How would you teach young filipinos

Title

Language

English

Year

1947

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

' HOW WOULD YOU TEACI I t.' 1! YOUNG FILIPINOS?, Young childre'n are our on-coming citizens, our surest and most valuable assets in this fast-changing world, our hope for a better tommorrow, and we cannot by any means trust their education to chance or haphazard efforts. Early childhood training and elementary education are the foundation or corn~rstone of all later schooling, and it is axiomatic that a strong and sturdy structure cannot be built on a foundation of shifting sands. It is much to be regretted indeed that too many Filipino parents and teacher$ do not as yet grasp the importance of child training in relation to the future happiness and welfare of the individual. Happy and well-adjusted children no doubt make contented, steadfast, and dependablt" mel' and women, the type of persons that should make up the backbone of a democratic society such as ours. If I were to teach actually young Ftlipino boys and girls-of course, I love them", and love them dearly-! would first of all respect them as human beings. allow them very reasonable freedom, try my very best to win their aff~ction and confidence, and under no circumstances Yent my anger or ill humor on them. I would ungrudgingly do all this b ecause I should like to be not only their teacher but also their trusted friend, their model, and if necessary their refuge in hard times or in times of storm and stress. I know that this is about the only effective and decent way to build up their faith in , hemselves, their awareness of their wor h as indi'•idual, their moral sense, and their bud· i \ I I by JOSE ,F.,ELICIANO Acting Division S-uperintendent of Schools for Bukidnon <.ling personalit~, and to. cultivate whatever God-given talents they may pos~ess. Then how can we ever rid ourselves of our supposed colonial. mentality and our deep-seated feeling of inferiority in the presence of white men and any men of importance if we keep on bullying our -children, telling them t? shut up, ignoring their pleas, and stifling their youthful enthusiasm? Timidity, servility, kowtowing to the great, arrogance in dealing with sobordinates, bullheadedness, indifference to one's own unhappy lot-these are some of the· undesirable traits that inevitably result from too much repression and too much inhibition of young Filip_ inos, traits that w <. must endeavor to eradicate from our 1 national character and consciousness i we a re to attain full stature as a fref nation. I would work hard to make the young er and future generations of Filipinof realize more fully and more devout!) than ever that they are not longer vassals or subjects of another people, bul are free men, masters of their own souls, and makers of their own destiny. J would of cours~ teach them the story of our heroic struggle for liberty, f.or self-determination·, and for human rignts · over a period of ap.proximately four centuries in order that they might all the more appreciate and value our hard-won independence. Moreover, I would teach them to look to the future with confidence, to walk in the spn and in the light of the moon like the free hump.n beings that they are, an d not in the shadows of day and in the darkness · of CONSIDER THE N. E. A. 11 night like fugitives from justice or runaway slaves. Unafraid and undaunted free men they should ever. be. To enable our people to understand and practic democracy and thereby to I. enjoy its blessings, we must help them to unshackle their minds and spirits from the subjection and bondage of the past. This is a task of utmost importance for Filipino teachers, and must be done right away! - o - CONSIDER THE N. E. A.FAUSTO P. CATOY Batangas _ High School it is worthy to note in passing that the educational builders of the United States of America have educational associations of one form or another which are found in nearly all the states of the Union, for they realize that it is only through them and by them can they hope to be heard by · those who are concerned with the educational set-up of the various educational processes and thereby effect better equity in terms of numerations and in terms of fair treatment. Throughout the Union, a keen and impartial obser\rer will s•nely find that practically in all the states arc associations composed of energetic educational workers who are efficient, well organized, professionally alert, and politically ~ffec tive in combating the many ill-timed legislations of the states' law-making bodies which if allowed to materialize would not only have had adverse effects upon the educational progress of the public school system in the United States but would also have set it back to where it had started twenty or thirty years before. The National Education Association, known as the N. E. A., and the teachers, principals, and superintendents' associations in many states have to be reckoned with whenever the various state legislatures have intentions to legislate laws which will adversely .~f fect the welfare of thousands and thousands of public school workers in the United States. These associations have shown time and again their aggressive and educational alertness in the furtherance of public education in the American union. It has been the untiring assertive efforts of these various associations that made it possible for the stabilization of teachers' salaries in many states of the Union, the materialization of the long-cherished retirement legislation and the increased financial support by the different states of the cause of public education. The Philippines, now aspiring to be a great leader, in the educational world · in the Orient, must profit from the example and the experience of others. The educational workers of the Philippine public schools regardless of their positions must lend their whole-heartPd and undivided support and enthusiastic cooperation in making the aims of the Philippine Public School Teachers' Association a reality. This can be made possible only through the conserted and undivided effort of all the teachers and workers of the public school system in the Philippines and by pulling together every iota of their latent strength in pushing forward a better day in the name of a progressive education in the uew Republic of the Philippines. FOR MODERN OPTICAL NEEDS-SEE KEEPSAKE OPTICAL-SO Escolta

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