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EDUCATION IS LIFE!

(A Reflection Paper on the Readings about the Foundations of Education)

DANILO C. SIQUIG, JR.

· Volume II Issue I

Education is one of the vital aspects of one’s life. It makes a person able to reach his worth as an existing
being. It creates wonderful chances for man to discover more himself and abide with many varied
changes that are happening around him. With education, man finds fulfillment in answering the many
queries of the world. Education is life. However, despite of this wonderful reality, education took and is
still taking drastic changes from the very beginning when it first started until now that we, especially
Filipinos, are experiencing a 360 degree turn.

On the comparison of education before to ours’ today, I realized that the educational goals were
actually developed. From teaching survival skills to teaching group harmony during the early period;
from developing religious commitment, and ritual to establishing social order and preparing for
appropriate roles during the medieval period; from cultivating humanist experts in Greek and Latin
classics and preparing people to serve dynastic leaders during the Renaissance period; from providing
skills to students in the use of technology and modern gadgets of the industrialization period to the
adaptation of these multiple intelligences, brain based learning, and life based humanist learning. Now
in my present time, the K-12 curriculum aims to provide every child with the education s/he needs to
compete in a global context, meaning to say, the new curriculum aims to touch all the facets of human
life and to be ready with the global challenges that the world offers. On the part of the students, I had
learned that before, during the early times, the students were mostly the males. From the early age up
to the renaissance period, students were mostly males because of the belief that males are more useful
than the ladies especially in terms of military and politics. That is the reason why the males are being
educated more than the girls. On the 20th century up to the present, the girls are now given the chance
to be educated and to express themselves. Now, I observed that the girls do excel in many aspects of
life. In terms of instructional methods, the early times tells me that it was all memorization and
interpretation of texts. The teacher is the sage on the stage. He/she is the main person of the
educational process. All knowledge comes from him/her that no one can even question the information
that comes out from him/her. However, as we are now in the new style of education, the instructional
method is student-centered, meaning to say the student is the one giving the information or points of
the topics. From being the sage on the stage, the teacher is now a guide on the side. The lesson is being
unlocked by the students themselves and later on the teacher will just process everything. On the aspect
of curriculum, I learned that during the early age, the curriculum was all about hunting, fishing, songs,
poems and dances. In China, it was about the Confucian classics. In India, it was about the Vedas and
religious text. In Egypt, it was the religious or technical texts that was the focus, for the Greeks and the
Romans, the focus were reading, writing, arithmetic, drama, poetry, music, law and philosophy. On the
20th century, the curriculum was more on psychology and sociology. Bloom’s taxonomy came out as a
reference for learning for everyone. On the part of the agents of education, I had learned that the
parents, tribal leaders, religious leaders were the agents of the old times. During the Medieval Period,
the agents of education were the parish, chantry, cathedral schools, universities and knighthood. In the
Renaissance period, classical humanist educators and schools like lycee, gymnasium and Latin school
were the agents of education. During the Reformation Period, the agents were vernacular elementary
school for general public and classical schools for upper class. During the 20th Century, Science Centers
for testing experiments and other educational fields in which life-long learning is being process. In my
present time, the agents are the parents, the alumni, the community and the private and government
sector in which Work Immersion is being held. Lastly, on the influence of education, during the early age
it was informal and it was all about the transmission of skills. During the Medieval period, the influence
was the structure and organization of the universities and institutionalization of knowledge. During the
Renaissance period, on the 20th century, the influence on education was that, education involves not
only schools but throughout the Life-Long Learning or multi literacies. Nowadays, “unlike traditional
systems of K-12 education, competency based structures place an equal emphasis upon lifelong skills
such as growth mindset, metacognition, learning how to learn, problem solving, advocacy, collaboration,
creativity and the habits of success as they do upon academic content knowledge and skills.”
(inacol.org/news/readiness-forum.com). In all of these, I had realized that education took a
developmental stages in realizing its worth on developing and bringing out the potentials of man.

Discussing the influence of all the aspects of history in the K-12 curriculum, I had found out that one of
the most influential idea that really affects the K-12 Philippine Educational System especially here in the
Philippines is the philosophical perspective of John Dewey. Dewey’s influence on Philippine education
started to get sharply visible when it became independent (Papong, 2014). Student body organizations
or councils were established not only in an institutional level but as a national union. Dewey emphasizes
the importance of students’ voice in the educative process. The presence and engagement of students
in learning is deemed important. Presently, the K-12 Basic Education Program substantiates a reform in
the country’s educational system. This program reflects Dewey’s pragmatist and cognitive constructivist
ideas. Inquiry-based learning and spiral approach are incorporated to the present curriculum. In a fast-
pacing and ever-growing society, the educational system in the Philippines should be kept up-to-date.
Students must not only be educated in a factual or conceptual level but the instruction must also tackle
the social, political and economic aspect of the individual’s life. In this way, education is more practical
and functional (Damian, n.d.). Students will be able to clearly associate learning to real world, thus,
taking in charge and being responsible of their own learning.
The following are some posits under the Deweyan Principle that are utilized in the present curriculum in
the Philippines:

“The nature of the child is made the center of educative process.”

I firmly believe, with great affirmation, that the main reason a school is established is because of the
learner more than anything else. Rousseau stresses that the child should be respected, as he is with all
his abilities, and drawbacks, that in educating him these should be given due consideration and that all
children cannot therefore be treated alike. Setting aside the facilities, resources, strategies and
curriculum, the focus should be to the child. Therefore, the students’ interest and needs should be taken
into consideration. The purpose of education will not be served if the learner themselves does not
involve themselves to the process.

“The theory of self activity is made the center or basis of learning.”

Hands-on activities and experiences cultivate learning. It gives students first-hand experiences and
lifelong learning. Rousseau says,” Teach by doing whenever you can, and only for fall back upon words
when doing is out of question. The child should take part in various activities and learn in natural way. It
will help him in satisfaction of creative activity.” Heurism is demonstrated in today’s educational system,
as the curriculum integrates inquiry-based learning and vocational trainings. Students are given
opportunity to make experiments with apparatus that they personally made.

“Activity program is the core of the curriculum.”

Knowledge acquired through direct experience is rather permanent. Field trip, report, group activity,
games, observation, experiments, cultural activities, on–the-job training, programs and project all
contributes to lifelong learning. This is highly encouraged right now in schools not as supplement to the
learning experience but as the main methods to teaching.

According to the provisions of the Constitution of the Philippines (1935), all schools shall “aim to
develop moral character, personal discipline, civic conscience, vocational efficiency and to teach the
duties of citizenship” These can all be attained through practicing pragmatism, experimentalism and
cognitive constructivist ideas.

Truly enough, with this kind of educational system, Filipinos are able to realize more their potentials. I
had learned to value more education as I am a part of it. As such, it is also imperative to thank the
proponents of this educational system in our country. The education system of the Philippines has been
highly influenced by the country’s colonial history. That history has included periods of Spanish,
American and Japanese rule and occupation. The most important and lasting contributions came during
America’s occupation of the country, which began in 1898. It was during that period that English was
introduced as the primary language of instruction and a system of public education was first established
—a system modeled after the United States school system and administered by the newly established
Department of Instruction. The United States left a lasting impression on the Philippine school system.
Several colleges and universities were founded with the goal of educating the nation’s teachers. In 1908,
the University of the Philippines was chartered, representing the first comprehensive public university in
the nation’s history.

Like the United States, the Philippine nation has an extensive and highly inclusive system of education,
including higher education. In the present day, the United States continues to influence the Philippines
education system, as many of the country’s teachers and professors have earned advanced degrees
from United States universities.

Although the Philippine system of education has long served as a model for other Southeast Asian
countries, in recent years that system has deteriorated. This is especially true in the more remote and
poverty-stricken regions of the country. While Manila, the capital and largest city in the Philippines,
boasts a primary school completion rate of nearly 100 percent, other areas of the country, including
Mindanao and Eastern Visayas, have a primary school completion rate of only 30 percent or less. Not
surprisingly, students who hail from Philippine urban areas tend to score much higher in subjects such as
mathematics and science than students in the more rural areas of the country.

Indeed, the educational system of today adapts to the needs of the changing times. However, there are
certain factors to be considered especially the social economics factor. There is a strong relationship
between a school’s socio-economic background and the achievement of pupils. According to OECD
(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), socio-economic disadvantage has a strong
impact on student performance. 14% of the variation in student performance is explained by students’
socio-economic background. The OECD gives some possible factors. The first one is all about the
LANGUAGE BEING SPOKEN AT HOME. There is a great difficulty for a student who used to speak his
mother tongue language and later on be situated in a community with language different from his own
native tongue. Secondly, INEQUITY IN ACCESS TO RESOURCES. If the society has an unequal source of
references to what the child needs in school, then it would be difficult for a child to cope up with his
academics. Lastly, the SIZE OF THE COMMUNITY. If the number of learners is not proportion to the
number of educators, there is a great tendency that learning will be compromised. The concentration of
the teacher will be divided into many and the tendency is that information or learning will not be
imparted well.

In the end, in my readings, I had learned that the education was shaped and turned to what the society
and the people need. As an educator, I believe there is a great need for a teacher to stay updated with
the current trends in education. He or she must be equipped well with the knowledge, skills and
techniques in delivering his or her lesson. I now understand the very essence of being a learner and as a
teacher I should always be a learner seeking for wisdom. In the end, I firmly believe that education is not
only giving life but most especially, EDUCATION IS LIFE ITSELF!

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