How not to make a concerned citizen?

In college, I have taken up Social Studies (an umbrella term that includes such subjects as History, Geography, etc.) because I like it. It gives me a chance to travel back into time, know the heroes and villains of the past, and discover how similar or different the situation back then from today's. In short, I like Social Studies not because it's replete with facts, but because it offers a rich perspective. But many, including the Department of Education, do not share my enthusiasm for Social Studies, save the historians and history buffs.

Social Studies is always a fringe subject. Look around: In college, only few are specializing in it. Take Holy Cross of Davao College, where I'm studying. Out of the more than 2,000 Education students, there are only about 75 students majoring in Social Studies. In high school, students so loathe the subject that they have no qualms skipping it.

"In today's world," Dr. Serafin D. Quiason and Prof. Fe B. Mangahas wrote, "our educational planners have come out with a strange concoction in the form of a collected set of subjects called Makabayan, which is a misnomer."

"Lamentably," Dr. Quiason and Prof. Mangahas continued, "Makabayan is the antithesis of patriotism, nationalism and one's sense of national identity. Although the package is well intentioned, Makabayan presents Filipino culture and history in a hodgepodge fashion, void of the vital element of continuity in the study of our past."

It is really sad that a subject so important as History is so conveniently taken for granted. As if its relegation to the Makabayan were not enough, the government sent it further down into the abyss.

On August 25, 2009, the Department of Education (DepEd) issued Department Order No. 90 (DO 90). It is DepEd's "response to the alarming size or population of learners in a class or crowded classrooms, safety of young pupils and clamor for lesser learning loads."

Where the clamor for lesser learning loads comes from, I don't know. What the DO 90 specifically orders is reduce the teaching and learning of subjects in the elementary level. (See the chart below.)

"For Grade I and II," DO 90 further notes, "Science and Health will be integrated in English. For Grades I, II, and III, Sibika at Kultura will be integrated in Filipino. For Grades IV, V, VI, Musika, Sining at Edukasyong Pampalakas ng Katawan (MSEP) will also be integrated in Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika. Edukasyong Pagpapakatao will be integrated in all subject areas."

The overarching intent of DO 90 is to address the problem of many public schools with overcrowded classrooms. But is this another case of a cure worse than the disease?

History is more than just an accumulation of facts and figures. "History serves numerous purposes," Dr. Maria Serena Diokno said, "from the development of citizens as meaningful members of a larger community..., to the training of the mind in critical thinking and sound judgment. A good citizen is one who...obeys traffic lights. A good citizen, too, is one who is able to weigh options and make decisions, including whom to believe and trust...The practical applications of historical skills abound in everyday life, from writing reports and accepting (or rejecting) them as trustworthy, to tracing household payments over time and tracking prices of goods at the market."

Thus History should be taught early to children. It should be given enough time, enough attention, and enough care. But DO 90 is heading the opposite direction. It gives less time to History and waters it down by integrating it with other subjects.

That there is a problem with overcrowded classrooms cannot be denied. I have experienced it firsthand while I had my Field Study (a practicum of sort to Education students) at Sta. Ana National High School, where I handled a class of 80 students. That we need to solve it now is a cause worth supporting. But that we do it like DO 90 does is unforgivable.

We bemoan that the youth of today are apathetic; that they would rather audition for Star Circle Quest or Starstruck than take to the streets to protest, say, the extravagant dinners of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the USA; and that we would likely have the same crop of apathetic youth in the future.

But our tears are crocodile tears. How can we expect that they become concerned citizens when we don't cultivate them to be such?

If DO 90 will have its way, "we cannot reasonably expect our young to have any appreciation of citizenship," said Butch Hernandez, the executive director of Foundation for Worldwide People Power. "Is it any wonder then that when they graduate from university or technical-vocational school their initial impulse is to leave this country? Is it any wonder that our youth are apathetic to democratic processes such as elections and good governance? We want our youth to love this country, and yet we put them at a severe disadvantage."