THE RH BILL HULLABALOO

From Mad as a Politician

(I took this from a Yahoo comment on Pnoy's stand on the RH Bill http://ph.news.yahoo.com/aquino-risks-church-ire-reproductive-health-bill-20110417-053849-671.html)

I was born and reared a Catholic. I have not abandoned my faith in the God that Christianity has been proclaiming and has been worshipping. That, despite what I have learned studying church history, despite Yallop's "In God's Name" or Dan Brown's novels (if you please), and even despite my clear knowledge that my religion is by virtue of a historical accident, that is, due to the mistake of Magellan's navigator.

What has made me keep my faith is the true message of the Christ regarding the true nature and end of man, the world, the teachings about humility, kindness, sacrifice, compassion, etc. All these have made me keep my faith--not and never the doctrinal teachings, dogmas and prejudices of the Church.

In fact, what we see all around us, the corruption, cruelty, greed, dishonesty and apathy, all these to me are signs of the failure of the Church to truly influence the Filipinos to be good and honest men. The scandals inside the Church have not also been good examples. Many times, the acts of the Church have been geared towards preserving its wealth and power. Very far from Christ's teachings.

For me, what the Church should instead do, is to look inwards, search itself and try to find out honestly where they have gone wrong. Its vaunted stand on issues of government often times becomes a smoke screen for unthinking Filipinos and not a fair position considering that religion can be a strong bias for untrained and less-than-critical minds. In other words, that the Church sometimes openly play upon and use the ignorance of men to uphold its own biases. Sometimes, I really wonder if this could be the work of the Devil. Surely, infiltration is a potent weapon and could even be the weapon of choice by the Other Side.

THE FOOLISHNESS OF YOUTH

Parental Blunt, Blame and Blunder

Kung atong sud-ungon karon, lisod na kaayo sabton ang mga kabatan-onan. Ang ila nga mga panglihok-lihok, kanatong mga gulang na, usahay makasapot. Paminaw sulay sa ila nga mga sinulti-an, maluma ang mga asosiloy sa Alcoy. Ang ako gayud nga ikahi-ubos kay ang mga batasan sa mga kabatan-onan nga unta molunot sa pag-usbaw sa panahon, inay mura ug nabaklag. Daw baho pa sa ilagang patay. Usa ka ginikanan ako nga nakahinabi miaging adlaw mahitungod sa batasan sa iyang anak nga ako upod nga tinun-an sa eskwelahan.

Sa wala pa ang pista, nakahinagbo ko ang inahan sa usa sa akong mga tinun-an. Gusto g'yud niya nga ako iyang mahinabi kabahin sa grado sa iyang anak. Kini katungod ug responsibilidad sa usa ka ginikanan. Gikalipay ko kaayo ang iyang sugyot. Pero ang grado sintomas lang sa mga daghan pa kaayong problema. Usahay kita'ng mga ginikanan dili makadawat sa nahimong sangputanan sa atong mga anak. Kay lagi ang bata nahagbong man, ato dayun nga batian ang kaguol kay ang kahuyang sa bata usa man ka salamin sa ato 'pod nga dakong pagkulang kanila.

Sa adlaw nga mibisita ang maong ginikanan kanako, akong nasuta ang dako kaayo nga problema. Siya nga inahan wala 'gyud panahon para sa iya nga anak kay atoa man lagi siya sa layo nanguyamot aron ikabuhi sa iyang pamilya. Pareho sila sa iyang bana. Nahiuli lang sila tungod sa piyesta. Ang ilang mga anak nagadako lang sa ilang iyaan. Ako 'pod nga nahibaw-an nga masuso pa kini nga iya nang gibilin sa iyang igsoong babaye. Niadtong panahona, ang bana uban pa sa bata; pero kay lagi ang iyahang pares nanginabuhi man upod, ang amahan wala 'pod panahon para sa ilang mga anak.

Ang wala nahibaw-i sa daghan kaayo nga mga ginikanan, dili kuarta o' kaha gugma ang bahandi nga ilaha puwede nga ikagasa sa mga bata. Parents did not know that the best gift they can give their children is to develop self-respect in them which is born from healthy self-image and self-worth. Pag mismong mga ginikanan wala makakita sa kaimportante sa pagkatawo sa ilang mga anak, ang mga bata dili g'yud modako nga tarong. Self-worth and self-respect are the foundations for a child developing into a better person. Kung wala ang mga ginikanan sa kiliran sa ilang mga anak, dako kaayo kini nga ikahiubos sa mga bata ug nga kini dayun nagahatag ug sayop nga pagtuo nga ang mga ginikanan wala gamahal kanilang mga anak.

Ang batasan sa mga kabatan-onan karon salamin sa dako ug daghan kaayo nga mga pagkulang sa mga ginikanan. Sayop ug guol kaayo nga hunahuna-on nga ingnon ta lunot sa panahon ang mga nahimong kasaypanan sa mga kabatan-onan. Niadtong dugay nang mga tuig nga milabay, ang mga bata dili pa kaayo buluyagan. Kini tungod kay ang mga ginikanan anaa uban kanila nga gamatuto. Nabati sa mga bata kanhiay nga sila gimahal, that was why they developed a very healthy self-image of themselves. Karon nagpabuyag ang mga kabatan-onan tungod gani kay nagkulang ug dako ang mga ginikanan paggiya kanila sa maayong pamatasan. Kadaghanan 'pod sa mga bata karon wala upoy kumpleto nga pamilya. Subo nga palandungon.

Unta dili sa mga bata ibasol ang tanan...

MY MIND FLIES UNDERWATER

Mumbling the Incomprensible

Ingon sila nga ang tawo gahi ug ulo. Tinuod gani nga ang ulo gahi g'yud. Mao gani nga kung mapakong 'ta, di man g'yud mabuak ang atong ulo. Sa mga aksidente diin ang ulo mapantok taman sa gahi nga butang, niining hitaboa pwede g'yud nga ang ulo mabuak. Tungod sa kagahi sa atong bagul-bagol, gamay lang nga hangin o' kaha tubig sulod sa ulo, makaboang kundi man makamatay na dayun sa tawo.

Lisud diay kaayo kung ang ulo masudlan ug hangin. Dili kini mogaan, kun dili mabug-at samot sa kaboang. Karon nga ako naglibog sa lunsay mahitungod sa akong kaugalingon, sa gimahal ko nga yutang natawhan, ug maski gani ang kagubot sa Egypt nga nikalabat na hangtud sa Yemen ug Iran, nasudlan na kaha ug hangin akong ulo? Mora-mora ug mao na g'yud kini ang nahitabo.

Dili ba 'pod kaha nga nalibog ko tungod sa kainit sa panahon? Pero ning-ulan man pipila na ka adlaw ang milabay. Bugnaw na ang palibot, pero ngano man nga gubot gihapon akong panghunahuna? Eksakto man pod unta ko sa kaon. Hinoon, naa na pod koy gibati sa akong lawas. Pero di man ko mahadlok na nga mamatay, so dili ni ang nagpagubot sa akong ulo daw lukot. Kung ako maglingkod, mag-inusara diha sa balay nga wala man unta'y gibuhat o' kaha gikalingawan, moandar g'yud ako kaboang ug kalabad sa ulo. Naunsa na!

Nagkatigulang na pod ra ba hinoon ko. Pero sa gikaingon ko na, di man pod ko mahadlok mamatay na, basta di lang pod ko mag-antos sa kasakit. Seguro, naa pa ko gusto mahimo o' kaha makab-ot dayun ako na nga nasuta gamay na lang ang panahon. Kini ba kaha ang nakapalabad sa kong ulo? Gabati ra ba ko sa akong dalunggan dayun naa usahay tubig nga mogawas. Wala kaha masudli ug tubig ako ulo? Ug unya nalumos na akong utok? Kalooy sab sa. Pero nahurot na seguro ang tubig kay wala naman gaagas sa akong dalunggan.

Gikapoy na 'pod ko sa akong trabaho. Momata ko ug sayo, dayun ang akong tibuok adlaw pare-pareho na lang ang mahitabo. Puol ba kung ingnon ta. Dayun ang mga kabatan-unan karon dili na nako maangkasan pa. Lisod, ingnon ta spellingon. Napulo'g duha na 'pod ko katuig sa akong trabaho. Seguro nagpuol na gyud. Gusto ko gamay excitement sa kinabuhi. Gusto ko mopalayo una, ug didto sa layong dapit magpahulay ug magpractice sa ug kamatay.

Ang akong kinabuhi karon fake kaayo. Daghan ko ug gihimo nga dili gyud ako ug mas daghan pa gyud unta ko ug gustong himoon pero dili ko mahimo sa pagkakaron. Maldito ko ug Scorpio pa gyud - lala kung mangitik, makamatay pa gani sa hustong timing. Puno na kaayo akong utok sa kaboang dayun gusto na kini nga mogawas. Kung sa tanga pa, kulang kaayo sa labok ug itik. Ako na hinoon ang nalanag sa akong kaugalingong kabangis. Hinay-hinay mura ako ug nahilo na sa akong kaugalingong kaboang. Dili gyud kini tungod sa hangin o' kaha sa tubig ni'ng akong utok.

Lisod kaayo kining kinabuhi ta nga wala na gasubay sa atong panag-ingnan. Ang langgam nga unta galupad-lupad kung ihawla magaluya. Di ba kung ang isda haw-ason ta sa tubig, mamatay? Ang tawo pag-ihikaw mo na kaniya ang iyang kagawasan, maboang. Kung imo nga pugson ang tawo pagpuyo sa kinabuhing bakak, daw wala siya mabuhi ning kalibotan kay buhi man siyang patay nga matag adlaw kanimo nakig-uban. Ablihi ang mga mata ug tutuki ug tarong. Kini bang tawo nga sa kong atubangan ania karon, tinuod ba o' kaha dakong bakak. Boang lang seguro kay humok na ang bagul-bagol.

WORDS THAT CHANGE MEANING - CHARITY

A Case Like Basket Case

Together with faith, hope and love, charity is one of the Christian virtues. Like "pity", this word has also changed its connotation from good to bad. Originally, "charity" directly translates to agape in Corinthians - agape being the kind of love that most resembles Jesus'. Charity entails too much patience and altruism on the part of the giver. Through time, however, there was a shift in the perspective. Charity is being looked now from the point of view of the recipient, and this started the problem. Man has always been too proud to be the object of both pity and charity that we cannot just imagine ourselves to be another "charity case". Polluted word, man's folly - what a waste of good intent!

WORDS THAT CHANGE MEANING - PITY

Pity the Giver No More

Similar to the root word of "piety" and "pious", this word denotes higher form of sacrificial love. The word originally is meant for the giver. When somebody "pities" another, his "pity" is taken to be a life-giving sacrifice that the recipient has to receive. The one who "pities" is drained of too much energy because what he gives is himself for he sacrifices. Today, however, the meaning of "pity" shifts from the giver to the receiver. The receiver who is the object of "pity" is looked at as somebody weak, useless and worst, penniless. We often hear, "I don't want your pity." This is because the recipient does not want to feel powerless over everything in life. When one is the object of "pity" , his existence is relegated to inhuman level. Whatever happens, the word "pity" is not what it was supposed to be. So pitiful!

LOST IN MORE THAN TRANSLATION

Filipinos Kill the Time

Time is gold. It has never been silver nor bronze. It has always been gold. That is how people before value every ticking seconds of time. The absence of accurate and fast technology to tell time could have been a cause why people of the olden times put so much premium on time. Today, the value of time is as golden as before. Ride an airplane that brings you to your destination late, and you may miss great business opportunities. A doctor on the operating table always will say that every second counts for the patient under a knife. But wait...! Do not ever mention time to most government officials. Most of them with time suffer mast cell overload with histamines.

I did not know that some important government officials and politicians would grace the opening of the Agri-Business Fair situated in front of UV. Our students were there, I thought, to look and see what the fair was all about. When I walked out the gate, I saw that they were still outside. They were not allowed to get inside because the ribbon has not been cut yet - the fair has not been declared open to public. But how long they have been standing outside, I did not bother check the time. The government official to cut the ribbon has not arrived on time (read as late). I heard that the fair was supposed to open at 9a.m. Sadly, time has never been gold at all this morning. I want to be fair though. Maybe the government officials to cut the ribbon had something more important to do than manipulate a pair of scissors to cut a rafia declaring the key chains inside to be devoured by the all-eager grade school pupils.

Well, what is new? I was asked to be one of the masters of ceremony in a fiesta event way back time. The program was scheduled to start at 9p.m. We were able to sing the national anthem at past 12 midnight. Sorely, the invited guests to crown the less-happier queen started his campaign trail inside the house of the mayor. I remembered to be wearing a blue suit then. I thought it turned black with sweat waiting for the old politicians to crawl their way to the cultural complex. Why invite politicians from outside town to grace affairs that our people have labored so much to perfect? They were a shining and golden example of Filipino time - the time that does not just stand still but kill. I was really lost in time.

THE QUEEN OF KANGKONG FESTIVAL

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?

WHO ARE YOUR TRUE FRIENDS?

Fair Weather Pals No More

Friendly acquaintances in school sometimes can escalate into something that one cannot handle. Ordinary classmate to classmate friendship soon becomes intimate connivance for something more foolish. Several junior students forged friendship only the ends of time supposedly could break. When grades in Chemistry, however, started subliming faster than any aromatic compound could, the sweet fragrance of sisterhood evaporated like any foul smelling sulfuric vomit. How can somebody, much more your (best?) friend, leave you like dirty rag on the wet floor? How can your (best?) friend ignore you at the canteen? Now you wonder. Has she ever been a friend at all? Poor, poor you girl. You've trusted so much. Friends come and go... and like the yo-yo they leave badly a bruised soul when hit they do.

RANDOM THOUGHTS TO RUN DOOMED THOUGHTS

It has been a week since classes for the current school year started. I am looking forward to a productive year; however, thoughts of doom always keep on bugging me. I am trying to overcome them. Randomly like monsoon rains, they flood my mind. Think of the sumo wrestler, I often hear Julian. Can I not smell the crushed roses or see the diamond-paved roads? I smell the roses but who cares for the pleasant odor. We always feel the pain...I always pain and hear Philip reechoed, "Where is God when it hurts?" Could this be because I expect too much? Have anxiety been now a paranoia? I should have stopped reading long before.

STOP RECYCLE AND BE HAPPY

From the Monk who Sold His Ferrari

Two years ago, I was an angry man. There were just too many bad things I could not handle in my life. At work, I was not at all happy but a tired employee. I found everyone around me difficult to deal with. When I went back home in the afternoon from work, there were just too many painful memories that kept on coming back. Personally, I was so down. I did not really know what hit me then. Writing on this blog has helped me through those very bad days.

Now I know, I was before caught in a moment of recycle. From Julian Mantle, I learned that I was born destined to be a success - that I was born with all the faculties and abilities to succeed life and be contented with it. However, and unfortunately I became a victim of the world of conformity. I follow the whims of the crowd, and soon learned that the world at all is not perfect. It is perfect, but men deluded themselves and believed otherwise.

All the problems that I resisted to face returned to haunt me even more in a concerted nightmare. All these sad events started as small, surmountable challenges. Because I resisted and denied that I was part of the problem - its main orchestrator - they recycled themselves only to haunt me frighteningly more. If only I have faced the problems before squarely, they would not have come back. I did not understand before that sad experiences present themselves to make us learn from them. I blamed everyone but myself, and this has caused me much trouble before.

"GOOD BYE, SMA!"

The Imprudent Prude from Prudence

Communication technology has never been faster or more accessible than today. Gone were the days of snail mails that took almost a month to reach their final lonesome destinations. Teenagers today have never been burdened by telephones heavier than a two-pound dumb bell. The youngest of the young today have the cell phone in one hand and the face glued to the Internet. They may be communicating…in more ways than one and in whatever reasons for that matter. The world has changed and shrunk immensely because of technology.

It is this same technology also that blew our top this week – our prefect of discipline’s, the student activity coordinator’s and mine. Some imprudent seniors from Section Prudence took incriminating pictures and uploaded them to the Internet all in senseless glory for the world to see. I have been cautioning our students that though the Internet may be as important as man’s discovery of fire, it could also douse us all to cold for simply being insensitive and insensible.

Students should understand that the Internet is for all people of all ages. What pictures they uploaded that to them were saintly glorious may be obscenely absurd to senior netizens. Ours is a case of wrong judgment. We may be partly to blame; however, I would like to believe that our CL teachers have never missed setting good examples for our students. Our computer curriculum explicitly warns them of the dangers of technology too. Could it be that ours is a case far deeper than what the school can fathom?

TEXT YOUR MIND

$Pe@K uR w3IrI) WuRlI)

Good day to all of you. Now, would you care to greet me "good day" too? Yes, and in the polite way too, if you must. Oh, you can't do it? Is it because you'd rather text me "gUd Pm!" by way of your cellular phone, or drop me a friendly twit via Twitter or an offline PM through Yahoo Messenger? How sad! You sad little thing. You must have forgotten the fringe benefits of going through the personal exchange of greeting in your relationships (besides passing English IV).

Admit it. The English and Filipino vernaculars are becoming ugly barnacles. Enough words have been "coined" today to even say in the least that they are worth a coin to hear. To add insult to injury, more and more of these words are used by teenagers today as part of their language. What happened to the days when a "Good morning!" earned you a show of praise from everyone around you? Lately, it's quite the fad to twist "Good" to "gUd", "I have to leave" to "gtg" or "go na meh", or even "I adore you" to "I luv u! mwah mwah!" Indeed, these greetings have become a sign of the times, and if you are part of "the times," den u'd $1mPli B cA$t oWt 4 n0t F1t1ng n.

On one side of the coin, you can be sure that push-button greetings will save you time and money. Should bookshops ever run a shortage of fancy old English greeting cards, you have your cellular phone to compensate for things. If text-based greeting cards aren't your kind of dish, then you can always send a mushy-mushy e-card to your sweetie. Sure, the benefits may seem healthy for your wallet, but will anybody really appreciate it that much if all you did all year was to send "haP1 b-dAy! Luv ya! Mwah mwah! Xoxo (insert name here)"?

On the flip side, the teenagers prefer to think that as the world works the calendar with technology, shortcut methods of doing possibly anything becomes more and more recommendable. The case at hand holds a lot of water because of this. Any Filipino teen would think it is "jologs" not to use a cell phone or an online messaging application to greet someone these days, and they consider it even more "bukitit" to use formal language alone to do it. What they miss is the point that personal exchange and suitable language ability without any means of technology gives them more credit. For instance, going to the house of a friend and greeting her a "Happy birthday!" formally instead of button-pushing the greeting will be more appreciated. It may look more taxing but the personal exchange and suitable language ability are there. "Textspeak", twitspeak" and "chatspeak" may be popular with Filipino teenagers today, but I tell you, you'll regret the day you've mangled your last English phrase now most especially that some of you failed in English IV.

What do these signs of the times aim to show? That the present Filipino youth is becoming more "hip" with the kind of language they set for themselves? The fact that we make even hacker language slowly look more understandable besides human speech is also embarrassing. Language and, all the more, our ability of human speech can't be bought off any sari-sari store. Why murder it then? Filipino and English are the key ingredients in the melting pot of cultures of the country; ergo, they must be preserved for the use of future generations. Consider all these the next time you press that "send" button on your Nokia/Sony Ericsson/Samsung phone or one of your AIM/YM/MSN chat window.

Greet with a touch of formality, and do so with a touch of finger too less often. You'll be happy to know then that you've saved yourself from the subtle maneuver of the machines that are slowly replacing you. Or maybe the next time you will receive the report card, you pass English IV already.

FACELESS JUDAH BEN HUR

Strong Faith, Strange Fate, Stark Hate

Learning English as a second language demands mastery of the four macro skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Of these four skills, I believe that speaking is the most challenging to master. I further believe though that writing well makes speaking a lot easier. Being secondary learners of the language, speaking well before writing comes with too much practice and experience. We just don't have that much experience conversing in English. Speaking well, however, may come from writing very well. One of the reasons why we don't want to speak in English is lack of confidence that we have mastered English structurally. When we can write well, it follows that we know the structure and the meaning of the English language.

We usually fail to learn well the structure of the English language because we lack the much needed confidence to learn it. We have reached fourth year high school sans belief of our capability of learning the structure of the English language - that it is not as confusing as what of us mostly believe. Could this have been caused by wrong instruction by English teachers before who were not confident teaching the language? This lack of faith may have rubbed off among the students that only a few really know the structure of the language confidently well. Lack of strong faith in one's ability to grasp the meaning and structure of the language, therefore, deters functional use of English.

By strange fate, the gentlemen are not at all gentle in their functional understanding of the English language. Could it be in the genes that only a few men like English? Immature men (a.k.a. children) hate English. They always think English has to have them twist their tongues to pronounce words clearly. They fail to understand that speaking the language and communication for understanding demand clear articulation. Strangely, because of how atrophied men's brain have come to be, they fail to comprehend that global issues are resolved and business deals sealed using English as the medium of communication. Fatefully strange, this seemingly brainless logic perpetuated by moronic Adams contributes to our failure of fully appreciating the function of the English language.

Lastly, men's stark abhorrence to anything less manly makes them look more like apes than humans. Why hate the English language which has moved men to fight for freedom after King? Why such hate to a language which has catapulted so many men to glorious victories as it did to Churchill? After Romulo in the United Nations, the Philippines has never again a nameless spot in the world map. It was MacArthur's well-meant promise to return that gave us all hope to a better Philippines. All these done in English, the language men oh-so-hate. In English, all these men communicated their ideas. Why hate so much the language that has freed us from all the bondage of ignorance, oppression and pain? Have we regressed and have grown tails already? Have we become monkeys now?

When we cannot seem to sketch who Judah Ben Hur is, weaving words of the English language, chances are we are either monkeys or apes, not humans at all. Humans have faith in themselves. Man always has faith that he can learn. By fate and not strangely, both men and women are endowed with innate capacities to learn, enough gray matter for more complex intelligence. Apes are not as intelligent as we are. We are also supposed to be appreciative, not full of hate. We are more civilized than monkeys that if the latter race is capable of appreciating, how much more are we? If still we cannot sketch Judah Ben Hur, then we might as well be caged with the monkeys, or better free the monkeys and have us aping instead. Long live the monkeys!

I DARE YOU TO FAIL

What Students Must Do to Improve their Grades

"Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere." Barack Obama

I have been teaching for 11 years. I was able to teach several subjects already: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Technology and Livelihood Education, Computer, Christian Living and English. Every time I am assigned to teach a subject I give my best. I decline to teach if I do not know the subject, or that I cannot study and learn it. In all cases, however, I am knowledgeable of the subjects I teach. I have special fondness for English though, and this is what I can teach the best of all. To prepare me more, I took short courses on teaching English as a second language. I attended several seminars and updating on teaching strategies for English. I read a lot and invested on good books for both content and teaching strategies for English as a foreign language. In all of these things I have done, I learned that English as a second language should be taught with the end result of the student being able to communicate - the transactional function of the language. Structure and meaning are important but the function should be better emphasized. This is always in my mind whenever I am teaching English to the seniors.

There are four macro skills to learn in English as a language: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each of this macro skill has several minor skills under it which every student in English has to master. This is specially important if the student is in his senior year in high school. Senior English is mastery of all the basic skills in English as a second (ESL) or foreign (EFL) language. A fourth year high school student, therefore, must have mastered almost all the skills. The only exception is formal scientific research, which in the DepEd list of learning competencies is still to be taken up in the last year of high school. I am not expecting my fourth year English students to be able to write a good research paper. They are still to learn it this year. However, I am expecting them to be able to listen analytically and appreciatively to almost anything. I am also expecting them to transact business orally in English, classroom recitation included. I am also expecting each one of them to be able to write a decent three-paragraph composition. Over and above the three is reading comprehension. I am expecting all the seniors to be able to read beyond the lines. These are my minimum expectations before any of my English IV student can have a good grade.

Whoever fails, therefore, in my subject is being challenged to prove to me that he is worthy to be a senior student. There are students who failed already. Let the failure be a challenge to those who failed. Self-knowledge is in order here. Any student who failed must go into deep introspection and discover why. He should ask, "Why did I fail? Which skills have I not mastered that is why I did not get a passing mark for the first grading period?" The process of getting down to the roots of one's failure is an utmost exercise of humility. Do I really need to learn some more? What else are expected of me? Have I been idle and wasting time instead of studying my lessons? One cannot keep on blaming what has not been done in the previous years, which ought to have been mastered already as of fourth year. Clearly, it is one's own fault now why the minimum skills for English IV have not been mastered yet. Know why because it is and it will not ever be late to re-study what has not been understood very well. It will not ever be late at all to restart even from scratch. Time and effort will only be wasted if one continues to believe and have a false assurance that he knows his English only because the English IV teacher did not fail the obviously erring but pitiful student.

WHY STUDENTS FAIL TO UNDERSTAND

Failing English IV at All is Consoling

When I was in grade school, I was taught that in school what matters most is to learn and not whether you pass or fail. Sadly, today the scenario is different. Students now would be happier if they pass even without learning than learn and just barely pass the subject. If a teacher gives a grade of 85 to a student who knows that he does not deserve the good grade, the student will be happy with it and becomes so cordial with the teacher. Fail the same student and he wonders why. What is important to most students today is the grade, never mind learning - the enduring understanding of the subject content. Some ineffective teachers are partly to blame of this wrong attitude. Parents too reinforce so much this thwarted view of education. I cannot, however, make this happen to me. I am for my students learning the subject rather than passing it. I really fail students who do not learn because for me learning is the essence of education. Passing the subject is just the result when you have learned it.

Why do students fail to understand the subject? I said, "fail to understand" and not "fail to pass." I have three reasons why. Most students cannot comprehend. Unfortunately this lack of comprehension involves both listening and reading. Without good comprehension, therefore, most of them cannot think critically. Critical thinking is important to enduring understanding of the concepts being taught. Lastly and sadly, students fail because they are not diligent in studying their lessons and working on their homework and assigned tasks. These three reasons work against any student acquiring long lasting understanding of real life applications of the subjects taught in school. Most students thought that they could get good grades because they knew the subject. What they do not know is that they are supposed to incorporate what they have learned in the class to real life complex situation and thus make meaning of all the concepts learned for themselves and to others.

Paradoxically the digital age makes the students comprehend less and less of the subjects taught in school. Technology is spoon feeding the newer generation. Making life easier and more comfortable, which is what technology is for, has backfired because students now do not anymore strive harder to understand. Instead of reading and summarizing what they have read from books, they would rather download and copy-paste web articles to pass as their own, disregarding copyright infringement laws. Parents hire tutors now to answer their children's homework and accomplish assigned tasks to the utter delight of the now dumber tutee. How can, therefore, students comprehend? Some of the teachers do not even know how to teach comprehension skills. The latter think it is only the responsibility of language teachers to teach students how to understand. Moreover, most students are word readers; hence, how can they comprehend passages, worse, a sentence or a paragraph?

When students cannot comprehend, they cannot think critically. According to Facione and Facione (1994), a critical thinker interprets accurately evidences, statements, graphics, questions, etc. He identifies the salient arguments for or against the issue. He thoughtfully analyzes and evaluates major alternative points of view and draws warranted, judicious and non-fallacious conclusions. He justifies key results and procedures and explains assumptions and reasons. How can somebody who cannot understand be able to do all these things? The problem of lack of comprehension, therefore, creates a vicious cycle spiraling towards a vortex of confusion. The confused student now cannot even write a book analysis or critique a movie he has just watched. Critical thinking is a skill that takes time to hone. Failure to develop this kind of thinking is a surefire guarantee of failure in life someday.

Besides lack of comprehension and critical thinking skills, most students today are lazy. Diligence is not in the vocabulary of the new generation. I do not know who to blame, but modern society expects so little from the teenagers today that they live up to this lack of expectation. Teenagers do not bother do the hard thing because they are not expected to accomplish anything. They are young, so naive, so fragile that teachers cannot even ask them to write a research paper because they are just too young to do it. They cannot also do household chores because they are (again) young, so naive, so fragile. However, they can be fraternity members and kill themselves. They can do drugs because they are old enough. They can have sex and girls can get pregnant before high school graduation. Just do not ask them to write a paragraph because they are just too young, so naive, so fragile. How pathetic the lives of students have become!

When my students do not learn despite everything I have done to make them so, they have to fail in my subject. They say, I am a difficult teacher to comprehend, precisely because what I want my students to understand goes beyond the what, the where and the when. I want my students to answer the why, the how and the what if. I want my students to understand by doing. When I asked them to critique Exupery's Little Prince, it is for me to assess whether they have understood how elements of a story interweave to present us enduring assertions about friendship and life. Soon I will be asking my students to write a research paper for me to assess how they have understood the complex communicative function of the English language. These are just two of the many evidences of learning I will be asking my students. If they fail to submit even one (for no justifiable reason at all), I will have the impression that they cannot understand or think critically, worse, are lazy deserving to fail. Well, if it be of any consolation, failing is much better than passing without understanding.

DOUBLE INSERTION, TRIPLE BAD NEWS

What Has Become of Politics

Good luck comes in threes. It follows then that bad luck also comes in threes. As I was listening to the early evening news edition, a series of bad news slapped me on the face. First, the Senators were again wasting much time debating on the “double insertion” case of Villar. They were not supposed to be debating still but investigating already. Second, though the Health Department was happy no A H1N1 has surfaced yet, the arrogance of the quarantine bureau regarding the implementation of a new ruling regarding foreign performers that have to be tested for the virus may have left the two Davids scratching their heads. Third, there could be a possibility that the presidential election next year will not ever happen. What! This indeed was the worst news of the night. Three bad news that may spell the worst of our lucks.

It has been two weeks already that the Senate was debating on how to amend their ethics rules on investigating one of them (i.e. erring senator). This was a result of the alleged “double insertion” made by Villar on a road project. According to Senator Madrigal, the former padded the budget for the project in a way that benefited him. The road project was rerouted to pass by the properties and holdings of the gentleman senator. This doubled the budget because the government had to buy lands from Villar at a staggering Php15,000 per square meters. However, nothing happened today because they could not come to understand each other. Last week they settled that they had differences. Goodness! What a waste of precious money from taxpayers. Nothing happened today because two not so gentleman senators walked out of the Senate.

I was fascinated on how zealous the Health Department was in trying to contain out the very confusing swine/A H1N1 influenza virus. I have appreciated what they have done although sometimes their concern already bordered on paranoia. They first did not want Pacquiao to come home yet after his jaw breaking fight with Hatton. The department wanted the group to quarantine themselves in California, but Pacman was more intelligent to say that they run a greater risk being infected there. Right. Today, some quarantine officials were pissed off by David Cook and David Archuleta. The group was to conduct a test to determine if both Idol singers had no viruses in their throats, but they were made to wait for so long in the hotel lobby. The concert organizers still had to ask their lawyer for the green light. Why? So this irritated the equally irritating quarantine officials. Bad news for me dying to listen for good news.

The worst news of the evening was also the most shocking. It could be that the presidential election will not happen next year. Oh, my goodness! How long will these self-serving government officials continue serving themselves? This may happen because…brace for this…the commission on election may run out of time preparing how to do the election next year. The COMELEC is right now on the bidding stage for the computerization of the electoral process next year. But there have been a lot of trouble with the bidders. (Well in good they have detected the trouble brewing.) By the time they decide to do the election manually because the computers are not yet ready, they will have no more time to prepare because they have been so preoccupied with nothing! Another waste of taxpayers’ precious pesos.

These have been the reasons why I hate watching news on TV. I don’t know if the rating goes high whenever the scoop caters on how bad our luck is. They say that news networks are just doing their jobs, but to broadcast a bad news when we are dining makes me want to choke on my own vomit. So as not to die with a very embarrassing post-mortem autopsy, I change channel and watch the government news network. As expected, the government has been spending wisely all taxpayers’ hard earned money. It always forces a smile on my full mouth. What makes me laugh though is how bad some of the Palace officials speak English. We are not native speakers of the language, but if I am the press secretary, well, I should be one of the best speakers of the land. This is not so bad news however. It’s just plain comedy of errors.

I AM SO PISSED OFF TODAY

...And My Patience Has Worn Out Thin

Patience is a virtue. Only a few men are gifted with this. I am not one but I know how to be patient. This is because each one of us is different from each other. One’s abilities and strengths may not be another’s. I may be capable of teaching, so everything about education I know much better than an engineer, for example. The latter may be good with strengths of materials and how to build structures which unfortunately I am not. I can talk and talk and talk without stopping. Others may not be able to do this, but they may be good in carpentry which sadly I am not. With these things in mind, I have taught myself how to be patient. My patience, therefore, is born from necessity and not inborn. Because my work requires me to deal with people from all ages and all walks of life, I have to be civil, keep my calm and be patient as my wits can hold me sane.

I was able to sleep well last night so I woke up this morning feeling good as well. Although I woke up quite late, I was all ready to face the new day. I had spaghetti for brunch and toasted bread. I ate contentedly as I watched some news on TV. The US serviceman who open fired to some of his comrades inside a mind wellness clinic in Iraq did not surprise me at all. He could be suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome which is very common to military men in the battlefield. I just hope he was not so impatient to wait for his turn and kill all those before him. My patience was tested to the same stress level as my day progressed. When I was in the middle of my workout, some people were looking for me. They were the same people whose favor I politely turned down a week ago. They were asking for a monetary contribution to hire a band for the fiesta procession. I could have been very generous if I have something to give; however, for now I am just flat broke. Every penny I have has been budgeted for me to last until the middle of June when I will have received my first pay for the next school year as a principal. Surely, I was irritated but I still promised to give something tomorrow.

After taking my shower, I saw somebody outside. I asked my mom who the person was looking for. She was my student in the local college where I am a part time teacher. She was the third to be asking for grades in College Writing today. I blew my top but I did not show it for I am only scantily clad in a bath towel. I was not able to compute for their final grades because they were so late (by two months) in submitting their term paper. I was only able to compute four of the 21 students I had. Clearly, it was not my fault that they do not have the grades until today. They just submitted their respective papers online and I still have to read them. Because it is vacation time, I refused to do any work related with school. I am so feed up with ten months of working diligently in school. I believed that I more than deserved this break. I did not talk with my student. I asked my mom to tell her I could not give them their grades for now. I will personally hand their grades to the registrar as soon as the new academic year starts.

I have no enough cash on hand today. This is why I was so irritated with the fiesta contribution they asked from me. To add more stress to my brewing top, my mom told me that the toilet cleaning set (of dubious chemicals) was due today. This just did it and I let out a loud sigh of frustration. My mother got a hell of scolding from me. I asked her not to patronize anymore those bogus products. We can by the same at half the price from the local supermarket. I am literally broke and so much stressed. My stress level reached an all time high when the oven ran out of precious LPG. My mom was in the middle of cooking something, I had no money to buy a replacement tank and I was so much stressed already, I decided not to eat. Suddenly I lost all my appetite. I can be very angry but I do not want to do it in front of my mom. I ran out of patience today that I locked myself in the room and fell asleep as late as 5 this afternoon.

Patience is a virtue. Born out of necessity, I taught myself how to be patient. I may have succeeded in some occasions but today I dismally failed. As I reflected on what took place today, I would like to believe that I was not responsible for all the bad luck that befell us all. I had no money to give because last week I already told the chapel officials that I was not donating. I did not have anything extra to give, simple. All cash I have has been budgeted already. I could not give grades because the students submitted late, and I hate very much people who cannot understand what a deadline is. My fourth year English students knew this by heart. My mom did not tell me ahead of time that a payment was due today. I had no money and we could not even cook a decent meal without sweating a lot inside the dirty kitchen. What a life! I would have liked to shout and break things whatever I can get hold of. These are my ugly and violent ways to release pent up anger. However, my saner self prevailed. I am stressed. My patience has been worn out thin. I will definitely sleep with a heavy heart tonight.

GOOD HAIR CUT ON A BAD HAIR DAY

Why a Teacher must Visit his Barber

I visited my friend barber today. Obviously, I got my hair cut and my facial hair trimmed. As I mentioned before, I always look forward to every visit I make to Louie, my barber. It took me quite longer to pay him a visit. It is vacation time-no class-so I need not have to sport a slacker hair style the way I did when there are classes. My hair has grown quite funny. The hair on both temporal sides grows faster than the parietal portion. This gives an impression that I have pattern baldness. Bald or what, I don’t care. I have shaved my head shiny before. I even like it skinhead, but in school it does not work very well. I just don’t know why my senior administrators don’t want me to have my head shaved. Since I will be back in school on May 18, I must have my hair cut. I should sport a cleaner look because our students’ parents and my colleagues expected me to, and I hate this very much.

When I arrived at the barbershop there were still two blokes ahead of me. I still had to wait, though the first one was almost through. After quite a while, Louie worked on the second guy. As I was waiting, a girl classmate in high school saw me. She was one of my close friends when we were still in high school. She was unassuming before and still is today. What I remembered about her was mathematics. She was good in math. She is a teacher now, a language teacher more specifically Filipino. This is unexpected because most people who are good in mathematics hate languages. As we were talking (she was waiting for somebody), she asked me how their high school students were doing in college. She wanted to know how their English was, I think. I taught remedial English and writing across discipline in college. She expected my answer. I told her not only their students but most students fare badly in college English in all four macro-skills.

As it was already my turn on the barber’s chair, our conversation continued now together with my barber friend. She told me students fare badly in both languages-English and Filipino-because they don’t care about the subjects and learning them. I affirmed what she told us. I also added that students today do not study their lessons. They do not read their books anymore and do their assignments only in school just few moments before checking or submission. Louie added that there is indeed so much to be desired of the students today. However, deep within myself I thought it should not only be the students who are at fault here. Teachers should be blamed of the deteriorating quality of high school education in the country. There are so many teachers who are incompetent. Parents too must be blamed. Academic success is highly correlated with how much parents spend time with their children on their school work.

As I left the barbershop I have these realizations in my mind. I have indeed grown older and more mature with life. Whenever somebody talks of more sensible things, I always like the idea. I am very fascinated when the talk becomes more socially relevant. I always experience this in the barbershop, and only older people love to talk about social problems. Another thing that I realize is that there are still teachers who are more than willing to change the current education system in the country. One is my former classmate and another older teacher who is with her. They are also frustrated with so much bureaucracy in the system that the more pressing needs and concerns were set aside for more personal gains among government officials. These officials are supposed to be working for improved and better quality education in the country. As good as my new cut looks, this still cannot resurrect the dying education system of the country. So sad!

SING HOPEFULLY NOT TO OBLIVION

The National Anthem Brouhaha

The country has a number of national symbols. These symbols represent the Philippines, the Filipinos and their aspirations. That is why these symbols are held in very high regard. One national symbol, however, has always been in controversial light. Because of its very nature, the national anthem – Lupang Hinirang – has been the cause of confusion, object of bewilderment and sadly, butt of a joke. When all of us were once young, we were taught in schools how to sing the national anthem. Unfortunately, only a few schools taught us how to sing it not just well but correctly. The national anthem was written with a marching tempo in the mind of Julian Felipe. Its time signature is 4/4. Through time, however, we have forgotten really how to sing the Lupang Hinirang correctly, and the newer generation does the same too.

During a boxing bout before, one celebrity singer forgot some lines when singing the Philippine national anthem. Obviously, this has caused so much stir not just in the reel world but even in schools. From then on we asked our students to sing the national anthem without accompaniment every morning during the flag ceremony. This may be less apropos but we gave it a shot though. We even asked students to give the beat and lead the singing. We have noticed that whenever students were left alone, they had the tendency to sing the anthem in a much slower tempo, not marching. What we did was to ask the one beating to do it in 2/2 time and much faster because it is supposed to be a march. Most of them said, however, that they were taught to sing it that way – incorrectly.

The most recent brouhaha regarding the singing of the national anthem was during the Pacquiao – Hatton boxing fight. Although Martin Nievera was told earlier that he must sing the national anthem the right way, he made his own arrangement and sang it the way he wanted it sung. He started slowly with the first four lines (first stanza). The rest of the song was, however, sung in a marching tempo. Not so much a problem until he reached the last stanza. He was so theatrical with crooning to his heart’s content the final lines, my mouth was left agape. When everything sank in my mind, I let out a very loud laugh. What was he trying to do? The national anthem is sung at the beginning of programs for everyone to accompany. How then would people sing with Martin when suddenly he changed the tune? Some people might have appreciated what he did, but the Philippine Historical Commission was not happy about it and even demanded for Martin to apologize.

Martin was not the first to sing the national anthem in either wrong tempo or tune. However, because he is famous, he is now asked to apologize. I think Martin need not apologize. Of all those I have heard sang the Lupang Hinirang, Martin’s version was the most correct. I don’t want Martin to apologize too. There are even more government officials out there who cannot sing the national anthem alone from start to finish. What is important is neither the tempo nor the tune. How many of us live by what the national anthem wants us to be? We are so strict of how it should be sung, but we forget what is it meant to be for us Filipinos. The song embodies the ideals of our forefathers which we are supposed to uphold today. I think what is more important is the meaning of the song to us Filipinos, not how it should be sung. However, I will appreciate more if it be sung next time correctly.

POLITICS IS JOKE JOCJOC

Selective Amnesia & Short Term Memory Loss

When people are accused of lying, cheating or stealing for the Arroyo administration, they run for public office. In the 2007 midterm polls, former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano ran, even using the nickname “Garci” that will always be associated with poll fraud. Garcillano was rejected by the voters of the first district of Bukidnon, who instead picked the Liberal Party’s Malu Acosta as their congressional representative. Several senatorial candidates linked to administration scandals also lost in 2007.

Next year it could be the turn of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante to seek vindication of his name through the ballot. Over the weekend, the man accused of overseeing the P728-million fertilizer fund scam disclosed plans to run for governor of his home province of Capiz. My goodness! How can he be so stupid. This is predictable though since most Filipinos suffer from short term memory loss and selective amnesia. Jocjoc will like to joke us on these two maladies that for centuries have been affecting us.

Unless a person is convicted with finality of any crime, the person is allowed by law to run for public office in this country. The fate of Bolante is just the latest reminder of the weakness of the criminal justice system. The proper path toward full vindication for someone who is truly innocent is to first have all criminal charges against him dismissed. And then he can seek the people’s nod for public office.

Bolante himself should be the first to want his name cleared by the courts. A speedy judicial resolution of the fertilizer scam is of course desired by those who believe that Bolante should be held accountable for using P728 million in agricultural funds to win political support for President Arroyo during the 2004 campaign. But such speed is seen only in special cases, such as the rape complaint filed by “Nicole” against US Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith. Even then, three years to resolve a rape case with finality may still be considered too long by those who believe that justice delayed is justice denied.

In Bolante’s case, the long wait for his extradition from the United States has not given urgency to the resolution of the accusations against him. As the wheels of Philippine justice move at their usual languorous pace, Bolante may even succeed in remaking himself into Governor Jocjoc.