February 2021 – Learning Together Now

You can’t bring change if you only improve the old order

Posted on February 27, 2021March 9, 2021 by rexlalic

The effort to turn the students into obedient and passive listeners is the banking education system’s primary objective. Students are expected to memorize, re-produce, and listen to the story of the teacher. The study materials used in teaching are tools to indoctrinate young minds to comply with the industry’s regulations. The students are taught to observe and keep the status quo of the teacher as the dominant one. The focus of teaching is on content learning and not the application. Because the students are not inquired or encouraged to say what they think, they are kept at bay. The students will always be at the receiving end of the narrative of the teachers. In this way, the system will produce a society of adaptable, manageable, and conformant workers obedient to the companies and corporations.

As they have gone through the banking education system, the students will be the future workforce expected by the capitalist to be the obedient and manageable society in general. They will not have the ability to see the situation that they are in since they were educated to follow and comply. They will be under the influence of the oppressors.

“I am a curious being,” stated on Pedagogy of the oppressed by FREIRE, Paulo, RAMOS, Myra Bergman [Video file]. (n.d.). Freire is talking about raising questions and consciousness about your surroundings. To discover, inquire and create solutions on the issues presented to the student. The structure is to explore, ask questions, and modify things to acquire and improve well-being. The student is encouraged to learn with fellow students and their teacher and vice versa, the teacher from the students. The students need to know how to articulate themselves to anyone, not to be dominated by others. This Problem-solving type of education encourages critical consciousness and collective construction of knowledge that paved the way beyond literacy. Society then will learn to ask questions to be aware of their oppressed situations and how to change that.

The US’s vested interest in colonizing the Philippines benefits from all the resources, workforce, and talent they get from the country. Using education to indoctrinate the Philippines’ young generation based on the US context has secured their future and position their people to oppress society. We were taught the culture of submission and followed the education pattern that prepares an individual to be a compliant and manageable worker. Our Philippine educational system focuses on mathematics, language, and science, which are leaning into compliance and conformity. These subject areas are essential but do not encourage students to be free thinkers. Discovering new things, being aware of the culture around us, and our history serves as the starting point to develop our young minds’ consciousness. You can’t bring change if you only improve the old order.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire

https://www.amazon.ae/Pedagogy-Oppressed-Paulo-Freire/dp/0826406114/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=pedagogy+of+the+oppressed&qid=1614405513&sr=8-3

SCIENCE 11

KALADUA (Twin Souls)

Posted on February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 by rexlalic

“Nung eka mangan mangalug ya ing Kaladua mu keng cusina”, are the words uttered by my Apung Ingga (grandmother). Translation: “If you do not eat tonight, your soul will go to the kitchen in search for food (in a literal sense your soul will leave your physical body in search for food in the kitchen, thus creating some commotions in your food storage, fridge and dining utensils). In Kapampangan word, KALADUA deriving from two words, “kalâ” means soul, and “aduâ” means two (twin). In the English Language, “KALADUA” means TWIN SOULS. When I was little, I really couldn’t comprehend the context of what my grandmother was telling me. I thought it was to scare me off since I know that couldn’t be true, for my belief is for the soul will only depart our body once we die and proceed to either heaven or hell.

Upon writing this short reflection and researching the Kapampangan culture’s folklore, I realized a more profound and broader context of what does “KALADUA” really means.

The “kalâ” (the soul) in Kapampangan belief consists of two souls, which every person has. The first is the “lagyû” being the personal soul, and the second is the “nû” which sustains life and returns to earth when this life ceases and dies. The first one has three abilities since it can detach itself from the host body (soul projection) while asleep. The 1st ability is the “mangalug” when the earthly body is hungry while asleep, it will resort to finding food to getting satisfied. The second ability is the “kambubulag”, which is the power to take the form of a butterfly in search of help to travel to distant locations to find friends and relatives or send a message that he is in danger or severely ill or nearing death. The third ability is the “mangkukusim” which is the most powerful and dangerous that can harm their enemies inside their houses.

The second, the “nû,” is the soul given by “Indung Tibuan” (mother earth). The one that sustains life inside, the blood that flows through the veins, the nourishment coming from the land’s produce. When a right person dies, the KALADUA (the twin souls) splits. The first soul goes to be a part of the White Rock on Bunduk Aláya (Mount Arayat). It becomes one with Apung Sinukuan (The Sun King). The second soul, the “nû,” his soul returns to Indung Tibuan(mother earth).

Now I understand my grandparents and their elders were so attached to our land in Pampanga. Even the lahar brought by Mt. The Pinatubo eruption devastated the land; they were willing to die and be buried in the land where they were born. The Indung Tibuan in Kapampangan, through the richness of its soil, water, and air, gives food and life to everything. Twin Souls’ belief is also present in other parts of the world called Soul Dualism.

Source:

https://siuala.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/kapampangan-spirituality/

https://siuala.wordpress.com/2006/08/26/kaladua-root-of-the-agrarian-problem-in-pampanga-and-the-essence-of-kapampangan-nationalism/

https://kathangindio.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/indung-tibuan/

https.://thephilippinestoday.com/who-is-aring-sinukuan/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Arayat

https://discover.hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Maria-Sinukuan-The-Fairy-Godmother-Who-Turned-Men-Into-Swine-Mountain-Goddesses-of-the-Philippines-Part-2

https://space.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/explorations/article/contemplating_soul_projection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_dualism

EDS 100

Keep Moving Forward

Posted on February 21, 2021February 25, 2021 by rexlalic

Keep Moving Forward

Pondering on a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I’m wondering if he is talking about human development or his fight on civil rights. I think maybe the latter. But we keep moving forward as we develop into a full-grown human being. From crawling to walking and to running, we keep moving forward to develop and learn new skills.

Having gone through the topics about Human Development, I can’t help just tell myself that I went through all of these in my life stages and still am. I regard these study materials as a guide to better understand the things that had influence and made me of who I am today. I’m not yet done and can continuously develop myself with the elements that I can control and the unexpected.

It is fascinating whenever you read quotes from great human beings and good movies that communicate the very essence of human development you can identify with it. This is because we are still developing. In a Disney movie titled “ Meet the Robinsons” , Wilbur keeps saying, “Keep moving forward.” It’s his dad’s motto. Then Wilbur explains how his dad built everything in Robinson Industries, including Carl and the time machines. Through each failure, his dad keeps moving forward. The film ends with a great quote from Walt Disney himself: “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

We need to Unlearn all the bad habits we develop while we are growing up, Learn new things and skills, Relearn the things that made you stronger. This is the URL of my development as I am now.

Sources:

Image:www.amazon.com/JSC455-18-Inches-12-Inches-Motivational-Inspirational/dp/B0758J5M8Q

Meet the Robinsons Film: Screen grab. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBuHmjLAVrlS8T-Xqn7ej_A