Summary
Highlights
Bienvenido Lumbera emphasizes that language is a sign of a nation's identity and when used in education, it significantly deepens ideas of patriotism and appreciation for history. Literature, he explains, is the creative use of language to express the experiences of a nation's people, making both language and literature crucial to a student's educational experience. Language also connects students to their families, communities, and national past.
Lumbera points out that Philippine society has been shaped by two colonial occupations—Spanish and American. This history has molded Filipinos to accept what is given to them by colonizers, fostering an inferiority complex. He argues that the CHED memorandum is a product of this colonial education, where Filipinos are constantly pressured to adjust their education to Western standards, leading to a constant 'repair' mentality for their educational system.
Lumbera criticizes the lack of thorough study into the implications of these educational policies, particularly the potential for widespread unemployment among teachers. He questions what will happen to Filipino teachers who have been teaching for a long time but will now lose their jobs. While some might move to high school, he notes that this won't accommodate everyone, and there's no clear plan for those who will be unemployed, suggesting that 'retooling' would require them to study again.
He highlights that the problem originates from those who created the policies, revealing a major issue that education administrators need to acknowledge: the colonial education system. Current leaders in the Department of Education, being products of this system themselves, offer solutions that are often 'mechanical' and don't genuinely address the real-life problems of Filipino citizens. These solutions, he asserts, are not permanent and lack a clear basis in the values that the education system should uphold.