[EDLING:272] The Philippines: Getting Ahead

[Francis M. Hult]

ABS-CBN Interactive

The Philippine Star

Getting Ahead

By RAY BUTCH GAMBOA 

We really should start assessing the pros and cons of carrying our sense of 
nationalism to the extreme, farther than necessary for our sense of pride as a 
people.

Several years ago, English was our medium for education. That did not detract 
from our respect for the Filipino language – we still had it as a major subject 
and, over the years, social science subjects became “Filipinized” as well. I 
personally think this move was still relevant, but overhauling the entire 
system to convert to the Filipino language as the general medium for education 
in our schools and universities?  

We should seriously re-think that. First of all, our regional differences make 
that impractical.  And if we’re talking impractical, how do we go about this 
when we talk about science and technology, the principles of which are 
generally in English.  All the textbooks from where our teachers base their 
teaching materials, all the seminars and conferences they attend to upgrade 
their knowledge – all these are English-based. Do we now have to initiate a 
special course to Filipinize all the terms, etc for all teachers?

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