The miseducation of Terence B

  There was this English textbook that our class used when I was in high school. In it was a story titled “Honorable Dishonor”. The story was about two bright students: one, a financially well-off boy who was posed to graduate class valedictorian and deservedly so; the other, the well-off boy’s closest competitor—a poor lad who would be the class salutatorian.

            One day while all alone in the classroom, the well-off valedictorian-to-be found a book which was inadvertently left by one of his classmates. Trying to determine to whom the book belonged, the valedictorian-to-be opened it and saw a letter inside. The book belonged to his closest competitor and the letter was for the latter’s mother. In the letter, the boy was saying sorry to his mother for not being able to graduate as valedictorian. The consequence was that he may not move on to college for the family was so poor that even his half-scholarship to college for being the high school salutatorian would not suffice. The family has absolutely no means to augment the half-scholarship. To add to that, this boy had many more siblings to be sent also to school.

            After reading the letter, the well-off boy went to the class adviser, related the incident, and gallantly declared that he was willing to give up graduating at the top of the class so that the salutatorian-to-be can graduate as the class valedictorian and be entitled to a full scholarship to college. This was not easy for this well-off boy to do since all his other siblings before him have graduated valedictorian but more than that, he also deserved to graduate as so. 

            In class, my high school teacher queried if I would be willing to do what the boy in the story did given the same set of circumstances. (I was the consistent first honors and expected to graduate at the top of the class.)

            Without really thinking, I readily said yes. At the time I felt it to be the proper response. The teacher praised and commended me without giving any justification why giving up what you deserve and fought hard for is the proper thing to do.

            Many years have gone by and I have developed into a critical-minded adult. If that high school teacher would ask me the same question, most likely I would have given a different answer. I would not have given a safe “yes” answer just to look (or sound) good and to please her. I probably would have said “no” and launch into a discussion on the ill-effects of having an “entitlement mentality”, the benefits of self-reliance and the difference between true altruism and false altruism.

            The above epiphany suddenly came to me when I read in the papers about the error-filled DepEd (Department of Education)-sanctioned textbooks and the courageous teacher (Antonio Calipjo-Go of the Marian School), initially thought of as a crank, who questioned the facts presented in those textbooks used by many (I think, high school) students all over the country.

            We need more people like him in the academe and in our educational system—people who are critical-minded and do not just accept facts and information as they are.

            As you can see, as one news organization put it, “facts are not mere facts; information is not just plain information”. Facts and information do have an effect on their consumers.

More important, however, than having error-free textbooks are teachers and/or educators who can think critically and can pass such ability on to their students. More important than having the gumption to kvetch is the ability to think critically, question or challenge the status quo and the guts to stand for what one believes what ought to be. “What is as important as a beautiful mind is a courageous heart,” so goes a line from the movie “A Beautiful Mind”.

            Again I am reminded of this incident related to me by one mother: Her son was supposed to get a perfect score in an exam but for one mistake. On the blank space before the question “What is the color of an egg?” her son wrote “brown”. The teacher put a big X mark on the answer.

            To a certain extent I believe that I may have been miseducated. (I may have also used those error-filled textbooks during my time.) So too those classroom kids who for many years have used those error-filled government-sanctioned textbooks and who have without question listened to so-called voices of authority who believe that all eggs are white.

            I have this not-so-funny feeling that my miseducation would take some time to be undone.  

[ I found this in my Journal. ]