How important are grades to me?

There was a time in my life when grades were all that mattered. When my achievement was represented by numbers that ranged from 75 to 100. When getting a mark with the first number having the shape of an ax triggered a feeling of inadequacy, and a mark with the first number having the shape of an inverted tear elicited a feeling of superiority. This was during my elementary days and this was a very long long long long long time ago.

When I went to high school my glorification of ratings went down while a crisis in the family was materializing. Going to college, my appreciation of grades became further diminished and repressed to unconsciousness since I thought then that grades didn’t really reflect practical real-life learning. That grades were standards that applied to students who didn’t have any other problems in life but to study and improve their school performance. Students who didn’t have to think about whether they have food waiting for them when they arrive home. Students who didn’t have to think about whether they had shelter to protect them as they sleep at night. Students who didn’t have to worry about not having enough money to take the jeepney going to school. Students who didn’t have to worry about being sick and not being able to afford healthcare. Yes grades do not reflect these factors. Factors that obviously affect student performance in a MAJOR MAJOR way.

So what can I say about grades. Grades mean nothing to me. Unless the personal predicaments of students are considered in the grading system then grades will remain an INVALID rating system for me.

Warming up for a day of reflections

Just trying out the new structure of my blogsite. This is my first post for the newly restructured blog. Testing. Testing.

October 13, 2013 Civil Service Examination Last Day for Filing TODAY

Today is the last day for filing of applications for the October 13, 2013 Philippine Civil Service Examination. So many employees of both the government and the GOCC’s are hoping to get the nod of the CSC ever since the government crackdown on the ineligible employees. Maybe it is trying to remove the old timers, maybe it is trying to uplift its service or maybe it is trying to professionalize. Whatever the reason of the government is, it is now mandatory for anyone who wishes to enter government service to be civil service eligible. How I wish I could help these hopefuls in their quest to be employed. Maybe it is not too late to lend a hand. I am thinking of opening another blog site just to talk about techniques in overcoming those seemingly insurmountable questions of the CSE. Watch out for it…

My totally unexpected grades :)

I finally got my grades in the two subjects I enrolled in last term. I must admit that it was totally unexpected since I was juggling between work and studying. I can still remember the time I was working and travelling throughout the Northern Provinces while thinking about how to do the school tasks. As soon as I got accommodated in a hotel, the first think I did was to find a spot where there was a good internet signal so as to be able to submit the school tasks. Now I am looking forward to the challenges of the next two subjects. It would really be another challenge for me for sure since I will be juggling now between work and probably managing a new business venture (My Lord willing) and school. Need more than luck this term hehehe.

GENDER SENSITIVITY IN THE COUNTRY

Gender bias has been with us for a very long time. Our culture has looked at the female gender as weaker while glorifying, sometimes even exaggerating, the macho characteristics of the male gender. So deeply embedded is this gender bias that we have managed to transfer this belief from generation to generation. The countries that colonized our nation didn’t help in any way in eradicating this discrimination against women, in fact, encouraged it even more (i.e. Imperial Japan). To stop the occurrence of gender inequity, countries from all over the world have made moves to “undo” this wrong concept through reeducation. By correcting this idea early, the different governments hope to produce a more gender sensitive society.

Here in the Philippines, the issue of gender bias still exists despite government efforts to address it. Some textbooks have already been modified to reflect gender sensitivity but there are some that still condone gender bias. We have been tasked to find evidence with regards to this by looking for lessons within existing textbooks that mirror this lopsided viewpoint. It didn’t take me long to find one since I had a hunch where to look. I guessed that the subject that didn’t put much consideration to culture and gender sensitivity would be one that focused on logic and problem solving and that would be Math. And I was correct in my assumption. I found a multitude of gender insensitive questions asked within a grade 4 textbook used by a well-known exclusive school here in Quezon City. I really hope that something be done to scrutinize not only the textbooks used by public schools, but those used by private schools as well.

I am trying to design a mascot/signature for my blog… initial sketch for Teacher Cul… trashy hehehe

The kind of teacher I will become

The kind of teacher I will become.

Explaining Assimilation, Accommodation and Equilibration using the MANGO

Assimilation is adding without changing old information. Accommodation is adding with modification. Equilibration is when a person attempts to regain balance.

To illustrate, I have decided to use the schema of a MANGO. As a child you discovered the fruit mango because you were made to eat one for dessert. So you now have the basic schema of a mango added to the schema food. You didn’t change or modify your idea of FOOD. You just added MANGO to FOOD since you could eat it and it was delicious. Further on you observed that the color of the mango is yellow so you added this idea to the schema mango. When you tasted the mango you probably added the schema sweet to the schema mango. What you did here then was assimilation.

The next day, an aunt or probably an older sibling brought home what she called a mango and probably made you eat it also. However you observed that this “mango” was not yellow, it was green. It was hard not soft. And worst it was sour and not sweet. And so your schema of the MANGO could have went into a state disequilibrium. To adapt to this new set of information you probably tried to ASSIMILATE the idea first by ADDING the new schemas to the existing schemas and tried to fit it in as illustrated below.

However, this probably created more confusion. So what your mind did was to modify your existing schema of a mango. You probably rearranged your concept of the mango to ACCOMMODATE the new ideas as illustrated below.

However, your initial ACCOMMODATION still had to be modified since it still could have caused disequilibrium between your schema of Delicious and Not Delicious. With this arrangement you could have confused the idea of food being delicious. Since green mango was not delicious, you could have questioned whether green mango was food or not? So you further EQUILIBRATED your SCHEMATA until you reached a point wherein you became happy with the schema and reached a state of equilibrium as illustrated below.

On Intelligence

I used to be a traditionalist in my view of intelligence. In fact I used to consider a person intelligent only if he were good in Math, Science and Abstract Reasoning. I used to consider musical abilities, oratorical abilities and any other ability, not related to the sciences, as talents or skills. But now I have a different interpretation of intelligence. For me, intelligence now signifies anything that a person can do better than another person. If he can reason better than most people then I consider him as intelligent. If he sings better than most people then, to me, he is intelligent. In a way, I now equate talent and skills to intelligence, which makes my view of intelligence not restricted to cognitive processes.

As one gets older, one gets to meet a diversity of people. I have come to accept the fact that no person is perfect. Perfection is God’s domain. With this in mind, I have come to realize that since no one knows everything, then there is always someone better than you at doing something. Which leads me now to boldly state that any person born, without congenital abnormalities of the brain, is in one way or another, intelligent…

Etag and Pinikpikang Manok in Baguio

Pinikpikang Manok is a chicken dish from the mountains of the Cordilleras. It is made from brutalized chicken. To prepare the chicken for cooking, the chicken has to be beaten to death with a stick. I find this act similar to what I experienced when I underwent fraternity initiation rites a long time ago, only difference is that I am alive while the chicken’s dead. The coagulated blood of the chicken adds to its flavor so although controversial, it is still a sought after exotic dish. To my surprise however, it took me hours of trekking before I found a restaurant in Baguio that served it.