Into the Black

The subjective is very real. Reality is not only what exists “out there”, it is also what exists “in here”. This truth explains why human beings differ from one another. And unless we grasp this truth,  we will never learn to respect the feelings, beliefs, opinions, and dreams–the individuality of every person. For instance, an object, person, or a scene, evokes a certain emotion in you, while to other people, the same object, person, or scene does not mean anything other than that it is an objective existence. It’s all in your head but as  Albus Dumbledore  said, “why on earth should it mean that it is not real?” Below is poem about how an otherwise meaningless scene evokes a certain emotion in the speaker in the poem. Please read and tell me what you think about it. I promise, I will respect your opinion because I know that it is as real as mine. Silhouette   it was only her shrinking form blocking the faint glimmer of a fluorescent bulb ahea...

Having experienced teaching in several public schools, I have memories of former colleagues letting slip that they were integrating religion-based morality into their lessons. For instance, one of them once recounted to me how she explained to her students the evil of homosexuality in her Values Education class one afternoon. Citing Biblical passages, she told them that God had an aversion to homosexuals. Apparently, her premise was that the Bible was the word of God, and as such, was as irrefutable an evidence as one could ever wish to anchor her assertion on. I had half a mind to ask her what made her so sure that the Bible was the word of God—and not the hundreds of other books contending for the title—but the fear of offending her got the better of me. At any rate, I thought that engaging in a debate on religion was always a tricky affair, and I did not want to get myself entangled in one if I could help it. In retrospect, however, I realized that setting aside theological iss...

For a very long time, history education has been thought of as consisting solely of the teaching of substantive knowledge — facts, concepts, or generalizations that have to do with past events. Students have been taught, for instance, when and where the Spanish colonization of the Philippines began, what colonization means, or how the Spaniards conquered the Philippines. It cannot be denied that knowledge of this type is important for students to acquire. However, the view that history education is nothing more than a repository of this type of knowledge, has been the object of criticisms from social educators over the past two decades. These social educators pointed out that a history education that concerns itself exclusively with teaching substantive content is dismissible as a lightweight subject. For under such education, students’ progress in history education would mean only their accumulation of information about past events, and their ability to regurgitate this informati...

One of the enduring debates in the history of philosophy is that which concerns the question of human freedom. This debate has produced two camps representing two seemingly diametrically opposed views about freedom: the Marxists and the existentialists. Marxists maintain that the latitude within which human freedom may operate at any given time is determined by the existing social configuration, which, in turn, is shaped by historical circumstances that unfold in accordance with the general directions in which history is moving, but which appear as unconnected accidents. Freedom is only an illusion because in the exercise of their power to choose, humans may at best only react to the various stimuli produced by social forces, which are beyond their individual control.  In other words, they are only playing out the roles which have been written by history for them, but which seem like accidents to their unsophisticated eyes. Existentialists, on the other hand, would argue tha...

The principle of non-interference fulfilled a very important function early in the ASEAN’s existence. It helped preserve the unity within the organization despite the volatile diplomatic relations among its members. For instance, at around the time of the Association’s formation, Indonesia and the Philippines had each raised territorial claims over some of the territories of the then nascent Malaysia (Katanyu, 2003). Indonesia even went so far as to institute a policy of  confrontasi  against the fledgling nation, and this would have easily escalated into a violent confrontation. Fortunately, this scenario was averted due in part to the principle of non-interference, which counseled ASEAN nations to respect the sovereignty of fellow ASEAN members. Had the principle not been in place in the early decades of the Association’s existence, the ASEAN would have long met the fate of its predecessors, e.g. ASA and MAPHILINDO. Aside from abating the tensions resulting from territori...

Research skills, herein defined as the students’ ability to access, verify, evaluate, and use information, constitute one of the most important 21st century skills that students must acquire in order to survive in the information age. They are important because they enable students to locate the information that they need in order to engage in problem-solving tasks successfully in a world characterized by superabundance of ever-changing knowledge (Wagner, 2008). Unfortunately, many students lack these important skills. For instance, the Project Information Literacy Report, which was conducted by an institution that focuses on gathering data about young adults and their research habits, revealed that 84 percent of students experience difficulty where research is concerned (Chapman, 2010). According to Chapman (2010), the report showed that students feel overwhelmed by superabundance of information, and have the tendency to look for the correct answer rather than evaluate information ...

One of the faculty marked assignments  that were given in our graduate studies class involved the conduct of  a brief survey of locally available resources for teaching history. This assignment afforded me an opportunity to improve my competence as a social studies teacher. In particular, I realized the wealth of instructional materials available in our local community that we teachers could utilize to enrich our students’ learning experiences, develop their understanding of the dynamics of culture change and continuity, and teach them the procedural skills involved in the study of history. I conducted my survey of resources in two important repositories of records of our town’s residents: the Central School, and the  Civil Registry. One of the important finds that I made during the conduct of my brief survey in the town’s Central School was the bank of old student records in its archive. Some of these records date back to 1980’s, 1970’s, 1960’s, and 1950’s. They c...

A blog is a web 2.0 tool enjoying immense popularity among netizens nowadays. Like  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram , it can be used by people with the slightest knowledge of information technology. It also has a mechanism that facilitates the exchange of ideas and spread of information, e.g. it allows site visitors to leave comments and repost articles to their own sites. Lastly, it can be used by anyone completely free of charge. Examples of platforms that offer free blogging services to netizens include  Blogspot  and  WordPress . Compared to  Facebook, Twitter , and  Instagram , however, blogs have the advantage of enabling users to make posts without limit as to the length and nature of content. No wonder politicians, government institutions, religious groups, and even media pirates are taking advantage of this social media platform to advance their interests. They are aware of the power of this web tool especially in an age when access to the in...

Over the years, people from different sectors of the Philippine society have registered their opposition to the deepening integration among ASEAN states. While most of these concerns are valid, they fail to take into account the dynamics that have led to the said development. An understanding of these dynamics can help dispel these misgivings about the direction that the organization has taken. Such understanding can be attained through the study of the different aspects of ASEAN such as history, religion, trade, conflicts, and technology. History can provide a framework with which to understand how ASEAN developed into the community it is known today. For instance, the ASEAN method of resolving conflicts as it is practiced at present may be viewed in light of past events, e.g. the colonial experiences of most ASEAN members (Katsumata, 2003). In the same manner, the move for closer economic integration among ASEAN members may be better explained through analysis of the historical ev...

Social studies, unlike other subjects, has long been noted for its susceptibility to different interpretations as to its history, nature, and purposes (Nelson, 2001). The multiplicity of interpretations, in turn, have resulted in a myriad of patterns with which teachers tend to teach the subject. Because of their implications on various aspects of social education, notably curricular reform, these patterns have occupied the attention of social educators for decades (White, 1982). Perhaps the most influential work in this particular area of social studies research is that of Barr, Barth, & Shermis (cited in White, 1982). Basing their ideas on the results of their analysis of various documents that nearly span an entire century, they have identified three patterns with which teachers tend to approach the teaching of social studies and termed these patterns traditions. They are: 1) Citizenship Transmission, 2) Social Science, and 3) Reflective Inquiry. These traditions differ in ...