Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

What happens is that the traditional Philippine education system focuses too much on  monuments of fame rather  than learning milestones . It reminds me of the incident where Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel stressed out he was a cum laude, and that he's not stupid. I feel this is a microcosm of a much bigger problem that happens with the education system. I'm not going to deny that going to the University of the Philippines and graduating summa cum laude isn't an easy feat. However, I wrote an article on what's the use of being a summa cum laude when one opposes badly needed reforms . It's because whether we want to admit it or not, schools focus too much on the ability to memorize without also focusing on the ability to understand . Memory is also the least reliable tool.  It would be time to continuously attack the problems of the education system. I felt shamed back then because students were often told, "Your grades will determine your future!" In college, I

It's been some time since Miriam Defensor-Santiago (or MDS for short) died in 2016. It's hard to forget the time she grilled former PNP chief Alan LM Purisima over the demise of SAF-44. While listening to her sermon, I remember the teacher I fondly called "My MDS style teacher!" I still owe a debt of gratitude to her for helping me become better. Yes, she was feisty, and not so many parents liked her temper. However, she was better than that elementary mathematics teacher. I may have not done well in high school but I say she was a good teacher. I failed to think outside the box. She always made us think outside the box. It's easy to say, "Well, we just need good teachers and there's no problem with the system." However, like MDS, I'd react to that and say, "Really?" That was MDS' reaction when Purisima tried to play with words. Purisima was infamous for saying that he didn't give an order and only advice. Even funnier was when

I grew up complaining and complaining about stuff. I always looked at the Philippines as a hopeless case. I hated studying the Tagalog subject--which was mandatory by the DepEd. I was told, "Look lazy bum! If you want to make the Philippines a better place--study harder!" In college, I began to apply myself more seriously even if I didn't graduate summa cum laude. I felt a sense of achievement when I won a commerce award for making an outstanding difference. What I never thought was that during the practicum--it was working smart and not working hard. Sure, hard work is there but smart work allows more hard work to be done at a better pace. Not long after, I took my MBA course but it was also at that time, I was scammed . I discovered I wasn't alone in being scammed--many MBA students were scammed during the same time I was scammed! However, what I discovered was the problem of saying, "Your grades will determine your future!" It was typical in Philippine sc

I could remember how useless the Chinese classes were, not because Chinese is a useless language (there are actually over a billion speakers worldwide), not because the Chinese teachers were stereotypically very strict (Grade 2 was strict, Grade 3 was even stricter than Grade 2, Grade 6 was said to be the strictest ), but because of the way Chinese was to be taught. That's why I got encouraged to write about learning Chinese through meaningful conversations, not parroting . Fortunately, those old Sinjiang textbooks are no longer available except for museum purposes (read here ).  Just looking at this question and answer sweet from Ling Ling Mandarin's Instagram account--I remember what my Grade 4 Chinese teacher said, "If you want only one bon toi (question and answer), go back to Grade 1. But I don't think Grade 1 only has one bon toi." The problem with the old class was that we had to learn Hokkien before learning Mandarin. I confess my Hokkien is really bad. Th

  As a person who once hated his Chinese heritage, I blame it on the way Chinese was taught in Chinese Filipino schools. It didn't matter if you were in this or that school--it was the same banana . Maybe, I can say that I hated how mathematics was taught instead of mathematics itself. The books above were the old Chinese textbooks that required people to learn Chinese first before they entered the class. Today, I heard from one of my old Chinese language teachers that Hokkien is no longer used in schools. It was very unlike several years ago when teachers would get their pointing stick and say, "Speak Chinese!" in Hokkien, when someone speaks another language. Even worse, some people graduate to the next level without learning to speak Chinese. In Chinese Filipino schools, there would be the English singing contest and the Chinese singing contest . The Chinese singing contests were spoken in Mandarin. That meant contestants were called in Mandarin. If the person was numb

Some time ago, I wrote about the importance of learning Pinyin (read here ). Here's an interesting chart featuring different fruit types. Of course, without learning Pinyin, one would be reading everything at face value instead of the proper reading. That's why we weren't allowed to use self-romanization and use the Zhuyin. With the  Pinyin taught, the more self-romanization isn't allowed. Instead, one had to follow the Pinyin.  One of the best ways to teach Mandarin Chinese is through the different types of fruit (水果, Shuǐguǒ). It would be a fun topic to teach it this way. For example, 多吃新鮮水果和蔬菜 (Duō chī xīnxiān shuǐguǒ hé shūcài) means "Eat more fruits and vegetables." I would imagine how fun it would be to teach vocabulary and conversations (read here ) in Chinese through fruits. For Chinese Filipinos from the millennials and backward, one may remember the dreaded bon toi items (question and answer). However, with the way Chinese is taught now--learning Hok

Wired   I'm out of topics to write for now. However, I'd like to reminisce about some crazy experiences in business school more than 20 years ago at the University of San Carlos-Downtown Campus. I had a marketing professor who one might say has OCD. She was very particular about case studies. She would really warn the class about failing them. Sure, I was able to finally make up for that missing activity so I don't get an NC. I do love that teacher for her meticulous detail. I had many ups and downs with that teacher. In my case, I'd like to discuss an out-of-league case study in a marketing class. The third and fourth case studies were made individually because free riders were becoming common. It was time to look for volunteers. I volunteered to be in the first. I discussed airline rates in a price war. I lost the soft copy because it was from an old PC. I doubt the business administration department will let me dig into their archives. A classmate wasn't paying

It's very easy to have the student-to-teacher dichotomy. The picture above shows the different attitudes. Back then, it was the norm for parents and teachers to be cooperative in assessing why their child's grades were bad. However, as time goes by, more parents tend to dote on their children too much, to the point they refuse to cooperate with the teacher. As somebody who did have problems with grades in high school --I often loathed myself after I failed to achieve my childhood ambition of becoming the world's greatest genius. I think the picture above is but a short glimpse of a bigger reality. More often, we just look at the problem between the teacher and the student.  What we don't see is the problem of the education system. It's very easy to say, "It's just common sense that it's the one who runs the system, not the system, that's the problem!" Never mind that this is how a system is defined according to the Collins Dictionary : A system

The Chinese New Year's first day is over but for China, it's until Day 15.  I feel like visiting a childhood trauma (which I laugh at now while remembering all the failing marks I had) because the whole program was based on parroting over understanding (read here ). I even wrote about how the old Chinese textbooks can't be used  for teaching  Mandarin . Good thing that these dreaded textbooks are now out of print .  My memories are Grade 2 Chinese was strict and Grade 3 Chinese was even stricter . The Grade 3 Chinese teacher got the nickname of either Teacher Turtle or Teacher Fierce . Grade 4 Chinese teacher was also called Teacher Minus because she often said in Hokkien, "I will minus!" That threat came every time the class would misbehave. If I'm not wrong, I tried getting a minus 20 (for always talking) which caused me to fail another quiz. Some people would move out of a Chinese school when their child fails either Grade 2 or Grade 3. In our case, Grade 3