Lesson #1

A month or so ago, I offered to help a lady in her late 20s, review for her ALS (Alternative Learning System) exam. This test is administered by the government for those who were not able to finish school for one reason or another. Lalaine was in third year high school when she figured in a car accident which left her in a coma for a while. She did eventually recover but not without some physical defects. It might have also affected slightly her mental faculties. She is, however, determined to take the test so she can be considered a high school graduate.

After meeting with her for a few times, I can tell that she will have to do lots of diligent studying in order to pass. Thankfully, the students are given a reviewer to take home and practice. She worked on it, and I checked her answers. I soon discovered error upon error in her work. So I asked her how she got the answer. (It was a Math probem.) She replied with a smile, "hula" ('guess' in Tagalog). I smiled, but was a bit disappointed with her answer. We moved onto the next question, still in Math. Her answer was wrong again, and I asked her again, "how did you come up with the answer?" She answered proudly, "hula"! It was at this point that I felt my "N. American saviour attitude" rise out of nowhere! I said to her in Tagalog. "Are you serious? Because if you are serious, I am serious. But if you are not serious, then I am not going to be serious. Do you really want to pass?" I explained to her that she is not going to pass by guessing the answers. She replied saying if she doesn't guess, she will never be able to finish the test. We continued the review.

I shared this incident with a colleague and found out a bit more about the learning process for some of the Filipinos. They were taught to copy down questions word for word, and memorize the answers. Sometimes they were even taught to just look for something that's close to the correct answer. Understanding of the problem was not even taught! Here I was, bringing along my pre-conceived notions of Western teaching, and expecting them to work in this small barangay (village). I didn't even consider this lady who had to stop school for over 10 years because of her physical disability as well as financial limitations.

So much for ...  being a light to the world.

Second chance, Lord?