much the same way as scientific principles through "behavior laboratories," which are, in fact, the communities in which the students live. Instead of merely reading about elections or, as is done in some schools, of conducting mock elections as a part of projects in "student self-government," 22 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR the boys and girls participating in the project assist in diverse ways during election times. They help register the voters, keep records of election returns, operate adding machines to sum up the results of voting in different parts of the city or state, write publicity materials before and after the election, and do other things to "learn by doing" the ways of fair, democratic elections. As Dr. Russel put it, in snmming up the process and results of the project so far: "Citizenship cannot be taught by words alone. It mu t be the result of action. Firsthand knowledge of the problems of self-government will give better sense of duties than any work from books. Statistics have shown that in the programs carried out in the United States schools under our guidance, children not only improve their behavior as citizens, but know a great deal more than others concerning the meaning of democracy." After two meetings which lasted several hours, the group came to the following conclusions which, as I shall try to point out, are aptJlicable to conditions as they are in the Philippines today. First, the principle of "behavior approach to citizenship," together with the corresponding concept of "behavior laboratories," is or should be by now an old friend of good teachers everywhere. In the Philippines, we have talked about it for years and are finally doing something to implement it through what is now known as "education for home and community living." We are doing a little better in the Philippines, in fact, in the application of this principle than they are in the 32 states where the Russel project is now operating, :Eor we do not confine the application of the principle to the high school age-we in fact carry it out from the first grade on through high school and college. If we follow the suggestion of Mrs. Doreen Gamboa, who caused a mild sensation among social workers in Manila sometime ago for advocating the application of this very principle in the homes of the children, we should, in fact, extend the application of the behavior approach to citizenship downward to the time the child is born and upward beyond the school period and including adulthood and old age. This is what the delegates of WOTP decided to recommend ·~o Dr. Russel. The Conference went on record as saying: "An integrated programme of education embracing pre-school. elementary, secondary, post-secondary, collegiate and university, and schools for adultsone that aims at teaching babies, children, youth, parents and grand.parents and duties and rights of world citizenship in a free world society-should be developed instead of merely trying to improve teaching on the secondary level and leaving the other stages to continue their programme 6f educating for lip service to democracy." The Conference emphasized that for any educational reform to succeed, it start in the home and operate all the way through with the full and undivided co-operation of the home. Second, there is much more to good citizenship than understanding and practicing the ways of good citizenship, be it for local, state or world citizenship, namely, the emotional qualities which make up attitudes, ideals and disposiTHE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 23 tions, the prime mover of correct understanding and proper action. It was admitted that understand'ing and practice of good citizenship are both important. Nevertheless, the education of the feelings and emotions, without which understanding may be biased and action brutal, must not be taken for granted or neglected. · Third, some speak~rs raised the question of what is meant by world citizenship as distinguished from any other kind of citizenship, and expressed the view. furthermore, that world citizenship without world laws and means to enforce them would be meaningless if not altogether powerless. For the time being therefore that there exists no world government, teachers all over the world should endeavor to gear their teaching to the principles of the Declaration of Human Rights, in the hope that gradually the citizens of the different countries will come to realize the essential unity of humankind everywhere. However, the Conference decided that both duties and rights should be stressed, and went on record as favoring the re-casting of the articles of the Declaration of Human Rights in the form as formulated by the United Nations in such a way that each article should stress both the duties and the rights of the individual. In its present form, the Declaration calls attention to the duties of the individual only in the last two or three articles and in such a way as to make the duties apear incident and subordinate to the rights. I recall that during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines the exclusive emphasis in the varied means to "re-orientate" the Filipino people was on their duties as citizens of the "East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." The right approach, as pointed out at the Conference, was not to forget all about duties in the endeavor to win for the individual his inherent rights but to make it crystal clear that with every right there is a corresponding responsibility to be performed. The Conference went on to suggest that the title of the Declaration be modified in order to read: Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Duties. Adding further, that in teaching such rights and duties the teachers should bear in mind the three underlying human factors of motivation, understanding and action and make provision for all these factors in the setting up of "behavior laboratories" for teaching world citizenship. The implications of these statements for teaching world citizenship in the Philippines should be obvious. We are already doing something about teaching about human rights, as evident from the many and varied circulars and bulletins issued by the Director of Public Schools including the celebration of the United Nations Week or Day. We should do more than teach about human rights and duties, in fact, we should go beyond celebrations and reading about the United Nations. Let us teach the ways of the United Nations which are the ways of democracy by action and participation in those ways as they affect children and adults in their everyday living in the homes, barrios, towns and cities of our country. Speaking about the relation of the teaching of world citizenship to the programme of WOTP, the delegates decided upon the folow24 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR ing plan of action which they recommended for implementation to Member Associations: 1. Each country represented in the roster of the Organization s~ould submit concrete descriptions of programmes in action in schools and classrooms designed to teach human rights and duties. Dr. Carr, Secretary General of WOTP, made the proposal which met the unanimous approval of those present at the Conference that instead of preparing a pla~ or a description of a plan of teaching about human rights, it would be better for each Member Association to appoint a committee of its members including classroom teachers of different grades the job of which is to identify and describe, with appropriate pictures and illustrations, different types of procedures used by teachers in the different grades to teach in their own communities the rights and duties of citizenship. A good pattern to follow i the one used in Learning the Ways of Democracy published before the war by th~ N. E. A., a copy of which is available either at the Bureau of Public Schools General Office Library or at the Library of the Unesco National Commission in the Department of Foreign Affairs. The book may also be found in the library of Centro Escolar University or the library of the Philippine Normal College. Incidentally, the book should be in every school and community library. It costs only 'P2.50, and is obtainable by order with book cupons direct from the National Education Association, 1201 16th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. or through Philippine Education, 1104 Castillejos, Quiapo, Manila, in local currency. I make this proposal to PPST A. It should be well to request each ,Provincial chapter to do this sort of thing, but it must be done at once because the material has to be sent to Dr. Carr in order to reach him the first of November this year if it is at all to be used iin preparing the report of WOTP to UNESCO, which granted the Organization the sum of $2,000 to finance the project and to publish a booklet of 48 pages about it. The various chapters will submit their samples not later than the first of October to a central committee in Manila which should take time to decide on whatever samples are submitted on time and send the selected ones to Washington on or about October 15, by air-mail. Such an arrangement will open the project to all teachers and classrooms in the Philippines-which is the only proper way to do it. T'1eir participation in the scheme will incidentally, acq11aint the teachers and their papils with the o'->iectives and programme of WOTP and make them their own objectives and programme. To gain time, I submit an attachment to this article a suggested announcement which it is hope<j the PPSTA will mimeograph at once and send to the provinces, with whatever the Association executive board may wish to change in it. 2. The Conference went on record also to suggest to Member Associations to adopt, in the coming years, a plan of action of teaching world citizenship through and as geared to the teaching of human rights and duties that it may recommend to the proper school authorities to try out in the different schools-both public and pirvate. At each Delegate AssemTHE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR 26 bly, and indeed at each Association Delegate Conference, a progress report should be presented showing results and presenting problems for further thinking. The teaching of the world citizenship should be a continuing activity, and VlOTP's concern about it should likowise be continued from year to year until the teaching profession everywhere is satisfied that the schools have become, in fact as well as in name, the "behavior laboratories" of teaching world citizenship. In the light of the discussion of this problem, the delegates favored a plan for future conferences of WOTP which will enable the Organization to concentrate its efforts upon one or two problems at a time, to continue thinking and di cussing, and doing something about the problems, far enough to arrive at tangible and workable solutions. There was a feeling among the delegates that one week for a conference of WOTP is not long enough, and further that what may be accomplished in such a short time hardly justifies the expenditure of one thousand or more dollars for each of the delegates coming from far away countries especially those with soft currencies. An extension of time ·was therefore considered desirable, a matter which will be discussed further at the next Delegate Assembly Conference of the Organization. 3. The Organization, at the close of the Conference, decided that if it is to carry out the plan suggested above so that it does not have to depend upon subsidies from UNESCO or other international organizations or agencies, its funds should be increased. The budget for this year is $23,000 and for next year, $16,600. That is a very little amount, considering the huge programme of the Organization to make a determined campaign, not only to help the 2,000,000 affiliating members to become more effective in their teaching duties but also to endeavor, through legitimate means, to influence government and public opinion in all countries in favor of more equitable salaries, better working conditions, and greater security from unemployment and old age for teachers. If the Organization is to do this job for and on behalf of teachers, it is incumbent upon teachers everywhere as members of the Organization to help secure for it more funds with which to carty on its projects. As a concrete proposal toward this end, I make the following suggestions to our 86,000 public school teachers and to the 10,000 private school teachers of the Philippines. It is hoped that the Executive Board of the PPST A will see fit to follow up these suggestions or, better to devise a better plan. First, as I have already suggested to Mr. Bautista, to Mr. Ramirez, Mrs. Solis, Mr. Piedad, and Miss Abelardo in a personal way, let us make a campaign in the next few months for associate membership for individual members of the various branches of the PPSTA in the provinces. Associate membership costs only $2, and it entitles the member to receive all the publications of WOTP. As many individual members as can afford, especially principals and supervisors, should avail themselves of the opportunity to help finance the 26 THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR Organi.zation by becoming associate members. Second, the teachers of everv school-barrio or central-should apply for one associate membership. The ten or thirteen teachers of a barrio school, for example contributing forty centavos each~ less if there are more teachersmay become collectively an associate member of WOTP. If our 23,000 schools will do this, imagine what we in the Philippines alone can do to bolster up the finances of WOTP. Why not try and see? Third, the PTA can help or even apply for associate membership on its own. Imagine what can be done through such medium. Now, the PTA may sponsore a community play, an educational programme featured by numbers contributed by its members and the pupils, to which a nominal charge may be made, the amount to be used for securing membership in WOTP. We collected in our last town fiesta in Urdaneta some P20,000 through a beauty contest. Why can we not collect through ways that are cultural and educational the amount of four pesos that is the price of associate membership in a teachers world organization? Last, but not least, as delegate of PPSTA to the Malta Delegate Assembly of WOTP, I took the liberty of inviting the Organization to hold its 1952 or 1953 Conference in Teachers Camp, in Baguio. I saw how the Maltese teachers profited from the Conference in their country-how they were inspired by the delegates from the four corners of the world. I foresee a similar effect upon our 86,000 teachers. It will not cost much to have such a small group as 100 delegates there. We can take care of their board and lodging, certainly-it will not be much. One chicken from this school, one ganta of rice from that one,. fwo heads of cabbage from there-the Barangay system can be made to work to bring to the Philippines the delegates of the World Organization of the Teaching Profe sion. What a privilege it will be to play host to such a distinguished group and ~o offer t~ t~em. Filipino hospitalIty. My mv1tabon was met \\'ith spontaneous applause of the Assembly. If 1,250 Maltese teachers -that is all the teaching force of this little island of 300,000 inhabitants-can bring WOTP to their little country which is one-fifth the land area of Romblon, why can't we with a force eighty times larger? WOTP will welcome a formal invitation from PPSTA, and I hope the invitation will be sent soon. The only amount of money that we may have to raise is the equivalent of the traveling expen es of the Executive Committee of the Organization, including the General Secretary and one or two others. The number will l;>e six or seven. PPST A regular funds may be used if authorized by the Executive Board of the organization, UPEF can help, JAYCEE and Rotary Clubs, and other organizations in different cities and towns can help. As a concrete means of teaching world citizenship in the Philippines, what could be more effective than having teachers from ali over the world as our guests for three weeks or one month? · What do you think?