The Ludicrousness of Schools as Cultural(?) Centers
The government agency responsible for ensuring quality education in the country has changed its name as often as the confusion that results in the short term memories of students. When I was young, it was Ministry of Education and Culture. When I first taught in high school, it became Department of Education, Culture and Sports. Today, it is called the Department of Education, sans culture and sports. For whatever reason, I would like to believe that the change in name is supposed to reflect the thrust of the agency for quality education for all. However, when feast days in honor of our beloved saints come, Culture slowly creeps and reattaches itself to the Department of Education. I am referring to this not so stellar practice of converting schools (even for a week) into bogus, trying hard cultural centers at the expense of education quality (kuno!).
When fiesta comes in our place, we cannot do so much our share(!) in uplifting quality of education in the Philippines. Precisely because everyone is busy rehearsing for the nightly presentation of dances (which makes teachers look like trying hard tuods), never ending saga of street dancing (which makes our students look like slaves to insecure, reputation-challenged seasonal not seasoned festival choreographers) and countless requests for parades and rita-ritas to the delight of band trainers who learned music by belting out in cheap karaoke bars. These are all for the guise of social awareness, civic consciousness and cultural development. These are all in the sacrifice (He…he…he!) of education, quality education (Ho…ho…ho…u…bo!)
How should schools teach students culture – the appreciation of tradition and heritage? Is it by dancing in the street to the beat of oil drums? Or is it by declaring festival queens who unfortunately come in not so admirable titles? Can you imagine a queen of the Utanon Festival? She must be an achada! How about the Siloy Festival Queen? Does she reign over tikarols and buntogs and mayas and the yellow-breasted bulbol? I can only pity how a Pitlagong Queen smells – bahalina, dauat, or tungog? And how about the Banig Queen, Cabcab Queen, Bonga Queen, Tostado Queen, Bolho Queen, Sinulog Queen? Where are they now? Have they improved our understanding of who we are as people, as Cebuanos and as Filipinos? No! Nada…we are even going to teach Spanish next year in high school. Tu no hablaes Ingles? My gulay! Festival dancer ka seguro sa?
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