THERE'S nothing more pitiful than seeing the deplorable state of Philippine education broadcast nationwide by ABS-CBN. No, it's not due to an investigative report. It's from an unlikely source - a noontime gameshow."Game Ka Na Ba?" hosted by Edu Manzano is admittedly one of my favorite local shows owing to the fact that it is a gameshow that does not exploit the poor - very much unlike GMA-7's "Eat Bulaga", or worse, Willie Revillame's "Wowowee" also in ABS-CBN. Anyway...
Earlier today, I tuned in to GKNB and here was what I witnessed:
Almost all of the contestants were teachers, with matching uniforms (the show apparently has a regular "theme day" where there is something common in all contestants.) The first round is designed to be the easiest, wherein Edu will ask giveaway questions in order for the lucky contestants picked from the crown to proceed to the next round.
What happened instead was that a LOT of teacher-contestants got eliminated in this round. I watch this show almost everyday, and I'm telling you, it's difficult for someone to be eliminated in the first round. For example: "Ano sa Inggles ang pinsang-buo?" Easy enough, right? For us maybe, but for one teacher she had a stumped look that made it painfully obvious she has never encountered the term "first cousin" in her life.
Here's another one. A middle-aged teacher was asked "Anong buwan sa kalendaryo kung ang okasyon ay New Year's Eve?" It is worth noting that Edu emphasized the word "eve", with matching facial expression. The teacher took around 3 seconds to think (the time limit was 5 seconds) and said unsurely, "January?"
I would understand if these contestants were of the Eat Bulaga or Wowowee variety, but these are teachers who educate children.
If you are a teacher, there's an expectation that you are at least more knowledgeable about general information than a lay person - and it does not really matter what subject you teach. That's why it's really disappointing to hear one give the answer "Middle East?" to the question, "Saang kontinente matatagpuan ang Sahara Desert?"
It's not funny, and Edu, to his credit, did not rub it in (as he usually does whenever a contestant makes a mistake.) It was really sad to see those teachers do their "walk of shame" when exiting the stage. You could see the pained embarrassment in their faces after failing to answer very-easy-are-you-f*cking-kidding-me?-giveaway questions.
So there you have it, the state of Philippine education exposed by a gameshow (and not some self-serving, awards-craving investigative report.)
Oh by the way, did I mention that the contestants were private school teachers?
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photo credit: http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a196/kren2/tv3.jpg
maybe kinakabahan lang sila or something..you know mental block..but still, its a sad reality to watch..just wondering what will they tell to their students about it..as to why they didn't made it.. sleeping at class?
ReplyDeleteYeah, its different when you are in a contest broadcast nationwide. Your wits abandon you. It shouldn't be taken against them. But yes our education system is very bad nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteKind of alarming, knowing that these people are teachers. But of course, each one of them has their own forte. Just because they slipped once, they're already considered "poor education". I agree with Aqua and Freak (hehe), kinakabahan lang talaga yung teachers.
ReplyDeleteYou should have watched America's Next Top Model. There was this Harvard graduate who has a degree on American Lit and when Tyra Banks asked her to name 5 heroines, she just looked dumbly at Tyra and shrugged. She can't even name one! Haha! You should have seen Tyra's face. Oh well, share. : )
^ As much as I'd like to agree with you guys that it was just mental block that afflicted those teachers, the fact remains that all other contestants almost never make a mistake in the elimination round. Say the average rate of making a mistake in that show is 5%, for that particular teachers' episode, it went down to 35%.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to justify the teachers' performance is to allege that their profession somehow makes them more susceptible to mental block in front of the cameras. This, I believe, is harder to prove, and much harder to believe.