Capitol University
Cagayan de Oro City
Graduate Studies
Dear Dr. Alonsabe,
With the reading materials that you readily shared to us , I am thankful because I gained more knowledge about curriculum ,it’s meaning, purpose, foundations and philosophy of great philosophers .Arthur Bestor (Essentialist), Schwabs, Robert M. Hutchin, Dewey, Caswell & Campbell, Smith Stanley & Shore , Marsh & Wills had greatly contributed the curriculum development. I find the significance in learning the maior foundations of curriculum ; perennialism, essentialism, reconstructionism, and progressivism . It is also worth knowing the history of curriculum from Franklin Bobbit’s (1876-1956), Werrent Charters (1875-1952), William Kilpatrick (1871-1965), Harold Rugg (186-1960), Hollis Caswell ( 1902-1994) and Ralph Tyler (1902-1994) . Knowing the psychological foundations and theories from Edward Lee Thorndike, Hilda Taba, Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura, Iean Piaget, Lev Vygolsky, Howard Gardner, Felder & Silverman, and Daniel Goleman , it is proper to recognize all great men and women who had showed the highest interest in the development of curriculum for the benefit of human race.
Once one of the best in all of Asia, the education system of the Philippines has deteriorated significantly in recent years, both in terms of quality and access. “ Is Philippine education really deteriorating?” This question challenged me to search . As I searched in the web I found some reports and findings . Senator Angara said that in all international achievement tests, the Philippines is rated near the bottom in all subjects. "That is a reflected in the fast deterioration of our education standards both in public and private schools." Official achievement tests given to graduating high school students in the 2004-2005 school year showed that only 6.59 percent could read, speak and comprehend English well enough to enter college. Some 44.25 percent had no English skills at all. In the long run , if this deterioration in English competency continues, it will eventually affects our sending of human resources abroad. There is a big warning that the employment of Filipinos overseas will soon be overtaken by China and India whose citizens are becoming well-versed of the English language, both written and oral.
In a globalized economy, "English is a ticket to the future," the American and European chambers of commerce said, adding that only three out of 100 applicants meet proficiency standards of the outsourcing industry. Another comment from the Call Center Academy accent trainer Agence France Presse "Filipinos are pretty good but they still have lapses with their tenses, verb usage, subject-verb agreement — the basics," What might have caused the sudden decline? The Taglish language (combination of Tagalog and English) is partly to be blamed when almost all of the young generation have accepted it as a standard hybrid language. English soaps are now being dubbed into Filipino and text messaging has evolved yet another form of language.
EDCOM also reported that there is a slowing down in enrolment rates and the worsening drop-out rates in the number of out-of-school children. In 2001, there were approximately 1.87 million out-of-school children with ages from 6-15 years old. In a matter of four years, in 2005, the number of out-of-school children has reached a staggering 3.1 million. And the quality of education is still way below standard. Achievement rates of elementary and high school students in National Achievement Tests remain far below the passing rate of 75 percent. The achievement rates for elementary students has slightly improved from school year (SY) 2000-2001 to SY 2005-2006 but are still far below the passing rate: 53.66 percent in Math, 46.77 in Science, 54.05 in English, 58.12 in Hekasi (Social Sciences), and 60.68 in Filipino. The achievement rates for secondary students are worse and have even worsened during the same period. The current rates are 47.82 percent in Math, 37.98 in Science, 47.73 percent in English, 40.51 percent in Filipino, and 47.62 percent in Araling Panlipunan (Social Sciences).It is then not surprising that the Philippines ranked 41st in Science and 42nd in Mathematics from among 45 countries by the Trends in International Math and Science Survey.
The moratorium is contained in CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 32, Series of 2010, issued on 30 September 2010 effective school year 2011-2012. The validation of the outcome of the Evaluation of Graduate Program in the Philippines (EGEP) confirmed the weakening of graduates from the business administration and teacher education program all over the country and the result of the Licensure Examination for Teachers and Nurses administered by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) also showed a gradual decline in the performance of teacher and nursing education graduates,”
According to the studies and of which I also realized that the fundamental causes of this decline are slow economic growth, inadequate government revenues and rapid population growth. Corruption and flawed management exacerbate the problem. These factors contribute to poor quality teacher training, shortage of teachers, overcrowded and under-equipped classrooms, increasing drop-out rates and insufficient access to education for the poor.
In the Save Our School (SOS) for quality education, it is reported that for 2004, the Department was given close to P109 billion, about 17 percent of the national budget. In P97.3 billion or about 90 percent of the basic education budget went to Personal Services or in plain language, to the salaries and allowances of our teachers and non-teaching personnel. This simply means that 90 percent of our budget is fixed expense and we cannot do anything about this, but to release our salaries to our hard-working teachers and personnel every 15th and 30th of the month. With 90 percent of the budget gone for our salaries and wages, what is left to the Department of developmental activities is only about 10 percent of the budget measly in terms of proportion, but significant in terms of amount at P12 billion. This amount is spread thinly for key maintenance and operations and capital outlay expenditures, like classrooms and school buildings; textbooks; and trainings, among others.
With the situation from now on, I will commit myself as instructional leader to have high intention to influence teachers and parents to become innovative that would promote self-direction and total development as human being.
