Punchline
A generation of “66% passing grade”
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
IF you would like an indicator on how the generation of Pinoys born in the 90s will fare when they reach adulthood, here’s how and hold on to your seats.
There was a recent item in a national daily that reported how Grade Six students in the country fared in the last National Achievement Test. The passing grade was established at 66%, yes 66%! That’s 9% below the long established 75% passing grade!
That DepEd considered it a passing grade should tell you where this country is going!
What was not stated in the item was how many of the Grade 6 students who took the test made the 75% mark but if it’s any indication, the DepEd officials who attended the senate hearing did not refute the impression articulated by some senators that more than half of the Grade 6 students in the country did not make the standard 75% passing grade.
And if that is not enough to make you fall into coma, a DepEd official said matter of factly that the students (at 66%) already showed an impressive improvement in their mastery of basic education in Math, Science, English, Filipino and Makabayan!
Wouldn’t you like to know what impressed DepEd? Thank goodness for the 66% because it showed an improvement over last year’s measly 55% passing grade!
Are you still breathing?
But here’s the good news: DepEd has set a target of achieving a score of 75% passing grade in two years! Hooray! Meanwhile, the 2000-2010 grade school graduates will just have to fend for themselves as they plod through high school and college.
If only both Jose Rizal and Ninoy Aquino could speak out from where their monuments stand today, Rizal would likely be so embarrassed to confess that he had a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease when he envisioned the youth as the hope of the motherland, while Ninoy would be profuse in his regrets that he naively believed that the Filipino is worth dying for.
* * * * *
Ask any baby boomer (born circa 45s-55s) and he/she will tell you that a 66% grade meted to any student could have only meant that the student was better off a dropout, forever cursed on a perpetual struggle for survival in the blue collar sector in his adult life, if he or she is lucky. A grade of 75% was generally acceptable but a cloud of doubt by classmates will forever haunt the student. Nothing could be more embarrassing than to be described as “pasang awa”.
Those who averaged grades of 85-90% among the baby boomers were clearly the driven high achievers and risk-takers who were not daunted by early failures. You still find most of them still on top of the heap even as they enjoy the fruits of their labor in their twilight years. To them, a grade of 80% was enough to give some nightmares.
But this is not to say that only an intellectually gifted child will succeed in his adult life. Nothing can be farther from the truth. We knew of icons who had no college diplomas to show but made their marks in various fields. However, today, those without college diplomas practically have little or no chance of surviving a dog-eat-dog competition among jobseekers, professionals and entrepreneurs that requires an analytical mind. And one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to determine the odds for a grade school kid with a 66% average to have a comfortable life in his adult years.
* * * * *
I have not had the chance to peruse the controversial teacher’s guidebook prepared by our own teachers. That the teachers insist on using it at the risk of being sanctioned by DepEd officials tells us there is definitely something worthwhile about it. It’d be interesting to know how our students finally fare in the 2010 NAT test knowing that our teachers have started using it as a primary aide in teaching our children.
After that successful but risky foray into education publishing, the Espino administration should risk buying more tables and chairs this time for our public schools. If we can’t have enough classrooms, at least provide the kids studying under mango trees with desks to write on and chairs to sit on. It was a cinch for him to provide barangay kapitans a shotgun each worth P22,500, surely it’d be doubly easy for him to direct the release of P45,000 (cost of 2 shotguns) for each public school in the province to purchase the desks and chairs- a small price to pay for the welfare of our province’s future leaders.
With no commission or kickback due any capitol VIP, that amount still can go a long way.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
