Really Sucks, Doesn’t It?

            Conrado De Quiros is undoubtedly one of the coolest writers of all time. I'm a big fan of his and he is like a Jedi Master or Gandalf of print media in the Philippines, ever so enlightened and true. What else can I say? He really is the coolest. 

            I read one column of his recently and it was very insightful. He discussed the reasons for the poor performance of Filipino students and I was convinced right then and there. I wanted to shout *hear hear* at that moment. He said that the problem lies with the confusing Language usage in the Philippines, or to that effect. We Filipinos use English in reading while using Filipino in speech. Prime time News is in Filipino, supposedly for the plebeian to understand. Broadsheets, on the other hand, are all in English. The most read, according to him is the Philippine Daily Inquirer, having 200,000 in circulation. Juxtapose that to Thailand, having millions of newspaper subscription, which by the way is written in their Language.  

            Asian countries that use their own Languages in Education are now very rich countries, i.e. Japan, South Korea, China and Thailand. Singapore and India, Asian countries that use English as communication medium in education are also developed Economies, aside from the fact that the people there speak fluent English.

            It's really saddening, this dilemma we are facing. We should change the way we teach students. Why not use Filipino in teaching Sciences and Mathematics? Let's not worry about translations because words are easily given equivalents. Electricity already has a n equivalent —- dagitab if I'm not mistaken. We just need to be willing enough to change our ways for the better.