A senator is calling for a revisit of the K-12 curriculum. It did not deliver on its promise to improve the knowledge and skills of Filipino students to become competitive in the world market. Instead we achieved the reverse. We are lagging really behind in international assessments, education-wise.
Likewise, it also did not delver on the promise for senior high graduates to be able to get jobs while pursuing higher education dreams. How could they get jobs when a number of them have even been certified as non-readers?
Sen. Gatchalian’s main concern is for high school kids to become better in math and in reading.
No doubt some remedial measures must be implemented to improve the incompetence of those who are already in high school but the more important priority now is to go back and redo the curriculum all the way from kindergarten to high school.
Why not go back to the old curriculum that concentrated on the 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic)? Back then there was nothing fancy about the curriculum but it turned out competent elementary and high school graduates.
There were so many fancy theories about the K-12 program but look what it got us into? Incompetence or being a laggard of the world when it came to basic education. Inexorably, that will result in our becoming laggards also in the job market.
Did we cram so many things in the curriculum that caused confusion or failure to master the basics?
It might make sense to just go back to how things were, making kids master their 3Rs and then just add some matters geared towards making them employable. They could then get jobs while pursuing higher education like going to college for a bachelor’s degree and, thereafter, a master’s or a PhD, or some other kind of specialization.
This is what the Senate or the DepEd should look into.
The K-12 just added a big financial burden to parents, the government and all others concerned, and what it achieved was make our high school graduates a laughing stock in the international scene.**