How's your English?
The debate on the government’s plan to put back English as the medium of instruction in public schools has reached the Supreme Court. A group of do-gooders called Wika has filed a petition to block the plan. It even put up a small public demonstration in front of the Supreme Court, dutifully recorded on national TV.I do not much care if the case is sub judice. I am wading into the debate.
I have not read the petition. But, as reported in the press, the reasons put forth in the petition were nothing new.
First, Wika claims the plan is anti-poor. Kids from poor families are not raised to speak English and are therefore at a disadvantage. The disadvantage will only be temporary. The poor kids will catch up soon enough. In the end, the bright ones, poor or rich, will rise above the rest. The important thing is for the poor kids to have equal access to high quality education, with English as the teaching medium.
Second, Wika claims the Filipino will lose his heritage. I am not sure what this means. I am a Bicolano. Like all Bicolanos I know who have transplanted themselves in Metro Manila, I speak Tagalog and English most of the day, week in and out. We have never lost our Bicolano heritage: Strong family ties, a wonderful sense of humor, deep religiosity, a fervent devotion to the Virgin of Peñafrancia.
Third, Wika claims the plan is unconstitutional. Not being a lawyer, much less a constitutionalist, I will leave this issue to Fr. Joaquin Bernas to tackle.
Surely, everybody agrees that, in this day and age, to have a good command of oral and written English is desirable.
But English is a very difficult language to master. The late Rev. Francis D. Burns opened Ateneo de Naga in 1939. When he arrived in Naga City, he had already taught in Ateneo de Manila University for about seven years before. He had his own ideas about teaching English. He established the English rule in Naga: As soon as a student stepped in campus, he was to speak nothing but English. If a classmate hears him speak in the dialect, he was to be reported for punishment. Fr. Burns believed that forcing the student to speak English was the best way to learn the language. Believe me, it worked. We learned.
Today, when Congressman Tupas of Cebu pushes the use of English as the medium of instruction from second grade in public schools, in spite of the Wika petition, he follows in the footsteps of Fr. Burns.
We must give the Filipino the communication skills in written and oral English to succeed in this era of information technology.
Take the insurance industry. Fifty years ago, an agent could make a good living with just enough command of English to get along. Today, the agent is always a college graduate.
If a Filipino has a desk job in an insurance office, he has to be proficient in English. All insurance policies, the Insurance Code, the implementing rules and regulations of the Insurance Commission and the jurisprudence are all in English. Business is done in oral and written English, domestically and internationally.
Countries in the region are desperately teaching English to their populations. China has imported one million English teachers. India has a specially designed crash course for their citizens. South Koreans stay in the Philippines for a couple of years to learn English.
We are way ahead of everybody. Ever since the American colonizers sent over a shipload of teachers on the transport Thomas a hundred years ago, we have been grappling with the nuances of the English language.
As a result, we are the third largest English-speaking country in the whole world, next only to the United States and the United Kingdom. Why should we lose this edge?
Finally, haven’t you noticed that the debate is being conducted by the participants, including Wika, in perfect English?
