University of Southeastern Philippines

College of Education

Topical Report Article(Module 1)

Submitted by: RUBYLYN A. RENEGADO

Submitted to: DR. IRVIN GENERALAO

Date: October 01, 2022

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The Importance of Studying the Philippine History and Its Current Status in Pursuing
Good Leadership and Governance in Education

of
Rubylyn A. Renegado
EDD 314 Student

Abstract

This research article discussed the importance of studying the Philippine history and

its current status in pursuing good leadership and governance in education. The qualitative

methodology has been chosen for this research article. This exploratory approach would give

an opportunity to understand and clarify the main problem of this study. Data and

information fir this study are collected through extensive literature, quoting important persons

with their statements from national news, and personal experience. Studying history helps us

understand how events in the past made things the way they are today. With lessons from the

past, we not only learn about ourselves and how we came to be, but also develop the ability to

avoid mistakes and create better paths for our societies. This article has suggested ten reasons

why history is crucial to our education. For the development and practice of school leadership

in the Philippines is influenced by a rich history that has helped to shape policy and education

in a diverse cultural landscape.

INTRODUCTION

History is a topic that many find boring to study or a waste of time. But there is more

to studying history than meets the eye. Even if you live to be 100, you will never run out of

new things to learn. From computer science and cryptocurrency to French literature and

Spanish grammar, the world is full of knowledge and it’s all at your fingertips. Many people

study history in high school and come away thinking it’s boring, irrelevant, or both. But as

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we get older, even just by a few years, we start to see the importance of understanding the

past.

Research Problem, Objective and Related Literature

This research article aims to appreciate the value of studying the Philippine history

and its current tatus in pursuing leadership and governance in education in partial fulfillment

of the requirement in EDD 314 with course title Leadership and Governance as one of the

subjects this first semester school year 2022-2023 in the University of Southeastern

Philippines under the facilitation of the virtuoso engineer, school leader and mathematician

Dr. Irvin Generalao has included a topical report on the Importance of Education with

subtopics: The State of Philippine Education, Education during the Different Periods, and the

Current Status of Philippine Education System.

Catalan, Durban and Durban, 2012 in their study on Issues and Concerns of

Philippine Education Through the Years that for Philippine education to succeed, its ills and

problems must be addressed. They further suggest that there is a need for values reorientation

of the Filipinos as a key to national development. Teachers’ transformation, in terms of their

values orientation is necessary. Part of the teachers’ transformation must include their

upgrading or updating for professional and personal development. Hence, government

support and intervention along this line is very much needed. As these very same ills and

problems have been hounding the country for the last several decades, failure to do so will

only compound these problems in the coming years. And thus, understanding the history of

education system is vital. In this research article, we will discuss how important studying the

Philippine and its current status in pursuing good leadership and governance in education.

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Philippine History, as a subject, has been part of the secondary education curriculum

of the Philippines since American colonial period. Philippine History was taught as a

dedicated Social Studies subject in the 1st year level of high school. In 2013, the Enhanced

Basic Education Act of 2013, otherwise known as the K-12 Law, passed into legislation. It

was an educational policy lobbied by President Benigno Aquino III. It involved major

reforms in Philippine Education that resulted to a twelve-year basic education program.

In congruent to the K-12 Law, the Department of Education made massive changes in

the Social Studies curriculum of the Philippines. Initially, Philippine History was included in

the 7th grade Social Studies curriculum for the secondary level in 2013

By 2014, the initial K-12 plan for Social Studies underwent an overhaul. These

changes were codified in the Department of Education Order 20, s. 2014.  The new

department order effectively removed Philippine History from the high school curriculum.

No rationale was written in the government order explaining its pedagogical basis. As a

result, social Studies subjects in high school emphasized a global perspective rather than a

balanced global-Philippine and democratic perspective.

A recent incident just happened in the country where Makabayan lawmakers called

out the actress, who plays Irene Marcos-Araneta in “Maid in Malacañang,” claiming that

history, a social science, is just like gossip or rumor-mongering. And according to ACT

Teachers Rep. France Castro: This only proved that we really need to bring back Philippine

history as a subject in high school because now, it’s only regarded as gossip by a few in order

to distort the history of our people. She pointed out that the country is already seeing the

“destructive effects of the absence of Philippine history as a subject in basic education,”

citing the distortion of history during the martial law regime. She then urged the next leaders

of Congress to prioritize the passage of House Bill No. 207, which seeks to restore Philippine

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history as a separate subject in the high school curriculum. She further said that people must

also challenge the next education secretary to ensure the return of Philippine history to the

high school curriculum.

Method

The qualitative methodology has been chosen for this research article. This

exploratory approach would give an opportunity to understand and clarify the main problem

of this study. Data and information for this study are collected through extensive literature,

quoting important persons with their statements from national news, and personal experience.

Results and Discussion

History is, in short, the study of change, and this makes it one of the most useful of

disciplines. The world is driven by change, which is continuously shaping our lives in ways

that we don’t even realize. Change affects us from the highest levels of governments and

countries down to the most trivial details. Studying history is the key to understanding how

these forces shape our lives today - the past is the key to the present. History provides context

for everything that we see around us today, and the key to understanding the world we find

ourselves in now is to look at how it came to be. Here are ten reasons why history is crucial

to our education.

1. History helps us understand other cultures. Why are other cultures different

from ours? Why is it that some cultures are antagonistic with each other, while

others coexist in harmony? Why are there different customs, different traditions,

and different religions from culture to culture? The answer to all of these

questions lies in history. Without history, it is impossible to understand how

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 Page 6 of 11

cultures come to be. As the study of change, history identifies the driving forces

behind cultures. A culture’s history is integral to the shared identities of its

members, and you can’t see the full picture of a culture without understanding the

history behind it.

2. History helps us understand our own society. Similarly, to how we can

understand others through the study of history, we can also come to understand

ourselves. Why do we do things the way we do? How did these social structures

and traditions come to be? Looking at history in this light illuminates the forces

acting on our own society through history and into the present. The student of

history draws on politics, sociology, economics, and anthropology, all of which

feed into the history of individuals and societies. In order to successfully navigate

our society in the present day, it is essential to know what came before, the

driving forces of change that shape our lives, and the individuals of the past who

shaped our society.

3. History helps us understand our own identities. History isn’t just a collection

of famous names and events woven into a story that takes place in the past.

History is the story of the past, and of everybody in it. Every individual had a

place in shaping the historical narrative we know today, and every individual

today has a place in molding the history that unfolds today. In order to understand

our place within society, within our culture, and even within our own family, it is

essential to realize that our present is the product of what came before, and the

past provides a context for everything we do as an individual. Knowing where you

fit into history gives you a context for yourself, your culture, and your world

today. History gives you an understanding of your own identity.

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4. History builds citizenship. Why are we good citizens? Because we have an

understanding of a shared past and a communal identity, and we get this shared

experience through our common knowledge of our history. Learning about how

we came to be as a community informs how we see ourselves as a group in the

present day, and we do this through knowing our history. Knowing how our

shared experience came to be and what has defined us in the past gives us a reason

to work towards a better society today. This is why American history is taught in

school: it tells us why we are American, how we got to be American, and what it

means to be an American today.

5. History gives us insight into present-day problems. Without understand the

root of a problem, there is no hope of solving it. This is what history does: it

identifies the driving forces of society, of government, of individuals, of change,

and it traces these features of the past to contemporary features of the world. We

can’t confront international crises without one of the most basic tools in our belt,

namely understanding how the crisis arose and what forces shape them. Conflict

cannot be resolved without comprehending the historical roots of a situation. If we

want to stand any chance of confronting the pressing issues of our world, we need

to start at the root of the problem: we need to know history.

6. History builds reading and writing skills. In many ways, history is as good as

an English class at developing reading and writing skills because it employs many

of the same techniques, as well as adding several other elements. Studying history

involves reading different sources - be they documents, letters, or even novels -

and pulling out themes and patterns, motifs and details, and making sense of what

these features tell us about the past. This is similar to the task of the English

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student, but even more, history adds layers of politics and social change that

inform the modern world. Writing is the vessel to communicate the exciting

discoveries and keen observations of the history student, and as such history

teaches us to read thoroughly and write well.

7. History builds interpretation and analysis skills. History is based on the

records left behind in past decades and centuries, so the study of history is

inherently an act of analysis and interpretation. Similarly to how one reads classic

literature in order to understand something about the author and society from

which it originates, one looks at historical documents and letters, and indeed

novels and art, to understand the time period that created them. This gives the

history student several skills that carry over into every walk of life and are among

the most useful tools to carry into the world. We learn how to compare conflicting

interpretations and identify biases. We learn how to see an issue from multiple

perspectives. We learn how to assess evidence and determine its value. A good

understanding of history will leave any student with this indispensable inventory

of skills that can carry anybody far in life. 

8. History helps us understand change. History is the study of change. The world

around us is in a constant state of change, and understanding the role of change in

society plays a pivotal role in being able to interpret the world that we see now.

Without understanding why things used to be different and how they interacted to

shape one another, it is impossible to get a complete picture of the here and now.

History will give us a firm grasp on why things change, the mechanisms that drive

change, the significance of some features of change to others, and the different

magnitudes of change. Conversely, by giving us an understanding of change,

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history also helps us comprehend stability and the continuities that exist from past

to present and from society to society. In short, history is a tool to understand the

world. 

9. History allows us to learn from the past. “Those who don’t know history are

doomed to repeat it.” This oft-quoted saying tells a great truth: history has

patterns. One of the continuities in history is the mistakes that are made century

after century as people live in pursuit of the same self-interested motives. Wars

are fought for the same reasons. Regimes topple through the same shortcomings.

Riots and revolts accompany the same abuses. Men and women take stands

against the same oppression time and time again. This is why history is essential

to the repertoire of the politician and the ruler, because understanding the failures

of the past puts us one step closer to addressing the shortcomings of the present.

10. History is the greatest of stories. History has so many practical uses that it’s

easy to forget that history is also a story, a thrilling adventure that takes place

across the world and through the ages. This story encompasses the great empires

of China, Rome, and Britain, the conquests of Alexander the Great and Napoleon,

the explorations of Marco Polo, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It’s a story

of romance in the royal courts of Europe, of honor in the Japanese samurai, and of

spycraft in the American Revolution. There is the devastation and tragedy of two

World Wars, the rise and fall of dictators and oppressors, and the fight for rights

and liberties in a world of abuses. History is a tale that spans the entire human

experience, and it is a tale in which we all have a part to play.

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For all we know that the development and practice of school leadership in the

Philippines is influenced by a rich history that has helped to shape policy and education in a

diverse cultural landscape. Periods of Spanish and American colonization have challenged

core Filipino values of community and kinship and shaped the way contemporary school

leadership preparation and development occur in the Philippines. (Sutherland, 2013)

CONCLUSSION

We study history because history doesn’t stay behind us. Studying history helps us

understand how events in the past made things the way they are today. With lessons from the

past, we not only learn about ourselves and how we came to be, but also develop the ability to

avoid mistakes and create better paths for our societies.

Thus, it is good to begin this course by understanding and appreciating the concept

and principles of leadership and governance by exploring first the historical phases of the

Philippine educational landscape. It can be noted that the Philippine education system had

drastically evolved in four distinct eras which have contributed to its current organizations

and structures. The remarkable educational paradigm shift from the Spanish Colonization

period to the period of Independence has also influenced our current underlying educational

policies.

REFERENCES:

Boquiren, T. N. (1973). Educational Leadership Handbook for Philippine Public Schools.

Michigan: Western Michigan University. Retrieved from:

https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/2888/

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Address: University of Southeastern Philippines Telephone: (082) 227-8192 local XXXXXX
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Brooks, J. S. (n.d.). Retrieved from Academia:

https://www.academia.edu/7839481/Becoming_and_developing_school_leaders_in_the_Phili

ppines?fbclid= Philippine

Education System During Different Periods The Spanish Period The American Period The

Commonwealth Period Period of Independence

IwAR3kDk7hwVHHXFZX6we4IYeL8CRbvlRh4fYm4BruoRw DAyi0q4EBuXhBaMc

Sprang, W. v. (2016). Evaluating the Philippine Educational System: An Empirical Analysis.

Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.ph/books/about/Evaluating_the_Philippine_Educ

ational_Sy.html?id=t0vrjwEACAAJ&hl=en&redir_esc=y

De Villa, M. T. (2006). EDUC 101 Philippine Education System. UP Open University.

Sutherland, I. (2013).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288745230_School_leadership_in_the_Philippines_

Historical_cultural_and_policy_dynamics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibalik_ang_Philippine_History_sa_High_School_Movement

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1621743/lawmakers-seek-revival-of-ph-history-as-separate-

subject

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