World Teachers Day Mendiola
Content
ORTIZ, Patricia Mae O.
PAMBID, Saira G.
SALVADOR, Ma. Vera Mansel R.
Socio 171 WFV
MIDTERM PAPER
The Aquino administration is rushing the K to 12 program, according to some of the
teachers kind enough to answer our question. The K to 12 program “covers Kindergarten and
12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School,
and two years of Senior High School [SHS]) to provide sufficient time for mastery of
concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education,
middlelevel skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship,” as stated in the Official
Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. It is also stated in the Official Gazette that the
program hopes to (1) strengthen Early Childhood Education, (2) make the curriculum more
relevant to learners, (3) ensure seamless learning, (4) build proficiency through
Mothertonguebased multilingual education, and (5) gear students up for the future.
However, teachers insist that the program fails to achieve this as we are not prepared
for K to 12. Teachers express their alarm over their students’ confusion on which language to
use (the subject “Mother Tongue” only causes mixups), as well as the poor quality of the
books distributed to schools. One of the teachers we interviewed also revealed to us that the
only preparation they had for the K to 12 program was a seminar that lasted for a week! The
whole program then appears to have no good bearing to students and teachers alike.
This year’s World Teacher Day, together with the teachers, we marched towards
Mendiola to protest about the irregularities and atrocities of the education system. In the
interview, teacher Mark a Math teacher told us why he joined the protest. He told us how
Aquino administration burdened them with the upcoming K12 and how Aquino cut their
budget. He mentioned to us the lack of competence of the administration because he want to
pursue K12, when in fact there is still a need of improvement with our current education
system. Teacher Mark also voiced out that the burden of the lack of budget for education
really makes the life of the teacher so difficult and even the students.
In another interview, Sir. Rudy told us his story as a teacher. He said that before he
became a teacher, he was a marketing executive. He told us that teaching is his passion that’s
why he gave up his glamorous life just to pursue his passion. He then mentioned the hardship
he encountered as a teacher. There were times that his salary was not enough to last for the
whole month. He even acquired debts because of the insufficient funds to survive. One of his
colleague before told him to just go back to being an executive so that he’ll live comfortably.
Sir. Rudy refused the offer because he said that imparting knowledge was his lifegoal and he
believed that the children are the future of the generation.
The stories of these teachers are really inspiring because even of they live without that
much resources, they still chose to stay teaching. They say teaching is really a noble job
because the teachers are receiving unequal treatment. The situation can be compared to
Marx’s alienations.
In today's time, teachers become alienated not only to their students but to their
passion as well; because of the situation of the education system and the incompetence of the
government, teachers have no choice but to be alienated. Due to a large number of student
from each class alienates teachers from their students, instead of giving them an undivided
attention, they can't do so. They were also alienated from the passion that that motivates them
to teach because their benefits are problematic. In a sense, the teachers are the factory
workers of the bourgeois government and the student are their product.
We also believe that Talcott Parsons would have something to say regarding the
World Teachers’ Day protest. Talcott Parsons has said that an action may be motivated by
several independent ends, but none of these affect the actors’ biases. This can be observed in
the World Teachers’ Day protest. The teachers we interviewed each had different problems,
different reasons for being there, but they all seemed to feel similar about K to 12.
Emile Durkheim’s Division of Labor in Society may also be used to understand the
goal of the K to 12 program. According to the Official Gazette of the Republic of the
Philippines, after finishing Grade 10, a student can obtain Certificates of Competency (COC)
or a National Certificate Level I (NC I). After finishing a TechnicalVocationalLivelihood
track in Grade 12, a student may obtain a National Certificate Level II (NC II), provided
he/she passes the competencybased assessment of the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA). Basically, the product of these vocational courses that
were offered would give each of us an area of specialization separation of tasks within a
system.
PAMBID, Saira G.
SALVADOR, Ma. Vera Mansel R.
Socio 171 WFV
MIDTERM PAPER
The Aquino administration is rushing the K to 12 program, according to some of the
teachers kind enough to answer our question. The K to 12 program “covers Kindergarten and
12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four years of Junior High School,
and two years of Senior High School [SHS]) to provide sufficient time for mastery of
concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education,
middlelevel skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship,” as stated in the Official
Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. It is also stated in the Official Gazette that the
program hopes to (1) strengthen Early Childhood Education, (2) make the curriculum more
relevant to learners, (3) ensure seamless learning, (4) build proficiency through
Mothertonguebased multilingual education, and (5) gear students up for the future.
However, teachers insist that the program fails to achieve this as we are not prepared
for K to 12. Teachers express their alarm over their students’ confusion on which language to
use (the subject “Mother Tongue” only causes mixups), as well as the poor quality of the
books distributed to schools. One of the teachers we interviewed also revealed to us that the
only preparation they had for the K to 12 program was a seminar that lasted for a week! The
whole program then appears to have no good bearing to students and teachers alike.
This year’s World Teacher Day, together with the teachers, we marched towards
Mendiola to protest about the irregularities and atrocities of the education system. In the
interview, teacher Mark a Math teacher told us why he joined the protest. He told us how
Aquino administration burdened them with the upcoming K12 and how Aquino cut their
budget. He mentioned to us the lack of competence of the administration because he want to
pursue K12, when in fact there is still a need of improvement with our current education
system. Teacher Mark also voiced out that the burden of the lack of budget for education
really makes the life of the teacher so difficult and even the students.
In another interview, Sir. Rudy told us his story as a teacher. He said that before he
became a teacher, he was a marketing executive. He told us that teaching is his passion that’s
why he gave up his glamorous life just to pursue his passion. He then mentioned the hardship
he encountered as a teacher. There were times that his salary was not enough to last for the
whole month. He even acquired debts because of the insufficient funds to survive. One of his
colleague before told him to just go back to being an executive so that he’ll live comfortably.
Sir. Rudy refused the offer because he said that imparting knowledge was his lifegoal and he
believed that the children are the future of the generation.
The stories of these teachers are really inspiring because even of they live without that
much resources, they still chose to stay teaching. They say teaching is really a noble job
because the teachers are receiving unequal treatment. The situation can be compared to
Marx’s alienations.
In today's time, teachers become alienated not only to their students but to their
passion as well; because of the situation of the education system and the incompetence of the
government, teachers have no choice but to be alienated. Due to a large number of student
from each class alienates teachers from their students, instead of giving them an undivided
attention, they can't do so. They were also alienated from the passion that that motivates them
to teach because their benefits are problematic. In a sense, the teachers are the factory
workers of the bourgeois government and the student are their product.
We also believe that Talcott Parsons would have something to say regarding the
World Teachers’ Day protest. Talcott Parsons has said that an action may be motivated by
several independent ends, but none of these affect the actors’ biases. This can be observed in
the World Teachers’ Day protest. The teachers we interviewed each had different problems,
different reasons for being there, but they all seemed to feel similar about K to 12.
Emile Durkheim’s Division of Labor in Society may also be used to understand the
goal of the K to 12 program. According to the Official Gazette of the Republic of the
Philippines, after finishing Grade 10, a student can obtain Certificates of Competency (COC)
or a National Certificate Level I (NC I). After finishing a TechnicalVocationalLivelihood
track in Grade 12, a student may obtain a National Certificate Level II (NC II), provided
he/she passes the competencybased assessment of the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA). Basically, the product of these vocational courses that
were offered would give each of us an area of specialization separation of tasks within a
system.
