What Is Wrong With Our Education? It’s Not What We Teach But How We Teach That Is The Problem!

Australia-born Filipino businessman Peter Wallace reminds us today that in 2019 the Philippines ranked the lowest in Grade 4 Math and Science among 58 countries studied (25 April 2022, “Our Future At Risk,” Inquirer, Inquirer.net). That our future is at risk, I agree. What do we do now, if late?

His advice is based on the results of the American 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (Bonz Magsambol, 09 Dec 2020, “PH Lowest Among 58 Countries In Math, Science – Global Assessment,” Rappler, Rappler.com).

Mr Wallace does not suggest a specific educational initiative to improve Filipino Math and Science performances, but I will – after all, I am the teacher, a UP Los Baños BSA Ag Edu graduate, with a 1964 Civil Service Professional license.

Educational example: Should Agriculture be mostly Math and Science? Ah, I think that is where the problem lies! We teach Math and Science as logical progressions solely:

From Grade School to Grad School, teachers emphasize memorizing, not thinking!

Thus, we teach: “1 + 1” equals “2” – that is correct, but we stop there.
(upper image from PNG, png.egg.com)

“Can we teach Math and Science also outside of logic?” The thinking answer is, “Yes!”
(lower image from NewPath Learning, newpathlearning.com)

We can teach other ways how we get 2, or why, such as “7 – 5” and ”12 ÷ 6” and ”2 x 1.”

Even with basic math operations, we can teach thinking!

And therefore, since the other 57 TIMSS countries do not teach what I have just taught you, they are as poor in teaching from Grade School to Grad School as we Filipinos are!

To show how to teach thinking now then, following my chosen college field, I will now teach you Agriculture: Regenerative Agriculture (RAg) no less.

High school math lesson in RAg:

Instead of P5,000 for chemical fertilizer, you spend P1,000 to create your own organic fertilizer – did you lose or gain?

At any level, that’s intelligent teaching!

The trouble with the Philippine educational system is that we do not teach our teachers to teach thinking but to teach memorizing Math and Science!

Another RAg lesson in thinking, college level:

What happens when you add nothing but organic fertilizer for 5 years to the farm that has been fertilized with NPK for the last 50 years?

Excellent question!

Here are other intelligent RAg questions:

“What happens to your body when you consume healthy food?”
“What happens to the costs & returns of the farmer when s/he practices organic farming instead of chemical farming?”
“What happens to the contribution of greenhouse gases when the farm no longer uses chemical fertilizers?”

The problem in PH Agriculture is that not one of the state colleges & universities (SCUs) of the Philippines teaches organic farming, which is a form of RAg. That is to say, the SCUs are hardly teaching thinking to Agriculture students.

The hurtful truth is that from Grade School to Grad School, our teachers mostly teach memorizing, and hardly teach thinking!@517