Bus-Life Journal, Piece #92
I was in a bus en route to Pacita, San Pedro last 5/4/2013 beside an old lady when a man in his 50's (probably) sat beside me. The TV was tuned to Eat Bulaga's Pinoy Henyo with students from Muntinlupa National High School trying to guess a word.
I was partly skimming a book and partly watching the tv to prevent myself from dozing off when out of nowhere, the man asked me pointing to the TV:
"Is that your culture? That's crazy(pronounced as kreysi)."
Awkward silence and knitted brows from me.
He continued, in his thick European accent, loudly and slowly, as if talking to a child:
"You see, I am Education Missionary and in a mission to Las Pinas, Paranaque City here in the Philippines, I ask a child, 'What is the capital of Germany?' - the Filipino child can not answer. You really have a poor education here in the Philippine. In my country, if you will ask a 10-yr-old child the capital of Philippine, you get an immediate "Manila" answer. I am in your National Bookstore here and ask a random child where Philippine is, on a globe I am hold and the child can not find it. In Hongkong, Filipino university graduate work as domestic helper. Well, you're good with karaoke, that's one thing." (sic /errors all throughout)
There came a brewing mixture of sadness and indignation within me. I clung unto my calculating silence while making mental notes of his statements.
"I watch TV shows here in the Philippine and found nothing that discuss your culture. You doesn't even have a translation for the word 'please' in this country", he laments while shaking his head in all his ungrammatical glory, misinformation and contemptuousness (Boss Martin may i borrow this one :p).
My sense of justice required me to talk, so I placed my book down, offered a handshake, audibly and slowly like him, I said:
The self-proclaimed Education Missionary(EM) replied - "Splendid."
me: "How long have you been here in the Philippines?"
EM: "Almost a month."
me: "Would you know the mechanics of Pinoy Henyo?"
EM: "What is Pinoy Henyo?"
me: "It's that game being played on TV. Translated, it's 'Genius Filipino'."
EM: "Now, really?"
He laughed, amused - I may say. If there was a hint of mockery - I closed my eyes to it so I could remain objective and just with my points.
me: "I have some points to discuss with you. You may have your rejoinder after I speak."
EM: "Yes, please."
I stated almost breathlessly:
"Please has no direct one-word translation in Filipino just like our respect word 'po' has no direct english translation. You say please in Filipino by adding prefix 'paki' in every action word. That's 'paki-kuha' for 'please get', 'paki-kanta' for 'please sing'. Please could be 'maari po ba' . Not sure but perhaps you either asked the wrong people, or bought the wrong English-Filipino translation book to conclude that such respect word is absent in our language. I say it would be nice to research thoroughly before making uncalled for statements."
I further explained, "Pinoy Henyo is a mind game. Mechanics would be to guess a word by asking questions answerable by yes, no or maybe within a time limit. It is an original game by Filipinos that you need to learn, to know more about the depth and strength of Filipino imagination. It is more of, "fun" to me while you call it "crazy" and that's ok for someone who doesn't know the game. Crazy by the way is pronounced kreyZi, not kreySi."
"Just as there are Filipino graduates working as domestic helpers in HK, please know that I have known of Filipino undergraduates who worked their way up as Chefs in European restaurants, and engineers in Middle East construction sites and have brought honor to their workplaces, employers there, and families here.", I added.
On sensitive issues you have inevitably raised:
1st point - a country's culture is not TV-tied. What you will probably get with watching TV, for your almost-a-month stay here, is the culture of the media people of this country. You may watch and even read all books about Philippine culture but you will have to spend a fair amount of time with the people and review their history and language among others, to thoroughly understand their culture. We have a diverse culture as we have thousands of islands in this country, 8 major languages and a long history of conquistadores. As such, one must take caution in generalizing observations.
2nd point - though I may agree that we have poor education by whatever standards of measurement that you have used/referred to, poor education does not necessarily reflect the level of intelligence of a nation. Aside from geography as a subject, there is more to intelligence, logic and education. I have recently read that the Philippines ranked number one in Business English, worldwide. Toppled the rest I guess, in that aspect (I grinned and looked at him straight in his eyes). That's linguistic intelligence brought about by what you call 'poor education'.
Oh, and have you read of Dr. David Harwell's Letter to the Filipinos published by Philippine Daily Inquirer? He has spoken of Filipino education and work ethics. It's a must-read. Check it out.
Mr. Education Missionary, apart from IQ we also have EQ and Moral intelligence to consider in holistic education. In measures of respecting other cultures, surviving tough times, working conscientiously, keeping our marriages and loving our families - we sort of excel in these fields of education. This is my almost 34 years culture immersion vs almost 1 month of yours." (tried to breathe here :p)
I added - "We don't normally go to other countries in a mission to educate others. We go to other countries primarily to earn a living for our families, to study in purportedly great universities and to gain education by enjoying other countries' cultures through travels.
Now if I will use your hasty generalization logic of statements directed to me a while ago, will it be just, and will it hurt you, if I say, for the purpose of this discussion, that people in your country of origin, must visit us to get some 'poor education' on how to properly research, and do away with fallacious statements, unfair judgments and grammatical errors?"
His jaw dropped.
me: "Can I please ask my last question?"
EM: "Yes", he said, red-faced.
me: "What did you do when the Filipino child was unable to answer your question about Germany and the child who was unable to find Philippines in the globe you were holding?"
EM: (Very Long Silence)
me: "Your general mission is laudable, we thank you for the noble concern, but if you were unable to teach the child in Las Pinas of Berlin, and that Philippines is at 11.87° N, 122.86° E to the random child at National Bookstore, then I am sincerely sorry to say that somehow - you failed your immediate mission with those two children. Please revisit your personal purpose and mission in our country."
The Education Missionary, without another word, hurriedly left the bus.
I sighed mumbling to myself in my native Waray language: "Kun diri ka naruruyag hin kamatuuran - nagsayup ka hin pakikiistoryahan."
I was surprised by a hug from the old lady to my left. Teary-eyed, she said: "Narinig ko usapan niyo. Salamat."
I may be a "poorly-educated" Filipina by standards of some -but I was taught by my family tender and tough love, respect, justice, basic logic, and speaking ones' truth, among others. These, I think, made "poor education", make a difference in Filipinos' lives.
Truth remains to be a double-edged sword.
Postscript:
Though help is wanting in Philippine education, I hope it will not hurt our government to find time to slightly recheck the business/mission, and training of these "education missionaries" to the PhilippineS. Not all dole-outs are very helpful.
