Some Questions in Educational Psychology

In my humble opinion, psychology was one of the most complex subjects I ever studied since I was in high school. It is really hard to come by the very meaning of psychology and its importance to our understanding of life. This can be understood in simply understanding what is going on in the mind of a person when education comes in to their lives. This is why the study of educational psychology is ever important in our understanding of what is the ideal and real mode of education for a child.

Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between other multi-disciplinary fields like history, sociology, anthropology, humanities etc. This poses a challenge not just for the psychologists but also by educators, like parents, teachers and people surround the child. Also, even a simple person can ask these crucial questions; is it nature or nurture that molds a child? Can cognitive development be accelerated? Should it be mono-lingual or bilingual education in the early years? Should boys and girls study together or separately? What are the advantages and disadvantages of ability grouping? And many more questions to follow.

Is it nature or nurture that molds a child? These camps of thought, in my opinion, are not in opposition with one another but co-existing and dependent from each other. Nature is very important in the child’s growth since a child learns a lot from his/her environment just like the vision of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. According to Rousseau, a child should grow within nature and learn to use the bounty of it as an educational tool. But is nature solely responsible for a growing child? Certainly not or else we will raise a feral child similar to that of the famed novel, Jungle Book. Nurture is very crucial since it is the parent’s responsibility to teach and nourish the child with the knowledge he/she will need in order to survive, think, and gain wisdom from the world around them. Without the balance of nature and nurture, a child will grow up inadequate and might not survive the world they’ll live in.

Can cognitive development be accelerated? Yes and no is my answer in this question. Yes it is because a child’s growth is depending on the genetics of his/her parents, intellectual quotient and, more recently, emotional quotient. We sometimes call these children as “gifted” because of their ability to do something ahead of their years. I remember a classmate of mine in college. She is Shaira Luna, a well-known gifted child. We all know her vast knowledge and expertise in the field of science and we all oohs and ahhs on her. But when I found out that she kept on shifting and shifting from once course to another, she told me that she didn’t live d life she had when she was growing up. The last thing I heard, she is now in College of St. Benilde taking up photography. This is far from the “Promil Kid” we know. This is why cognitive development should not be accelerated.

But at the same time, cognitive can be accelerated if the child is showing maturity at the early age. I know some cases where children mature as early as 5 years old and have a high IQ at the age of 12. We can accelerate their cognitive development by nurturing their capabilities at this stage in their life. But we should be reminded never to push hard on the child that he/she will be expected to be like an adult wherein they are still young. Child psychology, in my opinion, is one of the most complex branches of psychology and many studies are being conducted to gain insights on this field.

Should it be mono-lingual or bilingual education in the early years? This is contentious when it comes to national identity and nationalism. But for me, it should be bilingual in the sense that knowledge is not confined in one language or culture but many. Taking the case of Japan, almost all subjects are taught in Japanese, even science and technology. But the problem of Japan right now is that they are now having a hard time coping with the demand of globalization, which English is the medium of communication. This is why bilingual education is crucial in the early years so that when a child grows up, he/she will be knowledgeable not just with their native tongue but also another language.

But the question is; what about the issue of nationalism? It is true that nationalism calls for national identity but that doesn’t mean we should not include other ideas. A good example is our own country. With the bilingual education, we are not only adept to the Filipino language but also, albeit not that strong, English. We can see this with the influx of foreign students from Korea and Middle East since it cheaper to study English here. And foreigners won’t be having a hard time communicating with Filipinos since we learn to speak English at the early age.

Should boys and girls study together or separately? I am neutral with this issue since both can have advantages and disadvantages. I for one is a product of an exclusive school so one advantage is that the friendship and camaraderie is built up as early as the primary level. Even at my age of 24, I still have friends dating back from our preparatory levels. At the same time the disadvantage I see is that it can trigger homosexuality since the lack of exposure with the other sex. This is a common stereotype from people coming from an exclusive school as a “breeding ground” for gays and lesbians. But this is a case-to-case basis and not all people who came from exclusive schools don’t turn being gays or lesbians.

A non-exclusive too has its advantage similar to an exclusive school. In fact, it can break barriers of machismo and “Maria Clara” stereotypes, which can be prevalent from an exclusive school. I find a non-exclusive school more engaging and a good learning process as a child grows up and in fact, I see no disadvantage at all.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of ability grouping? We cannot deny that every person has their own strengths and weaknesses. The advantage of ability grouping is harnessing and developing their potentials to the fullest. That is why schools have honor section for this example. They were taught more vigorously and more demanding subjects since they have potentials. But the disadvantage, and very negative, is that this can instill envy, self-doubt, self-pity and disunity in a classroom setting. I had that experience when I was in my grade school and high school days where the teachers favored more the honor section while “neglecting” the other classes. The honor class have the best teaches while the others have the not-so-good teachers that we end up learning nothing at all. Also, this grouping led to the mutual hate of the other sections to the honor section because of this so-called preferential treatment of the honor class.

But the negative view of ability grouping can be prevented if the child will be taught that they are grouped because of their strengths and should not expect special treatment but rather a more rigorous and demanding output expected from them. They should also be taught not to rest on their laurels but to prove others that what they are doing is no easy task but rather difficult.

To end my reflection, there are still questions I would like to answer. But as young as I am, I don’t have the necessary answers of the moment. The questions I tried to answer are just the tip of the iceberg of the many questions regarding education and psychology. And with more answers answered, more questions rises. But by trying to give my 2 cents on the questions, I hope that I can help contribute to our understanding of educational psychology.

History and Other Inter-disciplinary Approach

History is not just about history. In fact, history cannot stand alone that it cannot ignore the other disciplines in social sciences. Anthropology, sociology, psychology, literature, philosophy, economics etc. are some of the discipline the augment and enrich history as a discipline. History, in return, also augment these disciplines to further enrich and better understand social sciences.

Historians are finding out the great usefulness of a multi-disciplinary approach in historical writing. Other social sciences such as political science, economics, linguistics and literature are among the major contributing disciplines that contribute to the richness of history. You could imagine a historian writing history without even understanding the language of the people. This will be a fatal mistake for how can someone write a credible and authentic history ignoring this factor.

But how exactly can other social sciences contribute in history and vice-versa? For example, anthropology can fill in the gaps in the pre-historic studies of history thru the fossils and remains of the early people as they march in history. Political science can give history a good insight in the rise and fall of governance and politics. Literature can inspire a historian to write it down with solid and rigid frameworks of a literary writing. Psychology can give a historian a clear analysis the factors why such things happened in the first place thru the actions of a person. These lists are some of the few contributing social sciences to history on how they benefit from each other and further develop the inter-disciplinary approach in history.

The Current Problems in Philippine Education

I was watching a commercial in Knowledge Channel in SkyCable long time ago regarding the state of Philippine education. According to the commercial, the country is 2^nd to the last in the South-East Asian region in terms of the quality of education. This is well shocking and embarrassing to think that some of the best educational institutions in the region are in the Philippines. But despite these, why is it that the Philippines is lagging behind its neighbors? Is their something wrong with our state of education?

I also remember a survey made by the University of the Philippines (UP) way back the early 1990s. The survey ask the students why is the UP education is deteriorating. The proponents of the survey expected the quality of education and professors are to blame while others are the dilapidated and outdated facilities of the university. When the result came out, the majority said it was the lack of parking space is to blame for the deteriorating cause of UP education! But the lack of parking space is not even at the tip of the iceberg when the question of the problems of Philippine education. There are more things to be considered the other possibilities of the questions of the problems of Philippine education.

Probably many will agree that it is really the quality of education is to blame. Many felt that the curriculum set by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is not enough for a more competitive in the modern world. Some said that some subjects are lacking in substance like Mathematics and Science, both are the bulk of most of the educational institution in different countries. Here in the Philippines, many said that these subjects should be taught comprehensively and intensively because is will be the backbone of the country’s development in the near future. This is why Thailand, Malaysia and China outpaced the Philippines in terms of economical and industrial growth because these countries invested in the fields of Mathematics and Sciences. In fact, the best institution in the South-East Asian region is the National University of Singapore (NUS) and their course offerings are in these fields that the Philippines should need to develop.

Another problem pestering the quality of Philippine education is the quality and proficiency of the teachers. According to a recent news article, Filipino teachers lack proficiency in English, Science and Mathematics. Many said that these areas should have been trained comprehensively since as teachers, they should be able to teach the students with a more quality for future growth. But with what I see, the teachers have problems of their own. One example, and the most obvious, is the low salary and terrible working condition. Many public school teachers opt to have “sidelines” during class that sometimes the teacher simply forgets to teach. But who can blame them if their salaries of around 6000-8000 pesos, plus deductible, who can a teacher provide for his/her family? And with the rising cost of living, these figures are not enough. Others cannot teach well in class because of the ratio of students to a teacher. In a typical public school, in every one teacher there are 50-60 students in a class! If I were the teacher working in these conditions, how can I teach properly taking in to consideration of ordering more than 50-60 students per class?

The school facilities can also be a factor of the problem. The Philippines, both in private and public, lacks sophisticated laboratories and facilities to cater the needs of the students. For example, many public schools are still lacking the basic computer laboratories and it is so ironic that computer nowadays, computer education is crucial for future Computer Studies student. Without proper training in computer, how can a student be competitive and computer literate? Jose Rizal reminds us how modern and latest technologies are important in a student’s development in his novel El Filibusterismo. Like in the novel, the laboratory equipments are stored shut in a cabinet and never to be used in class because of the insufficient number of equipments. And when it is shown in class, it is presented like a monstrance of a priest! And prophetic as it seems, Rizal’s time is happening all over again in our contemporary times.

Lastly, a common problem of our Philippine education is the rising cost of sending a child to school. Private schools charges skyrocketing tuition and miscellaneous fees to a student that parents are having a hard time to cope with the rising cost of education. Even sending a child in a public school doesn’t fare better since even the poorest of the poor cannot afford to send a child in school. I remember vividly a story of a public school teacher with a pupil of him. He said that this student was so poor that teachers pay for everything so she can go to school. The teachers don’t mind this sacrifice because the student is so bright and intelligent. She never went to college after high school since she cannot really afford it anymore. What saddened the teachers is that this student passed UP but with no scholarship. Right now, many see education not as necessity but a luxury they cannot afford.

The state of Philippine education is indeed sad and disheartening. We probably all asking who’s to blame for all this mess. But we cannot simply point finger since we all have responsibilities to solve these problem. The government tries its best to give the country and it seemed not enough. But we should not blame the government entirely since it is just not the government’s problems. It is the problem of each and every one of us. If we want the highest quality of education in the country, we should work together to solve this problem.

As a future teacher, these problems will be a big cross to bear. But if I can help solve this problem in my own little way, the cross can be lighter and easier to bear. This is the bitter cup of a teacher to bear. But we must remember that the teacher and every one of us will determine the course of our country’s development through education. Even Rizal said that for a country to progress, education is the key to that success. Solving the problems of Philippine education is a long way to go but if we work for the better, we can attain that quality education we all hope for the best.