K-12: A Step Forward or a Step Back?

K to 12 Program

It’s nothing new. It was an issue I had been aware of back when I was in high school. And, if I remember correctly, I had written an editorial that was generally against it. Whether it was the side I was advised to take, or if I chose to be against it just to be unique, I’m not sure anymore. But, I’m certain it wasn’t because I had some great stand against it. To be honest, I think I had and continue to have a neutral stand in the matter. But unlike before where my neutrality was largely based on my uncaring disposition toward everything that didn’t directly and immediately affect me, my stand now is largely because of the lack of information. Though, to be honest, I hadn’t really done much digging to begin with. But to have a strong stand on an issue of this nature, do you not need to be fully informed first? Like, what is the scope of the K-12 program? What are the pros? What are the cons?

There is a persistent group that has started rallying about the cons of the program with regards to the economy of the Philippines. And, I was tempted to join them, for the mere reason that it is headed by two instructors I have come to respect. Are you starting to see how ridiculous my decision-making process is? Well, people who know how I chose my course understand the depth of this dysfunction. It had something to do with my aversion to wearing skirts, but I’ll get to that some other time. Going back to my point, I decided against my rather irrational choice when I realized that I didn’t know enough to get behind a banner or a microphone and abide by phrases that seek to devalue the president of this country.

What is K-12 all about anyway? The platform of this group I mentioned seems to be swaying or attempting to sway the public’s opinion by appealing to their patriotism. Stop K-12 because the only people who will benefit are the foreigners. Stop imitating the ways of the foreigners. Have some Filipino pride, will you? I’m sure this isn’t how they phrased it exactly but that’s part of what they’re saying. I think.

Money. That’s always one of the problems. So, let’s talk money. How much does it take to put a kid through basic schooling with the implemented K-12 program as compared to the previous curriculum? One of the primary reasons fed to us for the country’s state of poverty is the lack of education, and why are our people uneducated? Because of poverty, of course. It’s a circular argument but it’s true. They have no money to send their children to school with. While there exist public schools, many families still can’t afford to send their children because of the lack of supplies or for the simple matter that they would rather have their children help in earning some income than “waste” time in a classroom. That’s the problem, isn’t it? We are such short-sighted people! Assuming that we all accept that an educated individual has a higher possibility of being able to provide for his family, then, it would be more advantageous in the long run if an impoverished family takes on the burden of sending their children to school now for a better life in the future.

According to the statistics given by the group, senior high school, which is the additional two years of schooling required under the program, would cost a student P19000 to P35000 with some private schools even reaching rates of P70000. I know some of you must be thinking that the less privileged families could opt to go to public schools. But as explained in the flyer I received, most students would have to enroll in public school universities and private schools for SHS since not all public schools have been able to upgrade their facilities to accommodate SHS students. I actually went to a high school where my yearly fees were less than P2000 and to me, P70000 seems too much to ask for mere high school education. That doesn’t come with a bachelor's degree, does it? Because that’s thrice what I pay for my semestral fees in a well-respected and well-known university. Right now, I suppose the question is whether there are more pocket-friendly solutions. Since the government has decided to enforce a prolonged period of education, what actions have they taken to share in carrying the burden of such mandate? Because if you ask me, before approving this, they should have had anticipated the need for upgrade in facilities for public schools. And, if so, they should have had taken measures to address these problems as soon as the bill was passed. Have they? Or, rather, have they done enough? We can’t ask the citizens of this country to simply grit their teeth through back-breaking work just to get their children through proper schooling without providing the necessary support.

Let’s talk about the teachers, the educators, or, as I so fondly call them, the martyrs of the society. One of the primary reason I find myself so invested in this issue is because I was made aware of the massive retrenchments of teachers that will happen in 2016 for the full implementation of the K-12 program. I felt overwhelming indignation for these people who have chosen the path of such self-sacrificing work. It was my sister, of course, who reminded me that K-12 has been in the works for years now. The teachers must have had been anticipating this for a while. Which begs the question, why are these rallies taking place now when the program has been finalized? And, looking at the time table, after a couple of years, the program would demand for just as many teachers to be reinstated, right? We need to look further beyond than just a year ahead of us.

As I see it, we could all just be good soldiers. What does this mean? Well, good soldiers are people who speak up to authority and argue their stance, fighting for their principles. But, when the time to take action comes, they stand behind their officer-in-charge and give all they’ve got. Because let’s face it, while K-12 may not be as good as the government tries to sell it to be, going against it throughout the entire process wouldn’t help either. It’s a done deal, so why not just get behind it and help make the transition as smooth as possible. That or we could keep with the rallies and pep talks and maybe the program’s implementation will be postponed. But what does that do? We’re the only country in Asia and only one of the last three (Angola and Djibouti) in the world without 12 years of basic education. Sooner or later, another president of the country will attempt to bring it into this country. And, yes, maybe the economy will be more stable to handle the program then, but why not just keep pushing it now. They’ve already started disrupting the educational system, anyway, so why not get to the finish line?

I know I didn't really get into the itty gritty details of K-12. To be honest, I couldn't bring myself to read over the materials. I'm on vacation mode! But for those who do want to educate themselves on the issue at hand, here's a good place to start.
http://www.gov.ph/k-12/

http://www.deped.gov.ph/k-to-12

The Secret Recipe to High Grades

What is success? Success comes in a lot of forms, I suppose. In worldly views, it can be achieving financial security, being the top in your field, winning the lotto, even. But I believe it's really all about finding happiness. But what is happiness? I say it's a choice. I know that comes with some explaining and there's a lot I want to say about that but that's not the point of this post. The point is that, people view many different things as success. One of these, I've come to learn, is having high grades (A completely ridiculous notion since the grading system and exams are such ineffective ways to measure intelligence or mastery of skill, but that's something I'll get into some other time, too).

The thing is, I apparently have a knack for scoring relatively high in exams. I apologize if that sounded arrogant. The thing is, I've had many people come up to me and ask me how I do it. How do I do it? Doesn't that sound weird, like it's some kind of magic trick I pull every time we have to sit for an exam. Though, I suppose my non-committal shrug and close-mouthed smiles don't really help clarify the situation. This is also something that's been weighing on my mind. In my quest to diffuse any unnecessary attention toward me, it seems that I've become quite the ungrateful beneficiary. So, how do I do it? Well, I'm finally prepared to answer that question.

Let's start with the most basic, shall we? Review. And, when I say review, I mean re-view. There's a huge difference between reviewing and re-learning. It's a fairly basic thing but it's something many people seem to miss. Imagine this, exams are just a few days away and you're stressing yourself up trying to cram in every single line on a 600-page book. Would you really be so surprised that after all that you fail your exam? I'm not a neurologist but I don't really need to be one to tell you that putting that much stress on your brain doesn't really help with memory retention. But, I still see people crunching through books and stacks of hand outs like it's their first time seeing those notes and encountering those topics. The week before exams isn't the time for you to be learning everything in your syllabus. That's what you have the rest of the term for. What else have you been doing in the many hours of lecture that you haven't learned anything? Listen in class. That way, when exam week is nearing, all you have to do is re-view. As in, refresh your memory. But there won't be much to refresh if you have no memory because you were too busy texting your boyfriend or chatting away with your seatmate.

Understand the literature, don't simply memorize it. I know going down to the itty, gritty details and understanding the mechanism behind what your learning might mean that you'll be needing more time to cover your scope but it's a lot more effective than memorizing. Good professors know how to ask questions that measure how you understood the concepts they've been teaching you. There are, however, some who like to randomly point at their book and ask questions about whatever their finger lands on. And, yeah, maybe memorizing everything will make answering those kinds of questions easier but there's a different quality that you attain when you understand what you're studying instead of just having memorized a string of words or numbers in your head.

Take it easy on yourself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell you to get lazy. I don't want to be mobbed for giving advice that might end up with y'all getting lower grades than before. The thing is, I believe that the mind works better when it is well rested. So, forget about burning the midnight oil (or something like that, I never understood the phrase). Review your lessons and have a restful sleep. And, stop panicking that sleeping on whatever you've reviewed would mean you'd forget them. You have better memory than that. Pressuring yourself and stressing over what score you'll have doesn't help either. I say this for before and after taking your exam. I don't understand the people who can't stop talking about the exam they just took. When you're done, you're done. There's nothing more you can do about it. Except, of course, build a time machine. But I doubt that'll help. Time machines are still a ways from us and if ever successful it will only possibly be able to jump through time in the forward motion. Getting off topic here, sorry. Anyway, the bottom line is to relax. I actually take naps after every few globs of studying. You know when you feel like your head is about to explode after a few pages? Yeah. I call that information overload and I take a few minutes to nap it off. It helps with memory retention, too. There are scientific articles that will back me up. Google it.

Now, at this point, I feel like many of you will be rolling your eyes at me and telling me that you already knew all of this. Well, my bad. But that was only about half of what it takes to ace an exam. Or at least I think so. The thing is, taking exams is half knowing the content and half knowing how to take exams. People get so stressed up when they come across questions they don't know the answer to. But here's the thing, you can pass (well, barely pass) an exam covering topics you have no knowledge of by simply understanding how the questions work. Very few professors know how to write questions that don't inevitably clue you in on the answer to other questions. You just need to know how to work the system.

Matching type questions are the easiest. I know they say that some choices may be used once, twice or not at all, and that's probably true in some cases but it usually isn't. When you run out of answers, just see to it that all answers, except for those that are so obviously wrong, are used. Multiple choice questions. Well, go through all of the questions first. Answer those that you're confident about. For the questions you're not so sure about, just mark off the choices you're sure can't be the answer then go to the next questions. Chances are, after a few more numbers, you'll find a question that somehow alludes to your mystery answer. Or maybe you'll find a statement that will eliminate another one of your choices. Either way it works for you. Modified true or false. Just look through other sections of your exam and I'm sure you'll find something in the multiple choice question or maybe in the matching type. I think you get my point now. This may seem very elementary for some of you, but it surprises me how few the people are who know how to do this.

I know I said that it's 50% content and 50% working the system, but here's the one thing that you need to remember/do to make that 100% count. Pray. Yeah, yeah. I know there are many people who aren't so keen to the idea but it's something I honestly do. And, I'm not here to preach about religion. I'm here to appeal to your faith. So, pray. And, I don't mean that you should go and pray for you to pass the exam or get high grades after taking your exam. I don't even mean that you do it before your exam (but you should do that, too). As I said, a huge part of your exam is knowing the content and those percentages won't magically move up when you decide to ask for help a minute before you're handed your exam booklet after you decided to forego studying entirely. Pray. Pray before, while and after you review. Pray for concentration. Pray for a better handle on your attention span. Pray for understanding. Pray for better memory retention. And, just for the heck of it, pray for the will to resist the temptation to cheat. I know it's easier and many people get away with it, but why not take the higher road when you can? In the end, cheaters only cheat themselves. And, there's that greater peace and satisfaction that comes with not having to go that low for something as insignificant as a number on a sheet of paper. There are many more things in life that are more important. So, pray.

I guess that's it. I have to admit, there are some things here that I don't always follow and there are things that will seem unnecessary for you. Just try it out and see what works for you. We were all made differently and, therefore, have different ways of dealing with things. I must emphasize on that last point, though. Pray. It's not something that you do only when you need something. It's something you do everyday, happy or sad, in need or in gratitude. I suppose that's what pushed me to write this. I realize that while I have been thanking God in the comfort of my private chambers, I should have had used all those opportunities to bring others closer to Him. Pray. Because while family and friends may sometimes fail you, He'll be there to pull you through, whether it be in the good times or bad.

Ambitions and the System

What do you want to do? What do you aim for? What are your plans in life?

These are the seemingly innocent questions that often put me on the spot. They're supposed to be easy to answer- and I guess that's the way they are to other people- but these are the questions that have become increasingly hard to answer over the years. When you're five years old and you answer by claiming that you'll be the president of the country who will solve the problems of poverty, people will chuckle and encourage you. Try saying that at the age of 20 and they'll smile reluctantly before gently coaxing you into taking a more "reasonable" path.

It's ridiculous, isn't it? It's the same dream but their reactions change depending on your age. Apparently, it's okay to dream big while your young. I suppose the adults chuck it up to naivety. They'll even think of you as noble and selfless. But as you grow older, you're supposed to scale down your dreams. Be realistic, they'll say. Sometimes, they don't even have to say it because you yourself will feel the world's pressure to think smaller.

It makes me sad to see this happen. Even more so to see myself do this very thing. I've lost the ability to answer people when they ask me about my aspirations. Usually, it's because I feel so beaten down by the harsh realities of life that it seems as though all the things I want to do can't be done. But, there are those times when I feel hopeful- invincible, even. Those are the times when I allow myself to dream big, to admit to myself that I want to do great things for myself, for my family, for my country, and for the world.

It's hard to be optimistic about these things, though. Because even the schools which supposedly provide us with the education we need to be successful in life teach us to be "realistic". They ask us to think of our finances, our IQ, our skills, the opportunities available to us. They keep pointing at the negative things. It's funny because I remember in pre-school how the teachers so insistently told us that we could be anything we wanted to be when we grow up. But as we go through the educational system, they start telling us that it's okay to fail, that not everyone can be the best. After all, how could there be a winner without losers, right?

It's silly. I know this. But even I have to admit that no matter how much I rebel against the educational system that attempts to change our very unique selves into uniform, mindless robots, I've fallen victim to their ploy. My dreams have grown smaller and smaller until they disappeared entirely. There are times when I've become complacent to the system. I took things as they were given to me and I was satisfied with the knowledge of meeting their low expectations.

Am I being arrogant right now? To some I might appear so. But, I don't have time to appease everyone's sensitivities. The fact remains that we are all truly capable of doing great things. We all have what it takes to influence the system. We just need to bring that potential out. I believe that we were all born with raw talent that needs to be honed. If the system we rely on to do that, if the society we believe should be responsible for making that happen become incapable of doing it, shouldn't we just decide to do it ourselves?

I probably sound like a naive, little girl to many adults out there and maybe I am one. I admit that I hold certain ideologies that die down in most people as they age, but I refuse to let go of them. What's so wrong with aiming for an ideal world? For a different world? All I'm really saying is that we should recognize our own potentials. Everyone can be great, we just need to set higher expectations for ourselves. If the people around us aren't going to challenge us, we should challenge ourselves.

I just want to live in a world where it's okay to dream of setting up an orphanage without having people think you're crazy. I want to live in a world where I can say that I want to be both a skilled surgeon and an exceptional writer without being called naive. I want to live in a world where it's okay to be ambitious.