Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series III. Asia, Volume 7 Values in Philippine Culture and Education Philippine Philosophical Studies, I Edited by Manuel B. Dy Jr. The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 1994 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Gibbons Hall B-20 620 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Values in Philippine culture and education / edited by Manuel B. Dy, Jr. p.cm. — (Cultural heritage and contemporary change . George F. McLean, Gen. ed.: Series III. Asia, vol. 7) (Philippine philosophical studies; 1) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Moral education—Philippine. 2. Values—Philippine. 3. Philosophy—Philippine. 4. Philippines—Civilization. I. Dy, Manuel B. Jr. II. Series III. Series: Philippine philosophical studies; 1. LC315.P5V35 1994 94-4724 370.11’4’09599—dc20 CIP ISBN 1-56518-040-2 & 1-56518-041-2 (pbk.) Table of Contents Preface vii Introduction 1 Part I. Values Inherent in Philippine Culture 1. The Philosophy of Value, the Value of Philosophy 9 Manuel B. Dy Jr. 2. Outline of a Project of Pilippino Ethics 19 Manuel B. Dy Jr. 3. Values Education and Philippine Society 27 Raul J. Bonoan, S.J. 4. A Moral Recovery Program: Building a People--Building a Nation 35 Patricia Licuanan Part II. The Ambivalence of Values in the National Character 5. The Ambivalence of Filipino Traits and Values 57 Emerita S. Quito 6. Understanding the Filipino Value System 63 Vitaliano R. Gorospe, S.J. 7. Political-Economic Ideologies and Social Justice 71 Benjamin T. Tolosa Jr. Part III. Principles for Positive Moral Growth 8. Values Education in the Social Sciences 85 Florentino H. Hornedo 9. Cultural Rights Are Human Rights 105 Doreen G. Fernandez 10. Filipino Culture, Religious Symbols and Liberation Politics 115 Cristina J. Montel 11. Christian Faith and Philippine Moral Transformation 121 Ma. Christina A. Astorga Part IV. Values in Educational Method and Content 12. Values in Theology and Religious Education 134 Joseph L. Roche, S.J. 13. Teaching Values in the Natural and Physical Sciences in the Philippine Context 153 Serafin. D. Talisayon 14. Science and Technology Education and the Promotion of Social Justice 169 Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng and Fabian M. Dayrit 15. The Literary Work Two and Values Education: Texts and Contexts 187 Bienvenido Lumbera 16. Education Through the Arts: The Gift of Tongues 195 Nicanor G. Tiongson 17. Values Education and Teaching Language 203 Andrew Gonzalez, FSC Acknowledgements Preface "Damaged culture" and "the sick man of Asia" are just two of the many phrases used to describe the Philippine situation today. Questions such as "what's wrong, what's right with the Filipino?" have set many Filipino minds upon some deep and not-so-deep soul-searching and brainstorming. Is American democracy fit for the Philippines? Is Catholicism brought by Spain partly responsible for the failure of the country to become another economic "tiger" of Asia? The questions have not been answered with finality, although short-term and medium-term responses have been proposed and realized. Many seem to agree, however, that the root of the crisis facing the Filipinos in the past two or three decades is moral in nature. This calls for a long process of social transformation, of value recovery, formation, or transformation as the case may be. Education plays a crucial part in this process, and indeed teachers in both the private and public sectors , since the People Power Revolution of 1986, have responded to this call by introducing reforms in curriculum, content, style, and even mission statements. Such groups and institutions as The Association of Philippine Colleges of Arts and Sciences (APCAS), The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), not to mention The Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), have produced various programs for value education. The Senate passed a resolution, calling for a task force that would inquire into the "strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino with a view to solving the social ills and strengthening the nation's moral fiber". The task force was composed of academics and its results are included here. Teachers with low salaries and academic institutions of meager budget responded magnanimously. Sometime in 1988, a need was felt by Filipino philosophers belonging to the Philippine Association for Philosophical Research (PAPR) to lay down the theoretical philosophical foundations of value education. Many teachers at the elementary and high school levels were then practitioners of various programs and projects on value education without being aware of the philosophical underpinnings of the practice. In January of 1989, DECS and the Ateneo de Manila University, with the encouragement of George F. McLean, O.M.I., of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, held a roundtable discussion on "The Philippine Context of Values Education". The forum gathered experts from various disciplines and focused on the value resources of the Filipino people, the contemporary transformation of values and their implications for education. This volume contains most of the papers of that roundtable discussion. It also contains the contributions of professors belonging to The Philippine Association for Philosophical Research and to the Ateneo de Manila University whose work has been published in Pantas, a journal for higher education. It is our hope that this volume will contribute to the moral transformation of Philippine society. Manuel B. Dy, Jr. Ateneo de Manila University Introduction In the life of every person and every people there are points of high hopes and grim disillusionment. It is good that we tend to define ourselves in terms of the former, for this gives stimulus for achievement and progress, whereas the latter would kill initiative and expose us to despair. A certain disillusionment can be helpful, however, if it enables us to appreciate better the challenges we confront and the seriousness of the effort we must make in order to advance--or even to avoid falling further behind. The papers of this volume reveal the strength of hope vs despair in the hearts of the Filipino people and the need for a wise understanding of values and education if hope is to prevail. A. Bonoan points to three defining moments: the Philippine revolution of 1896, the First Quarter Storm in the 1970s, and the February Revolution of 1986. This volume reflects the hopes which the latter generated for national renewal. Yet, in concert with the nations of Eastern Europe and throughout the world, the preface acknowledges how very difficult such renewal is proving to be. In order to take effective part in the great campaign that is the life of a culture, it is necessary, first, to analyze carefully the hopes of that culture and especially the values upon which they are built--commitment to these values is essential for any program for the progress of that people. Second, it is important to appreciate the possible ambivalence of such values, for tragedy is less something that befalls us from without, then inadequacy from within by which our strengths turn into weaknesses and we are rendered incapable of the achievements we most desire. Hence, love of family can degenerate progressively into a debilitating nepotism, a lack of public spiritedness, and even destructive rivalry. Thirdly, ways must be found to overcome such ambivalence in order for both the individual and the national characters to be strengthened for the difficult tasks ahead. Finally, through education and social reformation and restructuring, we must undertake the great work of building a new generation internally motivated and externally coordinated for a life worthy of the legacy received from the generations which have gone before. The chapters of this volume face this challenge--not definitively for they acknowledge how much there is to be done--but so well that their work constitutes a volume of lasting importance to their people, and to others throughout the world who are concerned with the quality of life in our times. Though individually the chapters often are too rich to be reduced to only one of the above four steps, together they trace out the overall dynamic of the effort of the people of the Philippines to perfect its culture and to make its contribution to future generations. Hence, this volume is organized accordingly into four corresponding parts. Part I concerns the values inherent in the culture. The first chapter by M. Dy looks into the nature of values. In doing this he confronts the tendency of much modern thought to reduce the real to the ambit of rational intellect and the objective, forgetting human subjectivity where reason opens onto human freedom, with its allied affectivity and creative action. He soon makes manifest that the challenge of this volume is nothing less than to open a new dimension of human life and to consider it critically. Toward this goal chapter II proposes a project of, and for, a Philippine axiological ethics founded in the Holy and marked by non-violence, human rights, justice and solidarity. Chapter III by R. Bonoan provides additional structure for this effort by pointing out its key historical moments in the life of the Philippine people and underlining further values of particular importance for our day: peace, social justice, economic self-sufficiency and patriotism. In chapter IV P. Licuanan brings to this effort rich content from the patrimony of values in the Filipino tradition. Her moral recovery program catalogs the strengths of the Philippine character with its family orientation, adaptability and faith. At the same time she does not hesitate to recognize the weaknesses which impede progress. In this combined light she is able to detail a set of realistic goals for moral education in the Philippines today.