The Department of Education, under the leadership of Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, decided to drop “Science” from the curriculum of incoming Grade 1 students.  The Secretary is all for a “child-friendly” curriculum.  Luistro says:

“For instance, there will be no Science subject in Grade 1 but when the students do the readings, there will be Science concepts introduced but Science is not the subject.”

To add to that:

“The overall design of the new curriculum to be introduced and implemented this coming June to both Grade 1 and First Year high school students is based on the idea that we should be taking the students where they are.”

I’m not exactly sure what he meant to say in the latter statement, but I have to most respectfully disagree.

Perhaps this directive is part of a plan to make the Philippine educational system “more global” - the Singaporean primary education curriculum - but adopting to the global education market is beside the point.  I think that the real value and purpose of science education isn’t about the introduction of concepts like phases of matter or the parts of a flower, but an appreciation of knowledge and developing the rigor that comes with appreciating that knowledge.  Science piques curiosity, and curiosity fuels learning.

But beyond the value of good science teaching, any subject can be treated as a by-the-way to become “accidental” to learning: in the same way that a scientific concept can be introduced in English, a grammatical concept can be introduced in Mathematics as well.  It’s possible to teach a biological concept in art class, and an artistic concept can be taught in biology class.  A subject can be taught in any way and manner it needs to be taught for as long as the educator is competent, passionate, motivated, and able to facilitate, coax out, and stimulate the curiosity of any student who steps into the classroom with every intent and motivation to learn.

The real problems of education do not come from the subject matter, but from the method of teaching the subject matter.  Beyond Friere’s “banking method,” there will always be the perennial problem of matters that remain unsolved since time immemorial.  And yes, these problems are to be found in the most elementary of things like chalk and school supplies and schoolrooms.  Education, much less the development and fostering of conscience, has a very small chance to grow and bloom in an environment not conducive to learning.

No subject in any curriculum at any grade level can ever be taught well if the teacher is underpaid and lacks the tools, training, and motivation necessary to teach well.  No lesson can be remembered well when students are packed in crowded, hot classrooms with no proper armchairs and desks, forced to take lessons in shifts.  And no amount of feel-good stories from those who have overcome these hurdles and excelled in life - in the face poverty and hunger, in spite of a lack of proper uniforms and supplies, despite the distance it takes to go to school - will ever take away the fact that these are real hurdles are the problems of education that need to be solved.

The end of education goes beyond creating a productive workforce for the nation and to create excellent people to contribute to the economy.  It means creating knowledge; it means discovering new knowledge.  While it is true that we owe it to our children to make education relevant for them, we also owe it to them to help them realize that the path to real, true knowledge is not easy to attain and takes a lifetime of commitment to do so.  To rob them of realizing their curiosity very early on is not only a disservice to them and to the discipline we’re taking away from them, but to rob them of that very curiosity in the first place.

By robbing them of curiosity we rob them of an appreciation for their world.  By robbing them of that appreciation we rob them of the knowledge due theirs.  Yet the biggest denial doesn’t come by way of K12, but the most basic of things: chalk, books, classrooms, chairs, and teachers with a real and true appreciation and passion for knowledge.

And yet all of these are tied in the machinations and messes of our political system and all other variables, but that’s another story.