II Dr. Pedro T. Orata NOBILITY PROGRAM

URDANETA CITY UNIVERSITY Introduction

Who are the people we admire? What are they known for? What are their characteristics? These three questions may sound simple. In actuality, the answers to these queries reveal complex truths about ourselves. It is said that the people we admire and why we do so reveal the values we hold and the accomplishments we aspire to.

Photo Courtesy of Bannawag Magazine

MODULE 2 Learning from Dr. Pedro T. Orata

Photo Courtesy of Dr. Katherine Nillo

If that is so, it is imperative that we are introduced to the man who had revolutionized the educational landscape during his time and started a legacy OBJECTIVES that is now known as the Urdaneta City University. Through this module, we are At the end of the topic, the students are expected to: introduced to Dr. Pedro T. Orata.

a. Complete a timeline on significant events in Dr. Pedro T. Orata’s life; b. Express the life lessons on Dr. Pedro T. Orata; c. Create a video on the theme “Learning from Dr. Pedro T. Orata.”

2 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 3 Getting to know Dr. Pedro T. Orata

Read this section and get to know the founder of the Urdaneta City University and the Father of the Barrio High School, Dr. Pedro T. Orata.

The EarlyI Years In Philippine education, the name Dr. Pedro T. Orata is associated with academic excellence in Philippine education. One who championed education for people in all walks of life throughout life.

He did not set out to excel academically. “My little success in school is due to sheer hard work, and little else. My IQ is barely average,” he confessed. Again and again, we will see how his hard work served him in good stead throughout his life.

Dr. Pedro T. Orata was born on February 27, 1899 in Bactad, Urdaneta to Numeriana Tamesis-Arata and Candido Arata.

Dr. Orata admitted that he changed his family name because of the practice of teachers before to call on their students to recite based on their family names which were arranged alphabetically. Arata was too close to the top, making him feel anxious during class. So he first changed it to Urata but it was too far back in the alphabet. He eventually used Orata which put him in the middle of the list, allowing him time to prepare in case he would be called in class.

At an early age, death left its mark on his family. His older brother and younger brother died when Pedro was still young. This left only him and his younger sister Victorina as siblings who grew into adulthood.

Source: UCU Archives

4 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 5 Reenactment

Despite this setback, Pedro persevered. He enrolled again in Grade IV and passed.

Since there were no schools offering Grade V in Urdaneta, Pedro had to go to Binalonan, the town next to Urdaneta, to attend classes. He walked for eleven kilometers over rice paddies together with three others from his barrio, setting off to Binalonan on Sunday afternoon and returning to Bactad on Friday afternoon after class. The following year, intermediate grades were offered in Urdaneta and Pedro finished his elementary course there in 1916.

After finishing Grade VI, he enrolled in the College of Agriculture in Los Banos. However, he failed Botany. Coupled with his homesickness, Pedro decided to go home, finished Grade VII in Urdaneta, and enrolled in the only public high school in at that time, the Pangasinan Provincial High School, which is located in , the capital of the province.

His younger sister Victorina offered to

Life was hard for the family. The young Pedro had to help out his parents in the farm as well as household chores. At a young age, he had to sell vegetables, carrying these on a basket, walking several kilometers over rice paddies even when he started studying Grade I in Bactad.

Classes in Bactad were only up to Grade III so Pedro had to walk four kilometers to the town of Urdaneta to enroll in Grade IV. Reenactment Unfortunately, he failed.

This disappointment spurred his father to make him work harder in the farm because Pedro Reenactment did not seem to like school as seen in his failing the grade. From five o’clock in the morning to late night, Pedro’s life was filled with doing household chores, taking care of the farm animals, and harrowing and plowing the field.

6 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 7 help him. She completed Grade IV in Bactad, but she decided to stop schooling so that she can take in boarders in Lingayen. She cooked for them and washed their clothes. From 1916 to 1920, Pedro and his sister walked from Lingayen to Bactad and back again several times.

In his words, Pedro recalled,

Our provisions—rice and wood— had to be taken to Lingayen by my father in a “carreton” drawn by our old carabao. At first, I rode in the carreton to Lingayen, but I discovered that I could walk faster than the carabao. Besides, I pitied the carabao.

Reenactment

The family’s sacrifices paid off. Among 99 graduates, Pedro finished high school as valedictorian of his Class of 1920.

8 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 9 Orata’sII Education in the US

Upon her Manong’s graduation, Victorina had a surprise for the family. She proudly brought out her “alcansiaan”, a bamboo tube with a slit where she Photo Courtesy: The Illio (University of Illinois) dropped the coins she saved doing laundry work in Lingayen. The amount was enough to buy a ticket to the . Arriving there in June, Orata On weekends, Orata would accept odd worked grueling hours fixing railways in jobs—washing windows, mowing lawns, and Montana. He saved enough to enroll at cleaning homes. During summers, to save the University of Illinois in September on bus fare, Orata would walk more than 1920. one and a half hours from his job back to his room – and this after clocking Feeling homesick, Orata was excited in eleven hours of work. when he received his first letter from home. But the news was not When he was not busy with work, good. His father died. Distraught, he Orata studied for his classes. The started making plans to go back to the result was that, after four years of . But different couples who study, he graduated his degree in had taken him under their wing advised Education at the University of Illinois him to stay in the US and finish his at Urbana “with final honors.” studies. He continued his studies, earning So Orata poured his grief in work. his master’s degree in 1925 at the He got a job in a dormitory. In an University of Illinois, and his PhD autobiography, Orata laid out his daily at the Ohio State University in 1927. routine on weekdays: He got up at five Because his dissertation revealed o’clock in the morning and worked until the flaws of the “theory of identical 8:30, then left to catch his 9 a.m. elements” advanced by the famous class. He worked again from 12 noon to educator Dr. Edward Lee Thorndike, 2 p.m. then hurried to attend his 2:30 Orata received positive feedback. He p.m. class. From 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., he graduated with honor citations, and his again worked. Arriving in his quarters dissertation was published by the Ohio after nine o’clock in the evening, he University Press. devoted his focus studying his lessons.

Reenactment

10 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 11 Dr. Pedro Orata’sIII Contributions to Education

Dr. Pedro T. Orata went back to the Philippines in 1927, bringing with him his wife Vinda Adkins who perished during the Japanese occupation. He taught for less than a semester at the Bayambang Normal School (now Pangasinan State University), then transferred to the Philippine Normal School where he taught for another semester. He became the youngest division superintendent when he was assigned to his post in and was transferred to , serving there in 1931-1934.

Photo Courtesy of Joanne Lorraine Puga

Source: Orata, P. et al. (1938) Demoracy and Indian Education Vol. 1. U.S. Deparment of the Interior - Office of Indian Affairs

12 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 13 Photo Courtesy of Management Information Systems, Urdaneta City Archives

He returned to the US as member of Urdaneta. Together with lawyers, dentists, his experiences and work ethic, Orata was these given to students who had difficulty in the staff of Ohio State University from engineers, and other professionals, Orata invited by Unesco as an educational expert financing their studies. 1934-1936, and accepted his assignment as reorganized the elementary schools and and was asked to study and report on the principal of an experimental community opened the Urdaneta Community High School. Thai educational system. He was later Recognizing his influences in the field school in an Indian Reservation in Kyle, This was the first public high school in the called as program specialist in the Unesco of education, the Ramon Magsaysay Award South Dakota. Many of what he learned during Philippines which was established outside headquarters in until his retirement Foundation presented him with an award for his stay there were important seeds of what the provincial capital. in 1960. public service in 1971. he will apply in his subsequent posts. He was further assigned in the US Office of They used the old bombed-out church with He was invited to be the dean of the Finally, the boy who walked kilometers Education in Washington until 1941. no roof as classroom. Three hundred fifty Graduate School of then Philippine Normal across rice paddies to attend classes, who students and 15 teachers divided the space College in 1960, and stayed there until failed in his classes but later emerged Orata returned to the Philippines to into different year levels. There were no 1964. as an honor student, who changed his last work as Technical Assistant of the National books nor chairs, with the students sitting name just so he would not be called on to Council of Education. But with the break on floors. When they graduated, the seniors In 1966, Dr. Orata founded the Urdaneta recite first in class but who now speaks as out of World War II, he decided to go back received handwritten diplomas. Community College, now known as the Urdaneta an authority on educational innovations, who to Urdaneta where he met his wife, Pilar. City University, the first community college worked for hours to support his education, With things organized back home, Orata in the country. He served as its president would now be known for his contributions in After the war, he was tasked by the was called back to to work for the up to his death in 1989 without receiving Philippine education. Americans to reestablish schools in Department of Public Instruction. With his salary and allowance, opting to have

14 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 15 While Viewing View the accompanying video for this module. As you do so, try to see what are the accomplishments Dr. Orata made and the challenges he had to overcome. Set what you have learned in relation to the details in the previous section on Dr. Orata’s life. Video Transcript

Activity 1 On the 27th of February year graduated with Final Honors. He 1899, the pioneer of Barrio High finished his Bachelor’s Degree in From the details provided in the section on getting to know Dr. Pedro T. Orata and the short Schools was born in Brgy. Bactad, Secondary Education in 1924 as well video you just watched, accomplish this timeline on the highlights of Dr. Orata’s life. Urdaneta City, Pangasinan. He grew as his Master’s degree in 1925 in up in a poor family. In his early Illinois. Also, he finished his Direction: Match the date with a significant event in the life of Dr. Orata. Write only the letter of age in elementary, he had to sell Doctorate in Philosophy at the Ohio the correct answer on the answer sheet. vegetables so he can pay the school University in 1927. That same year, fees. Orata returned to the Philippines and got his first job as a teacher One day, his father bought him in Bayambang Normal School and Column A Column B a pair of shoes that was two sizes Philippine Normal School. And he larger. His father told him to wear was honored to be the youngest the right shoe on the left foot and Division Superintendent. During his a. Dr. Pedro T. Orata established the Urdaneta Community the left shoe on the right and it stay in America, he was inspired by ______1. February 27, 1899 College. felt alright. He also walked from the schools of the country. So he Urdaneta to Binalonan on Sundays thought, why not in bring the best and went back home walking again on practices in the Philippines, too. ______2. 1916 b. He finished his PhD at the Ohio State University. Fridays. High school came where he encountered many difficulties but he He established many barrio high still graduated valedictorian in schools and community colleges in ______3. 1920 c. He served in UNESCO. Lingayen. the Philippines. One of these is the Urdaneta Community College that With no funds to speak of, Orata later on became the City Colleges ______4. 1924 d. Dr. Pedro T. Orata was born. could only dream of going abroad. of Urdaneta and is now known as the His sister Victorina proposed that Urdaneta City University. he go to the United States. She brought out her alcancia full of Pedro T. Orata received the 1971 ______5. 1925 e. He graduated valedictorian in high school. coins she secretly saved from doing Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public laundry work and taking in some Service. The Board of Trustees boarders. The amount was enough for recognized his 44 years of creative ______6. 1948-1960 f. He won the Ramon Magsaysay award for public service. a steerage passage in the United work in education, particularly his States. conception and promotion of barrio high schools for rural Filipino g. He became principal of a community school in South ______7. 1960-1964 He went to Illinois to pursue youth. Dakota. his college degree and still he had to work several jobs like Pedro Orata was once like you. dishwashing and fixing rails to Life used to throw rocks at him ______8. 1964 h. He worked at the Philippine Normal University. earn money for it. When he earned until he made those as his stepping enough money, he enrolled in stones and left a legacy that will i. He earned his BSE at the University of Illinois with final the University of Illinois and forever remain. If he can, you can! ______9. 1966 honors.

“Once again, MY LIFE AND WORK, MOSTLY WORK, as long as I live ______10. 1971 j. He finished Grade VI. to serve our country and people.” Pedro T. Orata k. He completed his master’s degree at the University of (1899-1989) Illinois.

16 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 17 Activity 2: Enrichment Activity

Task description. As a UCU student, you are tasked to make a 1- to 3-minute video response for the university community on the theme “Learning from Dr. Pedro T. Orata.” If possible in your circumstances, form a group with 3-5 students as members. If not, you can work on your own. The video response will be screened as part of UCU’s campaign to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Orata. This will be submitted during the enrolment period for the next school year.

In the video response, each student will complete the statements below: 1. From Dr. Pedro T. Orata, I learned that… 2. Because of this, I will… 3. As a future (insert your future profession), I will…

The video response will be evaluated using the rubric adapted from https://www.rcampus.com

Note: View the sample video from the members of the Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program team so you will be guided regarding your output.

Photo Courtesy of Bannawag Magazine

18 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 19 Rubric for Evaluating the Video Response

Criteria Excellent (4 pts) Good (3 pts) Fair (2 pts) Poor (1 pt)

Content of The video includes The video includes The video does The video lacks response all responses asked all responses asked not include all most responses in the task stated in the task, but it is responses asked asked in the task. in an organized not well-organized. in the task and These are stated fashion. these are stated in an unorganized in an unorganized fashion. fashion. References: Work quality The work The work was Work is done with Work is done and effort done exceeds done with good fair effort, but the with little effort, Borlaza, Gregorio C. (1984). The life and work of Pedro T. Orata: An advocate of education expectations and effort that shows quality is still not quality is not what for all, for life and throughout life. Manila: Philippine Christian University. shows that the what the students what the group the students are students are proud are capable of. is capable of. It is capable of. It is Fernandez, Erwin S. (2010). The community school and the mother tongue: Dr. Pedro T. Orata on of their work. It is evident that evident that the evident that the multilingual education. Retrieved from https://mlephil.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/the- Maximum effort the group put work was rushed. work was rushed community-school-and-the-mother-tongue-dr-pedro-t-orata-on-multilingual-education/ was put into the effort into the and little time was video presentation. presentation. spent on the final Orata, Pedro T. in collaboration with Carnal, D., Wilson, F., Shaver, E., Watson, E., Yellow Bird, T., product. Work is Gae, A., Galloway, O. Dozark, A., Montgomery, C., Broken Rope, E., Kemery, A., Carnal, P., incomplete. Whirlwind Horse, C. (1938). Democracy and Indian education: A school serves its commu nity (Vol. I). South Dakota, USA: US Department of the Interior (Office of Indian Affairs). Presentation The students speak The students speak There are several No preparation clearly and the clearly and present confusing was done for the ______. (n.d.). My life and work, mostly work! Unpublished paper. audience can tell the information moments and presentation and that the group expected. Video is the responses the responses that understands and adequate. presented are are presented lack knows the what is not completely much of what is asked in the task. It shared during the expected. Photo References: is evident that the presentation. It is group practiced obvious the group Dr. Teofidez E. Calvero what would be did not rehearse Bannawag Magazine said/done. much prior to Dr. Katherine Nillo taping. The Illio (University of Illinois) Management Information Systems, Urdaneta City Archives Style/Mechanics The presentation The presentation The presentation The presentation has great creativity is clear and logical lacks style and lacks a clear and style, and is with very few creativity; presents understanding of not just a list of mistakes. Good, adequate response the subject matter answers. Viewers clear presentation, but in a way that and has many were WOWed. but lacks some does not WOW the errors or leaves out creativity or clarity. viewer. vital information.

Valuing The video response The video response The video response The video highlights highlights highlights response does not appreciation appreciation appreciation for clearly highlight for life lessons for life lessons life lessons on Dr. appreciation for on Dr. Pedro T. on Dr. Pedro T. Pedro T. Orata’s, life lessons on Dr. Orata’s, exceeding Orata’s, and meets stated in a limited Pedro T. Orata. expectations. expectations. manner.

20 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 21 Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Dr. Pedro T. Orata Module II Activity Sheet

NOBILITY PROGRAM Name: ______Program and Year Level: ______Course Code: ______Date of Submission: ______

Atty. Dar A. Diga Acting University President | Lead Proponent

Dr. Elisa C. Cristobal Vice President for Administration | Proponent Activity 1 Dr. Noel L. Guevara 1. Vice President for Academic Affairs | Proponent 2. 3. Dr. Princess Sarah M. Quintana 4. Dean| College of Arts and Sciences 5. 6. 7. 8. Rhea M. Agibuay 9. Module Writer 10. Harley F. Barrozo Photography and Archives

David O. Mingaracal Layout Artist

22 Dr. Pedro T. Orata Nobility Program Urdaneta City University 23