Five Philosophies for Practical Living - A Workshop Guide

Five Philosophies for Practical Living 
- A Workshop Guide   
Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Recognize and show gratitude to people whose goodness has made you what you are today.

Exercise: List down ten very important people (VIP) outside your family circle and personal friends, who have influenced your thinking, attitude and behavior, and your well-being. These people may not necessarily belong to your generation; they may have lived before in another era and country. You may not have met them at all. Nonetheless, their influence on you is lasting.

In the movie Castaway, Chuck Noland's plane crashes, he ends up stranded on a deserted tropical island for four years.

2. Each one of us is a child of Nature.

Explain what it means to follow the laws of nature. What natural cycles influence your life. Why is the circle infinite; more so with eight? What are these used as symbols of cycles in nature. Cite ten of these cycles and explain each. How does life fit in each cycle?

3. It is not how long you live that matters most in life but the significance of your existence, the quality of the life you live.

Exercise: List down ten most important achievements in your life, and explain each. Are these worth living for? Do they lead you to the answer on "Why are you here?"

4. Holism of knowledge is in the use of 4 Hs - Head, Hands, Heart and Humanity. Exercise: Draw four squares in four successive sizes as to fit into the largest square. Then draw a diagonal line that connects the corners of the 4 squares. Label your drawing accordingly. Explain the significance of this illustration. When does knowledge evolve into skill, and ultimately into philosophy?

5. Rationality of man rests on the eight realms of intelligence - logic, spatial, languages, kinesthetics, music, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalism.

Exercise: Evaluate yourself according to the eight realms. Use the Likert scale of 1 to 5, in increasing value. Analyze your strength, and weakness as well, based on your scores. ~

To many people, to live in an island Paradise is a dream, on one condition that they do not lose their connectivity.  
Acknowledgement: Internet photos

24 Postulates to Build a "Children of Nature" Culture

Our children will clean the land, water and air which we the generation before littered. They will heal the earth we defaced, damage. With generation gap closed, the task will be shared by all.
Dr Abe V Rotor

  Young biologist studies a specimen. Tree planting and home gardening 

 Summer painting workshop for kids.

1. Our children need to know the true meaning of biodiversity. Four attributes - richness in kind, population, interrelationship, ecosystem area.

Biodiversity per se does not guarantee sustainability unless integrated with functioning systems of nature.

2. Our children’s development must be holistic In all four stages: genetic, childhood, lifestyle – and fetal (in the womb). Sing, talk to your baby while in the womb.

3. Our children are at the front line and center of people’s revolution spreading worldwide.

Arab Spring is still sweeping over North Africa and the Middle East, The Syrian crisis has escalated and drawn US, Russia and other countries into the conflict, while terrorism has spread into global proportion, which covers our own Mindanao, amid threat of a nuclear war spawned by North Korea. In the US mass demonstrations are denouncing the present leadership. 

4. Our children become new heroes – heroes for the environment, martyrs for Mother Earth. Heaven is in a regained Paradise on earth.

The coming of a universal faith, irrespective of denomination is becoming a popular idea. To many, to be saved is not by faith and promise. Heaven starts here on earth.

5. Let’s prepare our children to face the consequences of loss of privacy and secrecy, from personal to institutional transparency.

Janitor fish - subject of kids' curiosity, an introduction to biology.  

“You can no longer hide. There is no place you can remain with anonymity.” Wikileak unveiled classified information about the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Bank secrecy laws and safeguards are changing. Citizens have the right to know many hidden financial transactions.

6. Our children’s involvement in social media makes them actors and not mere spectators. They become involved, concerned with issues, local and far reaching.

There is need to strengthen Development Communication (DevComm) over conventional entertainment and reactionary media.

7. Our children will inherit our aging infrastructure. Aging Infrastructure pulls down the economy, increases risk to disaster, creates ghost cities and making life miserable.

A new field of biodiversity has been born in deserted towns, on the 38th Parallel between South and North Korea, in land mines areas, ghost towns, among deserted high rise buildings, in high radiation areas like in Chernobyl (Russia) Three-mile Island (US) and Fukushima (Japan).

8. Our children are deprived of natural beauty and bounty with shrinking wildlife, conversion of farms and pastures to settlements, and destruction of ecosystems.

“Canned Nature” (delata) has become pseudo Nature Centers. Gubat sa Siyudad, Fantasyland, Ocean Park, Disneyland

9. Our children, and succeeding generations are becoming more and more vulnerable to various infirmities – genetic, physiological, psychological, pathologic.

Computer Syndrome is now pandemic, and its toll is increasing worldwide. South Korea is the worst hit. The Philippines is not far behind.

10. Our children’s learning through codification defeats logical thinking and creativity. Thus affect their reasoning power, judgment and decision, originality of thought and ideas.

More and more children are computer-dependent. They find simple equations and definitions difficult without electronic gadget.

11. Our children face the age of singularity whereby human and artificial intelligence are integrated. Robotics robs human of his rights and freedom – new realm of curtailment and suppression. (2045 – The Year Man Becomes Immortal – Time Magazine). This is falsehood!

 On-the-spot painting; wall mural painting 

12. Our children finds a world of archives - memories, reproductions, replicas – of a real world lost before their own time.

We are making fossils, biographies, dirges and lament, as if without any sense of guilt.

13. Our children will realize that optimism will remain the mainstay of human evolution, rising above difficulties and trials. Hope is ingrained in the human brain that makes vision rosier than reality.

Anxiety, depression will continue to haunt, in fact accompany progress, but these all the more push optimism up and ahead.

14. Our children are overburdened by education. They need freedom to learn in their own sweet time and enjoy the bliss and adventure of childhood and adolescence.

E-learning is taking over much of the role of schools and universities. Open Universities, Distance Learning will dwarf classroom instruction, the beginning of a new University of Plato’s dream.

15. Our children will witness in their time the beginning of a post-capitalism order, environmental revolution, rise of growth centers and shift in economic dominance and order, more green technologies, and space exploration.

This is Renaissance in in the new age.

16. Our children will continue looking for the missing links of science, history, religion, astronomy etc, among them the source of life itself and its link with the physical world.

Linking of disciplines, narrowing down the gaps of specializations, making of a new Man and culture.

17. Our children become more and more transient in domicile where work may require, and for personal reasons, and when given choice and opportunity in a global perspective, intermarriages notwithstanding.

“Citizen of the world” is a person without a specific country. He is therefore, rootless.

Humans since creation are rooted politically, culturally – and principally biologically.

18. Our children will have a family size of ideally 2 or 3 children, enabling them to achieve their goals and dreams in life. They will strengthen the middle class the prime mover of society.

A natural way of family planning and population planning, trend of industrialized countries.

19. Our children will clean the land, water and air we the generation before littered. They will heal the earth we defaced, damage. With generation gap closed, the task will be shared by all.

We must be good housekeepers of Mother Earth now.

20. Our children will be part of devolution of power, decentralization of authority, a new breed of more dedicated leaders.

Natural History exhibit at the former St Paul University Museum QC

Children hold the key to change. It’s the Little Prince that changed and saved the pilot in an ill-fated plane crash in the Sahara Desert.

21. Our children face acculturation and inter racial marriages. Melange of races is on the rise – Eurasian, Afro-American, Afro-Asian, etc – a homogenization process that reduces as a consequence natural gene pools.

Culturally and scientifically, this is dangerous. Homogenization leads to extinction of races and ultimately the species.

22. Our children will live simpler lives, going back to basics, preferring natural over artificial goods and services. In the long run they will be less wasteful that us.

There is always a hidden desire to escape when things get rough. This is instinct for survival either by detour or turning back.

23. Our children face the coming of the Horsemen of Apocalypse – consequence of human folly and frailty (nuclear, pollution, poverty). More than we grownups, they are more resilient to adapt to the test.

History tells us that this is true.

24. Postmodernism may do more harm than good for our children in a runaway technology and culture. They cannot and will not be able to keep with the pace and direction of change.

This is not true. “I am the master of my fate, I’m the captain of my soul.” (From Invictus, by William Ernest Henley).  And this is what we want our children to become – but only when they are CHILDREN OF NATURE.

Art Lessons from Mackie, 5 (Part 2): The Flower Teacup

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Teacup in pentel by Mackie 5, 2017

To a child a teacup is mommy's or grandma’s

       Long kept in a cupboard by the hearth,

Or a gift kept secret 'til the eve of one Christmas:

      “To the most wonderful child on earth.”

The teacup brings comfort, friends, many a cheer,

      to good health, good company, best brew;

Gently raised to the air, settles on its saucer,

      like the cycle of life’s meaning and view.

To the child artist the cup is rich imaginary -

     Flowers like eyes looking in the room;

Never stable, never at ease, telling a story

    Of a uncaged bird finding it its home. ~

Peace with Nature - Laudato Si

Painting and Verse by Dr AV Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Kids Fishing in acrylic AVR 2015

Time stands still on a weekend

     away from school,

when fish return to spawn

     and the stream full.

Seven doves above alight

     on the tree top,

to watch the kids at play

     and hear them laugh.

Peace they bring to where

     innocence reigns,

far from the war zone,

     tears and pains.

Where nature is true and kind,

     sans doubts and fears;

patience, patience - a  fish bites

     in a thousand cheers. ~

Courtesy of NFA Administrator Renan B Dalisay and Family,

"Sea on the Wall" Forever

Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature School on Blog

I love to paint the sea, the sea
when I was young,
as young today in my memory,
and after I'm gone.

"Sea on the Wall" Mural detail, AVRotor 2015 at author's residence in Lagro QC (30ft x 15ft)

In Search of a Career (Part 2): Career Planning

In Search of a Career (Part 2): Career Planning 
Tap your eight realms of  intelligence 
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Career planning is defined as the ongoing pro

• Explores his interests and abilities; 
•  Strategically plans his career goals; and. 
• Creates his future work success by designing learning and action plans to help him achieve his goals. 

These are three elements in career planning for every individual seeking a bright prospect in his career. They are categorized in this sequence along the career path he has laid out in mind as ambition, and in remote and vague term, as dream. 

Taken as a whole these elements cannot be determined in just one sweeping study, much less measured and assessed as a comprehensive career map that can be handed down as a lifetime guide, for three principal reasons: first, by the nature of the study, it needs a long and continuing research, and that the methodology 

involved is varied; second, there are alternative elements which may be missed out, not unanticipated in the process; and third, there are inevitable circumstances and unpredictable factors which are likely to be encountered in such a long-term study. 

Stages in Career Planning

The first stage in career planning which is to explore the interests and abilities of the person is essential, in fact primordial in any undertaking. Every person is endowed genetically with certain abilities passed on from his forebears through generations, and particular from his biological parents. There are eight realms or fields of intelligence, often referred to as , which are applied in examining and assessing a person’s potential intelligence or set of intelligence.

Multiple intelligence pioneer Howard Gardner's pluralistic view of intelligence suggests that all people possess at least eight different intelligences that operate in varying degrees depending upon each individual. Gardner initially present only 7, naturalism was included later. (Multiple Intelligences Theory, Howard Gardner, PhD)

A Survey on Multiple Intelligence

The 8 primary intelligences identified are as follows: by Gardner include the following: (not in proper order)

• 1    linguistic intelligence,
• 2    logical-mathematical intelligence,
• 3    spatial intelligence,
• 4    bodily-kinesthetic intelligence,
• 5    musical intelligence,
• 6    interpersonal intelligence, and
• 7    intrapersonal intelligence.
• 8   naturalistic intelligence

The eighth field of intelligence was not part of Gardner's original framework but was added in 1996 to include those who excel in the realm of natural science.

The general characteristics associated with each of these intelligences are described below. (CM Doria and AV Rotor: Humanities Today – An Experiential Approach C and E Publishing 2012)

  

Applications of Multiple Intelligence cartoon 

1. Linguistic intelligence - refers to an individual's capacity to use language effectively as a means of expression and communication through the written or spoken word (Examples: poets, writers, orators, and comedians. Some famous examples include: Jose Rizal, Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman).

2. Logical-Mathematical intelligence - refers to an individual's ability to recognize relationships and patterns between concepts and things, to think logically, to calculate numbers, and to solve problems scientifically and systematically. (Examples: mathematicians, economists, lawyers and scientists. Some famous examples include: Charles Newton, Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrodinger, and John Dewey).

3. Visual -Spatial intelligence - refers to the capability to think in images and orient oneself spatially. In addition, spatially intelligent people are able to graphically represent their visual and spatial ideas (Examples: artists, decorators, architects, pilots, sailors, surveyors, inventors, and guides. Some famous examples include: Fernando Amorsolo, Juan Luna, Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Leonardo DaVinci).

4. Musical intelligence - refers to the capacity to appreciate a variety of musical forms as well as being able to use music as a vehicle of expression. Musically intelligent people are perceptive to elements of rhythm, melody, and pitch (Examples: singers, musicians, and composers. Some famous examples include: Ryan Cayabyab, Nicanor Abelardo, Mozart, Julie Andrews, Andrea Boccelli and Leonard Bernstein).

5. Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence - refers to the capacity of using one's own body skillfully as a means of expression or to work with one's body to create or manipulate objects (Examples: dancers, actors, athletes, sculptors, surgeons, mechanics, and craftspeople. Some famous examples include: Manny Pacquiao, Michael Jordan, Julia Roberts, and Mikhail Baryshnikov).

6. Interpersonal (Social) intelligence - refers to the capacity to appropriately and effectively communicate with and respond to other people. The ability to work cooperatively with others and understand their feelings (Examples: sales people, politicians, religious leaders, talk show hosts, etc. Some famous examples include: Rodrigo Roa Duterte,  Bill Clinton, Ghandi, Oprah Winfrey).

7. Intrapersonal intelligence - refers to the capacity to accurately know one's self, including knowledge of one's own strengths, motivations, goals, and feelings. To be capable of self-reflection and to be introverted and contemplative are also traits held by persons with Intrapersonal intelligence. (Examples: entrepreneurs, therapists, philosophers, etc. Some famous examples include: Pope Francis, Sigmund Freud, Bill Gates, Socrates and Plato).

8. Naturalistic intelligence - refers to the ability to identify and classify the components that make up our environment. This intelligence would have been especially apt during the evolution of the human race in individuals who served as hunters, gatherers, and farmers. (Examples: botanists, farmers, etc. Some famous examples include: Eduardo Quisumbing, botanist; Aristotle, Charles Darwin, E.O. Wilson).

Awareness of Multiple Intelligence "helps create communities of reflective, self-directed learners, to encourage the pursuit of deep understanding within and across disciplines, and to promote critical and creative thinking" (AV Rotor, Light from the Old Arch, UST 2001)

These intelligences are often attributed as God-given gifts, particularly in traditional and religious societies. This belief is reinforced by the fact that no normal individual is without any appropriate field of intelligence, often complemented by others to form a compatible combination.  

For example, Fernando Amorsolo, Philippine national artist, is evidently gifted with spatial intelligence and naturalism, hence his masterpieces are mainly nature’s scene, and the aesthetic human beauty. Teachers to be effective must possess the proper combination of intelligences: interpersonal for good human relations, logic for scholarly and methodical teaching, language for clear expression, intrapersonal as guide to teaching as a vocation.  In fact, there is no other profession that calls for the highest and widest application of all eighth realms, other qualities notwithstanding.

What are other elements other than the 8 realms of intelligence?

Jose Rizal is exceptionally endowed with a number of intelligence, from spatial to logic to language, as manifested in his works and biography. The question as to what makes a martyr, singularly manifested by bravery, sacrifice and sense of nationalism, may not be traced to mere intelligence.  Which therefore raises the  need to know more about the development of a person outside the eight realms of intelligence.

The question is also raised on great men and women who veered from their career path and by circumstances fate led them to fame, such as popularity in modern music (Elvis Priestley), original thought (Albert Einstein, E=MC2), ideas ahead of their time (Jules Verne, the science fiction novelist), radical life to the point of madness (Vincent Van Gogh, founder of Expressionism movement in art), or simply, demonstrating non-violence as a tool of liberation (Jose Rizal, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela).  [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Career planning is based on self-assessment of the eight realms of intelligence. It starts in the family, parents as talent scout of their children, friends and relatives affirming the dawning of evident talents, school providing motivation and direction, and the community in nurturing public appreciation.

It is for this reason that early detection and subsequent development of talents is key to career planning, more so in the pursuit of career path. It is also a fact that no one can’t possibly succeed under “no man is an island” condition. Career is greatly, in fact inevitably, influenced and dependent on these and other factors.

Surprisingly, the road to success is a rough and thorny one, and along the way lays crossroads of indecision to the point of feeling lost and forlorn.

This is the sad fate of many who settle down on careers not of their own choice and making, yet as life must go, and acceptance is a matter of adjusting to the prevailing conditions and circumstances.  Whether these people are happy or not may be gauged on their accomplishments and people’s perception.  A would-be lawyer settled down as businessman, a would-be doctor as a local politician, a would-be engineer a craftsman. Failure is not the word to describe them for failing in their planned career, but by the grace of humanity they are looked upon for meritorious achievements, contributing to the welfare of the community, being examples of the youth, and having a happy family.

Where do the eighth realms of intelligence come in? They may have the fullest expression of one realm of intelligence, like  Beethoven or Ryan Cayabyab, exemplars in musical composition.  But they also possess certain qualities found in  say St (Mother) Teresa,  Montessori, the teacher-innovator, Manny Pacquiao, the athlete political leader,  Ramon Magsaysay, people’s president.  They are in their own ways Spartans, Samaritans, and the like.  

From Failure to Success in the Pursuit of Careers

Models of success are not necessarily found on the pedestal, much less exclusive icons. Many may have failed once, or more, but were able to overcome such predicaments.  They may have taken another career path.  They may have found more meaning in a less prominent one.

Many are called late bloomers, which confirm that “life starts at forty,” or even later.  Gifted individuals, prodigies in the art, science, and other fields, simply took the path to success such as Mozart and Mendelsohn (music), Newton (physics), Bobby Fisher (chess). 

It is a dismay though for child prodigies who failed to sustain the extraordinary momentum.  In an commercial advertisement, a certain girl Allyia (not the real name) had higher IQ than the great astronomer Galileo, because she was regularly drinking a milk formula. This may be exaggerated but it is an example of a genetically gifted individual who failed because the other elements of development were not sufficiently given.

On the other hand, Severino Reyes (Lola Basyang) wrote his first story for children in past seventy.  He wrote volumes of bedtime and fantasy stories for the Komiks, movies, radio and TV series, and on stage.  (Rotor AV and CM Doria, Philippine Literature Today 2014)  

4.1 Twenty World’s Most Famous Failures
Career doesn’t come on a silver platter, it is earned, and earned with sacrifice, persistence and focus on a “dream to come true.” The ingredients however may be initial failure, in fact repeated failures, as in the cases of thousands of world famous men and women, among them are cited in this study.

Nelson Mandela, first president of South Africa, has this to say on failure as a springboard to success, to wit:

“Failure is a word which everyone dreads. Each of us wants to have a taste of success and be praised once in life time at least. Success certainly does not come that easy, it takes to strive hard to achieve our share.”

“Never give up on your hopes and your dreams. Never allow someone else to tell you that you’re not good enough, smart enough or talented enough to achieve greatness in whatever capacity you’re seeking. You can do anything you put your mind to. Anything.”

Biographies of great men and women, twenty of them cited here, are recommended for reading to the career seekers, as well as those who need encouragement to go on in spite of failures.



1. Abraham Lincoln - 16th President of the United States
2. Albert Einstein - One of the most brilliant minds to have ever lived,
3. Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft, richest man in the world
4. Charles Darwin – World’s authority on the science of evolution
5. Charlie Chaplin – pioneer in the movie industry

6. Colonel Harland Sanders – Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
7. Elvis Presley – Most popular rock music star
8. George Lucas – Film maker, revolutionized the film industry
9. Henry Ford – Founder of Ford company, pioneer in car manufacturing
10. J.K. Rowling - author of the wildly-popular Harry Potter series of books

11. Nelson Mandela – liberated his country South Africa from British rule
12. Emily Dickinson – one of America’s greatest and most original poets
13. Marilyn Monroe - pop culture icon and sex symbol, unparalleled to this day
14. Oprah Winfrey – TV program host, first black woman-billionaire
15. Thomas A Edison – Inventor with dozens of parented works

16. Fred Astaire – stage dancer and comedian, actor and movie producer
17. Harrison Ford – famous actor in adventure movies
18. Jack London – author of Call of the Wild is now a classic
19. Howard Schultz – Founder of world famous Starbucks
20. Jack Canfield Chicken Soup for the Soul Series ~
These are Filipino celebrities who experienced hardships before becoming famous personalities. Their humble beginnings were recognized because of all their sacrifices just to have a better life. What then is the most important ingredient of a successful career?
1. Coco Martin, one of ABS-CBN’s most prized artists, starring in the top-rating TV series, Ang Probinsyano.
2. Ai-ai delas Alas Ai-ai, dubbed ‘Philippine Queen of Comedy’
3. Willie Revillame TV Host ‘Wowowin".
4. Jennylyn Mercado was once hailed as the sexiest woman by a local magazine.
5. Jericho Rosales Mr. Pogi’ of ‘Eat Bulaga,’
6. Vice Ganda Comedian Vice Ganda,
7. Richard Gomez Mayor Richard Gomez of Ormoc City
8. Nora Aunor, The Philippine Superstar
9. Marvin Agustin Agustin, actor and successful businessman
10. Isko Moreno – actor, politician ~

In Search of a Career Part 1: GET (Genetic, Environment and Training)

Genetics-Environment-Training

Dr Abe V Rotor

Career is an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life, perhaps a lifetime, with opportunities for progress, though not always. In its broad application, career is synonymous to profession, occupation, job, vocation, calling, employment, line, line of work, walk of life.

Quite often the career of a person is his imprimatur: Maestro Selmo (school teacher), Doktor Ferrer (family physician), Aling Maria (sari-sari store operator), Pastor Nelson (religious minister). These are informal titles popularly conferred by the community these people serve. 

Down to the grassroots are people identified according to their particular expertise or occupation which they earned through the years. The quaintness of village culture developed such personalities as Nestor partidor (butcher), Nora kumadrona (midwife), Eustaquio herbolario, fondly called quack doctor, Pedro kutsero or kalesa driver, Perla labandera or laundry woman, Emilio kartero or mailman. They are the subject of stories in telenobela, movies, paintings, or simply happy gatherings, such as barrio fiesta.

There is no community without these “experts” whom people trust and hire for their services - electrician, plumber, jeepney driver, coconut harvester, cargador, house painter, kantero, kapintero, latero, and the like.

Name an occupation or odd job, and you can associate it with a kabarangay or town mate. Under a rural setting, for generations, careers have been regarded as lifelong occupations and people are simply happy and proud, of their calling by the community. 

Based on this social structure, a career therefore has a dichotomous definition differentiating the “professionals” from the “ordinary” workers. Society has always been keen on the importance of both, and the community has many good reasons to have them integrated into the village life. On their part, they are just too willing to serve for reasonable pay, and in addition often compensated in kind. On the other hand they work on bayanihan, in deference to village customs and values.

Career is a unifying force in a traditional community, now being threatened by modernization and exodus of people to live in cities and to work abroad. For one, such change is financially rewarding, especially to OFWs who are getting as much pay as the “professionals,” particularly those at home.

To keep up with finances many career professionals settle down for non-professional jobs. A teacher works as governess (yaya) and gets higher pay than being a teacher in her home country. An OFW engineer becomes a heavy equipment operator, a doctor as healthcare worker, a management expert as clerk – all these make little distinction in today’s standards, on socio-economic parameters.

It is not unusual to meet a doctor turned poultry man, a lawyer turned gentleman farmer, professor as private tutor or bible study leader, engineer resigned from a lucrative employment becoming an entrepreneur. Ask a carpenter foreman and he will give his credentials as board passer in engineering. There must be reasons behind these diversions, or change in career, which can be treated as case studies in this research. 

Triad of Human Development

Without exemption, every person – personhood to career – is a lifetime product of three interrelated factors of development, namely

· These are fondly coined into an acronym GET. In his entire life he encounters the six Ws: What, Where, When, Which, Whom (things often encountered in everyday living), and Why (the underlying philosophy of life, its reason and meaning of one’s life), and one H – How, which leads the person into a career path, involving strategies and methodologies. 

Here is a general illustration to show the interrelationships of the three factors. The core is the totality of such interrelationship. Ideally, the bigger the core, the more benefits the person derives from the contribution of each factor. 

These factors vary in their contributions to the person’s development. The governing principle is that of integration and compensation. Genetic potential is expressed under a favorable environment, and appropriate and thorough training. However, no amount of training will guarantee a person’s success if he is not gifted with a particular talent. Such is the case of music. It is said that a musician is born a musician, so with a painter who is born with visual-spatial talent. Poor or improper environment on the other hand, impedes an individual’s career, even with favorable genetic and training background. This is the irony of a society which cannot ensure the welfare of its citizens, more so under an environment of conflict and hostilities. This is rationale of governments to keep peace and order in the community or the whole region or country for that matter.

Genetics

“It runs in the family’’ is a common expression. Hence, there is a family of doctors, family of engineers, of teachers, of farmers, artists, religious leaders, journalists and writers, politicians, soldiers, and many other walks of life.

But there are also families that may lack any distinctive career pattern that is traced to heredity. What is the importance of knowing the hereditary background of a family?

It is used as valuable reference in choosing a career. Other that this it is often used as medical reference. He would ask, “Is there any cancer victim in your family?” Organizations refer to it in tracing moral background, employers in hiring, people in choosing their lifetime partners. 

Exceptional talents however may skip detection based on phylogeny or the family tree. Many great people came from simple families. On the other hand, not all potential genes are transmitted to the offspring. Whatever happened to the children of great men and women attest to this scientific finding. 

Career therefore has hereditary structure like a tree, if only the genes past and present can speak. This is a challenge posed to educator, sociologists, and primarily parents. With the Human Genome Map lately developed, a person’s genetic pool can be now analyzed, at least partially. The map indicates the chromosomes and component genes that govern the traits of the subject person. Medical science has begun using it in diagnostics, opening a new field of detecting a potential disease before it affects the individual. It has opened an unconventional approach in assessing personal character which is useful, say in employment and sensitive positions. 

Environment

Environment covers a time span “from womb to tomb,” exposure of anything mainly perceived by the senses. It is the totality of a person’s connection with the physical, biological and institutional world.

The home as the basic unit of society plays a primordial contribution to one’s career, the community as its extension, and the institutions that form a network in which every person is an integral part. .

Environment may be modified to suit career path, but limited to periodicity, a phenomenon that a person cannot choose the time and place he came into this world. History attests to the role of this phenomenon in the life of people, their society and civilizations for that matter.

With the breakthrough in science and technology, the present generations are witnessing more discoveries and inventions than what have been generated since ancient times. Environment today has grown complicated and encompassing, such as the power of cyber-communication, nuclear energy, automation and robotics. These feats of the Homo sapiens, the (only) intelligent being enabled him to live a 

postmodern life (that is, living ahead of the times). Which leads to the question, “What careers lie ahead for the millennials and Igen or social media generations?

City environment and rural environment divide careers into two fields: the street smart and the agrarian kid. One knows life from the blocks, the other from the field; one from books, the other from actual experience. One on the niceties of a comfortable life, while the other, on survival in a raw environment. In the movie, The Gods Must be Crazy, there is a charming sarcasm pitting the intelligence of a lady PhD holder and the instinctive intelligence of a desert dweller, a bushman, who without the latter, the lady guest could have been devoured by beasts or died of thirst and starvation. 

Career in postmodern times is driving people to seek better work conditions: hourly pay, security of tenure and benefits, among others. Others simply quit and would rather move away from poor socio economic conditions and from force majeure which is increasing in occurrence and intensity, as a result of global warming and other man-induced calamities. Today there is an irreversible phenomenon called eco-migration to illustrate this fact.

Training

The global trend to standardize school curricula pushed the Philippines to adopt K-12 to keep up with global competitiveness in job opportunities in other countries.

The new curriculum with two additional years an added is indeed a burden to parents, and opportunity loss to young people to work, and become responsible like grownups. It came at a time when whole libraries are at fingertip search with the smart phone, world geography on Google Earth, publication on the Internet. What then is education, its purpose and its contribution to personal and social growth when the “world has shrunk into a village and wired in all its corners?” 

On-line teaching, open-university e-learning have virtually rendered on-site campus education outdated. Students earn their college degrees and certificates of proficiency on-line. They are not disrupted in the present work and displaced from their present domicile. 

Two universities in Thailand have a combine enrollment online students taking up academic and short courses, specialized courses and graduate studies included. Bangladesh ranks among the advanced online education in Asia. On-line education has been perfected so to speak, in Europe and in the US. The Philippines has yet to develop its own on-line curriculum for countrywide application.

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