Unfolding

The troublesome PBB segment is already showing the problems we have in our country. Many of our fellow Filipinos (both young and old) do not see the significance of history partly because of the lack of educational rigor in our academies, and add a network of disinformation into the picture, you have an uprooting and mudding of significant collective memories. Moreover, I viewed the PBB segment as an alarmist and concerned critic. What we saw can be raised to the level of grave educational and social concern and can also be seen as the odd “trivialization” of history. Let me start with being an alarmist. Undeniably, there are gaps in the familiarity of both the distant and not so distant past which is evident among the youngsters in the show and with the students I come across in class. If the youth fails to be at least familiar with the presumed “basics”, there is indeed a huge gap in the rearing. It is as if those students fail to do even the basics of arithmetic or linguistic expr...

              Some teachers today still hold a rather peculiar view that essays are subjective and multiple-choice exams are objective. This kind of view (once taken as a sweeping view for both MCQ and essay assessment type) is a result of misalignment of what objectivity and subjectivity are in connection to the method to elicit such results. More so, using multiple-choice exams may be objective but it can also not inspire higher-thinking skills and the same can be said for those who use essays for trivial purposes.               Most teachers are afraid to conduct essay-type of exams because they do not know how to construct one that avoids the dangers of trying to rate and pit subjective answers with each other. (A rubric cannot just address the rating if the nature of the question or task is too loose.) They think as well that each student is entitled to their opinion which is also ...

People think that when they start to speak their thoughts out, they deserve respect. Respect should never be a default reaction especially when one refuses to engage in meaningful and truthful discourse. More so, such is cowardice and evidence of intellectual immaturity when they hide behind the veil of a pretentious plea for respect and freedom of expression. The freedom to express and respect are supposedly anchored on truth because civil society would disintegrate when lies become the currency of public discourse. People think that opinions are harmless, and they see those who are prepared to question them as annoying. This is because that they never see or refuse to see how opinions spill to the “practical” world. They think that arguments and conversations are the mere exchanges of mere utterances, when in fact, these are the processes to shape and dictate reality’s course. When unchecked opinions dominate the public discourse, then it would be fine to blow up statues of histori...

                Every time I have philosophy and social science-oriented classes with my college students before, I always make it a point to discuss with them the basics of social systems. Poverty is a major topic along with the facts that make it happen such as capitalism, systemic exploitation, and class struggle. The first step in my class is to break the ice of privilege by making students feel the dread of the system. I start with exposing the supply chain of sugar-related products and tying it to a documentary on the plight of the Hacienda Luisita farmers. I make them imagine all products related to sugarcane and reflect how each individual household (their own) has sugar (sometimes put to waste) and coincide it with the facts of the farmers’ blood and sweat (all hard work). I made them think carefully that the farmers receive below 10php as compensation for their weekly hard work. Moreover, add the fact that...

  I was told to not bite the hand that feeds me because I was giving raw data of actual students’ performance during the implementation of distance learning amidst the pandemic. I know that I must be considerate. Since the finals are not here yet, whatever grades that I gave were undeniably temporary because I was still hoping for those students to catch up. I mean no disrespect to the institution, but I would not lie to the system and pretend everything is fine. The problem is present, and it must be confronted. And the hand that feeds me is not the cash disbursing agent of the institution, rather it is those who are taxed. The institution simply reallocated the funds, but as to one feeding me, it is the people via tax. Thus, it is my duty to serve them well by maintaining honesty at all cost. I am at lost being a recipient of an outdated paternalistic pretentious adage of subservience. I know that our students are experiencing a huge toll and burnout in this pandemic. This refl...

    Being a philosophy major has immersed me in the world of thoughts and thinking. And undeniably I came across a magnum opus such as Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”, Marx’s short but meaty “To Make the World Philosophical – Ruthless Criticism to Everything Existing”, Sartre’s voluminous “Critique of Dialectical Reason”, Marx’s essential “Critique to Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” and the list goes on. Even without the word critique in the title, philosophers still give critiques within their works. You can have Nietzsche’s critique of Europe and Christianity which you can find in his “The Anti-Christ” or any of Kierkegaard’s books critiquing Hegel. Critique has made it possible to help reevaluate anything under its gaze which can even lead to new thoughts, realizations, or even creates new perspectives with the goal of achieving truth. However, critique is scorned upon by those who mistake being criticized as being insulted.     Hurling insults at someon...

               Ignorance is a disease, and from it, is a curse bearing more fruits. Lies, deceit, confusions, misinformation, disinformation, and manipulations are all part of the produce. Add that with a huge missing chunk, or if not, no brain at all from the Filipinos, and you have the perfect mix of idiocy, incompetence, being lost, and plain stupidity. And as a devoted educator and thinker, this terrible situation is alarming and is the reason why I continue to talk.               Thinking, dissecting facts, doing research, and reading a lot are noble things to do. However, a majority do not have the luxury. And the worst is that others have the opportunity but are misguided. With more emphasis on obedience than thinking even in a typical family set up, duping the people or getting duped is a piece of cake. Include a culture of discouraging thinking, and all the means to ge...

              I have been reflecting amidst my isolation from the teaching profession, and I have nothing but meager social media posts and quick conversations that can help me assess my profession’s impact. As much as I poured my heart out to the call, much of the people I came across after their meager time with me in the classroom was more of heartache rather than reaping fruits. Thus, for them, their time with me was just a passing phase in their privileged or desperate academic life. Designing minds cannot be done in a classroom because the school is just a fraction of a student’s time. A student imitates and learns more from the environment he or she is exposed to. Whether it be at home, community, or the virtual, to where they spend most of their time influences them a lot. Moreover, schools, which are synonymous to education, are but a requirement to have a job. And only a rare few can see the value of its enlightening potential.  ...

I never thought I got to see you up close as you walked out of the airport’s terminal exit. I never thought that I got to hold your hand last Friday, neither could I believe that we hugged and kissed as we went to our friend’s car. Your voice never felt so real, and never felt so up close for a very long time. I could not believe the ride to the hotel, hearing you laugh, lending me your handkerchief as I was still sulking in disbelief. Your hands felt so real while you were pressing them hard as I was still emotional. It felt like bliss when you ate your first chicken joy meal in 7 months while getting shocked seeing the cake with a small bundle of roses. You told me that you felt like a woman, and that statement rang in my head because I successfully made you feel like one. And I took a photo of you with your advanced birthday presents. Just 6 days ago, we made love after a long 7 dry month period. Your hugs and kisses were not any more fantasies, but realities. I could not believe ...

I went over my newsfeed, and I saw countless Teacher’s Day posts. I saw cakes, presents, and surprises made or given by students. Moreover, such a day is about venerating the teacher as someone “important”, but how so? Forgive me, for I am not always in a festive mood. There are two things that I would look into. First, I dare question the teacher’s high felt gratitude and sense of dignity because he or she belongs to the "noble profession". Second, what is this phenomenon of students giving trivial gifts to their teachers? Just because it is a day of celebrating the crucial profession in society, should such things happen? Did both really celebrate what being a teacher truly means? I have taught for 7 years, and I have seen the crisis in our education system from within. We have school systems infiltrated by business interests and a proliferation of a decadent culture. I saw my participation in the education lobby as a fistfight against all evils. Although I may have d...