It's the curriculum

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Opinions/Columns
It's the curriculum
First posted 00:02am (Mla time) Jan 16, 2006
By Eugenia Duran Apostol
Inquirer

"IT'S THE CURRICULUM, STUPID!" THE AMERICANS exclaimed when they were told that their education system was not effective.

So did the Filipinos, when they were told the same thing.

That's what Dr. Isagani Cruz is saying in his book, "The Basic Education Curriculum in 17 Easy Lessons."

At a recent dinner celebrating the golden wedding anniversary of Rody and Mayette Lichauco, I happened to be seated beside Rody's brother Ding. In times like this, I never miss a chance to talk about the Education Revolution.

My egghead dinner companion's gut reaction to our advocacy was crisp, concise and not unexpected. "It's the curriculum. That's what we should look into," Ding said as he contemplated the hors d'oeuvres.

Afterwards, I did a bit of research and I found out that the Department of Education's textbook definition of curriculum is that "it is a systematic group of experiences or sequences of courses or subjects required for graduation or certification in the elementary and secondary levels of education."

Hmmm...

There's more to it than this, of course. Any educator will tell you that a curriculum is designed to meet certain pre-determined objectives. For instance, there's a set of simple exercises for color and shape recognition in the curriculum for pre-schoolers.

On the other hand, the various curricula being implemented under our educational system are mandated by law to give "maximum contribution toward the attainment of national development goals." One of these goals is "to achieve and strengthen national unity and consciousness, and preserve, develop and promote desirable cultural, moral and spiritual values in a changing world." Ostensibly, through a meticulously crafted curriculum, our educational institutions should be able to "inculcate love of country, teach the duties of citizenship, and develop moral character, personal discipline, and scientific, technological and vocational efficiency."

(In case you're wondering, the above quotes come from Batas Pambansa Blg. 232, also called the Education Act of 1982. As far as I can tell, this is the prevailing legislation that provides for the establishment and maintenance of the Philippine education system. The newer RA 9155 [the Governance of Basic Education Act] passed in 2001 focuses on establishing a governance framework and defines levels of authority and accountability in the DepEd. Plainly put, it was already very clear to us in 1982 that the education system is a key factor in our growth as a nation.)

How near are we to the attainment of these lofty goals?

Let's do a "Chapter Search" to January 2005. (Notice that I did not say "Rewind." We're in a digital world after all.) In his keynote address at the Unesco National Conference, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo quoted the United Nations resolution declaring 2005-2015 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development where "the vision of education for social development is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from quality education and learn the values, behavior and lifestyle required for a sustainable future and for positive social transformation."

To attain this vision, we have to have a truly responsive curriculum in place.

Secretary Romulo also pointed out that one of the policy recommendations on education-formulated at the July 2003 Conference on Globalization with a Human Face held in Japan-was that "curriculum development must be the product of a consultative process that involves all stakeholders including civil society, local communities, parents and students."

Ding Lichauco's heart was in the right place when he said that we really should look into the curriculum if we want our education system to be world-class. The good news is that in 2002, the DepEd not only looked but actually made major revisions to the existing curriculum for elementary and high school. The output of this undertaking was the controversial Revised Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC), more popularly known as the Makabayan Curriculum. The merits-as well as the downside-of the RBEC are until now the subject of furious debate-which is probably why its full and widespread implementation is yet to be.

When he was still education undersecretary, Dr. Cruz maintained the view that the responsibility for forming a new curriculum should be removed from the DepEd. "Sincere though most of them are, the DepEd officials have only an official view of the curriculum. As any educator knows, the official view is only one of many equally valid ways to look at the public school curriculum. Curricular change is not managed by a secretary or undersecretary, not even by an entire 480,000-strong Department of Education. It is managed and will be managed by 75 million Filipinos," said Dr. Cruz in 2001, two years before his sentiments were validated at the Japan Globalization Conference.

Dr. Cruz called this undertaking the People Power Model of Curricular Change. "A real curriculum should be a couple of volumes long, because it would contain learning competencies, lesson plans, reference materials and all the other things demanded by educational theory. The very fact that [the RBEC] is only a few pages long (should cue us that it is up to us) as parents of children in public schools, as teachers in public schools, as concerned citizens, to fill in the huge gaps in the RBEC," said Dr. Cruz.

We say this is what the Education Revolution is all about. What and how our children learn is our collective responsibility.

That they grow up to become socially responsible citizens steeped in democratic principles is our moral imperative.

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