Some Thoughts on School

(Disclaimer: This article is filled with my personal opinions and based largely on some very short visits to places in Bohol.  I may be way off base with some of my observations.  If you read this and disagree, please, please provide your opinion and insights . . . I am willing to stand corrected if my somewhat stereotypical ideas are inaccurate or misleading.)

Although I was able to spend a few hours in a Filipino school, it was hardly enough time to gain much insight into the culture of the schools there.  I did get a first impression, so what I can do is provide some comparisons between what I know of American schools versus my initial experiences at the schools in Bohol.

Jose Boja Elementary

Jose Boja Elementary serves the Panaytayon barangay of Tubigon, Bohol.  (A barangay is defined as an administrative neighborhood or village within a city or town.)  Panaytayon is where you will find the poorest among the poor in Tubigon and much of Bohol.  These are the same children with whom I visited at the squatter settlement on the edge of the Cebu Strait between Bohol and Cebu -- a place where every high tide threatens the foundations of the homes -- one of the first places to flood if threatened by a storm or typhoon.  Many of these children are lucky to have one meal a day, that usually consisting of rice and maybe fish or some vegetable.  Don't look for these kids to be playing with any cool toys or electronic games.  Nor will they be sporting the latest fashions sold at the malls and department stores.  These kids just exist, one day to the next.

In the States, a community like this would generally be referred to as a ghetto.  The word "ghetto" immediately conjures up images of gangs and violent crimes, graffiti, littered streets, and dilapidated buildings.  About the only similarity I noticed would be the last one . . . the buildings that these kids live in are rather sad looking bamboo shacks with corrugated metal roofs, built on "stilts" to keep the floors above the tidal waters.  It's possible that this would not be a good place to take a stroll late at night, especially if you're a foreigner and obviously out of place.  (All foreigners are rich, regardless of what the foreigner might think.)  But that would be the case in any poverty-stricken place.

Now let me clarify here that not all of the Panaytayon bagangay is a squatter settlement.  There are some very nice homes and businesses locate there as well.  Not everyone is destitute.  The school is located a short distance from the squatter settlement, with a large rice field running the length of the school on the opposite side of the road.  Unlike the American ghetto, this neighborhood is more rural than urban.  Pastor Jul's church also serves this community, so I had the opportunity to meet many of the adults who live there as well.

I hope this paints a picture (perhaps distorted by my lack of experience there) of the environment the Jose Boja Elementary school operates within.  What stands out to me first and foremost is that, unlike an American inner-city school, the kids who attend this school seem happy, content, and well-adjusted.  I don't think they have some sort of fatalistic attitude -- they just seem to accept that this is the way things are -- end of subject.    If they want things to be different, they seem to understand that getting an education is the way to effect change.  In the American schools, there would be a significant amount of anger and bitterness, as well as a strong sense of entitlement;  the students feel that they should be given a better life, without having to work for it, and they are angry and frustrated when they don't get it.
 

Typical house in Panaytayon squatter settlement

Unlike many of the American kids, these children are happy to be students; they enjoy school, and they want to be in school.  In my own teaching experience in downtown Albuquerque, I felt that, if allowed, many of the students would prefer to be anywhere else then at school.  Those who do want to be at school, aren't there to learn anything . . . they have other things in mind.

Now that I have totally disparaged the American student, I should back up a little and say that not all of them are disgruntled and angry.  I have surely met some who I would be honored to teach any day, any time, any where.  I just wish there were more of them.

When I entered Ms. Maribel's fourth grade classroom, I was immediately greeted by a room full of smiling faces and a well rehearsed, chorused welcome.  "Good morning . . . (I wish I could remember the whole statement)".  At any rate, it was a very "honoring" moment.  The students obviously knew the classroom routines for doing assignments, gathering papers, using the "comfort room", and general behavior.  I don't think it was because I was in the classroom . . . I think they are just well behaved.  At this point I must give some credit to the teacher, as she obviously did her job of instilling classroom etiquette.

I saw the children working both independently and in groups.  Anytime you give "group" work, there are opportunities for students to socialize rather than work, and this was the case here as well.  However, the students were easily redirected.  Those students who were appointed as "leader"  of their group seemed to take the responsibility seriously.  When it came to written assignments, each student turned in a paper.  Now to those who don't spend time in an American school, that may seem like an insignificant statement.  Unfortunately, there is always a small percentage of American students who just don't do the assignment -- it is unimportant.

Students doing "group" work

The other thing I saw that struck me as significant is the sense of "ownership" that students had for their classroom and school.  At the end of the day, students quickly tidied the classroom.  Without prompting, one student produced a broom from somewhere and quickly swept the floor.  Desks were straightened and the classroom was prepared for the following day.  After school, the children were all outside, working with a large quantity of potted vegetable plants and fruit tree saplings -- I'm guessing a couple hundred.  I don't know exactly what the project entailed, but it was obvious that this was a school-wide, community project.  Everyone was working.  Everyone seemed to know their job.  They did it all with minimal supervision.  I think it's the later statement that struck me the most.  Perhaps I have always taught in the wrong schools, but I don't know that students in American schools have the discipline to work unsupervised at this level.  I hope that I am wrong.

The final observation I'd like to make is that these students (and teachers) do all of this with a bare minimum of school supplies.  There were obviously some students who didn't have paper or pen.  This problem was dealt with quietly and without drawing too much attention to those who were without.  (This may be one time where my presence did influence student behavior.)  I know that the teacher provided something to write with and other students provided paper.

All of these children are worth helping

This is also where things become tragic.  At some point, the teachers and classmates are no longer able (or willing) to provide students with materials and supplies.  The families simply cannot provide supplies when they are struggling to put one meal per day on the table.  The outcome is that the student drops out of school. Although the schools do make attempts to keep students in the school, even the schools are strapped for supplies.  There is little they can do to help.

There is an old proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."   I am convinced that we can help these students stay in school.  By providing some simple school supplies, we can allow these children to meet part two of this proverb . . . by being educated, they can "feed" themselves for the rest of their lives.  Given their general attitude about school, and their behavior within school, I think these children have shown that they are deserving of this chance.  I hope you agree.