Get ready for another shocker of a bill courtesy of our lawmakers: A college subject solely dedicated to the revolutionary hero, Andres Bonifacio. This was proposed recently by one this party group called Kabataan in congress.
Let’s wait for more. Why stop with Bonifacio? Lets add college units for all our heroes! Labu-labo na lahat na gawan ng suheto sa colegio!
Mabini should have one too. I can hear Caviteños clamoring another one for Aguinaldo. Maybe the brilliant Gen. Antonio Luna should be studied as a subject as well. My Ilongo parents would certainly wish one for their hometown hero Jaena.
But, really, do we need additional subjects so we can better appreciate Filipino history? Do we need a Bonifacio subject to understand the importance of his contributions?
Is it not that Philippine history is not being taught properly right from grade school? and that we lack programs that promote our culture and history?
Students are not even paying attention to Rizal and now we are about to add Bonifacio. When students are fairing well with existing history subjects we have in place – then we think of adding new subjects. But for now – please, honorable congressmen, heed the advice of legendary English rock band Pink Floyd “leave the kids alone…”
The problem with our country is that we think we need more laws to fix our problems. We end up swamped with more laws than we know. There are more issues in Philippine historiography that needs to be addressed. We don’t need new subjects.
We need to strengthen the teaching of Philippine history – when begin to appreciate Philippine history as an essential part of our identity – then we have done our job. If we fail to do this, and we are failing, the whole thing falls apart – we continue with Philippine history subjects as just units that needed to be completed to pass high school and college. We end up with generations of Filipino with a shallow understanding of what the Filipino past is all about.
The biggest challenge is making Philippine history more accurate, more interesting, more accessible and more effective for the young. We need innovative historical programs (in school and in public) that will capture our peoples imagination. We need to look at other countries and how they’re succeeding. Lets use all medias at our disposal – fund projects that will engage students and save what’s left of our national treasures. These are what our kagagalang-galang na mga representante should be tackling in congress. When these guys get creative and proactive, when they acquire vision – we get our taxes worth.
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