As the long weekend is well, about to end, I want to write this new post regarding education. Classes are about to resume in the Philippines by Tuesday since Monday will be declared an extended holiday for April 9. April 9 is the Day of Valor which commemorates the Fall of Bataan to the fallen Empire of Japan. As classes are resuming and I'm seeing a new batch benefit from what I never did. Right now, the second semester started in January and school starts in August--which I think should be the thing. I want to recall something from when I was a teenager. I really didn't like high school especially when the previous generation say stuff like:
- "When I was your age, I already did a lot, I became a parent in my 20s, I already had this and that..."
- "If we were honor students back then, you should be an honor student too!"
- "You're just getting spoiled! Lessons aren't getting harder these days!"
Lessons are getting harder these days. It's not just children getting spoiled. I remembered a problem when parents started to complain about the lessons getting harder. I could remember parents would start to complain to schools like:
- "I was an honor student, why isn't my child one?"
- "Why are lessons getting harder when it was easier back in my day?"
When I think of those arguments, do these boomers (who are in their 60s and 70s now) fail to see these necessary truths:
- New information is generated daily. That means thin textbooks back in the 1960s to 1970s should accommodate more information and stuff. Just imagine how mathematics and physics will be if they weren't updated. We'd not be enjoying the new technology today.
- These boomers probably care more about grades than learning. I remembered some parents started to transfer their children to easier schools. The reason was not that the current school was harder but only to maintain an honor roll. Has it occured to them that it's better to be a nobody in a good school than to be an honor student in a bad school?
With stubborn boomers as grandparents by now, I wonder if they're going to start arguing with their children at the cost of their grandchildren? I wonder if plenty of boomer grandparents aren't going to give the same love and affection to their grandchildren as their parents did to their children? Maybe, the children of boomers may mostly have fond memories of their grandparents. However, maybe the same can't be said about the grandchildren of boomers especially the academic standard has changed significantly. The Philippines now has K+12 (which was implemented during the time of the late former president, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III), there is new stuff to study, and then many grandparents still start bragging about what they did when they were only 18-20 years old when the environment is different right now. I could imagine if the children of boomer parents (who have children of their own) will finally say, "You never change! You're still as stubborn! Now you want your grandchildren to be like you? Please, we're in an updated curriculum."
I guess for stubborn boomers, there's always the comfort zone. I wouldn't be surprised at boomers open to change may be often ostracized. I could imagine if one boomer grandparent may take the wise advice not to give a child a smartphone. However, this boomer grandparent might be seen playing video games with their grandchildren. This boomer grandparent may visit and tell the grandchild, "You should be glad lessons are getting harder. Don't worry, there will be more tools to help you get smarter." These boomers who are open to change would be instrumental in upgrading education.
There's a statement that smooth seas never make a good sailor. I wonder if stubborn boomers only got into the honor role because the school they enrolled in, were much easier? I could say they probably got into the honor role back then due to outdated curriculums. The educational environment yesterday and today are significantly different. Lessons just need to be updated every now and then. It was a problem that the late Deng Xiaoping faced during his reign. Deng was already in his 70s when he took over China. Deng saw outdated textbooks. The late Lee Kuan Yew also gave proper advice to Deng. Later, Lee praised Deng's new economic policies, even if the former was a democrat and Deng was a communist.
In this day and age, we really just need to accept school lessons will get harder. That'S why I'm in for K+12 and starting to change the way schools are done. I still believe it's more than time to follow the Singaporean education system. The Philippines should really stop looking up to America especially with its failing education system. New methodologies also need to be done to make harder lessons manageable. Stubborn boomers are probably just going to grumble about it. In my case, let them grumble about it. There will be non-stubborn boomers who are more concerned about fixing what went wrong than being too comfortable in the status quo.