In the land of K to 12

Clarence Pesodas first came to the United States in the early 2000s to teach at the senior high school level, that is Grades 11 and 12, at a public high school in downtown New York City. She was a former faculty member of the University of San Carlos (USC) who left for the proverbial greener pastures.

When she arrived in the Big Apple, she immediately put to good use her background as a former member of the USC Dance Troupe with a Master’s degree in Physical Education. She was, after all, hired to teach PE in NY. But she soon learned that one’s teaching tenure and pay relied on whether students enrolled in her class, so unlike what  we have in the Philippines, where students must attend all classes whether they like it or not—or more to the point—whether they need those or not. She decided to offer Latin dance. Overnight her classes were full and she began to settle down into the routine of teaching.

Clarence, who now teaches and lives at a Navajo reservation near the Grand Canyon in Arizona, had gone through the very essence of K-12 in America where students in senior high school begin to diversify on the basis of what they plan to do in life: some take electives in business, others in music and dance. Her own daughter, when she entered her Grades 11 and 12,  took up courses that certified her for teaching assistantship in childcare, even while still in the final years of high school.

This is the essence of what K-12 will do to Philippine education: whereas students who cannot afford college education currently proceed to take six-month training programs either in automotive mechanics, housekeeping or culinary arts offered by the Technological Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), those same programs will be incorporated in the two high school years that will be introduced to the Philippine educational system starting June 2016.

Others who do not wish to find jobs after Grade 12 will have the option of getting basic courses in engineering and mathematics to prepare them for professional degrees in civil or chemical engineering, for example. Some will be getting elective courses in business and entrepreneurship in the final two years of an expanded high school program.

All these elective subjects are intended to prepare them for the world of work, finally matching skills with jobs required by companies. The signs have already been there. There are, for example, culinary arts schools in Cebu that take in students as an alternative to a college degree. The reality in fact is that there are many who obtained bachelor’s degrees but are jobless and decide later to enroll in a six-month or yearlong culinary arts course. Why did they have to go through a four or five-year college degree when they could have shortened the learning process? This mismatch is what K-12 intends to address

The result is a massive overhaul of the educational system in the Philippines that should have happened a long time ago. We are now one of only three countries left with only 10 years of basic education. The impact on society will be tremendous (what one university president in Manila describes as an avalanche).

But is the Philippines ready for this radical change? Sen. Antonio Trillanes thinks we should stop K-12 in its tracks because the country is not ready. “Since when has the country been ready for anything,” quipped one school president to me. “We do not even have a viable solution for the horrendous traffic on the streets.” The point is that there are many things the Philippines is not ready for—and I agree—but the overhaul in basic education is indeed long overdue.

And whether the good senator likes it or not, events beyond the Philippines, will force the adoption of the K-12 program. Looming in the horizon is ASEAN Integration, for one, where countries of the Southeast Asian region alone will start leveling off. Obviously, our current 10 years of basic education will pale in comparison to our neighboring countries’ 12. Thus, either we swim now or we sink into ignominy.

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I wish to acknowledge the generosity of the Bisaya Circle of America (BISCA) in Chicago for the generous donation of $10,000 to continue the group’s scholarship programs at the University of San Carlos.

After the successful launch of our book, “Pagsulay: Churches of Bohol Before and After the 2013 Earthquake” held at the Philippine Consulate in Chicago the other night, USC alumni and officers of BISCA treated USC president Fr. Dionisio Miranda, VP for finance Fr. Jun Rebayla and me to a sumptuous dinner in Chinatown where they handed the welcome donation. Let me thank Emil and Ellie Pasignajen; Berns Desierto, Rizalino Castañares; Ricardo and Thelma Yap-Codina, Luis Dy, Nellie Lequin and my uncle Marius Canoy, all USC alumni and Bisca members for their generosity.

Thanks also to Consul-General Generose D.G. Calonge and Pam Miranda-Tran and all the men and women of the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago for graciously hosting our book launch in Chicago.

I also wish to thank Dr. Aurora and Marietta Miranda and Rodel and Becky Quemado for successfully hosting and carrying out the launch and photo exhibit of Pagsulay in Pittsburgh.

Tomorrow, we will be in New York to launch Pagsulay at the Philippine Consulate General in New York. I hope readers living there will join us.