The Horribleness of Philippine Science Education

When I first read her story in the book “In Love with Science” which she herself edited, I got interested with her. There is a feeling of awe and amazement as to how she reconciled mathematics and psychology. I didn’t know exactly where and when did the name become familiar but for sure it was about a certain article, half sure whether it was on-line or in the dailies. But I bumped on her name a couple of times already in science news/columns in the internet, which she authored.

Her name was also mentioned in a valedictory address of a girl I dreamed to meet: the extraordinary gifted blind Filipina, Roselle Ambubuyog. 

So when I learned that she would be delivering one of the plenary talks in the international conference in science and math education, I was very excited. In fact, not so long ago, my student in the graduate school cited her works in his thesis proposal and I kept on telling, “I know her,” as if she also knew me. As if we met already. But because of her story, I felt like there was a part of her that I knew.

Setting aside my biases, I can really say that in that conference I attended, Filipinos were the best speakers. They spoke with confidence and they were believable!

Few minutes before her talk, I already got inside the plenary room because it can only accommodate about 500 participants. There was a short circuit video shown in one of the rooms outside that can accommodate around 60 people. But I didn’t like it there. I wanted to see Queena Lee-Chua. I wanted to hear her speak!

When she was introduced, the crowd roared in amazement when they learned that she graduated summa cum laude from Ateneo, BS Mathematics. And then they unbelievably listened to her list of prestigious awards in Asia and in the world.

When she began her talk, my heart was pounding hard. I did not want to miss a part. But misfortune came in the most unlikely time. Our faculty President was at the groundfloor waiting for me. I had to sign some important papers. I hurriedly went down and criss-crossed the pen on the documents, said “hi, hello” and up again I flew.

I was so happy that when I went back she was just discussing some realities in the Filipino schema. She was talking about East met West in the Philippines. And these largely shaped the Philippine educational system. While she exaggerated some social realities in the Philippine education she kept on muttering “Horrible.” For example large classes. Yes, she praised the way Filipinos are known worldwide through the arts like for instance Charice, Lea Salonga, Arnel Pineda and of course Manny Pacquiao. But not quite in science and math. Horrible, because only Filipinos are the ones who can shout to the whole world that they are not good in math and are proud of it.

She also cleared out some misconceptions that Chinese are very good in math. No they are not! If they are, then Chinese and Filipinos had been intermarrying even before the Spaniards came to the Philippines. If that’s the case then there must be a math wizard gene in our chromosomes today. 

Being a teacher who started from a Chinese school (Grace Christian College), I knew pretty well what she meant. That chinese characters were so abstract and that helped the students improve their logic. They also have more learning time. In a typical Chinese school, students stayed in school the whole day covering English and Chinese curriculum. After dismissal, students are still attending tutorial lessons from the various learning centers surrounding the school. And they have two maths: integrated math and math enrichment, nursery to high school. Plus, they can switch to their Chinese tongue when they would want to do maths (mentally). Parental support was also evident in Chinese schools. Parents take time in monitoring their children. I really laughed hard when she quipped:

“In these schools, those who are excellent in science and math are the stars. But in most schools like Ateneo (laughs), our stars are the basketball players; our stars are the junks.”

So, who wouldn’t be good at that? Who would be better in math now? A regular public school student or a special math student?

Father Nebres, the President of Ateneo, after all getting the best students in the country and producing graduates who occupy top positions in the government still believed that the university is failing their students. Because there were so many problems yet that remain unsolved. So what did Father Nebres do?

He collaborated with her (Chua) to come up with a summer program that will develop the problem solving capacity of their top students. They just presented problems, some of them did not have solutions and let the students do their own interpretations of the problem. Dr. Chua exclaimed that was one of the best classes he handled in the university. 

Perhaps, the heart of the talk was about her ‘best student’ Roselle. Mentally gifted yet been blinded by allergic reactions to medicine since she was nine. I’ve read Roselle’s valediction but the account of Dr. Chua delved deeper into Roselle’s childhood. I never knew that she was rejected by schools after what happened to her. And it took one teacher from an unknown elementary school to discover a star. Roselle went back to school but she was placed on the lowest section because she was blind. But her grade school teacher recognized her potential and fought hard until Roselle was transferred in section one. The blind girl graduated valedictorian. She enrolled at Ramon Magsaysay High and graduated as valedictorian.

In the words of Dr. Chua, when Roselle passed the admission test in Ateneo, Dr. Nebres told her to take charge of Roselle. She almost refused because of the impossibility of teaching math to a blind learner. So she collaborated with other universities abroad and then they got a software that could directly brail word documents. 

In short, Roselle excelled in Math and was chosen to be the class valedictorian. She also excelled in other subjects. She did swim in her PE Class and danced tango.

What hit me as a father was the love, extensive support and determination of Roselle’s family. In order that Roselle could read the books that cannot be brailed, her brothers took turn in reading the books to her. Everyone could not go to bed until her homeworks are done. In her speech she said that ‘her family are her eyes.’

As I looked around me, audience were teary eyed. Me, I felt some guilt that I could not give much time to my kids maximize their full potential. My eldest for example, I just simply leave her on her own. I keep telling myself that I grew up and learned without my mother nor my brothers helping me. And yet I learned. I would tell, why force the kid? Let her do her own way! So for this exam, just let her do it alone. I am confused. 

And that is MORE horrible.