Decline of education blamed on “deterioration of English proficiency”
Such a “rapid decline in the English competency of Filipinos would eventually erode the competitiveness of the country’s human resources, both here and abroad”… A quote attributed to Senator Edgardo J. Angara.
This was in reference to a bill that passed last month restoring English as the primary language of instruction from high school onwards. The bill was created as Congress’ response to the declining proficiency on the use of the English language in communications. (The Education Department adopted a bilingual program in 1987 to promote the use of Tagalog, the other official language.)
According to a recent government study, only 7 percent of high school graduates can properly read, speak or understand English, and poorly trained teachers are partly to blame, it said.
According to a (separate) study conducted by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, 75 percent of the more than 400,000 Filipino students that graduate from college each year have “substandard English skills.”
Read the rest of thepinoy.net article and throw us your comments. What do you think? Are we better off economically using English as the primary language of instructions in school or will we lose something greater by “dropping” proficiency in our national language?
Tags: Tagalog, national language, English proficiency
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POSTED IN: General: Philippine Culture, Language and History
November 28th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Filipinos should not only learn English, but Mandarin and Fukien as well, if given opportunity
November 28th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Sonnie, why do you think there’s a need to speak Chinese? I have nothing against it, I just don’t see the relevance, so maybe if you explain a bit we’d understand your point of view.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Though English is the universal language and presently, RPs most most trade partners are from the west. An increase in investments from Asia will also grow.
Aside from Japan and non chinese speaking ASEAN, Singapore, Hongkong, Taiwan and China may soon be major partners in free trade– these are Chinese speaking nations.
English as medium of instruction is a must.
However, if opportunity and resources is available, Chinese language should also be learned.
With these, we can attarct investors from both east and west
November 28th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
[…] According to a recent government study, only 7 percent of high school graduates can … According to a (separate) study conducted by the European Chamber of … English as the primary language of instructions in school or will we lose …Read more: here […]
November 28th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Don’t forget Japanese(nipongo)too, or Korean at that. Japan and Korea are not to be left out in terms of trade and investment. I dream of the day that the whole world must speak Filipino too.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Proficiency in the english language does not make economics any better than how it is manage either in Japanese, Pilipino, Korean, Vietnamese etc. Now if we are to compete in sending out our human resources to gain employment overseas then english proficiency will matter. The Pilipino standards in classroom education is mostly in english. Textbooks are in english, oral and written tests are mostly in english. Poor curriculum from lack of good teachers and funding are reasons for the poor english proficiency in our public school system. And also, please stop making fun of Pilipinos who are struggling to express themselves in the english language. Proficiency in the english language although it has it’s advantages in many ways, does not make anybody smarter than those who are not grammatically proficient in expressing themselves in english.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:17 am
[…] Decline of education blamed on deterioration of English proficiency Such a rapid decline in the English competency of Filipinos would eventually erode the competitiveness of the countrys human resources, both here and abroad A quote attributed to Senator Edgardo J. Angara. …Read more: here […]
November 29th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
i realy do believe that pinoys shud have proficiency in english language. i remember when i was in the elementary, the medium of instruction is in enlish. not til i entered college that it became TagLish. tks to U.P. demands that this be the norm. (how patriotic) i work for a major airline call center bsed in Chicago. a lot of our department is now being sent to Delhi. one of the major element for them to be part of the call center is their proficiency in the enlish language. then our North American division is also in Manila, Gil Puyat st. Makati to be exacet. there are more than 100 agents there answering the calls for reservation. not to mention last monday, our bag desk complaints call center is now undergoing training in Manila to answer the calls. what is the first requirement?….of course proficiency in the english language. the agents for my company that has started screening applicants last monday have chosen those that has no regional accent (visayan,kapangpangan ,etc) when they talk in english. they will be undergoing fon training and etiquette for three mos. US airways is also in manila, not to mention the biggest medical insurance in the states, Blue Cross Blue Shield call center. all of these major companies in the states comes to manila and bring businesses there because they know that pinoy is proficient in the english language. the pinoy seamen are also a major force to deal with by foreign shipping companies, because of english proficiency.what is so heartbreaking about this so called english proficiency — is that pinoys have the habit of talking both in English and tagalog. (e.g. ay! how cute! or i like the movie, very intense and very nakakaiyak and ma-drama!) i visited a public school classroom last aug.’06 and visited one of my classmate who is teaching english in one of the school. she has nearly 100 students in the classroom.her lamentation and complaints, these students cannot grasp what she is teaching, because the classroom is crowded and the teaching environment is so poor.let us not blame the teachers if there are failures in the students. let us try to understand the discipline and behaviour first of the students themselves when it comes to learning and understanding inside the classrooms.
November 29th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
[…] Carlos Conde reports on deteriorating Filipino skills in English (hat tip to Filipino Soul). […]
December 31st, 2006 at 10:20 pm
[…] 1. The decline of education. […]
January 5th, 2007 at 12:35 am
i think that we should not arguing of this problem.we are pilipino and our dialect is tagalog.in our country, there are many dialects that we may not understand such as bisaya, waray,ilonggo etc.all of that i’ve been said is just only a question to us that need to be answered in order to understand it. it’s just like learning english. teh problem is just the same though is has an opposite manner. no matter how big or larger you study, you should study first the very small. if we try to work each other, there will be a change in our country not only in our own country but all of us,too.
May 7th, 2007 at 10:40 am
[…] writers and national artists signed a petition (pdf) asking the Philippine Supreme Court to block Executive Order No. 210, which requires the use of English as the medium of instruction in Philippine public […]
May 8th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Grace, I have read an article in Showbiz section in Balita tabloid that DECS put a blame on Asianovelas in deterioration of English Proficiency. What do you think? Absurd, right? And damn superficial
October 10th, 2007 at 8:43 am
English as the medium of instruction doesn’t help as one bit!!!! Not even when it comes to tourism. Just look at Japan and Korea, very few people can understand and speak english in both countires but those countries are way abobe the Philippines.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
decline of education can partly be blamed on deterioration of english proficiency since this is an adopted intl language. but one reason of its deteriorating state is the lack of budget from the govt. you see one classroom for an instance in a public school accommodates one hundred students, this is not condusive to learning plus the incompetence of the teachers, another reason is the lack of patriotism, we dont strive enough bec we dont have our identity as a nation, we dont have the drive to become successful in this field of endeavor
December 9th, 2007 at 4:09 am
“Just look at Japan and Korea, very few people can understand and speak english in both countires but those countries are way abobe the Philippines.”
But but But..these countries are sharpening their English proficiencies at this point of time.
Oh, in Singapore, they’ve always had great emphasis in English and most Universities there use English as a medium of instruction!
Filipinos, generally speaking, are tamad.
They’re way better than the Philippines because of their work ethics. TOO MUCH break isn’t tolerated. In the Philippines, what people want is more break than work…and then we complain about our lives? Most Pinoys are bunch of Juan Tamads, waiting for working people to feed them even if they can work their asses of.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:19 am
In addition to that, if we will not sharpen the English proficiency in the country, hardly anyone will understand our constitution. It’s in English, and the English used is not as simple as “The dog saw the cat”.
You keep on sighting out Japan, but never Singapore. The Philippines is more comparable to Singapore as both are multi-cultural countries. japan and Korea are amongst the most homogeneous in the world.
Those who oppose to English have inferiority complex and crab mentality. They want to drag down the Pinoys who have edge in the English(and other languages like Spanish, Nihonggo) language.
Naku, poreket magaling lang sa ibang lenguahe ang isang tao, eh sinasabi na natin “hindi ka Pilipino”, but the very same people who complain are the ones butchering the language
“Now na”
Why don’t they use “NGAYON NA”?
Hypocrites!
The use of English as medium of intruction will most likely narrow the gap between the rich and poor. The unprivileged people will have access to English. If we will not pursue this, it is most likely that our poor will not understand our constitution and be deprived of employment in Corporations. Only rich people will have access to the English language because they can send their children to International schools where they use English in a day-to-day basis. Proficiency in English is not simply memorization. You have to USE it regularly.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:27 am
using our own language is one way of respecting our heroes who fight for our freedom…
February 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Filipinos should not only learn English, but Mandarin and Fukien as well, if given opportunity
- I suppose the relevance of Mandarin and Fukien generally applies better to the Chinese-Filipino community given their cultural heritage. Still, I’d agree that it would be better if Filipinos learn Mandarin. China is becoming a global power, so a good knowledge of Mandarin not only gives you an edge in business (or any other profession for that matter) but also helps you expand your horizons and learn about other cultures.
March 16th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Proficiency in English doesn’t make one more intelligent, and not being proficient with it doesn’t make one less intellegent either. It’s just another language among others, except that it’s used for relating to other nations.
Other nations learn English for their own benefit, however, Filipinos learn English for the benefit of other nations.
I just hope time will come, like the French, Malays and Germans, Filipinos can already say “If you want to understand me, learn my language!”
I want to share a very interesting paper written by Nelson Turgo entitled, “Kung Bakit Nagmura Ako ng Putang Ina sa Buwan ng Wika”, which brings us to the idea that Filipinos really have to work on their sense of nationalism to achieve real “development” not only on the economic aspect, rather, on all aspects of our nationhood-social, cultural, political, spiritual. Loving your own language, as luck would have it, is the first step towards nationalism.
Here’s the link: http://planet.naga.gov.ph/2006/08/18/kung-bakit-nagmura-ako-ng-putang-ina-sa-buwan-ng-wika/
October 14th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I agree with Sonnie. These days, the Filipino must expand his/her knowledge to compete successfully in this world. Mandarin, Japanese Korean and even Vietnamese are languages to learn, since these respective nations do billoions of dollars in business, tourism, education and investments in the Philippines. Who ever thought that learning mandarin is of no relevance or should be relegated to the Filipino-Chinese community is very ignorant…meaning learning(attainment of knowledge) should only be done to get you through college only. Mandarin today is hot especially in East and SE Asia and around the world. By learning those languages, we can also improve on our English, since the primary lingua franca in teaching those Asian languages is through English. Common sense people!
October 20th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
My only concern about English being used as medium of instruction is because thousands of Filipinos are fleeing their country every day to look for jobs in other countries so in that case, they should be properly equipped with good English language skills.
For those who remain in the Philippines, they can go ahead with speaking their own langauges. But then again, official reports, academic papers,university textbooks most PRC examinations are in English so what’s the refusal to accept English as the medium of instruction in Philippines schools all about?
Silly nationalistic/ patriotic principles?
So why do we go to work in other countries if we are that bloody nationalistic or patriotic?
Learning English is not being unpatriotic, it is a necessity!
Let’s have a good look at our languages. How many Filipinos actually speak Tagalog or Pilipino? How many Filipinos claim Tagalog/ Pilipino as their first language? Ask me. It would be a lie to say that it’s my first language. My first language is my dialect, the dialect my people in my village speak. I just had to study Pilipino because the government said it’s the Philippines’ national language. The Cebuanos are right when they translated the Philippine National Anthem into Cebuano.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I do have questions:
1.why is there a need to revised the BSED curriculum?
2.What are the effect of the new curriculum?
3. What are their comments (common comments) in the revised curriculum?