Critical Reflection:

The central argument of the paper is “There is a need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education, particularly in the light of recent tendency to focus discussions about education almost exclusively on the measurement and comparison of educational outcomes.”

 

What I found to be particularly challenging is the learnification of education. There have been no extensive discussions on “what is educationally desirable.” – I, myself as a classroom teacher for twenty-four years already have not convinced myself as to how effective I have been in my delivery of the lesson – that is, if all my students really learned from what I taught. All I know is that I deliver my lesson; prepare an evaluation to end the lesson; measure their understanding using the Item or Score Analysis; have a little remediation if students especially in the lower sections didn’t get the target or goal of at least 75%; then, I move on with the next level or grading period. As to how definite all the students get the understanding, I am not 100% sure.  I just have to pursue and continue with the next level; follow the Learning Competencies prescribed by the Department of Education and most of the times personalize them. There would be objectives of the lesson to be discussed per grading period and the need to adjust if other competencies have not been taught. The said Learning Competencies are broken down from general to simple tasks which is termed as “Task Analysis.” In order to help students pass, I provide the scope of the test to be given, so at least they are guided. Being guided, they acquire desirable scores at least, for particular lesson they are tasked to achieve. But, are all the learnings enough? I am not quite definite sure of these.

The points I don’t agree with is the thought “The prime example of a common sense view about the purpose of education is the idea that what matters most is academic achievement  in a small number of curricular domains, particularly language, science, and mathematics…” –  Mentioned under Learnification of education, this idea creates a sense of social inequality among learners. –It doesn’t mean that just because students who persue the STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics ) in particular, the other remaining Tracks fall short of their capacities to learn which are concentrated on their own inclinations or capabilities. 

I think the implications of the argument to my area of expertise/context is that: first, the understanding of each student’s inclination have to do with their choice of being under the Arts and Design track and this should be respected and nurtured; second, the understanding of the multiple intelligence has to surface where their individual differences should be particularly taken cared of; third, the awareness of the talents the students need to develop in connection to their skills such as singing, dancing, acting, painting/drawing in visual arts, and being adept in computer skills with students under media arts; and fourth, the need to align and prepare them to the demands of the world of work outside the school.

What is desirable is that each student will be able to pursue college or be ready for a job that he or she has been equipped with or put up a business that the Senior High School has ready them for; what is needed is equality among the opportunities of each learner whether one is under the STEM, ABM, TVL, or ARTS and Design Track in the school; what is possible is that teachers can be catalyst of how the skills (however vague) will be transferred to students; what is difficult is to sustain the enrollment rate of these students which shows that poverty still lingers among their families because there have been instances of drop-outs already since the first semester; and what is difficult to apply in the context of the Philippines is the availability of materials such as books for students – these are learning materials which have not been available (but as teachers, we find ways to prepare handouts and even invest projectors to make everything possible).

May I add Thich Nhat Hanh gems of thoughts: “True love takes a lot of commitment to help remove suffering and offer well-being.” It may refer to love and commitment to teaching.

 

By: Lilia S. Crisostomo | Bataan National High School – Senior High School