Separate Opinion
Schooldays
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:32:00 06/28/2008
Filed Under: Education
NOW THAT A NEW SCHOOLYEAR HAS BEGUN, let me tell the present generation how it was during my time, when I was a student as they are now.
To begin with, let me say that public schools during the American regime were much better than the private schools, which were generally preferred by the rich and mostly for children who could not make it in the public schools. Private schools became popular later with their opening by religious orders that employed better-paid teachers and a stricter curriculum.
I began my formal studies at the Legarda Elementary School in Sampaloc, Manila, where enrollment began for all children aged seven, including those without birth certificates as long as they could reach their left ear with their right arm over their head. Classes were co-educational, with the boys sitting on one side of the room and the girls on the other. The rooms were airy and clean with no overcrowding among the 30 or so students per class.
All the pupils walked to the school rain or shine, many boys perilously along the railroad tracks without our parents’ knowledge or permission. There were few private cars then, or jeepneys, and the passenger buses did not pass by our houses. We didn’t need them, anyway, for it was fun for classmates to walk and joke together all the way to the school.
In the morning, we all lined up in the big yard behind the school and marched to our classrooms to the lively tune played by a little girl on the piano while the school principal stood sternly to detect any prohibited mischief among the students. The separate classes were accompanied by the teachers in charge who wore coat and tie for the males and discreet dresses for the ladies.
Clothes for the students were more liberal, and no uniforms were prescribed. The boys came in polo shirts and long or short pants, with or often without shoes. The girls wore skirts, not jeans, and no facial adornments. With children of the kutseros and some well-to do parents studying together as equals, it was the most democratic society I can remember and appreciate.
The tired joke even then was that recess was the favorite subject. The school offered snacks at one centavo for a pan de sal corned beef sandwich, with clean water from the fountain for free. Soft drinks were practically unknown or ignored. Playtime was usually robust for the boys while the girls preferred piko and luksong tinik. Any student caught speaking Tagalog was fined one centavo to go to a fund for the Christmas program.
The teachers were strictly professional but got along well with the students. Punishment for misbehavior was mild and not resented by the culprits. The girls kept to themselves and the boys did not molest but often teased them. There was no courting because we were not even adolescent yet.
Our principal was a stern-looking spinster whom everybody feared, especially the teachers. It was part of her duties to enter any classroom and observe how the class was being conducted, and the pupils worried that their “ma’am” would break down in nervous tears. The male teachers were more composed although no less intimidated by their prima donna, who was probably a baritone.
Once I had a fight with a classmate and the following day the principal summoned me to her office. The father was complaining that I had thrown his son in the mud and had brought the boy’s soiled clothes as evidence. I vigorously defended myself, and the principal ruled in my favor. That was the very first “criminal” case I handled and the principal was the first judge I respected.
The original members of Grade I stayed together until Grade VII except for some of us who were “accelerated” and finished the elementary course earlier. After graduation, we took the intelligence test for enrollment at the Mapa High School, which was reserved for students residing in the districts of Sampaloc and San Miguel. On the basis of the test results, the better students were assigned to the premier Section 16. It’s still a mystery to me that it was not called Section I, but that is another story.
What I can say about my elementary schooling is full of superlative praise. It opened for me a new world of learning, of adventure in the story books, and friendships I still cherish, albeit mostly only in memory now. The teachers were all serious and, in my young mind then, brilliant. The doorknobs were always polished like the wooden floors, especially during the city-wide Clean-Up Week. The little girl who played the piano grew into a lovely teen-ager. The principal, bless her soul, was one reason I decided to be a lawyer.
I am saddened when I hear about our public schools now, many of them crammed in unhealthy, inadequate and unsafe buildings. Teachers now sell “kakanin” to their pupils to make do with their insufficient and often delayed salaries and unpaid allowances. Many students now hardly speak English, let alone know “Invictus.” The computer does the arithmetic for them, and the cell phone has abolished the art of letter-writing and correct spelling.
Grade school students now do not enjoy the advantages we had during our time when the government was more concerned with the education of the youth rather than its mere perfunctory instruction. 2 bad.
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