President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has instructed the Department of Education (DepEd) to restore the use of English as the medium of instruction in the Philippines schools. This was taken from Gloria E. Melercio’s article of Arab News.
The president was said to be alarmed with the continued decline of English proficiency since the constitution was amended in 1989 in using Filipino as a medium of instruction.
Now why do we really need to use English as a medium of instruction? What are the advantages and the disadvantages?
The advantages of using English as a medium of instruction, is really beneficial for us Filipinos. This is because, we would be able to communicate well with people outside our country, with this, we could be a world-class civilization. Through this we could also be updated with what is going on in the world. We can also do well especially in foreign trade.
But I have much more to say regarding the disadvantages of using English as medium. Ten leading institutions and organizations, including the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and other schools, showed dismay regarding president Arroyo’s decision in replacing the former medium of instruction, Filipino. The president has misread what Article 14, Section 6 of the constitution trying to convey. She did not consider the fact that students would be able to learn more by using their native tongue. The Iloilo experiment in 1960 proved that Filipino youths will learn faster using their native language. Test results showed that the highest scores were obtained by those who studied science in their own language, just like the Japanese and the Korean youths.
And did you know that countries which use their own language as medium of instruction ranks on the tops during science and math exams? These countries are Singapore, South Korea, Czech Republic, Japan, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, and Belgium.
The TIMMS (Third International Math and Science Survey) advised the president that using English as primary medium of instruction is not a solution in making us an intellectual person. They are absolutely not directly proportional. It is also not the answer to our country’s poor economy.
I envy Malaysia for having a prosperous economy even though they only use their native tongue, Bahasu Melayu, in the classroom. But look at us, we rank third in the English speaking countries but what a shame that we are on the top rank as the most corrupt country in Asia.
We know to ourselves that most of the time, we have great ideas in our minds but we cannot express them since we have to speak English. That is the outcome of the students who have been taught of a language unfamiliar to them.
I am not saying that we will disregard the English language. We can learn English even though it is not our medium of instruction. We have to master our own language before we learn other languages. My point is, we should love our country. We have raise to it from regress by being intellectual people. We could express well our ideas and aspirations by using Filipino as medium of instruction. And we could be more effective people by learning the second language, English.
The president was said to be alarmed with the continued decline of English proficiency since the constitution was amended in 1989 in using Filipino as a medium of instruction.
Now why do we really need to use English as a medium of instruction? What are the advantages and the disadvantages?
The advantages of using English as a medium of instruction, is really beneficial for us Filipinos. This is because, we would be able to communicate well with people outside our country, with this, we could be a world-class civilization. Through this we could also be updated with what is going on in the world. We can also do well especially in foreign trade.
But I have much more to say regarding the disadvantages of using English as medium. Ten leading institutions and organizations, including the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and other schools, showed dismay regarding president Arroyo’s decision in replacing the former medium of instruction, Filipino. The president has misread what Article 14, Section 6 of the constitution trying to convey. She did not consider the fact that students would be able to learn more by using their native tongue. The Iloilo experiment in 1960 proved that Filipino youths will learn faster using their native language. Test results showed that the highest scores were obtained by those who studied science in their own language, just like the Japanese and the Korean youths.
And did you know that countries which use their own language as medium of instruction ranks on the tops during science and math exams? These countries are Singapore, South Korea, Czech Republic, Japan, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, and Belgium.
The TIMMS (Third International Math and Science Survey) advised the president that using English as primary medium of instruction is not a solution in making us an intellectual person. They are absolutely not directly proportional. It is also not the answer to our country’s poor economy.
I envy Malaysia for having a prosperous economy even though they only use their native tongue, Bahasu Melayu, in the classroom. But look at us, we rank third in the English speaking countries but what a shame that we are on the top rank as the most corrupt country in Asia.
We know to ourselves that most of the time, we have great ideas in our minds but we cannot express them since we have to speak English. That is the outcome of the students who have been taught of a language unfamiliar to them.
I am not saying that we will disregard the English language. We can learn English even though it is not our medium of instruction. We have to master our own language before we learn other languages. My point is, we should love our country. We have raise to it from regress by being intellectual people. We could express well our ideas and aspirations by using Filipino as medium of instruction. And we could be more effective people by learning the second language, English.
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