By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
At 78, I wish Home Economics for Girls and the Workshop for boys were brought back to the elementary curriculum. Part of what we did in Grade 4 and in the intermediate grade was gardening and it was a must for boys and girls.
After having listened to the SONA delivered by Pres. Bongbong Marcos, I felt there was so much emphasis on information technology and the use of the web in education. Hahaha, ang among nasabtan sa “web” kaniadto mao ang poem “The Spider and the Fly”. Nahinumdom pa mo nga nasangit ang fly sa web sa spider?
The use of high technology is getting scary for me. I have my grandchildren who are so dependent on gadgets that it seems as though a day would not be complete without them spening more time on the phone. Everything is on their smartphones. It is something they cannot live without. They go to bed late because of their many assignments. Saputon na sila kung walay wifi. They sleep and wake up with their gadgets and wifi on. On Saturdays and Sundays, waking up is optional for them.
Yes, they spend more time in their bedroom now. Unlike those days when we were young. Magtapok ming tanang mga apo, ig-agaw, pag-umangkon ug panghigda sa sala gamit ang dakong banig nga gitawag namo ug baliw. Walay kutson kutson ug electric fan pero hinanok man among tulog.
To us, the bedroom was just a repository of our banig gilukot, unlan nga ginama sa gapas sa durol ug habol nga labihan ka lapad.. As we woke up, it was our duty to clear the sala just before sunrise and help out in the kitchen for our baon nga giputos sa unas sa saging. .
We enjoyed walking our way to school with our neighbours. My mother was a public school teacher and most teachers were in school ahead of their pupils. Teachers, then, were our models. They were not fashionistas. They wore decent clothes and reported to work well-shined shoes. Wa gyud ko mahinumdum nga naglapoklapok ang sapatos sa among maestro ug maestra. And most of our teachers were products of the Normal School influenced by the American school system.
Lack of books did not bother us at all. We shared books and other school materials with our classmates. We just had our senorita notebook of 100 leaves where we had the multiplication and division tables.
I viewed the television show one time – during the contract signing of the new stint of the daughter of Aga Muhlach and Charlene Gonzales for
ABS-CBN. Their girl is well grounded. She said, her siblings and she only get to have a mobile phone when they reach the age of 17. Moreover, while listening to the radio last week, I heard that a boy of 14 committed suicide. Why? kay wa paliti ug cellphone. Tinuod ni ug dili ni FAKE NEWS.
There must be something wrong somehow and somewhere in our educational system and in the curriculum. Could it be that sex education has something to do with teenage pregnancy? Have you heard of teachers having “flings” with their
students. And these teachers are married at that. Has morality changed? Why, does morality change?
I wish we revisit the basics of writing, reading and rithmetic and the use of the hands for the development of sensory motor skills. I wish we revisit what was done before. As what the president has said: “Let’s produce graduates who are critical thinkers!” If I may add, let’s make them good communicators, too!