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CHAPTER XVII
VALUES EDUCATION ANDTEACHING LANGUAGE
 Andrew Gonzalez, F.S.C.
This chapter concerns how values may be incorporated and imparted throughlanguage education in the Philippine context.Under our Bilingual Education Policy formulated in 1974 and substantially repeatedin 987, education in the Philippines is conducted in two languages, Filipino (our national language) and English.The domains of each language are delineated, with English reserved as the `non-exclusive' language for mathematics and science in the curriculum, for hometechnology and work experience (temporarily), and with Filipino for all other subjects.Since content subjects in the humanities have been treated by Dr. BienvenidoLumbera, focusing upon literature, I shall confine myself to what is calledCommunication Arts in Filipino and in English, under the Secondary EducationDevelopment Program.
FILIPINO, ENGLISH AND VALUES EDUCATION
 Before World War II, an American chemical engineer turned linguist andanthropologist in the Boston area, Benjamin Lee Whorf, proposed the intriguing ideathat the grammar of a language, its structure, affects the way we perceive reality.Earlier, in the 1920s, one of the great linguists of the United States, perhaps thegreatest so far, Edward Sapir, propounded something similar based on his study of theway American Indian languages affected the community's thinking and perceptions of reality. Whorf took up the idea more explicitly by saying that the categories of alanguage, arranged in its grammatical system, influenced the thinking of the speaker using that language. The hypothesis, known in scholarly circles as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, has never been proven.Experimental studies have, however, been conducted on children of differentlinguistic backgrounds to see if the students' performance in certain cognitive taskswas reinforced or weakened by the explicit grammatical categories of their mother tongues. While it was found that certain Navajo Indian children proved superior inspatial thinking in non-verbal tests (the Navajo language has special figure-basedcounters), in the Boston area, among students of high socio-economic status familiesthe same superior performance in testing for spatial thinking was found. If nothingelse, the studies showed that even if there were an initial superiority due to onelanguage, there are enough compensating factors to make up for any disadvantages onthe part of those who speak another language.
 
Actually, at present, hardly anyone subscribes to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in itsstrong form. In its weak form, however, many would accept the fact that languagesensitizes its speakers to certain realities that are important to the speakers of thatlanguage: for example, we have multiple words for 
rice
because it is so important toour culture; in the same way Eskimos have multiple words for 
 snow
because of theimportance of this object for their way of life.A form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was in operation among the early Americaneducators during our colonial history, since if one reads the reports of the period,many Americans felt that only through English could Filipinos learn the democraticvalues of government and adopt the practices of democracy. Similarly, some businessmen among the Americans felt that it was only through English couldFilipinos be activated in the commercial fields and become productive beyond their traditional agricultural modes.During the controversy on the teaching of Spanish in the 1950s, one of the argumentsused by the pro-Spanish elements, especially among the Spanish religious orders andsome of the bishops, was that the faith was somehow tied to Spanish, and that if Filipinos ceased to be knowledgeable in Spanish, the faith would somehow suffer since in the minds of these people, Catholicism was identified with Spanish and our Hispanic past.Among modern theologians in our country, there is now an accepted assumption thatthe only way really to integrate Christianity into the warp and woof of the fabric of Filipino life is to stop using English for catechetical and religious instruction andinstead to use Filipino or the local language. In this way, what the Jesuit psychologistJaime Bulatao calls `split-level Christianity' can somehow be obviated and one'sChristian values integrated with one's life so that one need not become merely aSunday Catholic.This explains also why the Spanish missionaries, defying the wishes of the SpanishCrown, insisted on learning the local languages and using these for preaching andteaching rather than Spanish. At present, this explains why sermons are more andmore given in the local languages rather than in English or even Tagalog, or why evenin sophisticated Manila homilies are preached in a code-switching variety of 
 Filipino
and English.I have cited all these developments not to revive the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, butmerely to call attention to a common-sense idea. If one wishes to touch the hearts of  people, one does better in the language of the home more than in a foreign languagethat one associates only with official impersonal functions removed from daily life.Hence, if we wish really to impart values in a class, we would do better using thelocal, or at least an indigenous, language such as Filipino rather than English. Thisapplies particularly to the daily Values Education period under the new secondaryschool curriculum and to the religion classes taught in private schools both Catholicand Protestant. I would make the same plea for our madrasah schools--not to useArabic (since hardly anyone speaks Arabic) but to use the mother tongue of our Islamic cultural communities: Maranao, Maguindanao, Sama, Yakan and Tausug.
COMMUNICATION AND CULTURAL ENRICHMENT
 
 
To focus on the actual language arts subjects, the purpose of the Filipino language artsclasses is to teach the structure of Filipino among non-Tagalogs and among nativeTagalogs the standardized variety of Filipino. The letter is still in the process of standardization and cultivation, of which one facet is intellectualization. Moreover,after this initial phase of teaching structure, all instruction in one's local languageactually consists of learning to
use
this language effectively--in other words, for rhetorical purposes. Traditionally in the field of instruction this is called the languagearts: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. At the same time, both for language useand ultimately for the knowledge and appreciation of culture, language lessons areinterspersed with literary study especially at the secondary level. Literary study is both cultural and aesthetic in purpose: one learns more about the language's culturalmatrix as well as the artistic merits of its literary craftsmanship and merit (what wecall appreciation) through the study of language.Ultimately, the purposes and activities for English as a second language in thePhilippines are similar to the purposes and activities for Filipino. While the initialwork in English language study is the learning of English as a code, English languagestudy ultimately will involve the creative use of English for thinking and higher cognitive activities. This goes beyond its use for studying science and mathematicsand for wider communication. At the advanced stage of ESL, one learns about thecultural underpinning of the language, especially when studying the literature of English outside of the Philippines as well as Philippine literature in English.The initial purpose is then communication, but ultimately it should be culturalenrichment and aesthetic appreciation for both Filipino and English.In all phases of instruction in language--from communication to rhetorical use, tocultural and scientific enrichment, and to aesthetic appreciation--there are valuesconsiderations which can be occasions for the human formation of our students.In communication activities, one can teach the value of proper communication inhuman life and the virtues of openness and honesty; in group work the virtue of cooperation becomes necessary. In rhetorical activities, especially debate, one canteach respect for facts, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, theavoidance of distorting truth, the rules of evidence on which to convict a person, theill-effects of rumor-mongering and distortion through transmission, and criticalthinking in general. These elements are prescribed in the DECS Values EducationProgram as spelled out in its 2988 policy document,
Values Education for the Filipino
.In using language, one must use it well. St. James counsels us in his epistle: "Even sothe tongue is indeed a little member and boasteth great things" (James 3:5). It can bean instrument for good or for ill--it can heal divisions but likewise can provoke war.In the processes of formative growth among our students, especially at the primaryand secondary levels, James's caution for the use of words can become a standard for language use.Finally, the study of literature, without becoming preachy and forcing students to find"moral lessons" everywhere, is an excellent vehicle for the build-up of a "taste" for literary craftsmanship and artistic creativity, as well as an excellent laboratory for the
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