My attention was caught by an ad wherein a young man whom he said was from the Philippines was expressing his appreciation for the education he has received from schools in Canada. He has been in this country for six years and he appears to be in his late teens now. So he must be around twelve when he came. He must have started here in Grade six. He was particularly appreciative of the assistance he received in mathematics and physics which made him decide that he would pursue engineering.
I have been wondering if he would feel the same if he did not come to Canada and completed his basic education in the Philippines. If he was lucky he could have also had teachers very committed in the Philippines who could have given him the same guidance that he received from his teachers here in Canada.
I taught both in the Philippines and in Canada. Teachers in both countries are individuals with varied education and backgrounds, attitudes, sincerity and commitment to their students and their jobs. They continue improving themselves while they teach. They follow up the progress of their students. They enjoy their work.
But there are some, as in all kinds of professions and work, who would do themselves a favour as well as their students if they find another line of work.
But there are differences in education in the Philippines and in Canada. Classes in Canada are smaller. There are more educational resources for the learners, especially at this stage of advance in technology. The atmosphere for learning is more permissive. Children with special needs are given educational assistance to make them progress at their own rates. At present there are educational technologies that these students can use with very little assistance from teachers.
Parents are very much involved in the education of their children here in Canada. From kindergarten notes go home with the children reporting events-progress, special achievements or problems that each child encounters that parents need to know.
I have been away from the Philippines for forty one years. I am not sure how much change there has been in the upbringing of children. Several years before I left I wrote a thesis which I successfully defended on “The Influence of Culture and Education in the Upbringing of Children.” It will be remembered that Filipino education has been Americanized since 1898, when the country fell under American rule. The medium of instruction was English, the books were in English; teachers were taught with American methodology of teaching. The strict discipline learned from the three hundred thirty three years of Spanish colonization was taken for granted. Children do not answer back adults. They were to keep quiet when there were guests. They were prohibited from participating in conversations.
In school, parents left their children to the charge of the teachers. “Kayo na po ang bahala sa kanya.”
Corporal punishment was allowed. Teachers could control their students by a “certain look.” “Makuha ka sa tingin.” Chatter was not allowed in the classroom.
But the world has moved on. The Philippines I imagine has gone on with the rest of the world. When I left forty-one years ago, corporal punishment was already prohibited but I know many teachers were still using it for classroom control.
For those who left the country they brought with them the culture of the time. I remember that the grandparents who came in the seventies and eighties had difficulties caring for their grandchildren who did not obey them and were answering back when admonished for doing things that children were not allowed to do. It was a time of settlement for a generation bought up in a different culture where respect for elders was of prime value. Those grandparents were thrown into a different environment with very little preparation and no one to run to for help. Their children were at work and they were left with the little ones within the four walls of the home. The neighbors were not very friendly as it was in the Philippines wherein you could leave the children for a while to do some errands. Not here; they were on their own. That generation of Filipino children in a foreign land grew up with grandparents from a different culture as baby sitters. Those grandparents survived many with bruised self-esteem. They took care of their children who had freedom to say what they liked even to their elders.
It was not as if children in Canada grew up without discipline. Far from it! They are brought up responsible for their actions. Things are explained to them to make them realize right from wrong. They are punished with time outs and withdrawals of privileges when they break the rules. They have the freedom to choose courses of actions. Very early in life, freedoms are already granted.
This practice develops initiative and reasoning power in an individual. I remember that one time when I talked about Filipino nursing students in an educational institution here in Canada, I was told by some instructors that they were intelligent but lacked initiative. They had to wait for the superior to tell them what to do, before acting, even if they were already given the job description. These were students who were bought up in the Philippines up to finishing secondary education.
At least two generation of Filipino children were born and raised in Canada since the large group of immigration of Filipinos in this country. Their parents grew up in this country and are not strangers to Canadian upbringing. But there are still newcomers every year, families wherein parents bring with them the Filipino values in bringing up children. They may still be in conflict with their children and with the school system as they settle in this new home.
