Good teachers first

The article on “Life skills for young Filipinos” (Second Opinion, 06/24/22) was very enlightening as to what young Filipinos must learn instead of or in addition to the suggested mandatory military training of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte. Dr. Gideon Lasco enumerated these life skills from first aid, self-defense, biking, swimming, disaster preparedness, wellness and nutrition, basic psychosocial skills, sexual education, financial health, and digital literacy. He ended it with a question about how the Department of Education will “help bring about the acquisitions of these vital skills.”

We should start with the basic Rs: “reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic,” starting from grade school with good teachers, therefore, excellent teacher education. Emphasize especially to the young kids that teaching is a very noble, honorable, and rewarding profession so that these kids will be encouraged to be teachers themselves. Improve teaching education by competitive entrance examinations, scholarships, and, of course, good stable salaries and benefits, and after graduation, a lot of free, good, and required continuing education series. Foremost of all, make teaching a very honorable profession that the best students would aim to be educators themselves.

Once we have assumed the basic skills, then it will be easier to teach those other skills suggested by Dr. Lasco to the young Filipinos. Good teachers first, then good students will follow.

Ida M. Tiongco,New York,[email protected]