Friday, November 16, 2007 Roperos: English in classrooms By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
MOVES of local leaders to restore English as medium of instruction in our classrooms deserve open public support. Filipinos have always been quite at home with the English language since the Americans, who came to the Philippines in the early years of the 20th century, taught it in our schools.
Generations of Filipinos, up to the end of the 20th century, spoke English fluently and made a name for the Philippines as the only English-speaking nation in Southeast Asia.
However, as a Filipino old timer in the United States I met some years back said, nationalism generated a wrong understanding of patriotism. One does not love our country less if he speaks fluent English, or uses it in his or her daily life.
I met the Filipino old timer many years ago when I joined the media group that accompanied then president Fidel Ramos on his first visit to the United States. He was in Seattle, Washington, site of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit that year. He spoke fluent English despite his just being able to finish intermediate grades.
What reminded me of that incident was the remark he made when he asked why the US naval and air force bases in Subic and Clark were dismantled. All I could say then was that it was the will of our Congress. “I know,” he said, “nationalism. That’s why they want Filipinos to speak Tagalog now, instead of English.”
Problems on the deterioration of the ability of students to speak English in schools and its use in the conduct of our citizenry’s everyday life have gotten attention from education officials and business leaders. There is a rising need for good English speakers to satisfy strong demand for fluent English speakers in the Business Processing Outsourcing industry.
Students in Cebu City reportedly got poor results in the National Achievement Test probably because of cognitive inability. This prompted a member of the Cebu City Council to observe that the medium of instruction in the classroom may have affected the performance of the students in some subjects.
A bill is reportedly pending in Congress---House Bill 4701—which seeks to strengthen the medium of instruction in our schools nationwide. This is probably the best way to address the problem: the restoration of the use of English as medium of instruction. And we were not less nationalistic then than we are now.
