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Thursday, June 01, 2006
Wenceslao: Faith in public schools
By Bong O. Wenceslao
Next week’s opening of classes reminds me of that small gathering we had with my former City Central School classmates. That meeting allowed us to reminisce about the good old days and how times have changed. Indeed, the City Central School we knew more than three decades ago is no longer the same physically and organizationally.
City Central has always been a big school to the extent that our graduating class had almost 20 sections. Student population, however, was controlled with the setting up of more public schools in the city and the expansion of old ones. Besides, three-story buildings have been constructed inside the school compound and vacant spaces limited.
This has resulted in the transfer of the school’s center of activity from the Jones Ave. side to the P. del Rosario St. side. In the old days, the pre-World War II building fronting Jones Ave. housed the higher grades and the higher sections, aside from being the site of the quadrangle. A building has been constructed in that old playground.
If I remember it correctly, the teacher-pupil ratio at that time was 1:30. Thus I find it unfortunate that in a recent verbal exchange between President Arroyo and a Department of Education official, the discussed teacher-pupil ratio was 1:50. This just shows the extent of the problem of the lack of classrooms and teachers nationwide.
President Arroyo should therefore not be surprised that her administration’s insistence that there is no lack of classroom in the country’s schools has been met with derision. Words just can’t change reality. As it is, government’s lack of attention to education has continuously pulled the quality of the public school system down.
But I am a proud product of that same system and still have faith in it despite government’s failings. I remember getting angry when my high school teacher in Southwestern University (where I transferred after quitting Cebu City National Science High School) considered products of private schools better than public school graduates.
In my discussion with my wife about the future of our son, there was this suggestion about enrolling him in private school. Later on, we decided that the better choice would be the public school, which has largely shaped both of our younger years. Call that romanticism, but I just feel that my son would be in better hands there.
A big part of that decision came from the years that I spent first at the elementary school in Argao then at the City Central and finally at Science High. My only misgiving is that the faith that many of us placed on the country’s public school system has not been given much importance by our political leaders who are pushing that system to the gutter.
TEXTREAX. From 0910-8051111: “Whatever happened to the Leyte landslide donations? Until now, the victims haven’t received them and there are allegations of corruption. What kind of country are we when officials steal even relief donations? Unless this will change, other nations will think twice before helping us during calamities.”
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651/my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 1, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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