Errors also found in lesson plans, not just in textbooks
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:01:00 06/26/2008
If Antonio Calipjo Go is worried about the quality of the textbooks being read by students, he should be worried about the lesson plans, guides and manuals being used by public school teachers.
My mother is a public school teacher and she usually asks me to type in some of the materials she intends to use for her students’ exams. But whenever she gives me the manuals from which the examples are taken, I am appalled to find numerous errors in these manuals. And these errors are both factual and grammatical. Among the examples are (reproduced as they are stated in the book):
1. Plants cannot move, but their seeds can move from one place to another. Some seeds are blown by the wind while others are carried by water from the rain. Some seeds stick to the fur of animals or on people’s clothes. That is how they move from place to place. Whenever seeds fall on fertile ground, they grow into new plants and propagate.
2. Red tide is caused by small sea organisms called dinoflagellates. They easily multiply when the air and water are calm and warm. A poisonous secretion comes out of the dinoflagellates. When the fish eats these organisms, the fish may die.
3. On April 30, 1788, a month-old baby was baptized in the Bigaa Bulacan parochial church. Father Blas de Guernica gave him the name Francisco, son of Juan Balagtas and Juana de la Cruz. As a child, he had learned many things. All these he kept in his young heart, later to be poured with intense ferrous in Florante at Laura.
4. Weeds are the strong and sturdy plants. You have to exert some effort to pull them out. They do not grow singly but in chumps. This makes them still harder to pull. There are runners going to all directions, thus making possible their rapid growth.
5. The river is the source of water supply in cities and progressive towns. The water from the river is led to a settling basin. It is freed of big particles, and then it is conducted to several tanks of sand filters. The filtered water, is chlorinated, aerated and stored in big reservoirs. Pump stations are located in different parts of the city to insure a good supply of water.
6. Wildlife is interesting parts of our environment. They make the world beautiful and a lovelier place to live in. Some of them like the big birds and wild animals are used for food. Birds help in the balance of nature and particularly in the control of insect population. They also help keep down the number of harmful animals like rats and snakes.
These paragraphs were presented as examples on page 6 of the Teacher’s Manual in Language and Reading Grade 6, prepared by a certain Remedios R. Lat. It is apparently prepared for the Lipa City School Division (as stated in the book).
Now I know one reason our quality of education isn’t improving.
YAEL ESPERAT (via email)
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