OUR teachers under the reign of Covid-19 should be resourceful beneath blended education. They have to make their own modules using the available references. It may not be easy but it could be done. Sometimes it is irritating because when the materials from the central office would arrive, there is a possibility that the local materials would be set aside.
During the Spanish Period, no teaching aids or educational materials were available other than copies of the “katon.” Pupils were called individually to recite from memory the letters of the alphabet, and some paragraphs and prayers in Spanish. The learners became human parrots.
Like the priests, the “maestros” could be very strict. They used physical punishment on their pupils. They usually carried a wooden paddle called “palmeta” for striking the palms or the buttocks of erring students. That was the teacher’s way of disciplining students. The parents gave authority to the “maestros” for the good of their children.
Addition and subtraction were sometimes illustrated with the use of matchsticks. The students never learned about the multiplication table and sometimes never got to count more than their ten fingers. In some classes, writing was learned with the use of “palotes,” a sheet of paper with about two rows of slanting lines printed across it.
The education for the rich was expensive. Children of poor families grew up as field workers, servants in big houses or simply became “vaqueros” or shepherds. Some were able to learn “urbanidad” (politeness) from the good masters who vicariously taught their servants the practical things in life. That was education under Spain.
The massive Americanization of generations of Filipinos through education started in 1898 when some American soldiers opened classes for Filipino school children. Then in June 1901, a group of 48 teachers came on the ship “Sheridan.” They immediately took over the task started by the soldiers.
On April 21, 1901, the biggest batch of American teachers arrived. There were 540 of them on board the ship “Thomas”. They subsequently became known as the “Thomasites,” after the converted cattle cruiser which had carried them from San Francisco, California.
If the Spaniards conquered the “indios” with the cross and the sword, the Americans tamed the Filipinos using education to penetrate the heart and the mind. The American teachers graduated a generation of Filipinos who could speak English, loved everything American, and had forgotten the bitterness of the Filipino-American War.
A few more years, their students were able to earn college degrees and later held key positions in government and business. We are made to understand that education under America shall be free for all and which shall tend to fit the people for duties of citizenship and for the ordinary avocation of a civilized community.
That was the foundation of Philippine education under two colonial powers. In the reign of Covid-19, the Department of Education is working hard for the survival of Philippine education. Secretary Leonor Briones wants to adopt all possible modalities to fit into the situation. For the secretary, education is also survival.
The Filipino teachers facing the risk could be heroes, martyrs, or sacrificial flock. History will unfold in the future that in the time of pandemic, in the Philippines there were teachers who stood up to prove that they are not “inutil”!
The wise teachers believe that life is a mixture of good days and bad, victory and defeat, give and take. Mabuhay ang teachers!