Archive for February, 2009

A few days ago, I wrote about how “sick books,” represented by a book called “English For You and Me,” is a betrayal of the next generation.  In the February 2, 2009 issue of the Inquirer, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus makes a pretty good excuse (if you will) for the errors in the textbook:

“When something like this crops up, we always tell Mr. (Antonio Calipjo) Go that rather than we read it in the papers first – and then it’s like that’s the end of it, he already scored – if you really want to help, talk to the author,” Lapus said.

“Some of (the alleged errors) are poetry so it’s not grammatical. It’s always misleading if you only use one line or a few phrases,” he added.

“It’s like you write a book and then you use my own writings as part of your book to prove a point and then you mix up what you pick up from me. That does not give the complete sense,” Lapus said.

- Report by Philip Tubeza
“Lapus trying to stop go: That’s poetry”
Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 2, 2009

Let’s not get into philosophical rants on Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida: I leave that to the philosophers.  Yet after reading bollocks passed off as “poetry,” I think I know where they’re coming from.  After all, you can play the “so-called error” card these days.  Then again, I’m not an educator, I don’t have Ph.D. credentials, but I think I’m correct when I point these out:

• “But what is more important is that she lives in a place that, to Celine, is drowned in mystery.” – Sentences should not begin with the word “but.”  Unless mystery is a liquid that causes flooding and death by edema, the proper term is “shrouded in mystery,” not “drowned.”
• “‘Gem, what souvenir did you take from lola’s place?  I had a dragonfly with a body like jewels and wings like lace,’ said Cindy.  ‘I got a butterfly with flower designed wings.’” – “Body like jewels…” I don’t get it.  I think that there are better similes and metaphors to describe the body of a dragonfly than jewels; or at the very least, use the term “bejeweled.”  ”Flower designed wings,” I don’t get it, either.  Flowers do not design wings; the proper term is “wings with flower designs,” or “wings with floral designs.”

“So-called error?”  Hmmm…

The teacher stands in front of the class, but the lesson plan he can’t recall;
The students’ eyes don’t perceive the lies bouncing off every fucking wall.
His composure is well-kept, I guess he fears playing the fool;
The complacent students sit, and listen to that bullshit that he learned in school.

- Rage Against the Machine, “Take the Power Back”

Today in the Inquirer, Antonio Calipjo Go writes an article about the 500 or so errors that there are in a recently-released public school English textbook, entitled “English For You and Me.”  The book is authored by Elodie A. Cada, published by Book Wise Publishing House Inc., and is printed by a publishing company in Thailand.  Some of the errors Go points out are listed here; my reactions in italics:

• To Heal Earth Yourself, Start with Your Cat.  (Meow.)
• Delicately: done with fragility.  (When’s the Fall Out Boy concert again?)
• The Badjaos are mostly found along the Coast of Jolo, Subuti, Sitangkal, Tawi-Tawi islands in Mindanao.  They are regarded as cultured because they are hardworking and peace-loving.  (So everything I was taught about what constitutes “culture” can be boiled down to slambook dedications?)
• The students busied themselves drinking thirstily.  (I will now proceed to “thirstily” drink water.)
• The people observed keenly the pulsating chest of the animal hiding in the bushes.  (Is this supposed to be educational or erotic?)
• At my age, swooning to Martin Nievera is far from my age level.  (Now that’s showbiz.)
• Yet life will continue to pour the best.  There are people who stare.   (So… what am I looking at again?)
• The authorities were intimately bonded with the constituents because of the humanitarian project.  (I bet you a politician wrote this.)
• A stain-smooth piece of driftwood.  (I never heard of anything “stain-smooth” before.  Maybe they’re teaching koan.)
• The janitress tried to clean the spume of the water underneath the tree.  (OK kids: the word for today is “spume.”)
• “He’s not here!” Miss Racelis told at them.  She told them to go out the room.  (Methinks it’s menopause: “telling at” people, no good reason to do anything… see what I mean?)
• Media people are afraid that information may be churned by the leftists.  (Whoa, whoa, whoa!)
• “Abracadabra, sssh!  Boom!  Make some magic for me!  Abracadabra, sssh! Boom!”  Bobby shouted.  He ran to his uncle.  “Looked here, Uncle,” he said.  His uncle looked like an invisible man.  (Is that a Zen tale, or the script for the newest 98 Degrees music video?)
• Mr. Reyes carried his suitcase together with his son who was holding onto his neck tightly.  (Damn, that has got to hurt.)

Here’s the best part: Instructional Materials Council Secretariat Director Soccoro Pilor says that the book Go criticized indeed passed the review process “with flying colors.”  “English For You and Me” passed the following criteria for evaluation:

• Learning competencies
• Content evaluation for errors
• Organization and propriety of material
• Proper grammar, and should be easily understood by readers.

In keeping with blogging without obligation, I write this in no uncertain terms: to miseducate our children is to compromise their future.

Miseducation is the betrayal of the next generation.