Historical (mis)education

College-level Philippine history is now taught through primary sources in a course called “Readings in Philippine history.” When I ask teachers what Philippine history textbook they require or use, answers vary. Some reuse Department of Education supplied modules, others work in schools that prescribe textbooks, most compile their own readings sourced online. It seems Eufronio Alip and Gregorio Zaide textbooks are, forgive the pun, history. Those by Teodoro Agoncillo and Renato Constantino are still current. Nationalist viewpoint remains strong even if content was originally published over 50 years ago. If authors Agoncillo and Constantino were still alive or had a junior coauthor, their textbooks could be updated for 21st century use. National Bookstore founder Socorro Ramos, who turned 101 years last week, invited to write a new Philippine history textbook years ago. I guess the time has come to take up that challenge.

Unfortunately, as the Second Congressional Commission on Education reported recently, some teach courses they are not prepared for. History and the Rizal courses are taught by those without history, social science, or literature background. Onofre D. “OD” Corpuz, the late former education secretary and University of the Philippines president told me once that he knew of physical education teachers made to teach history or what is now known as Araling Panlipunan (AP). It is believed that any teacher with a textbook can teach history. That is not the case for physics, algebra, or calculus that requires subject specialization.

When students first step into my freshman Philippine history class, I need to work double-time, assuming little or no background knowledge because their last dedicated “Philippine history” class was in Grade 4 or 5. That’s a gap of seven or eight years that needs to be filled, not with current data but with historical method and critical thinking. In addition, students should be able to express and argue a point orally and in writing. K-12 AP is, at best, a course in civics, not history nor social studies. AP is designed to instill patriotism or love of country by tracing the long road from prehistoric times to nationhood. Worse, those who teach it as rote memory kill enthusiasm, reinforcing blind adherence to authority.

From questions I receive from students daily, it is clear that they are not being taught to recognize a primary source. Physical books in a library are not presented as options when material is unavailable online. It pains me to hear them ask what is the full name of Jose Rizal? Or even the Rizal retraction. Their research output is often a video interview, with no exercise on putting thoughts to paper in essays or written reports. Students are not taught how to prepare for interviews through background research and formulation of intelligent questions. In short, the students expect the interviewee to do the work for them. They should know how to do research and acknowledge sources with proper citations and bibliography.

Readings in Philippine history is well-intentioned but execution needs improvement. Many teachers are left to their own devices in finding suitable primary sources for class. Scarcity is not the problem, there is so much available online, but how does a teacher find the best, the most reliable sources for classroom use? How do they introduce students to historical method: primary source research, validation, analysis, and writing? Video scripts should be submitted together with citations and bibliography.

One of my course requirements is for students to dig up the newspaper on the day they were born (and the newspaper of the next day, too), and write an essay describing what the Philippines was like then. Fortunately, Inquirer issues from 2000 are available online. In addition, students have access to the Ateneo Rizal Library where they have to find another newspaper from the period: Star, Bulletin, Standard, Manila Times, etc. to compare with the online Inquirer. The exercise is meant to prove that parents can be an unreliable source of information. Newspapers often correct parental memory lapses and, I hope, lead the student to ask why the present reads very much like the past.

Comparing coverage in two different newspapers, students are given their first taste of historical method. Which source is more detailed? Which is more reliable? How does a historian work from incomplete data? Since the university library only collects broadsheets, I ask them to imagine a nuclear explosion that destroys all our libraries leaving nothing but the archive of a tabloid like: Abante, Tiktik, Remate, or Bulgar. What would a historian of the future limited by tabloids make of the Philippines in the early 2000s?

Some go beyond the requirement and write about the Philippines on the day their parents were born. I am happy that no one was caught into the nostalgia for peace and order in the martial law years. Their papers were a delight to read because it gave me hope for the future.

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