DIRECTO, Ronah Fae V.

Take Home Quiz

MC1233

Are you in favor of the Philippine secular education in the present time?

Religion is an important part in the lives of Filipinos. Most of Filipino values are mostly

shaped by the spiritual beliefs. Even the calendars mark religious beliefs holidays and

celebrations of Christian and Islam. Personally, as an Iglesia ni Cristo member, I’m devoted to

our teachings and doctrines. The Bible serves as the sole basis of how we should live as human

beings and as the children of God. However, I believe that there should be a clear demarcation

between the religion and education.Though, there are various religions in the country, we cannot

deny the fact that the Roman Catholic religion is still dominant where approximately 80% of the

population belongs to the sect. It has been evident that even if supposedly the Philippines is

secular, the curriculum of education in the country is still involved to religious traditions. There

is an attempt to be secular but yet we can’t see it because before children are admitted to school,

they have already been honed by religious values.

I am strongly in favor of the secularization in education. First, Catholic is not the only

religion existing in the country. Because this religion has the most number of followers, its

teachings and tradition are the ones they’d be teaching if there will be no separation in religion

and state/education. Having said that, other religions’ different teachings and tradition would not

be given much importance and there may be a bias representation of religions inside the class.

Since majority of teachers are catholic, the schools will only be teaching about the said religion

without allowing students critically consider different beliefs and the way people practice them.
Say for example, praying, the prayers should not only require the orthodox prayer, since students

have different religions and have different ways of praying, prayer in schools must be

ecumenical. The student’s right to exercise religion freely should always be put into utmost

consideration.

Secondly, the exchange of knowledge should always be free from the control of the

church . I’m not talking about wiping off the religion, what I mean is that, the search for

knowledge shouldn’t interfere with beliefs, actions or practices which religion accept or do not

accept. I do not speak about abandoning the sacredness of religion but rather the

acknowledgement differences of the principles in education from that of the religion.

Secularization of education in the Philippines doesn’t mean education must be Godless, it means,

giving students the chance to live lives free of ignorance and oppression. An environment that

they are able to act and think for themselves and do not just based their arguments in the Bible.

Are you in favor of the K-12 in the Philippines?

While everyone might be ranting about the negativity of the enactment of K-12 in the

education of the country, I am one of the students of this country who is IN FAVOR of the K-12.

One of the most common reasons in opposing the added years in school is the financial

incapability of the parents to send their children in school. Yes, elementary and secondary

education in the Philippines is free but not that really free as schools still collect for

miscellaneous fees so it leaves the parents into rants. But what I would like to point out is a

different angle where the knowledge is given more importance rather than financial crisis. If the
additional knowledge that will gain by the students is the primary consideration, why would I

disagree? Did we forgot about the cliché, “Education is the key to success”?

The K-12 offers Multi-Lingual Mother Tongue Learning Basis, which means the roots of

the understanding foreign language which is English is through the local dialects of each

provinces. This means that teachers explain and familiarize students with English words from

local dialects (Ilocano, Ilonggo, Waray, Bisaya, Kapampangan, Ibanag, and others), national

language (Filipino), finally to the English word. This clearly sets up a more effective way of

teaching the language as learners especially the younger ones are more acquainted with their own

dialects rather than directly teaching it in English which is really difficult for younger learners. It

also reflects a very local-centered approach, since it has to pass first from the fundamentals of

Filipino culture.

The K-12 helps the Filipino students in competing with the global job markets. The

longer education offered by the new educational system would give way to higher-quality of

education as more subjects and electives are offered. Also, the curriculum would qualify students

to join the working force after high school through technical-vocational electives or would

properly prepare the student for higher education if they may wish through elective on academics

guided by Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Until now, there are still a lot of parents who disapprove the change in education system.

I understand that change is not as easy as blinking but if we will just look at the positive side,

you’ll realize that it would actually do good. So instead of thinking that K-12 as an additional

two years of high school burden, think of it as another two years lesser in the higher education.