THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND JEJEMONS

The Philippine Department of Education has recently declared an all-out war against JEJEMONS - people, specifically students in the elementary and high school levels, who use letters, signs, and symbols in their text messages that apparently go against the established rules of the English (and Filipino) grammar. The Department said that these jejemons are putting down the quality of Philippine education. Reportedly, teachers will now have to give more written assignments to these students to train them how to write better - correct grammar, spelling, etc.

I am not basically in favor of or against these jejemons, though I think this is one manifestation of freedom of expression - a right guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution. But, can the Department of Education succeed in this activity which, I believe, is based on the wrong premise?

If one has been following the status of Philippine education, he can easily say that the quality of education in the Philippines has been continuously on the decline since a few years ago.

Many students today can no longer perform simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division without the use of the calculator. Why is the use of calculators not banned? Recently, I encountered several third year college students who did not even now how long one meter is. They cannot also identify the units of measure (inches and centimeters) shown by a one-foot ruler. How were they able to reach the tertiary level of education?

They also do not know how to use library facilities anymore. They are not even aware of the author, subject, and index cards that facilitate research inside the library. Many have not experienced the thrill of discovering knowledge from books, periodical, journals, and similar printed materials. They have resorted to the copy-paste action easily available to most students via the Internet. Why is the use of the Internet also not banned?

Instead of focusing its attention to these jejemons, the Department of Education would do better if it takes a closer, more objective look into the quality of the teachers and the principals in these schools. They are the ones responsible for molding the minds, the characters of the youth.

Sad to say, many teachers who are "qualified" to teach because of their passing the required Licensure Examination for Teachers are also not good English speakers and writers. What can we expect of them in this drive to teach the students better English? Sure, they can give assignments.

But, what will the students do - copy-paste from the Internet again, even if they do not read and understand what they download from the Internet?

Principals are supposed to be PhDs. Yet, many of them cannot also express themselves well in the universal language - English. I remember one speaker we had about three years ago in a seminar for educators. That speaker said that many PhDs now are "Parang hindi Doctor" - roughly translated into "as if they are not holders of the said degree". This has made me think: did they really earn or simply "buy" the degree from "diploma mill graduate schools"? How were they promoted to such sensitive position in the academe?

Fighting these jejemons is just like prescribing mefenamic acid to somebody a more serious illness. They are not the ones responsible for the current status of Philippine education.

Can somebody do a thorough and objective research on the factors responsible for the current condition of Philippine education and come up recommendations or strategies for its improvement? The sooner, the better.

Comments are very much welcome.