In Commemoration of the CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL INTO CHRISTIANITY January 25, 2024 in 4 articles

In Commemoration of the Conversion of Saint Paul into Christianity, January 25, 2024* 

Part 1 - Pilgrimage at the Saint Paul University Museum

Part 2 - Shipwreck - Paul on His Way to Rome

Part 3 - Burning of Rome and Birth of Christendom

Part 4 - One Monday with Saint Paul

Mural Paintings and Poems by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Part 1 - Pilgrimage at the Saint Paul University Museum

A Reprint

Dr Abe V Rotor
Former Faculty Curator

Saul falls on Damascus Road, mural by AV Rotor (8ft x 8ft)

At a corner inside the St Paul University Museum in Quezon City, where once stood an altar many years ago when the Japanese invaders converted the campus into a concentration camp, a small group of visitors bowed in deep thoughts and prayers. For a moment these pilgrims transformed the museum into a holy place.

It was like turning back the hands of time into the Second World War. Now there is peace. There was hatred, but that too, has given way to forgiveness. Despair, and now hope, pride into humility. These contrasting scenarios provide very valuable lessons of man. For man is tempered by war and mellowed by the peace that follows afterward. All these took place in half a century or so.

The SPUQ museum stands as a witness of the history that shaped the school. The events are the lifeblood of the museum - its walls originally the immaculate walls once stained with blood speak of peace, its pillars the original pillars that withstood the atrocities of war and the tests of the elements and time attest to endurance and posterity.

                                  World War II Memorial at St. Paul University QC

The museum is not only a repository of history; it is the abode of history. It is like Fort Santiago or the Paco Cemetery. Or the great Pyramids of Egypt, the City of the Dead of the Aztecs, walled city of Jerusalem and St Peter’s in Rome. These museums have one thing in common: they are part of history. They are living relics that chronicle past events, stirring nationalism while promoting brotherhood in men. They strengthen universal values and rekindle the spirit. They bring the relationship of man with his Creator closer and harmonious.

Since its opening in late 1994, many pilgrims, old and young, parents and students, city and rural folk, have brought significance to the museum. Other than being an educational institution, it has somehow earned respect for pilgrimage.

                Burning of St Paul School during WWII, wall mural by AVRotor

The building is a early American architecture bearing the basic designs of Greco-Roman style – high ceiling, prominent, bare and square pillars, solid walls with small grilled windows. The entrance is unassuming, yet there is an aura of dignity that engulfs one on opening the door. For a panoramic view meets the eye, with virtually all four corners optically converging. The scene is accentuated by the massive murals depicting some chapters of the life of St. Paul, and widened by the transparency of the glass cabinets allowing the eye to roam freely.

All these no doubt contribute to the pilgrimage atmosphere. But what is revealing is the gathered information of the place coming from no less than the sisters, many of them in their seniors and living at the nearby Vigil House then. Some of the informants have already died, but the memory of the place lives on.

The senior sisters recall the place as a prayer house. “There was an altar which was located towards the left corner of the room adjacent to the backdoor.” And they would point out the place in the museum. The backdoor leads to the basement used as clinic during the Japanese occupation. The wounded and the sick were led to the prayer house and to spend time meditating, praying, or just to let time pass by. On several occasions the dead were brought in for the wake.

Imagine that for a period of four years, SPUQ then a novitiate and a school for elementary and high school, was made into a garrison and concentration camp, the same way the Japanese did to UST during the same period. And also to De La Salle University in Pasay. We do not know how many died but many Filipino, American and Japanese soldiers died here. There were local residents, foreigners, women and children who also died.

My students would ask me whenever I tell them the story if there are ghosts on the campus – or spirits of the dead. “Have you seen or felt their presence?” I would counter. And the conversation lengthens, creating a world of the supernatural in the process.

Anyone would believe in spirits that may make their presence felt in one way too many, depending on who is telling the story and who are listening. I for one sensed their presence on a number of occasions. The question with believing in the supernatural though is that the mind cannot decipher reality from imagination. But it is this aspect from which we build our stories and beliefs. Take this experience as an example.

In 1995 I was painting Saul on Damascus Road into the night alone. The museum was dead silent. What an ideal time to paint! Then suddenly the arm of Saul “moved” an inch downward. My brush missed the outline. I made the necessary correction but this time the arm had moved upward and now I have two errors to correct. I told myself I was too tired, and left the museum for home. That night I dreamt of Saul holding a red robe, which he was to use to clothe the dying Christ. Early that morning I went to the museum and continued painting the arm. I fixed Saul’s right hand and put on the red robe on it. Where did the idea of the red robe come? Was it a dream or a message I got? What made his arm move? Or was it a way of getting a message across?

I remember at one time in the early part of the painting I received visitors while I was painting the sky on makeshift scaffolding. Causally they would come and take a look at my work. Sometimes they would ask me a question or two and I would obligingly give an answer without breaking my concentration. One evening a kind sister visited the museum. She stood for sometime looking at what I was doing on the scaffolding. Anyone at the top could not see well the person below. And not know when she came and had gone. What I remember was her large hat, but that crossed my mind only days later. Who was she? Where did she come from at 9 in the evening?

At one time I was painting Paradise after Rome. This time I did it at home at our front yard. It took me until dusk. A silhouette figure kept passing at the corner of my eye. I would have dismissed it but it came twice, thrice, not saying a word and not pausing. But there is semblance of the figure I was painting with the silhouette – a bearded man and heavily built, clothed in flowing robes. The big difference though is that the man I was painting was about to be beheaded while the silhouette was roaming free, with an air of dignity and command.

The following day I changed the man on my painting. Yes, death, I realized is resurrection. So I painted Paul, the resurrected, on the day of his execution when Rome was razed by Nero’s torch.

Spirits to me are guiding signals that sometimes take the form of humans. They carry messages that lead us to the theme of our art such as in these particular cases. The denominator is goodness – they help us seek goodness, and goodness leads us to truth – truth that is built by strong faith other than reason.

Can we decipher messages the same way we receive communications in daily life? I say no, not always. For the message with deep meaning is not readily evident. One has to labor in order to understand it, and capture the essence of that message.

For example on the painting, School in Ruins, which I entitled in an accompanying verse, Grow and Bloom, Grow and Bloom, an outline of a young devil cast a shadow on the burnt building. This was discovered while I was working on the dying smoke emanating from the fresh ruins. Someone almost shouted at me, “Stop, stop!” Then he explained. He was seeing a devil in outstretched hand hovering over the ruins. I preserved the outline. Anyone who comes to the museum today experiences the same thing the discoverer made 15 years ago. Yes, the war, the killing, the burning, the looting are works of the devil. His imprint makes us aware not to submit ourselves to evil, but rather fight it at all cost.

A pilgrim took notice of Saul talking with Christ on Damascus road. Did Christ really appear to him? But look again at the painting. That is why those who come to the museum stay longer than just to visit. They pray. They wish.

Students facing the trials of defending their thesis come to the museum. They come from UST, Pamantasan ng Maynila and other schools. Students seeking entry in medicine proper, reviewers in bar and board exams – they come and wish. There are those who came back, others have not. Well, in the story of the ten lepers, not all came back to thank. There are many ways to thank, of course, such as doing good for others.

Oh, Centennial, Oh Centennial (8ft x 8 ft, AVR)

The community takes pride in having a museum accredited by the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the museum curator sits in one of the Commission’s sub-committees. 

The SPUQ Museum is also a member of the Association of Museums in the Philippines. Because of these, the school has the opportunity to take part in various national programs in health, environment, historical events, food and nutrition, and community development, to name the major events. In return, the museum is recognized for its effort. It is one of the very few school museums given such distinction.

Face of Christ in the Woods (AVR)

Our own students, faculty and the whole community recognize that here in a not far away land is a little Smithsonian, a little Gethsemane, a little Lourdes, and a little Sistine Chapel. And the same grace we find in those places is also found here – here at the Saint Paul University Museum. ~
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Author’s Note: Prominent pilgrims to the SPCQ Museum include high government officials, leaders in the business, university professors, journalists, personalities in the entertainment world, Filipino balikbayan and their families. Their identities are kept to give due respect to their person and privacy. The museum celebrates its 15th year in June 2010.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------        Part 2 -  Shipwreck - Paul on His Way to Rome

I am reprinting from my collection the poem (from the original draft) that accompanies this mural: Shipwreck - Paul on His Way to Rome. The mounted copy of the poem attached to the mural might have been misplaced when the mural was transferred out of the old museum to its new location - after fifteen years.

Shipwreck - Paul on His Way to Rome, by Dr Abe V Rotor

There are crossings ahead unexpected,

     no light, no guide; to the lesser, the end

of dreams and riches told but ne’er granted;

     but to Paul the beginning’s yet at the bend.

There is Caesaria where the laws of men

      may deny the just. There’s a friendly Malta –

goodness begets goodness in every brethren.

     and there, too, a Herod, an Agrippa.

On a stormy night for Rome, Paul’s last mission

     to plant the Seed in the very heart of power,

was a grave at sea, but greater was his vision,

     on the weathered rock a tree rose like a tower.

To live one must almost die is reference,

     but is he willing to die that others might rise?

he is truly brave, and there’s the difference,

     to one who deserves to walk with Christ. ~

Rarely can paintings stand by themselves, so to speak, and tell the viewer what it is in terms of characters and events in history. Owing to the subjective nature of art, it is not unusual to miss the message if the viewer fails to appreciate its historical background, and would rely only on his personal perception. This is often the case with most works of art, more so if the situation does not warrant adequate time and effort to study the particular piece. And to think of the explosion of art forms and styles that dominate our postmodern world.

On the other hand, it is also dangerous to rely on ones own interpretation based on personal experience, and bias. In The Gleaners (a favorite painting of the SPC congregation), for example, an early nineteenth century painting of three old women gleaning leftovers of wheat harvest at sunset - all that the painter, Millet, wanted to show was a rustic country scene that evokes a romantic feeling (romanticism). But years after, Markham a political analyst and socialist, interpreted it as a serious subject, a social issue of injustice and repression. Now this is crucial to being a professor in humanities, and a curator of a museum, two posts I assumed for fifteen years.

This mural is based on the life of St Paul, bold and daring and unstoppable in our present terminology, that nothing could possibly bar his way in propagating the faith. So deep was Paul's loyalty, yet he never met personally his Master, for He was already long dead when he became His faithful servant. This scene is a proof of Paul's determination - determination on a philosophical level, with a purpose - above all, a cause. Which is the essence of the last stanza:

To live one must almost die is reference,
but is he willing to die that others might rise?
He is truly brave, and there’s the difference
to one who deserves to walk with Christ. ~

Why the painting in the first place?

As caretaker of St Paul's Museum, I wanted to focus as centerpiece the works and teachings of St Paul. There must be some other meaning, more than responsibility. I wanted the young Paulinians to learn more about St Paul's life as the Paulinian way of life, to appreciate the meaning of courage and sacrifice, of service and scholarship. (Paul wrote practically a third of the Bible.) For fifteen years with countless guests and friends visiting the museum - repeatedly for many, mostly Paulinians - the mural became a visual aid - vision of the sense and vision of the future. ~

NOTE: In response to requests, this post can be downloaded to serve as lesson, reference, and for whatever purpose it may serve, except publication. Request to view the mural has been endorsed to St Paul University QC

* Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday (www.pbs.gov.ph)

Part 3 - Burning of Rome and Birth of Christendom

Dr Abe V Rotor

Burning of Rome, Mural by AVR, 1997, St. Paul Museum QC

Nero burned Rome into ruins and ashes

Inflamed by the caprice of the Pharisees;

Christians died with their faith in sacrifice

With Paul's blood, that they may again rise -

And they did to the present Christendom,

Built by their faith and martyrdom.~

Emperor Nero is said to have torched Rome that burned for days, and insanely sang with a lyre, thrilled by the scene of the inferno. Christians were blamed for the conflagration and Paul of Tarsus, a former Roman general turned staunch disciple of Christ, was led to his execution. He is popularly known today as Saint Paul the Apostle, a revered martyr and writer - he wrote nearly a third of the Bible's new testament. ~

                                                Part 4  

                    One Monday with Saint Paul

High rise the buildings are - towers and spires, 
proud symbols of power;

In deep silence I heard it seems the same words, 
"Why do you persecute me?" 

                    

                                                             Dr Abe V Rotor

 

  

                                                                                                St Paul University QC campus

One Monday I visited Saint Paul with inquiries I never asked before;

Fifteen years I served him, a teacher of this school, keeper of a museum;

Time has changed the world, global is its effect, would St Paul tell me

More of the ways of the world to give life a meaning? So did I assume.  

"Tell me where Damascus Road is, where you heard God speak;

Tell me how you crossed the Mediterranean in a storm and survived; 

Tell me how you carried the Word among unbelievers and Pharisees;

Tell me how you faced death yet keep alive your faith and noble pride.

"Tell me where have the Gentiles you converted and followers gone;

Tell me how you wrote the scriptures that gave the bible a wider view;

Tell me how man can become a saint and a saint to become man; 

Tell me how to reach heaven without striving to be a martyr like you."  

The sun rose high, sending reflection of gray clouds on giant glass panes; 

The pavement is bare, the marble floor a mirage, yet empty as the sea;

High rise the buildings are - towers and spires, proud symbols of power;

In deep silence I imagined the same words, "Why do you persecute me?"  ~

---------------

* Vigan City celebrates for its fiesta the conversion of St Paul on January 25, 2024. The conversion of Paul the Apostle (also the Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, Damascus Christophany and the "road to Damascus" event) was, according to the New Testament, an event in the life of Saul/Paul the Apostle that led him to cease persecuting early Christians and to become a follower of Jesus.

Humanities holds the greatest treasure of mankind. The 10 Aims of Humanities

Humanities holds the greatest treasure of mankind. 

The 10 Aims of Humanities

Dr Abe V Rotor


Textbook used in Humanities subject, and as reference for related subjects under the new curriculum (K to 12), by Dr AV Rotor and Dr KM Doria, published by C&E Publishing Co., Inc.

Humanities makes a beautiful tapestry of humanity. It presents the wholeness of the human being worthy of "perfection" the Creator conceived of man.

1. Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder.

“Son, what do you remember as the happiest moment in your life?” asked a dying old man at his deathbed.
“When we went fishing, dad, and caught fireflies on our way back to camp.”
“Thank you.” And the old man smiled. It was a parting sealed by sweet memory of childhood.

Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder, specially to the young, of the things around , of life processes and cycles, the passing of seasons and ages. It makes one aware of even the minute existence of things, the transformation of the ordinary into something beautiful.

Children Fishing in the field, painting by the author.

Wonder the summer night, camping by a lake, home outside of home,
no roof but the sky, no walls, no gate, stars and fireflies mingle as one;
Wonder the breeze blow and weave through the trees, comb the grass,
carry into the sky kites of many colors and make greeting the rainbow.

“The sense of wonder is indestructible, that it would last throughout life, an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years.” Says Rachel Carson, author of an all-time favorite novel, Silent Spring. It is true, the sense of wonder prepares the young to face and conquer the world.


2. Humanities builds on the framework of truth and values

Even with few words the mind is set to explore, giving way to imagination beyond mere reason. Brevity is the framework of the mind, the heart and spirit in the Lord’s Prayer and the Gettysburg Address of America’s most loved leader, Abraham Lincoln. It is also a path to humility in greatness, a union of the classical and the contemporary

  The Gleaners by Jean Francois Millet

If the story of the Creation can be told in 400 words, if the Ten Commandments contain 297 words, if Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address was only 266 words, if an entire concept of freedom was set in the Declaration of Independence in about 1,300 words – it is up to some of us to use fewer words, and thus save the time energy, vitality, and nerves of those who must read or listen. (Jerome P Fleishman)

3. Humanities brings out the human spirit

Guernica, a plaza mural made by the greatest modern painter Pablo Picasso, ignited popular revolt against the Nazi regime. On the huge mural were embedded hidden images that conveyed principles of truth and freedom.

Similarly, in an earlier era, our own hero Juan Luna painted Spolarium, (centerpiece of the National Museum), a mural depicting the Filipinos under Spanish rule suffering like the gladiators during the Roman times, a visual message for the people to realize their plight. Later Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, one of the greatest books ever written in the category of War and Peace by Tolstoy, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, extolled the coming of a new world order – post-colonialism and the birth of new nations.

4. Humanities brings tranquility in crisis

It may be strange to know that Winston Churchill, the great English hero of WWII, still found time to paint by the bank of the Thames. Arts bring tranquility in times of crisis, and elevate the senses on a higher vantage plane of vision. Putting down his brush and easel, he would then return to the battlefield with greater revolve to save Great Britain from the ravaging war. And to a greater surprise, what was it that Churchill painted? Peace.

Graffiti Art on Berlin Wall speaks of peace and unity. The wall fell down after more than twenty long years.

It was the other way around five hundred years earlier when the great Michelangelo who single handedly painted the huge ceiling of the Sistine Chapel would descend from the scaffoldings, exchanged his paint brush with sword and fought side-by-side his benefactor the Pope, and when victory was apparent would climb back to finish his masterpiece. The result: the biggest composite mural that brought God, the angels and saints, down to earth., making the Sistine a microcosm of the Kingdom of Heaven.

5. Humanities is guardian of movements and schools

From the paintings of early man in the Lascaux caves in France, to the surrealism of Salvador Dali, humanities has kept faithful to the evolution of human creativity expressed in various aspects of human life, pouring out from palaces and cathedrals to the villages and streets. For arts no longer belong to selected societies and cultures. Impressionism took over Romanticism and translated Realism for the grassroots, subsequently bypassing standards of perception, and permeating into the unconscious seeking expression and catharsis. Expressionism founded by Vincent Van Gogh opened a wider door to abstractionism that subsequently spilled into post-modernism.

Old bridge across Banaoang Pass, realistic painting by the author

“What’s abstract? a young art enthusiast

once asked, dutifully I answered:

“When you look through the window of a car

running so fast that views are blurred.”

“What’s expressionism?” an elder one asked;

“When the car stops, or just about,

yet still running inside, seeking, searching

for the spring of life to pour out.”

“And what is impressionism?” a third asked,

and I said: It’s sitting on a fence -

On one side Amorsolo, the other Ocampo,

It’s the spirit of art past and hence. ~

6. Humanities aims at goodness and peace

Propagandism and license are perhaps the greatest enemy of Humanities. The world plunged into two global wars, followed by half a century of cold war - the polarization into opposite ideologies that froze mankind at the brink of Armageddon, awakening Humanities to a new dimension - the search for peace.

And as in the Renaissance, Humanities centered on rebirth and renewal of man’s faith in his destiny. Peace reigned the longest in contemporary times in spite of local conflicts. And for a century or so Humanities blossomed into wide popularity and acclaim, and rich diversity today, dominating media, commerce, industry and in practically all aspects of life, which often venture on the boundaries of humanities itself, among them pornography, religious extremism, acculturation, among others.

7. Humanities is keeper and pioneer of the arts

Humanities gave the world the finest of human achievements and continues to do so - timeless classics from novel to cinema, painting to photography, colonial design to high rise structures, stage play to TV and Internet show. Man’s glory is akin to humanities - Venus de Milo, Taj Mahal, Borobudur, Eiffel Tower, Hallelujah, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, The Little Prince. to name a few.

Humanities discovered superstars like Elvis Priestley and Michael Jackson, and our own local sensation Leah Salonga.

8. Humanities faces challenge of the cyber age

But arts has also plunged into a deep and unknown global pool bringing across the world cultures heretofore unknown and appreciated, and riding on postmodernism into the chartless world of cyberspace. Which leads us to a puzzle, Quo vadis, Humanus?

9. Humanities elevates reverence for life and Nature

Flowers - universal symbol of love, devotion and peace. On the occasion of Cecille's birthday.

And yet humanities is anchored on a strong foundation, none other than the place of his birth and his ascension into Homo sapiens - Nature.

Reverence to Nature is reverence for life, the highest expression of man through humanities. From this relationship he finds inspiration in his arts and technology, in seeking knowledge and wisdom, and in enhancing the unity and harmony of creation, and among mankind into a living network.

10. Humanities is the custodian of the network of humanity

We are the World – the song that united the world by the compassion it created for the dying is perhaps the greatest humanitarian movement in recent times, originally USA to Africa in the eighties, and was repeated during the Haiti disaster twenty years later. Translated by different races, beliefs, ideologies into a common call, it brought consciousness to the whole world, that humanity is a network, a closely knit fabric beautifully expressed in the lyrics of the song -

There comes a time

When we heed a certain call,

When the world must come together as one.

There are people dying

And it’s time to lend a hand to life,

The greatest gift of all

[Chorus]

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day

So let’s start giving

There’s a choice we’re making

We’re saving our own lives

It’s true we’ll make a better day

Just you and me.

It is a most fitting tribute to mankind through this song, that no man is an island, that when somebody dies, a part inside each of us also dies, and for every man’s victory, we too, feel triumphant. Humanity is a beautiful tapestry, and Humanities is Arachne on the loom.

Humanities makes a beautiful tapestry of humanity. It presents the wholeness of the human being worthy of "perfection" the Creator conceived of man.

In summary, Humanities

- is a beautiful tapetry of humanity

- brings out the sense of awe and wonder

- builds on the framework of truth and values

- brings out the human spirit

- brings tranquility in crisis

- is guardian of movements and schools

- aims at goodness and peace

- is keeper and pioneer of the arts

- faces challenge of the cyber age

- elevates reverence for life and Nature -

  is the custodian of the network of humanity.~

TATAKalikasan Lesson in 15 Parts: UN International Day of Education January 24, 2024 Theme: Learning for Lasting Peace

Lesson on TATAKalikasan Ateneo de Manila University

97.8 FM Radyo Katipunan, 11 to 12 a.m. Thursday

UN International Day of Education January 24, 2024

Theme: Learning for Lasting Peace

Dr Abe V Rotor

Co-Host with Fr JM Manzano SJ and Prof. Emoy Rodolfo, AdMU

International Day of Education is recognized on January 24th every year. This year, the sixth International Day of Education will celebrate the theme "learning for lasting peace." As a quarter of humanity – 2 billion people – live in conflict-affected areas, this theme is particularly relevant. Internet   

Part 1 - Challenges in Education in an Integrated School

Part 2 - Communication and Extension in Action

Part 3 - Functional Literacy, "A Camilo Osias Story"

Part 4 - Commencement Address: Education for a Progressive Tomorrow

Part 5 - Insights of Life for the Pioneer Graduates of an Integrated School 

Part 6 - Light your Lamp and Keep it Bright  

Part 7 - Educator by Example: Francisco C. Macanas, Ed.D.

Part 8 - Ka Melly C Tenorio: Pioneer in People’s School-on-Air 

             (Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid) 

Part 9 - Major Concerns of Extension 

Part 10 - Maestra Caridad Rocero-Lazo: Model Mother and Teacher   

Part 11 - STOU - First Open University in Southeast Asia

Part 12 - Renaissance Man: Fredelito L Lazo (Story teller, teacher,

               public servant, rolled in one) 

Part 13 - From Public Servant to University Professor (10 Questions)

Part 14 -  Nature is our best teacher. Here are vital signs to watch.

Part 15 - The essence of Aesop's Fables is as fresh as ever

Annex - Effective Teaching Through Transforms and Dioramas

Annex -  

 

Part 1

Challenges in Education in an Integrated School

An Interview with Miss Beatriz R Riotoc

Principal, San Vicente Ilocos Sur Integrated School

Dr Abe V Rotor

A memorable visit to the school where I finished elementary education in 1953. Receiving the books I authored for the school library are Miss Retoria Riotoc (center), principal and Miss Seferina T Reclusado, master teacher. Right: With a sense of gratitude I presented the award I received - the 2015 prestigious 2015 Fr Jose Burgos Achievement Award, an honor I share with my alma mater. NOTE: Miss Riotoc has been recently assigned back to SVIS as school principal, a post she held for many years.

In defining a principal in our time, some seventy years ago, he was strict, in fact very strict, the mere mention of his name, made an erring pupil virtually sweat out of fear. For the word by itself was associated with strict discipline. He was the like of Mr. Sebastian Ruelos, our principal then, who believed that the school is but a step away from home, and the teachers are the alter ego of parents. It was not unusual to see him carrying a symbolic stick in his daily routine on the campus.
 
San Vicente Integrated School today as it was during my time some seventy years ago - same building, same playground. Where has education changed and gone? One can only surmise what lies ahead for these school children. It is the duty of us, we who have spent the formative years of our lives in this school, to guide our younger brothers and sisters, our children, and grand children.

The picture of a principal has changed in many ways since then. She is the like of Miss Beatriz Retoria Riotoc today. She represents the women dominated field of education, earning her way to the top with a deep commitment to the teaching profession as a vocation to the point of considering teaching as a ministry. It is on this level that one like her is committed to a personal educational philosophy.

But to understand ones philosophy in life and career, you must draw out the threads from a ball of years-long experience, so to speak, about the person. It is not an easy diagnostic research, since many teachers, particularly the younger ones have yet to develop a particular philosophy clearly their own. Educators call this eclectic, a transitional kind of philosophy, characterized by the adoption of various methodologies - personal and adapted – with the end in view of attaining a particular objective or goal.

An integrated school has the elementary and secondary levels combined into a continuous system; whereas, in the conventional system, elementary and high school are separate entities. Under the new curriculum (K to 12), San Vicente Integrated School presently has 548 pupils in the elementary (Kinder to Grade 6) and 247 in the secondary (Grade 7 to 14), assigned to 35 teachers, 24 in the elementary and 11 in the secondary. (Data not updated)

On the other hand, there are teachers identified as perenialists or authoritarian in their field of expertise and methodologies. But with the expanding fields of education more and more teachers are pursuing other philosophies such as realism, idealism, and existentialism.

Miss Riotoc, for one, is a realist, and an idealist as well. This can be traced to her background having been raised in a rural community, by a close-knit family where work, education and discipline are primordial values. She is a product of private and religious institutions (St. Paul College of Ilocos Sur and St Louis University in Baguio), and a state university (University of Northern Philippines, where she finished a master’s degree in education). As a homegrown model in her teaching career in lineage, culture, language and education, it is not difficult for teachers and pupils under her care to adjust to real life situations.

But times have changed and change is accelerating. Miss Riotoc may be traditional, if you call it that way, if you are living in the city where conditions are not only changing fast but transient in many ways, what with students flocking in from various regions and classrooms are not getting bigger, and students' diminishing attention to lessons and incidence of breakdown in discipline as real problems reminiscent of the 1987 movie, The Principal.

The movie was a big hit because the plot depicts the eroding discipline in many school campuses in the US. A high school principal played by a tough guy, James Belushi, slugged it out with the hardened school gang members disturbing the peace on the campus. He won their respect at the end. The happy ending upholds the school’s principle and thrust in education given the worst scenario.

We don’t find such scenario in our schools, much less in the countryside. Not to the extent as depicted in the movie. The epilogue leaves an important lesson to school authorities. It poses a great challenge to a school principal like Miss Riotoc as disciplinarian, catalyst to learning, vanguard, guardian, friend - roles perhaps no other profession can claim to be as many, as urgent and as vital.

Education and History

Things have changed. "Spare the rod and spoil the child," has taken a more lenient course. "Dali mas palo, Señor," became a butt of expression since the end of the Spanish era which lasted for nearly four centuries. Physical punishment faded out with the Thomasites - American teachers whose aim was to gain allegiance of Filipinos to a new master, who dominated us for fifty long years as a Commonwealth of the US.

Then the Second World War broke, and the world was left in ruins.

The colonial masters had nothing left to exploit, the era of colonization came to an end, only to give way to a New World order, even as new nations proudly raised their own flag of nationalism, the Philippines among the first. The neophyte nations found themselves in internal conflict, while nations needed to align themselves with stronger ones. Soon the world found itself divided.

The Cold War began, polarizing virtually all nations into two warring ideologies - democracy led by the United States on one side, and socialism led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR, on the other.

The two superpowers were mortal enemies bent to destroy each other, together with their respective allies. A Third World War was a Damocles Sword ready to fall with the passing of each day for a suspenseful period of nearly half a century.

Then in 1989, the world entered into a Neo-Renaissance. The Cold War ended with the dissolution of USSR, the re-unification of Germany, so with North and South Vietnam. China had opened its door to the world, and became a laboratory to test the compatibility the two conflicting ideologies - socialism and capitalism. Other close societies followed. Modern communication and transportation shrunk the world, so to speak, into a Global Village. All over the world, exodus to cities created complex urban centers, while new frontiers of settlement and business opened. The world’s population began to increase in geometric progression. Homogenization began to erase the boundaries of culture, politics, religion, race, education, and practically all institutions of society – and progressively continue on.

We have embarked into Postmodernism, which our world never before experienced, or dreamed of, which sociologists aptly define as "living tomorrow today." We are living in a fast changing world, swift and chartless. Our world and Humanity will never be the same again.

So, where does education come in? The task is gargantuan that no field or level of education can afford to be passive. Education is addressed to all, in all walks of life, because we are all teachers in our own rights,

A good friend of mine compared an educator with a conductor of an orchestra. He said, “A school principal is like a composer-conductor of a full orchestra cum audience in a big hall. To prepare for such an event, first of all she must be an efficient teacher herself. She must be a good organizer and administrator. She is an expert, a master teacher by educational attainment, experience and accomplishment. With these qualifications, she must develop the teachers in her school to become efficient and effective as well. Each one must gain mastery and confidence. She must know her role. The school becomes the hall. The audience is composed of schoolchildren, parents, and members of the community. Here comes the big event. With confidence and precision the baton master conducts the orchestra and play beautifully and harmoniously the music of teaching and learning with the hall reverberating with awe and approval.”

What then are the areas of expertise a teacher must develop and master? Miss Riotoc places top importance to faculty development in these fields:

• Subject Matter Expertise, mastery of the subject
• Instructional Expertise, efficiency in methodology and delivery
• Communications Expertise, two-way process between teacher and students
• Classroom Management expertise, orderliness and discipline
• Diagnostic Expertise, sensitive to signs and symptoms attendant to learning
• Relational Expertise, good relationship, cordial and friendly.

We admit that there are many things that cannot be learned – and even if we do, the more we are led to wonder, puzzled yet humbled by the enormity and magnificence of the world we live in. It is like going up a mountain. The higher you go, the wider and farther your eyes can see but cannot decipher.

Where does education start, and where does it end? The Binhi principle gives a symbolic explanation. The teacher is the biblical Sower (Parable of the Sower). She sows the seed of knowledge, and provides it with all the necessary conditions for its growth and development so that it will bring in bountiful harvest. In another analogy, the teacher is the lamp holder in the night. She holds it proudly and high this lamp of knowledge, and passes its light onto the waiting lamps of others. They too, shall pass on the light until the world is illuminated. The light to the world is the collective light of knowledge of humanity, adapting Rizal's concept of education as the source of enlightenment and freedom.

Where does education start and end?

“Give man a fish, he eats for a day.

Teach him how to fish; he gets fish for a lifetime.”

              - Old Chinese proverb

This old Chinese proverb illustrates the value of education. There are however many interpretations and far-reaching implications. Here the student is taught critical thinking, research, multi-disciplinary and holistic learning, ethico-morals, literature (The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway), religion (The Shoes of the Fisherman), history, biology, ecology, and other fields of endeavor.

Here are ten selected answers of students who participated in the discussion based on the adage:

1. Dole out is a palliative measure. It breeds mendicancy.

2. Development of skill in fishing is important with science and technology.

3. Fishing is big business and industry, but who are getting rich?

4. Observe fishing laws, we will deplete our lakes and oceans.

5. Man as hunter has not changed. He still is - is a modern day hunter.

6. Among the marginalized sectors of society are the fisher folks, yet the sea 

    is vast and deep, rivers and lakes are just around.

7. Fish only what you need, conserve.

8. “Tragedy of the commons” in free-for-all fishing, like mob.

9. Give to the poor, elderly, and the sick, (Matthew 25)

10. Eat fish; you will live healthy and long.

With a given topic, education opens many doors to learning as shown in these ten answers. Education is endless, there is always something new to discover, even by serendipity. It leads us to all parts of the earth. On the other hand, it teaches us humility. Even a genius like Albert Einstein, Man of the Last Century, humbly responded when asked what else he didn’t know, “I know only a little about the atom, God knows everything else.”

Current Issues that Challenge a Teacher

However good a teacher is, or any leader for that matter, she is aware that these are but general statements of truth and wisdom. They are seldom scrutinized or raised in debates. And yet in the very core of these motherhood statements lie vital issues that now and then creep in surreptitiously in the middle of the night and disturb the good sleep of teachers, educators, scholars, governments .Take these cases.
How can social media enhance education? Can e-learning suffice and not require one to go to school? There is an explosion of knowledge, but how much can we absorb? How can we separate the grain from the chaff from a growing heap of knowledge? 

 Which leads us to a coined word, infollution. (AVR). Infollution or Information Pollution – how can we clean up the garbage in cyberspace, sanitize learning before it contaminates and spreads into epidemic? Whatever happened to the family where the principle of trinity is put to practice - the family where society begins, where its foundation lies? If “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” so with too much learning. 

While Darwinism has gained acceptance in the biological world, how can it apply in politics and commerce without disturbing society? If science is good why does it create a Frankenstein. And values? Socrates is too far out and too old to remember his teachings, Plato is "too pure", the Church is divided and the faith alienated. Transience of domicile and purpose in life has changed values radically, perhaps irreversibly. Who and how many are aware of the phenomenon of autotoxicity or progressive self destruction?

 Not so many, others adamantly do, that nature's laws when violated result in unimagined destruction likened to an Armageddon. Today we are not only witnesses, but victims, of global warming, species extinction, mass poverty, epidemic diseases, and others. . How are these be taught in school, and "save the world." Return to basic does not mean fundamentalism, today's root of conflict and terrorism (ISIS, Buko Haram, Al Qaeda, Hamas) that threatens world peace.

 Isn’t good education enough to lay down the basics of life and living? The 3Rs of Literacy (Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic) cannot meet the criteria of today’s requirement for literacy, a challenge posed to schools, to social media and globalization. Scientists argue whether or not our world is getting truly literate. If literacy is the magic wand that bails a person out of being poor, why is it that half of the world’s population remains poor? (While the other half has more than it needs.) Strengthening the interconnectedness of home, school, church and community as the four pillars of a true and lasting education.
The New Curriculum

Mis Riotoc as a bona fide Ilocano, true to the culture and tradition of the place, shares with me certain predicaments attendant to her position as teacher and school principal. I must say these are not comfortable issues.

Take the case of revising the curriculum by adding two years to the existing one. It's a paradox, it came when social media has overtaken in many ways education itself, when communication is at fingertip, from direct dialing to e-mailing. And texting has long replaced the telephone, in fact it has developed into a popular pastime. Palm size gadgets in many trade names have virtually placed the holder at the center of information from all corners of the world. 

With the state-of-the art of electronic gadgets whole volumes of encyclopedia, in fact whole libraries, universities and museums all over the world open up on the monitor screen in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. GPS tells direction, Google earth maps the world in any given place. Directories, games, whereabouts, entertainment, etc., are virtually unlimited. Information can be stored more than one may need in a lifetime.

Increasing the years of schooling could not have been inadvertently timed with economic downtrend affecting our country and globally, with high rate of unemployment, and widespread poverty. (Fifty percent of the population are living below the poverty line); our per capita income is among the lowest in the world, a far cry from those of the US, Europe, and Asian countries like Japan and South Korea whose educational system was used as reference in revising our curriculum.

Extended schooling takes a heavy toll not only in terms of additional expense on the part of low income families. Two years of lost opportunity for children to contribute to the family's income, exacerbated by increasing longevity of the older family members, have placed an added burden on the narrowing working group.

Teachers are already overworked, now the whole educational system is undermanned, ill-equipped, ill-funded, and apparently unprepared. I can only imagine how teachers courageously grab the helm of the ship and take the children to safety, and to where their bright future awaits them. And yet teachers are romantically glorified in the like of the "Unknown Soldier" of their obedience. compassion, diligence, sacrifice to the point of being living martyrs.

Education and Formative Conscience

How does education of young children mold not only their mind, heart and spirit, but their conscience, the seat of ethico-morals of everyday living, which former UST Rector, Fr Tamerlane Lana calls formative conscience?

Does it ring the conscience when we destroy the environment, waste food, pollute the air, unkind to the old, indifferent to general welfare, commit dishonesty, abandon our children, and the like?

Functional Literacy

A tribesman living in the of Kalahari Desert in The Gods Must Be Crazy, turned out to be the teacher of a lady teacher, a PhD holder at that. “To where the wind blows a predator can sense you,” he warns in his native tongue, then he wet his finger with saliva and raised it up for a few seconds like a barometer. “It is not safe to be here,” He urged his special guest to move to safety. To which we ask, what is literacy?

What is literacy when a culinary expert fails to produce a precise boiled egg using modern gadget? When producing rice is more theory than practice, succeeding to produce half of the targeted crop yield? How many children fail to reach functional literacy level that enable them to understand the world around them, interact with people, understand events, take good care of themselves, raise families of their own properly.

Integration and Functional Literacy

Here's an example of cross-disciplinary integration with an English teacher and mathematics teacher using an example for subject integration. The English teacher wrote on the board. 

The class says the teacher is good.
The class says, "the teacher is good."
The class, says the teacher, is good.

The placement of the comma (or its omission) changes the meaning of each sentence. On the part of the Math teacher, she adapted the above example into a mathematical expression.

2 + 3 x 5

One student answered 25, while another answered 17. She let the class explore the correct answer. Then the teacher organized the figures

(2 + 3) x 5

Integrating language with mathematics is not new. It is used in coding and decoding secret communication. General equations can be derived from integration such as fermentation and oxidation, two important biological processes. Demographic studies adopt integrated formulas, so with dialectics and philosophical inferences.

Education must take us back to our heritage, the valued wisdom of our old folks. Whatever education is today characterized by new curriculum, distance education (e-learning), accreditation to “Center of Excellence,” high-tech, and the like, education must be integrated by all means into the holistic attributes of man - Homo sapiens (the Thinking Man), Homo faber (Man the Maker), Homo ludens (the Playing Man) and Homo spiritus (the Praying Man).

In parting, Miss Riotoc cited the great Mahatma Gandhi, Man of the Last Millennium. "You must be the change you want to see in the world."

And to the Greatest Teacher of all who walked the Earth, education is alive, very much alive, in all of us; it is the way of life. ~



Part 2 - Communication and Extension in Action
Lecture on Communication at the Grassroots
Dr Abe V Rotor

"Bringing the school to the field, the teacher to the learner." 

A scene of education-extension in agriculture

“A genuine meeting of minds may result if both parties in interest will
concede to the other side the honor of believing, at least as an initial
assumption, that its point of view is not merely vicious or silly.” - George H. Sabine

Communication is the process whereby meanings or ideas are transferred from one person to another. In its simplest form communication takes place between two persons who are in one another’s presence. There are, of course, many less direct ways of communication, and more complex processes involving many more people. But, however long or intricate the trial of communication may be, it always involves four basic elements, and moves through six steps or stages.

Four basic elements which are involved in very communication process may be easily described. The first element is the communication source, that is to say, the person whose ideas or meanings are to be transferred to another person. The second element is the communication receiver, namely the person or persons to whom the ideas or meaning to be transferred. Thirdly, there must be the message which can be transferred from the source to the receiver. Fourth, and finally, the message has to travel through a channel or medium in order to successfully make the passage from source to receiver.

The six steps or stages in the process require a little more explanation. In brief, however, they show and how and in what sequence the source formulates a message which he then sends via some channel to the receiver. Let us take the closer look at each of these stages.

Stages 1: Creation. The person as the communication source conceives of an idea which he wants to transmit to someone else. For example, he may want to tell that person that he is happy to receive him as a visitor. If this is the general idea he wishes to convey, it has to be expressed in such a way that the receiver will understand it correctly and precisely. If the source is not quite sure himself how welcome his guest is, if he does not know whether he wants him to stop a few minutes for a chat, or to stay for dinner, or maybe to remain for some days as a house guest, then whatever he conveys to the receiver will be similarly imprecise.

So this is the first rule of good communication: be clear yourself about what you want to communicate. A poorly conceived idea will almost certainly result in poor communication. Only when the source knows clearly what he wants to communicate is it likely that the receiver will understand him.

Stages 2: Encoding. Meanings and ideas are structures of the mind. They cannot be seen or heard or felt by others. Therefore, in order to enable them to be transmitted from one mind to another they must be translated, or encoded into symbols. Symbols, in contrast to ideas, can be seen, heard or felt by others. In fact, they represent ideas and meanings. Words are symbols that stand for meanings. So are gestures, pictures or music. Even the honking of a horn is a symbol, and usually it means something like “get out of my way”.

Different meaning and situations require different symbols. The choice of suitable symbols is an important matter, and it is not always easy. We all have on occasion been “at a loss for word,” that is to say, we have not been able to find a suitable word symbol for the idea we wanted to express. Perhaps a gesture or a grimace would have expressed our meaning better.

But it is not enough to choose symbols which accurately express our ideas; the symbols also have to be appropriate to the receiver. Let us return to our previous example. If the source wants to make the receiver understand that he is welcome to stay and chat for a few moments but no longer than that, then he must choose words, gestures and facial expressions which the receiver will correctly and precisely understand as a limited invitation. If he knows the receiver well, this may not be very difficult. But if he does not, he may choose inappropriate symbols which could be misunderstood in many different ways - causing embarrassment to both parties. Our second rule of good communication therefore is: encode your ideas into symbols which you are sure will be correctly understood by the receiver.

Stages 3: Transmission. An idea or meaning which has been encoded into symbols is called a message. A message, then, is simply encoded idea, and it is always in symbols. A well-encoded message is one whose symbols represent fully and precisely the idea which the source intends to communicate. Once the idea been encoded into a message, that message has to be transmitted to the receiver. In other words, the word symbols have to be either spoken, or written and displayed; the gestures have to be shown; the music has to be performed, and so on with other symbols.

There are many ways of transmitting messages. Speaking, for instance, is a very common one. Writing is another. You are at this moment reading a message which has been encoded by myself into words, which have been transmitted to you in writing. If I had spoken the words aloud instead of writing them down, the message most probably would not have reached you. On the other hand, I might perhaps have recorded by a message on a tape, which could then be reproduced many times and listened to by many people. This, then, would be an alternate channel for transmitting messages.

The choice of suitable channels for transmitting messages depends in the first place on the total communication situation. Who is trying to communicate with whom? How distant are they from one another? How long is the message? What technical and financial means are available to the source? These are some of the more important points to consider to choosing an appropriate channel for transmitting messages. In each case the source must make sure that the message is transmitted by the channels which will gave maximum likelihood of reaching the receiver accurately and completely.

Stage 4: Reception. The three steps or stages in the communication process which have been described so far are all within the range of actions of the communication source. It is he who has to formulate his ideas, encode them into suitable symbols and to transmit the encoded message through an appropriate channel. But once the message has been transmitted, it is no longer under his control. Whether or not a transmitted message is received by the receiver depends, firstly, on the environmental conditions under which the message is sent, and secondly, on the state of mind and readiness of the receiver to receive it.

The environmental conditions which may effect the reception of the message are mainly those factors which can interfere with proper reception. Noise is an obvious example. Poor lighting conditions can be equally detrimental to the reception of visual messages. Distance between source and receiver, either in space or in time, will also effect reception. Some of these factors can be reckoned with and adjusted to beforehand, but others are simply beyond anyone’s control. At best they can be taken as explanations after the fact when the communication process is broken down.

From the receiver’s side, it is not enough that the message reaches him. He must also be able and ready to receive it, and that will depend on his abilities, his attentiveness, and his predisposition towards the source as well as to the channel in which the message has been transmitted. If, for example, the receiver is tired, or he is otherwise occupied, then the message may reach him but he will not receive it. Similarly, if he dislikes the communication source or he has an aversion to receiving scribbled slips of paper, the chances are that he will refuse to receive a message from that person or in such a manner.

But assuming that he receives the message, we still have to ask how well or how completely he receives it. This is a matter of fidelity; that is to say, the degree of congruence between the message as transmitted and the message as received. Obviously, the environmental conditions have a direct bearing on fidelity. But beyond that, fidelity depends on which and how many of the receiver’s five senses are activated to receive the message: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling. The fidelity of our senses is in this order. We say, not without good reason, that “seeing is believing”. We trust what we see with our own eyes, even though we known that occasionally we may be mistaken and suffering from optical illusions. Hearing is not quite as reliable as seeing. Touching is reliable enough under certain specific conditions, but not very suitable for many kinds of messages. Tasting and smelling are even less useful for communication purposes.

The important thing to remember in this regard is that no single sense is completely infallible as long as it is used exclusively. Therefore, the skilled and experienced communicator tries to transmit his messages by multiple channels, so that the receiver can receive them with more than one sense. We do this intuitively when speaking to one another, because rarely do we rely on the spoken word alone, but accompany it with gestures and facial expressions. Experience as well as common sense tell us that this a very effective way of ensuring reliable reception.

Stage 5: Decoding. The receiver, having received the encoded message, must now decode it in order to comprehend its meaning. Whether he is successful in this or not depends primarily on his knowledge of symbols. Obviously, one can not decode a message whose symbols one does not recognize. It does happen, nonetheless, that we receive messages which seem incomprehensible to us, as when someone speaks to us in language we do not know. In such cases we usually try to communicate to the source that we do not understand him. If we are lucky, he will try again with different symbols in the hope that this time we will understand.

Demo Farm for Diversified Agriculture

A more serious situation arises when the receiver believes he has understood the message, whereas in fact the source intended it to convey a different meaning.

The result in this case is a misunderstanding. It is more serious than the previous example because it can easily remain undetected until it is too late and the outcome of the misunderstanding makes itself felt.

The difference between these two situations illustrates the importance of feedback in the communication process. By feedback we mean the message that is “fed back” by the receiver to the communication source. Communication is a two-way process. The person who is the source when he encodes and transmits a message immediately afterwards can become the receiver when the original receiver makes his reply, being fed back to the original source, tells him whether he has been correctly understood or not, and enables him, if necessary, to adjust his symbols, and channel them to the particular needs to the receiver and the situation.

There are many communication situations where immediate feedback is not possible, simply because the source and receiver are not in one another’s presence. I, who am writing these words at this moment, may have to wait a long while till I receive any feedback from you, if at all. A person writing a letter is in a similar position, and so are radio and TV announcers. In such situations, therefore, greater care must be taken in encoding messages and transmitting them. It is probably impossible to avoid misunderstandings entirely, but at least we can do our best to minimize them.

Stage 6: Assimilation. This is the final stage in the simple one-way communication process. Once a message has been decoded by the receiver, no matter how correctly or incorrectly this has been done, if it is decoded at all, some idea or meaning takes shape in the receiver’s mind. This idea or meaning must now be integrated with the other ideas and meanings which are already in the receiver’s mind. In other words, in order to “ make sense” of the decoded message, to understand it, the receiver must relate it to what he already knows and assimilate it within the total information available to him. Without such assimilation, the decoded symbols will remain meaningless. The receiver may be able to repeat them, just as a baby may repeat sounds it has picked up from its environment, but he will not be able to attach meanings to these sounds.

Whether or not this final step is successful will depend primarily on what other ideas and meanings are already in the receiver’s mind. In short, it depends on his existing store of knowledge. Generally speaking, the more life experience a person has had, the more likely it is that his store of knowledge will contain elements with which he can make sense out of a new ideas and meanings. The opposite is unfortunately also true. The narrower the field of previous experience which a person has had, the more difficult it will be for him to assimilate new meanings. In such situations, then, good communication requires small doses of information and very clear symbols, in short, much care and patience on the part of the communication source.


Typical farm scenes in the Ilocos Region

To summarize: the communication process involves four basic elements and six stages. The four elements are: 1.) The source, 2.) The receiver, 3.) The message, and 4.) The channel. The six stages of the process are: 1.) Creation, 2.) Encoding 3.) Transmission, 4.) Reception, 5.) Decoding, 6.) Assimilation

Communication Chains and Networks

Direct person-to-person communication is the simplest and probably the most common form of the communication process. In many social situations, however, it constitutes only one link in a chain of similar processes lined up, as it were, end to end. The idea created and encoded by the original source gets transmitted and decoded, re-encoded and re-transmitted over and over again until it reaches its final receiver. The longer this chain is, the more likely it is that the original meaning will get distorted on the way, and that what the final receiver understands and assimilates in his mind will be very different from what the first source wanted to convey.

At the core of all extension work lies the process of communication. Indeed, the very term “extension work” was chosen by its originators to convey the idea of communication lines extending beyond the boundaries of the universities to include the rural population in the surrounding countryside.

All extension workers, however diverse their specific fields of expertise maybe, must be highly skilled communicators, because they stand and work at a crucial intersection of a widespread communication network. This network encompasses the rural population, the various service centers in towns and cities such as markets, supplies, experiment stations, educational facilities, and local as well as national governmental agencies. Frequently one or more of these parties depend on the extension worker for information. If this vital link breaks down, the whole network cannot function properly, because alternate avenues of communication are very often simply not available.

Farm Life painting in acrylic by the author

Preservation and Enhancement of the Quaintness of Farm Life is a big challenge of Extension. 

Prepared by Prof.A.V. Rotor from the works of Dr. Chanoch Jacobsen, Associate Professor of Applied Sociology, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa. (The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a public research university in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 during the Ottoman Empire.) Dr. Rotor was visiting fellow at the Afro-Asian Institute, Tel-Aviv in 1992, as chief adviser on food and agriculture of the Senate of the Philippines. ~

Part 3
Functional Literacy, "A Camilo Osias Story"
Educator, politician and writer who produced works such as The Filipino Way of Life
Dr Abe V Rotor

RARE 1924 CAMILO OSIAS THE PHILIPPINE READERS

Here is a story* about Pedro and Jose I read in the elementary.

One day Pedro approached his boss and complained why his partner Jose is receiving a higher pay when both of them have the same nature of work.

“Ah, Pedro,” sighed the boss with a sheepish smile. “You will come to know the reason.”

Just then the doorbell rang. “Pedro, please find out who is at the gate.”

After some time, Pedro returned, “Someone is looking for you, sir.”

“Ask who he is.” Pedro went to the gate again, and reported back.

“He is a certain Mr. Carlos, sir.”

“Ask him what he wants.” Pedro went to the gate for the third again, and then returned.

“I did not get it well, sir. But he said he sells home appliances…promotion, something like that. He would like to meet the manager.”

“Tell him we do not need appliances.”

The next day the doorbell rang again. This time, both Pedro and Jose were in the office of their boss. Jose promptly rose from his seat to attend to the visitor at the gate. After a while he returned and reported back.

“Our visitor is an insurance agent, sir. He was offering insurance for our building, and knowing that it is already covered, I told him we do need his offer for the moment. He gave me his business card.” Jose handed the card and excused himself for another call.

“Now you understand,” said the boss to Pedro with a sheepish smile.

(Author's Note: There are other versions of the story which revolve around the same theme.)

About Camilo Osias:
Camilo Osias (March 23, 1889 – May 20, 1976) was born in Balaoan, La Union. He was noted as one of the senate presidents of the Philippines, a nationalist leader who worked for Philippine independence and sovereignty, and is remembered as an educator, politician and writer who produced works such as The Filipino Way of Life, the Philippine Readers, and Jose Rizal, His Life and Times – a biographical work on Rizal. He also wrote a wide variety of articles with themes ranging from the nation to personal life and day to day living in the Philippines.

He edited the series Philippine Readers (known as Osias Readers) for primary intermediate schools. He translated into English Rizal’s famous novels Noli Me Tangere (1956) and El Filibusterismo (1957). He also wrote numerous books and essays on Rizal, education, religion, and the Filipino Way of Life.

Dr. Osias believed that education should secure for every person the fullest measure of freedom, efficiency, and happiness. Efficiency, he demands that one must be able to cooperate with the other members of the society to promote common good.

He also advocated that the educational system must contribute towards the achievement of the goals of education by inculcating their minds and hearts of the youth the value of preserving the patrimony of the country promoting the general welfare of he people.

Dr. Osias’ suggestions to Philippine schools:

• Preserve the solidarity of Filipino;
• Maintain the unity of the Philippines;
• Work out a proper equilibrium in economic order;
• Develop social justice;
• Observe the merit system in government service;
• Promote peace and national defense;
• Uphold the inalienable rights of life, property, liberty, and happiness;
• Keep in their prestige majesty the fundamental freedom, especially freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of peace and assembly, and freedom of worship;
• Conserve the principle of equality;
• Hold high the ideals of religion;
• Keep over aloft the torch of education, and
• Make democracy a living and functional reality. Photos: Internet, Wikipedia

Part 4 - Commencement Address:
Education for a Progressive Tomorrow
"Sabay-sabay na Hakbang Tungo sa Maunlad na Kinabukasan"

By Dr. Abercio V. Rotor, Ph.D.
Guest of Honor and Speaker
Grade 6 Graduation Ceremonies, April 7, 2017
San Vicente Integrated School, San Vicente Ilocos Sur

Neither can we stop time by “holding the hands of the clock, nor conquer space by confining ourselves within walls.” Without exception we “pass this way but once.” - avr

San Vicente Integrated School today as it was during my time some sixty four years ago - same building, same playground. Where has education changed and gone? One can only surmise what lies ahead of these school children. It is the duty of us, we who have spent the formative years of our lives in this school, to guide our younger brothers and sisters, our children, and grand children.

Many years ago I was sitting where you are right now – proud, hopeful, and filled with joy and inspiration. In my time, it was also graduation in this school, then San Vicente Central Elementary School. That was in 1953. How many years would that be since then?

While you are counting the number of years, let me tell you a story. It’s about Juan Tamad in Philippine folklore when he was young - probably of your age. One day a kindly gentleman, a balikbayan, found Juan loafing under a mango tree. After a friendly introduction the gentleman gave Juan an unsolicited piece of advice.

“You see Johnny, when you go to school and finish your studies, you will meet people and visit places here and abroad. You will find a good job. And you will free yourself from the cares and worries of life.” The gentleman paused, waiting for a response. But there was none.

So he continued “You will simply enjoy the leisure of life.” The balikbayan flashed a friendly smile, thinking he had driven well his point.

The simpleton momentarily stopped scratching the ground, looked at this new mentor and casually spoke. “And what do you think I’m doing now, Sir?"
Whatever happened to Juan Tamad is well known to us Filipinos for we have accepted him as a comic character, but in real life Juan Tamad and his kind ended up a failure.

The story has similarities with a story, Rip van Winkle, written by Washington Irving in the late 17th century.

Rip van Winkle was a very lazy person, a henpeck husband who left home and went up the mountain alone on a leisurely hunting adventure. He did not return until twenty years later. He fell asleep for twenty long years.

When he found his way back to his village nobody recognized him. He was now very old and looked very strange with his old clothes and long beard. He mentioned names they could not recall. Finally he asked the villagers, “Who am I?” as if he was still dreaming.

Everything had changed, it was a new era. America was now an independent nation. Madam Winkle had long been gone. When he finally reached his old home that was virtually falling apart, he saw a young man idly scratching the ground with a stick.


“I am Rip Van Winkle!” The old man introduced himself. Exasperated he cried “Can’t anyone recognize me?” He paused and took a closer at the young man, examining him from head to foot. He looked familiar. "Who are you?" he asked.

“I am Rip van Winkle,” came a wry answer. He was Rip van Winkle Junior. Now let me continue my message to you.

Between 1953 and 2017 – that’s 64 long years - the world has vastly and irreversibly changed, and in fact, in this span of time which included the second part of the twentieth century considered as the industrial and modern age, and the beginning of this new millennium – our world has been moving on a course different and momentum faster than at any time in history. This is the kind of world you are going to set foot as you study further, and as you prepare for your career and future.

This is the challenge of the theme of your graduation: Sabay-sabay na Hakbang Tungo sa Maunlad na Kinabukasan. (Let’s move together towards a progressive tomorrow.)

But what is graduation really?

Graduation is springtime. It is metamorphosis. For you who are graduating today, it is the beginning of a voyage into a world that is uncertain and as rough as the sea itself.

For me on my part, it is coming home from that world that you are going to seek. In Pilipino, “Patungo pa lang kayo, ako’y nakabalik na.” Like the biblical Prodigal Son I am back home to the arms of my father, our venerable patron saint, San Vicente Ferrer. There at the altar of his church is written, Ur-urayenka Anakko. (I am waiting for you my child.) Yes, I have come back to his longing and loving embrace.

What have I to tell you about that world believed to be full of promises of fame, riches and pleasure? What’s really in store in that world I saw, and a part of it, for sixty-four long years?

Let me tell you, it is not a comfortable one. In fact it is a very serious world; it is on the other side of fantasyland in comics and movies. It is the real life and there is no other choice. It is not the kind of world associated with the folkloric character, Juan Tamad, or the world of Rip van Winkle who woke up after twenty long years, a stranger to his home, neighbors, and even his own son.

It is a postmodern world – a world of the future we seem to be living today. Everything is changing very fast, and we are adrift without defined direction and goal. We seem to be living in extremes. In our search for true happiness we experience deep sorrow. Glorious victory and devastating defeat. You will realize the value of time to move forward, and a time to retreat. A time to be with others and a time to be alone – to meditate and reflect before moving ahead again. Uncertainties lie at every crossroad, and you cannot simply stop at the middle. You must decide and move on.

Neither can we stop time by “holding the hands of the clock, nor conquer space by confining ourselves within walls.” Without exception we “pass this way but once.”

In life, we pass this way in a hurry; we live on fast food, crave for instant products, instant relationships, and ride on fast transport moving from one place to another, yet always looking for freedom and a destiny. There is always that sense of urgency as if we are in a race, a race without a name.

Which leads me to tell another story.

A young man was driving a caleza loaded with coconut (buko). “I’ll be late and I won’t be able to sell my coconuts,” he said to himself. Whereupon he saw an old man on the roadside. He stopped and asked. “How can I reach the marketplace the soonest, Apo Lakay (old man)?”

The old man glanced at the fully loaded caleza, smiled and said, “Just go slow, Anak.”

“Crazy,” the young man muttered and cracked the whip sending his horse to gallop not minding the rough and rutted road The nuts kept falling along the way so that he had to stop now and then to pick them up.

The old man was right after all.

Graduation just doesn’t send you off, much less if you think you are unprepared. You have yet another phase of study ahead. Just don’t indulge in wistful thinking and careless haste. Stop worrying, look ahead and listen to your calling. Examine yourself not what people think of you, but what you can see in you - your potentials. And remember there is always something you can be at your best, something over and above that of others. You have your forte. It is a gift the benevolent Creator has given you – even if you did not ask for it.

I refer you to the eight realms of Multiple Intelligence. It means the intelligence of a person is spread out in eight areas. No one is grossly judged or denied when it comes to mental faculty. As you grow up you will realize how gifted you are in certain realms that compensate for other realms you may not be as gifted. You will realize the interconnections of realms that compose your talents. In other words, talents are a combination of related realms. And what is most surprising is that talent is not the sum or total contribution of such realms, but of their synergistic effect. Synergy is a mystery. To illustrate, if your right hand can carry fifty kilos and your left can carry another fifty kilos, you think your maximum carrying capacity is one hundred kilos?

Wrong. You can carry much more – with will and determination. That is synergy which emanates from the human spirit.

Now what are these realms of intelligence? As I enumerate them, rate yourselves - each one of you – accordingly to assess your own potentials. Graduation is a time to assess your capabilities and know yourself before you pass through the gate of your school and face the realities of life.

Not in this order or sequence, the realms are: interpersonal (intelligence of human relationship), intrapersonal (intelligence of spirituality), kinesthetics (athletic intelligence), linguistics (intelligence of languages), dialectics or logic (intelligence of philosophy and mathematics), music (intelligence in auditory art), spatial (intelligence in visual arts), and naturalism (intelligence of good relationship with the natural world).

Please always bear this in mind, there’s no normal person who is flatly denied of intelligence. “Walang tao na bobo,” pardon the word. “Meron lang mga bagay na mahina siya. “ On the other hand, there are areas he can excel. This is the law of compensation. Build of this strength and strengthen those you are weak. And remember there are early bloomers and late bloomers. You may be closer on either side or in between these extremes. And remember, there is nothing late as long as you live, as long as the sun rises and sets.

Dr Jose Rizal, our national hero, is the epitome of multiple intelligence. He was prodigiously gifted. But the ultimate expression of such gifts was his deep commitment to a cause – a noble cause - for the good of his country and his people. Greatness is in dedicating our gift of intelligence to such purpose, not only for our own good, but more for the betterment of others. They call this virtue selflessness. It is selflessness that we can best offer our prayer of thanksgiving to our benevolent Creator.

Allow me to tell a final story. It’s about three workers.

Three workers were engrossed doing their assigned tasks when Rajah Soliman, then king of Manila during the pre-Hispanic era, arrived at the construction site. He was so casual in attire that no one recognized him as the king. While inspecting the progress of his project he came upon three workers. After observing them for some time, he asked each one of them what he was doing.

The first worker said, “I am making a perfect block of stone to make a solid and strong wall.” The king nodded with a smile and commended the worker.

Then it was the turn of the second worker. “This is my source of living to support my family so we can live decently.” The king nodded and commended the worker.

Finally, it was the turn of the third worker. The king asked him the same question.

“I am building a fort.” he said with a sense of pride. The king nodded and smiled.

At the end of the day the king called for the third worker who answered, “I’m building a fort.” The king made him overseer of the whole project.

Guess what happened to the first and second worker?

The king called for them, too. He made the first worker architect of the project, and the second, head of the king’s household.

And they all live happily ever after. ~

 Part 5 - The Mystery Child:  Insights of Life for the Pioneer Graduates of an Integrated School 

2020 THEME CONCEPT NOTE: YOUTH ENGAGEMENT FOR GLOBAL ACTION

Our world today loves the Prodigal Son more than his proud and obedient  brother. The son who found his home again, who filled up the missing link of a family, the gap of the bigger world that he saw and experienced with the small world he was born into and where he grew up, the son who learned repentance as a condition to humility, the son who taught the world “love on bended knees.”

            By Dr Abercio V Rotor, Ph.D.

  Guest of Honor and Commencement Speaker

Almost one year ago in this very place, I addressed the graduates of Grade 6 in this school. I said then that it is the greatest honor bestowed upon me as an alumnus of this school some 64 years ago. I am doubly honored today to be with you, the first graduates of San Vicente Integrated School under the new curriculum.

Never in our history had there been five generations living under one roof, so to speak, which include, other than my generation, the baby boomers (born 1946-1964, ages 50 to 71), followed by Generation X – those who come from small families (born 1965-1980, ages 35 to 49). Generation Y constitutes those born 1981-1996, ages 14-34, followed by Generation Z or iGeneration, born thereafter, ages from 6-21). Generations Y and Z constitute largely the millennials who have one thing in common: They are highly dependent on technology, and tend to be individualistic and narcissistic.

You are among the millennials and the i gens. By the way, who (what) is your best friend?

It is the cell phone, the smartphone you carry around, put in your pocket, around your neck, backpack, handbag, under your pillow, on the dining table. It is your most intimate friend, as if it is surgically attached to your body. By the way the cellphone and cellsite are the main sources of radiation that causes cancer and psychological disorder. It has spread into a pandemic, affecting mainly the y and Z generations.

How often do you look at your phone? According to a survey, the average user picks up his or her device more than 1,500 times a week, reaches for it at 7:31 in the morning, checks personal emails and Facebook before he gets out of bed, uses his phone at least 3 hours daily. And almost four in ten users admitted to feeling lost without their device. Have you given a name for your smart phone, other than Galaxy? iPod? Lenovo? Nokia?

What is the implication of this revelation? Listen to my story.

“I cannot feel,” Computer

A teacher gave a home assignment to her students: first, what is love, and second, what does it feel to be truly in love.

Promptly the students consulted their computer. Not their parents first because they were not around. They were in their work, or abroad. Not their friends, they’re bias, of course. Not a spiritual adviser, to many, he is too religious. Not an elderly, he is too traditional. Hello? Anyone out there? Everybody seems to be too preoccupied.

So Johnny or Jon-jon, as Juan likes to be called, typed the first question: What is love? Immediately the computer responded with a hundred definitions. And he chose the easiest and shortest one. It’s just an assignment, he thought. His teacher may not have time to read it. She is loaded with school activities other than teaching.

Next, he entered, What does it feel to be in love? The computer printed: WAIT. Johnny was impatient. He had to hurry up, otherwise he’ll miss his favorite TV program. He tried again. The computer finally answered: I CANNOT FEEL.

And here we have our youth with their best friend the computer, who cannot feel, spending hours every day, 365 days a year, and most likely throughout their lives.

We seem to be locked up with a robot, our intelligence is no longer a natural one. We are becoming slaves of the robot. Modern industries are run by robots (automation). War is fought by robots (drones). Robots beat us in Chess. They steal our time, peep into our room, and trace us on the street (CCTV). They rob us of our privacy. We have indeed enslaved ourselves with our inventions, a new kind of slavery.

Computers gather and store huge amounts of information, information we do not really need, mixing up important and trivial, genuine and fake information materials. This is the newest kind of pollution today – information pollution or “inpollution.” We are sinking into a quagmire of information waste alarmingly increasing every day. We lose our sense of judgement and priorities. Computers cannot truly think and feel, they have no capacity for love, and faith. Without love and faith we break our interrelationship as humanity, the interconnection of the human spirit and creation, and our sacred relationship with God.

Before I continue let me tell you another story.

Mystery Child.

In a workshop for village leaders, the instructor asked the participants to draw on the blackboard a beautiful house, a dream house ideal to live in and raise a family. The participants formed a queue before the blackboard to allow everyone to contribute his or her own idea of such a dream house. The first in the queue drew the posts , on which the succeeding members made the roof and floor, followed by the making of the walls and windows. In the second round the participants added garage, porch, veranda, staircase, gate, fence, swimming pool, TV antennae, and even a car and other amenities.

Finally the drawing was completed and the participants returned to their seats. What make a dream house, an ideal house? A lively “sharing session” followed and everyone was happy with the final drawing – indeed a dream house.

Just then a child was passing by and peeped through the open door. He saw the drawing of the house on the blackboard and entered the classroom, and stood there for a long time looking at the drawing. The teacher approached him, the participants turned to see the unexpected visitor. The child pointed at the drawing on the board and exclaimed, “But there are no neighbors!”

In the same village there was a similar workshop exercise, but this time the participants were to draw an aerial view of an ideal community. The participants formed a queue before the blackboard and after an hour of working together, they came up with a beautiful drawing of a community. There are houses, a church, a school, village hall, and plaza. A network of roads and bridges shows the sections of the village. People are busy doing their chores, especially in the market place. Indeed it appeared as an ideal village.

“What constitute a community?” It was a lively discussion and everyone was so delighted with their “masterpiece” that the teacher even wrote at the corner of the blackboard “Save.”

Just then a child was passing by. When he saw the drawing on the backboard through the open door, he entered the classroom. He went close to the drawing and looked at it for a long time. The teacher and participants fell silent looking at their very young guest.

The child exclaimed, “But there are no trees, no birds; there are no mountains, no fields, no river!”

Some days passed since the two workshops. No one ever bothered to find out who the child was or where he lived. Then the whole village began to search for the child, but they never found him – not in the village, not in the neighboring village, not in the capital, not even in the church. Not in any known place.

Who was the child? Everyone who saw him never forgot his kindly beautiful and innocent face, bright eyes, radiant smile, and pondered on his words which became the two greatest lessons in life. ·

• But there are no neighbors of the beautiful house! 
• But there are no trees, no birds; there are no mountains, no fields, no river in the ideal community! 

Analyze the story. Who is this Mystery Child? What is the significance of this story to you? To your future career? Meantime I’ll relate another story, this time, about Narcissus in Greek mythology.

Death of Narcissus

Narcissus, a very handsome man in his youth, loved himself so much he spent hours day after day looking at his reflection on a lake, until one day he fell and drowned. The nymph Echo who was deeply in love with Narcissus but was never reciprocated, wept together with other nymphs over the dead Narcissus. So with the animals in the forest, the wind, the trees, and all those who had known him, except, the lake.

“Why aren’t you weeping?” the nymphs asked the lake. The lake answered, “It’s because Narcissus never saw me, he saw only himself. Every day he came to see his beautiful face, but he never saw a bit of beauty in me - I, who gave him the reflection of himself.”

This story tells us of a common weakness of men and women today, a malady doctors call Narcissism or Narcissistic Syndrome. Time magazine featured the millennials in a special issue as Me, Me, Me Generation. The relevance of this story to you is far reaching. Don’t be an “I” specialist. Never adore yourself. Don’t be conceited. Learn to reciprocate, especially in matters of genuine relationships, of true love. Had Narcissus reciprocated the love of the nymph Echo, and remained humble with his beauty the story wouldn’t be a tragic one, but one with an ending, “and they lived happily ever after.”

The lessons that can be derived from these stories, I believe are important in facing 12 major challenges of our ultramodern world, or postmodern world, as may be referred to.

· Threat of Nuclear Armageddon
· Global Terrorism.
· Drugs and Vices
· Territorial Conflicts
· Tragedy of the Commons
· Environmental Degradation.
· Loss of Privacy
· Auto-toxicity.
· Amorality and Neutral Morality
· Institutional Breakdown
· Pandemic Diseases
· Consumerism

Sibyl’s Wish 

I have another story to tell, also from Greek mythology. It’s about Sibyl, a version from the original myth.

Sibyl was a young, beautiful woman of high intelligence; in fact she was regarded as a prophet. One day Apollo, god of music and intelligence, asked Sibyl. “What is your wish in life?” Shy and naive Sibyl simply declined. “Come on Sibyl, every mortal has a wish.” “Well, if you insist, I wish to live forever.” Apollo knew she wanted to be a goddess. “Oh, foolish Sibyl, but your wish will be granted.”

So Sibyl lived on and on. But she was losing her youthfulness and beauty, because she inadvertently missed in her wish the word young. “I wish to live young forever.”

One day, a young man met Sibyl, now long past her youth, a very old woman. “And what do you wish this time Sibyl?” Wryly she said, “I only wish to die.”

How many mortals wish to be immortal? Corpses in cryogenic tanks await science to resurrect them in the future. The pyramids and other ornate tombs were built for the afterlife. People search for the fountain of youth believed to be somewhere in Shangri-La in Tibet.

The message about Sibyl is clear: “We – all of us – pass this way but once.” A missionary once said, “I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

The Fourth Wise Man

I have yet another story. Have you heard of the Fourth Wise Man, a novel written by Henry van Dyke. It is about a fourth “king” who lost his way and got separated from his three friends – the three wise men or three kings who succeeded in seeing the new born Holy Infant, whom they lavishly gave personal gifts. After that they were never heard of again. On the other hand, Artaban, their lost companion, never saw the Holy Infant. All along the way he did not ignore people in need of help, in the process spent all the gifts intended for the Holy Child. He had “wasted” 33 years. 

Unexpectedly news reached him that a holy man was condemned to die on the cross. He gathered his last strength and went to Jerusalem. There he saw the person he was looking for nailed on the cross on top of a hill (Golgotha). Artaban was gravely shocked and suffered a heart attack. As he lay in a corner dying Christ appeared to him. “I am very sorry, my Lord, I lost my way. I have nothing to give You now.”

“You have given me more than your gifts. You have not lost your way or time. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. What you have done to the least of your brethren you have done it to me.”

The fourth wise man took his last breath; his face turned heavenward bearing a divine smile of peace and fulfillment. 

If you can’t be one of the three wise men who paid a visit to the holy Infant, then be that fourth wise man. Be like Albert Schweitzer who became a missionary to fill up what the three wise men failed to do. 

Think and aim high to the point of idealism. Aim at a goal, more than that, aim at a cause. Dedicate your work to that noble cause, live your life for it. Peace, integrity, freedom, have no measure, because they belong to the realm of the human spirit. It is said that great men and women fought not only for their philosophy in life, but for their faith. Our own national hero Jose Rizal fought for freedom and dignity of the Filipinos, Mahatma Gandhi for independence of India, Abraham Lincoln for the abolition of slavery, Mother Teresa, now a saint, for love for the poorest among the poor. 

"Philosophy takes us to the highest plane of reason, whereas theology

takes us to the highest plane of faith." - avr

When Albert Einstein, the greatest mind in modern times, was asked, “What else can you not understand, Dr. Einstein?” The man behind the splitting of the atom, and adjudged Man of the Twentieth Century, answered in all humility, “I understand just a little about the atom; all things in the universe, only God can understand.” It is a manifestation of deep faith in the Higher Principle, over and above that of science.

On the other side of the coin, when Pope Francis was bombarded with questions on ethico-morals confronting our postmodern world, he answered calmly and hushed the audience, “Who am I to be your judge?” And he led the faithful to a prayerful meditation. It is deep wisdom humbling everyone with the biblical lesson, “He who has no sin throws the first stone.” 

And Mahatma Gandhi, Man of the Millennium brought not only man to his knees, but a whole proud nation Great Britain that was once the biggest empire on earth – “The sun never sets on English soil.” Through Asceticism and non-violence – terms that cannot be explained - India was liberated from centuries of human bondage, undoubtedly by the power of the Human Spirit.

Commencement means to start, to begin, and graduation is a planned process, by phase, step-by-step. It is not forging ahead and changing the world. Commencement is also looking back while standing at a crossroad given the choice to go back home like the Prodigal Son. Our world today loves the Prodigal Son more than his proud and obedient brother. The son who found his home again, who filled up the missing link of a family, the gap of the bigger world that he saw and experienced with the small world he was born into and where he grew up, the son who learned repentance as a condition to humility, the son who taught the world “love on bended knees.” 

Change, if only for the sake of “progress” is not the saving grace of our world. In fact, it is its greatest dilemma. After all, the most precious thing every person must have, and it is the greatest of all human rights, of all aspirations and goals in life is happiness. If you are not happy you are a loser, in spite of wealth, fame and honor. Take off all unnecessary load, be practical, go back to basics when you are in doubt, much so if you are lost. Live happily, lovingly, truthfully and freely. 

Listen to that child who guides you when you are lost, comforts you when you are sad, reminds you if you are late for school, jolts you when you feel lazy. The child who keeps you strong to resist temptation, enlightens you when you are in doubt, . 

The child who strengthens you with your conviction, in search for truth, who leads you back to your loved ones in peace and reconciliation; the child who encourages you when you are losing hope, who helps you fight for life when you are gravely ill, who takes you away from danger, who weeps when you have committed a grave error while strengthening you to resolve and rise over it. 

The child who talks to the stars, flies a kite as high as your dream, who writes poetry, sings, and loves life with reverence to all living things, who reminds you to keep the earth clean and orderly. The child that never tires, who never grows old, and who lives on in sweet memories. 

The child who detests Narcissus and Sibyl, and resists their temptations. The child who does not regret for failing to see the infant Child, just to be able to help the least of his brethren while lost on his way. 

This is the mystery child in you, in your life, the child who guides you in your search for a place in the world. ~
--------------------
Congratulations to you beloved graduates, your parents and teachers, and to all those who contributed to your success, and the success of this occasion. Last but not the least, congratulations to Principal Beatriz Riotoc and staff of San Vicente Integrated School, my alma mater I will always love. ~

Part 6

 Light your Lamp and Keep it Bright 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Former Professor in Communication Arts, UST

Living with Nature [avrotor.blogspot.com]

This article explores and guides journalists, writers, broadcasters, authors, filmmakers  and the like, in effectively using Mass Communication for Mass Education. "Media for Teaching," "Media for Change," "Media for Values" - more than the motive of entertainment and profit - are today's challenge posed to the media-world, institutions of government, church, school, and the family.   

After reading this article, write down your advocacy in 10 principal areas or concerns. Use regular bond, handwritten. 

Teaching is an art. It is an art of the masters - Aristotle, Plato, Christ, and many great teachers of the Renaissance that brought the world out of the Dark Ages. While we have developed modern techniques in teaching, it is important to look back into the past. 

Socrates, father of Philosophy, on his deathbed. He was condemned to die by drinking hemlock, a  poison, for corrupting the minds of the youth. 

It is looking back at the lamp that enabled our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, to write his last masterpiece, the lamp Florence Nightingale held over her patients at the warfront, the lamp that made Scheherazade’s “one thousand and one nights” stories, the lamp a Greek philosopher held high at daylight “searching for an honest man.” Or the lamp fireflies make and glow with the spirit of joy and adventure to a child. 

But why do we look back and ponder on a tiny light when the world basks in the sunshine of progress and development, of huge networks of learning, of high technologies in practically all fields of endeavor? I’ll tell you why – and why we teachers must.

But first let me tell a story of a computer enthusiast, who like the modern student today relies greatly on this electronic gadget, doing his school work so conveniently like downloading data for his assignment. So one day he worked on his assigned topic – love. 

He printed the word and set the computer to define for him L-O-V-E. Pronto the computer came up with a hundred definitions and in different languages. Remembering his teacher’s instruction to ask, “How does it feel to be in love?” again he set the computer to respond. And you know what?

After several attempts, the computer printed on its screen in big letters, “I can not feel.”

Where is that main ingredient of human relations – feeling – today?

• Where is the true feeling between teacher and student?
• Where is the feeling of joy at the end of a teaching day, in spite of how hard

   the day had been?
• Where is that tingling feeling of the student for having recited well in class? 
• Where is that feeling in singing the National Anthem, the school hymn?
• Where is that feeling Rizal felt when a moth circled the lamp in his prison cell

   while he wrote, Mi Ultimo Adios? 
• Where is that burning desire that drove Michelangelo to finish single-handedly

   the huge murals of the Sistine Chapel?
• That drove Vincent Van Gogh to madness – madness the world learned a new

   movement in the art – expressionism - years after?
• That kept Florence Nightingale, the founder of the nursing profession, make

   her rounds in the hospital in the wee hours of the morning?
• The lamp that strengthened Plato’s resolve to change the way people should

   think in the light of truth and justice.

Feeling. There is a song Feelin, and the lyrics ask a lot of questions about human nature changing with the times. I do not think human nature has changed. It is as stable as Nature herself and the natural laws that govern the universe.

What we are saying is that our ways are changing. The conformity of our actions is more with the rules we set rather than the philosophies on which they are founded. It is our quest for want above our needs that has blinded us and benumbed our feelings, that has taken us to the so-called fast lane so that we no longer see objects as they are, but abstracts, that has made us half-humans in the sense that we spend half of our lives dealing with machines – who have no feelings. 

What then is modern man? I am afraid we have to review some of our references on the Janus-like character of man, like - 

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Prince and the Pauper
• The Princess and the Frog
• The movies - Mask, Superman, Batman, Spiderman 
• Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter
• Cartoons and animated movies 

The doubling of characters in man has led him away from permanence. Today, the biggest crisis in man is his impermanence. Impermanence in his domicile, nay, his nationality, political party. Affiliation in business and social organizations, and most disturbingly, with his marriage and family.

“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”- John Cotton Dana 

When was the last time we said to ourselves – or experienced - the following. 

• It’s a weekday for my family and nothing else.
• How I wish I can help my child of his math assignment.
• I’ll teach only this year and will find a more rewarding job after.
• I think it’s time to settle down.
• I want to go to a concert and enjoy the fine art of music.
• Can’t I put all my ideas in a book?
• It’s always meeting – can’t we just talk?
• This dizziness, it must be the pressure of my work.
• Maybe I can concentrate on my thesis this time.
• I have not finished reading “Da Vinci Code”. 
• This summer I’ll be with my parents.

Here are ways by which we can brighten up our lamp amidst the factors that test our dedication of our profession as teachers.

1. Be yourself. Be natural. 
2. Keep on learning 
3. Be a model of your family and community
4. Relax
5. Use your faculties fully and wisely 

Be Natural

Naturalness is a key to teaching. I saw a film, Natural with then young award-winning Robert Redford as the principal actor. It is a story of a baseball player who became famous. The central theme of his success is his naturalness. Naturalness in pitching, batting - in the sport itself, above all, in his relationship with his team and fans. 

Our students can easily sense our sincerity. They shun from us if we are not. They cannot fully express themselves, unless we show our genuine love and care for them. Develop that aura that attracts them, that keeps relationship easy to adapt or adjust.

Be a Model

A teacher must have more time for himself and for his family. Teaching is an extension of family life. And this is the primordial stimulus that makes your family a model family and you as a model teacher – because you cause the light of the lamp to radiate to others. And it is not only the school that you bring in the light. It is the community because you are also lighting the lamp of others, including the tiny glow in your young students. When they get home, when they interact with their community in whatever capacity they can, even only among their playmates, relatives and neighbors, they are in effect sharing that light which is also the light of understanding and unity. 

Florence Nightingale  Lady with the Lamp 

- founder of the nursing profession 

Relax

Great achievements are usually products of relaxed minds. Relaxation allows the incubation of thoughts and ideas. Churchill found time to paint during the Second World War. In his relaxed mind he made great decisions that saved Great Britain and countless lives. Or take Einstein for instance. His formula which explains the relationship of energy and matter in E=mc2 was drawn out from casually observing moving objects - train, heavenly bodies, marbles. Galileo watched a huge chandelier in a church sway with the breeze and later came up with the principles of pendulum movement. 

Darwin studied biology around the world as if he were on a leisure cruise, and summed up his findings that founded the most controversial Theory of Evolution by means of Natural Selection. An apple fell on Newton’s head when everything was still. Examine closely the parables of Christ. How relaxed the Great Teacher was in telling these stories to the faithful. The lamp shines the brightest when there is no wind. When held high with steady hands and given time to examine things around, views become clearer, and the more certain we are along our way. 

Use Your Faculties Fully and Wisely

Our brain is made up of the left hemisphere, the thinking and reasoning part, and the right hemisphere, the seat of creativity and imagination. Together they reveal an enormous capacity of intelligence, which are pictured in eight realms. These are 

1. Logic 

2. Languages

3. Music 

4. Spatial

5. Interpersonal

6. Intrapersonal 

7. Kinesthetics 

8. Naturalism 

From these realms the teacher draws out his best qualities. He explores, decides, adapts, entertains, leads, and stands courageously to lead the young. 

Here he sows the seed of knowledge. And in the young the seed grows, and grows, which the educator Henry Adams expresses in this line:
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” ~

Part 7 -  San Vicente Ilocos Sur (Philippines) to the World Series

Educator by Example: Francisco C. Macanas, Ed.D.

He is simple in his ways, within like silent water, proudly throb the humility and honesty of the person, steeled and seasoned. 

                                                           Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

It is indeed difficult to truly describe a man of accomplishment and virtue. The closest I could get, being once a boy scout myself, is to envision the emblem of Head, Heart and Hand as the underlying attributes to becoming a good citizen – and in the case of Dr Francisco C Macanas, to becoming a respectable educator, playwright, community leader and family man.

Symbols however, are inadequate to pinpoint the real qualities of Frank, as his colleagues and friends call him. You have to look back, and there you see the humble beginning of the man. It is here where the three Hs are translated into real life experience, likened to tempering - the making of steel. We call this in Ilocano, paslep. Which by the way, has no equivalent term in any regional language.

Tempering builds courage and determination; it gives a sense of direction and purpose. It is like a tree that has survived the elements, its seasoned timber never gives up; it holds on – and on. Early initiation to hardship places a premium to success in meeting the challenge in life. Virtually all by himself in childhood and in youth, Frank did the almost impossible. It is the impossible great men and women dream of like in the song, The Impossible Dream. At the end waits a pedestal for those who succeed.

Frank does not like to stay on that pedestal. The pedestal he knew is the stage on a graduation day where he wishes the graduates good luck, the stage the zarzuela he wrote were played, the stage where issues were brought into a forum. It is the stage where everyone, without exception, must play his role as Shakespeare said, “The world’s a stage, and everyone has a role to play.”

Farmers, fisherfolk, out-of-school youth, homemakers, entrepreneurs – Frank brought the school to them, breaking tradition of the academe. Call it distance education, university without walls, e-learning, or another name, but the essence is to reach out – the school must go to the people, hands-on and on-site in their very community. It is education delivered at the doorstep. Frank studied the open university program of Thailand and other countries. I can only surmise how lofty a dream can be, Frank as the pioneer and director of the system must have been searching for an Aristotle, Confucius, Thoreau, Locke, Webster et al in our times, and imagining a university of the people of all ages, walks of life, creed and race – a true university as the term implies. 

I imagine a local university in the category of STOU (Sokhothai Thammathirat Open University) which I had the chance to visit in 2010. At any given time 250,000 students were enrolled in non-degree and degree courses, including postgraduate studies. And this is not surprising. Other Thai universities, like Chulalongkorn University and Ramkhamhaeng University, have a million students enrolled in their open university system. Originally founded in European universities, distance education spread to the US, then to Asia and today, to practically all countries.  

Frank as VP for Administration, and VP for Academic Affairs, saw the inevitable revolution in education worldwide. such as the meaning of literacy in postmodern living, mass education of the world’s fast increasing which is now  of 7.5 billion, the return of liberal arts to restore a harmonious balance of the left and right brain, logic and creativity, among the other realms of multiple intelligence, so with humanizing science and technology, and preserving the integrity of the institutions.

Here, the university in a dichotomy of conventional classroom and textbook learning on one hand, and extension or distance education, on the other. The latter is regarded as applied teaching, a means of transforming people capabilities, beliefs, ideas, and above all, infusing the faith that they can help themselves. Which leads us to the persistent question, “How relevant is the university to the masses?” It is often asked with knotted brow on the viewpoint of the people, and vantage view of remote villages. I can only present a reference from an extension worker which is indeed a good guide and motto for teachers, as well as other agents of change. To wit:

Your program:
If it is of high quality, people will respect you.
If it is relevant, people will need you.
If it is measurable, people will trust you.
If it is innovative, people will follow you.

Throughout his career, and even in retirement, Frank has been persistent and consistent with the dual role of a teacher to the point of elevating it as a personal philosophy. By breaking the walls of the university he also opens a wider field of teaching and learning, contiguous and dynamic in the true essence of freedom and exercise of human rights, and that is, education of, for, and by the people, borrowing the words of America’s most loved president, Abraham Lincoln, in describing good government. 



If there is anything that a society upholds most, it is a kind of education that can face the growing complexity of our postmodern society, but more important, I must say, an education that can provide an anchor against a chartless, accelerated change, an education that is not only a catalyst of gathering and piecing up data from the present explosion of knowledge, but one that warns people of the consequences of information overload, and like a winnowing basket, it should be able to teach them separate the grains from the chaff. 

A person of lesser caliber would ask, why travel on a rough road only to find at the end an enormous task beyond your power, or anyone's.  I say, a person of vision and a mission looks at the scenario as an opportunity. Which reminds me of the legendary Achilles when warned by an errand, “If I were you, Achilles,” the boy said, “I won’t fight that big man challenging you to a duel."  The hero calmly replied, “Then I will not be remembered.”

Heroes don’t fight ordinary men, much less those they know they can defeat. Honor and glory wait in fighting a bigger enemy. They fight for a cause. They fight that others might win - even if they lose. For an educator like Frank, he does not only plant the seed of knowledge but the seed of a cause for which his students will fight for in life, perhaps contributing just a drop to the sea of humanity – so nil yet the sea will never be the same thereafter.

I compare the teacher to a sower, a shepherd, but I would also compare him with the potter. The potter prepares the clay, moulds it, bakes it into a functional and beautiful masterpiece.

Here is a verse I wrote as a young teacher then, which reads - 

Knead and mould, knead and mould,

Time may tarry with its demand;

Let not the clay sit still, I am told,

and wait for the child to be man.

Knead and mould, knead and mould,

Again and again, and trying still;

Godly and oblate, lovely to behold,

For Heaven's sake, don't move the keel. ~

Frank may not have brought in thousands of off-campus students like in STOU and other big open universities in the world;  he may not have built a Plato’s Academia, except in his dreams, but his school during his term produced a crop that looked up to the best examples of men and women. He may have set a teaching standard which drew ungainly remarks as a “terror” professor. He may be straight and strict, and simple in his ways, beneath like silent water, proudly throb the humility and honesty of the person, steeled and seasoned. ~

---------------
To know more about Dr Francisco C Macanas, visit the Internet. Just enter his full name and you will see and listen to him on You Tube, Wake Up, Ilokano Ak (I am proud to be an Ilocano). Frank summarizes the three Hs of his life Hard work, Humility, Honesty. He tells us the story of his life, from a humble beginning with many sacrifices, but it is this experience that enabled him to realize many of his dreams. He earned the highest degree in his field Doctor of Education.  A native of Bangar, La Union, Frank decided to reside in San Vicente, the town of his wife, Ma Luisa Rosal, with whom they are blessed with two children, now professionals: an engineer and a lady doctor.  After retiring as Vice president of UNP Dr Macanas remains active as volunteer professor at Saint Benedict Institute and the major seminary, and member of the Parish Council of San Vicente. AVR

"We best remember the teacher who influenced us most in our present life; he is the one who enlightened us.  Enlightenment is the gauge of being truly learned, it is from it that we draw lessons from the Great Teacher."

- AV Rotor, My Vision of a University

* Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Part 8 

Ka Melly C Tenorio: Pioneer of People’s School-on-Air  

(Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid) 

Original Title: The Indefatigable Ka Melly

Ka Melly C Tenorio is the pioneer, and the longest radio program host of a non-conventional approach in education in the Philippines based on “university without walls."  Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid or People’s School-on-Air grew from a local radio broadcast in the eighties to become an Internet-linked broadcast worldwide. The Program ended at the onset of the Duterte Administration.

                                                            Dr Abe V Rotor 

Radio Program Instructor

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 

Rocky Cliff of Media in acrylic by AVRotor for Ka Melly C Tenorio on her 65th birthday and day of retirement from government service.  December 2, 2017

Atop the Rocky Cliff of Media

You made it Ka Melly, you are now on top, 

though a dot in the vastness of your view ;

if only retirement could silence the mind,

but to write your life is challenge anew, 

for nothing is as fulfilling as your career 

to go on making life lovely and true.

Lessons I Learned from Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's-School-on-Air) with Ka Melly C Tenorio

1. Ka Melly is a pioneer of a new kind of education. “University without walls,” Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid or People’s School-on-Air. 

2. I met Ka Melly for the first time in the eighties at the old building of ABS-CBN. I was invited as a resource person in her program. Gradually, through the years we developed a relationship of teacher and moderator which may be likened to a horse-and-carriage relationship.

Ka Melly and Ka Abe - PBH tandem for more than three decades 

3. Were it not for Ka Melly, Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (PBH) could not be what it had become  as the longest continuing school-on-air on radio in the Philippines, which included places outside the country reached by PBS-RB network. 

4. And thanks to the Internet, PBH was able to reach out worldwide. Lessons were not only heard on radio but read on the Internet as organized lessons posted on Website which are easily accessible.  

5. Paaralang Bayan is broad, if fact limitless in potential topics and audience. On my part with Ka Melly, I was able to discuss and post around 4000 lessons. These are accessible in three websites, principally avrotor.blogspot.com. To this time, past lessons even before 2006 can be searched in this website by subject matter at any time.  

6. Topics cover the 8 Realms of Multiple Intelligence (spatial or visual art, logic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, languages, kinesthetics, music and naturalism) which aim at developing the "holistic” person, principally among the young, and practical subjects which supplement formal education, as well as experiential knowledge, social media notwithstanding.

 

DZRB-PBH staff at DZRB station with Station Manager Allan Allanigue 

(left photo, foreground).

7. There are times of excitement, times of caution (we avoid discussing as much as possible  politics and religion), of light moments, and times of serious concern. But there were times, I, in particular, entertained the thought “of what use am I doing this?” particularly because being a resource person is free and voluntary.

8. Until someone called me in the middle of the night and said, “Thank you Ka Abe and Ka Melly for saving my life. ”I couldn’t grasp a thing to relate his statement. I am not a life guard. I donated blood only once in my lifetime and that was a long time ago. I let him continue. "Your program stopped me at the brink of self-destruction." He mentioned a lesson, “Stop before you reach dead end,” and related topics.

9. I felt like a disciple of the Good Shepherd. And here the biblical Lost Lamb got into the picture, opening a new challenge and stronger determination as a journalist. It is indeed a philosophy on the highest humanitarian level. How many lost lambs are there in the world today?

10. And this is a fact. Quite often the lost lamb is not only the marginalized, but one who is learned, ambitious, and those on the fast lane locked up in a race without a name and goal. What would Ka Melly and I tell them. We talk about art, poetry, kind Nature, the lighter side of life, a kind of laughter from the heart. It’s Ka Melly’s signature of smiling-and-laughing, you could readily notice in her voice.

11. “All the world’s a stage.” Yet we can’t always be the principal characters. In media we are merely catalyst for people to act, and they must act rationally in their best. But sometimes we encounter overenthusiastic callers. It’s not unusual and this is where diplomacy comes in. Diplomacy in media is an art.  Ka Melly is a master of that art. Hour after hour and she seems indefatigable. I only know the source of her strength is her loving family, and her dedication to her career.

12. We are students in many ways. Someone called up to tell that eating plapla (hormone induced male tilapia) would cause hair to grow on the face and body. I thought it was all right, but then the caller was not a man but a lady who insisted she was talking based on personal experience. I began imagining the new species. I don’t know how Ka Melly closed the conversation to the caller’s seeming satisfaction, without us accepting her theory. It was hilarious behind screen but it prompted me to do research. Though controversial, the idea led me to do my homework with the premise that tinkering with Nature is very dangerous, and indeed it is.

13. There are difficult moments with media especially when you have little to say, or none at all. What with one straight hour without advertisement, and seldom a break for station ID? Monday to Friday – that’s five hours a week in a heavy traffic hour (air and road).

One time I was driving back to QC from DLSU Dasmariñas after an evening class lecture. PBH was hooked up with my car radio. Then Ka Melly called. I couldn't find a parking place. Finally I found one and of all places I was directed in front of a beer house. And you know, we talked of vices and one of them is smoking. Luckily I had the article “From Cigarette Smoking to Pipe Smoking – then I Stopped: A Personal Saga.” It turned out beautifully with sound effects coming from the beer house. There’s no substitute really to personal experience with on-the spot setting. I even got a free can of beer.

 

PBH Resource Persons (Top, clockwise) NCBA vice president for academic affairs and director for research with Ka Melly and Ka Abe and wife Cecille; UN-FAO ecologist and veteran journalist with Ka Abe; veteran broadcaster with Ka Abe and Cecille; and professors from SPU-QC;

14. Another experience, this time was in Virac, Catanduanes. I was a speaker on Environmental Conservation. "I’m here in Catanduanes," I called Ka Mely. I summarized the contents of some papers presented in lesson style. And having a few minutes remaining I gave to a seemingly knowledgeable participant a chance to say her piece. It was nearly a disaster. She was very critical and out of topic. I learned another lesson. Don’t just pick anyone to talk on radio. You can’t “unsay” what has been said, not even on his or her behalf.

15. There was a concert in Ateneo de Manila University which Ka Melly emceed. My Daughter Anna accompanied me on the violin. Actually I declined the invitation by a Jesuit brother, a regular PBH guest. But it was a rare opportunity and honor. Ka Melly was very fluent and confident as usual with her introduction, and she didn’t know how nervous I was. I told myself, if Ka Melly isn't nervous, why shouldn’t I, too? Things turned out all right. You can’t be your best unless you are a bit nervous, anxious, and fired with enthusiasm. After our rendition Ka Melly congratulated me and Anna. I was avoiding to extend my cold and sweaty hand. There are trials you must face in media. The term mapapasubo ka is actually mapapasubok ka.

16. Another time, I played the violin in the Radyo ng Bayan station booth, to demonstrate traditional and semi-classical music. This time I was all confident. But I didn’t perform as well as I did in the Ateneo concert. “Bravo!” applauded Ka Melly. If only Ka Melly knew I missed a number of notes and a line! (On second thought, I told myself, "Alam niya, mabait lang siya." But what about our thousands of listeners?)

17. I am always aware of the element of humility in media. I often refer to the Pieta. What makes the Pieta the "perfect" sculptural work of man is the essence of humility it exudes. When this early masterpiece of Michelangelo was struck with a sledge hammer by a madman, and later restored, more pilgrims were attracted to see it. It is now in a bullet-proof glass case in the Vatican, and the Pieta has found a place again in our troubled society. How many people are there in our times with the kind of reasoning of the madman, "When you can't acquire beauty your own alone, better destroy it so no one can truly own it?" How often is media led into this social quagmire!

     

Lessons in PBH are translated into Ilocano and published in Ka Abe's column Okeyka Apong (Our Heritage of Values and Lessons). Bannawag, counterpart of Liwayway (both mean dawn) is a weekly magazine with 50,000 copies per issue, half of which is shipped to Ilocano communities abroad. Okeyka Apong will be on its 12th year in 2018. Ka Abe right, with Bannawag Executive Editor. 

PBH and the Community Newspaper (Greater Lagro Gazette) which was awarded best barangay newspaper in QC.) The Gazette regularly publishes lessons with Ka Abe as president of LAWIN (Lagro Assn of Writers and Artists Inc). With him is the editor in chief of the Gazette and chairman of LAWIN.

 

PBH counterpart in Thailand - Sokhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU), the first university in Southeast Asia to use the distance learning system;  Ka Abe in an interview at STOU 2008. With strong government support, PBH can be institutionalized like STOU with the country's present network of schools and universities. STOU has more than 200,000 students enrolled in different courses from vocational to medicine to graduate studies. Another Thai University has one-half million students in its "university-without-walls" program. All over the world, one of the biggest revolutions taking place is in media and education. PBH has greatly contributed to this movement. But we have yet to break the cartel of schools and universities gripping the educational system of our country.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
PBH won the Oscar Florendo Award for Developmental Communication, circa 1998; Philippine Award  for Best Blog on Nature and Environment in 2015(PBH lessons are linked with the Internet), Gintong Aklat Award 2003, National Book Award 2008 (2 books in a series which carry PBH lessons; and Father Jose P Burgos Achievement Award, particularly on the aspect of media 2015). It is also for PBH that Ka Abe was awarded Outstanding Alumnus for Journalism by the Lyceum of the Philippine University on the recommendation of Manager Allan Allanigue. These awards and various citations demonstrate the dynamic and professional management of the DZRB-PBH through the years. Former Manager John Manalili also received various awards after his retirement.    
 -------------------------------------------------------------- 

  

PBH participates in national conventions (left, on allergy), and training of teachers under the K-12 program

PBH is deeply involved in environmental conservation. Top, clockwise: global
warming, widespread poverty, overpopulation, and deforestation.

 

PBH takes part in children's feeding program, (left), and art workshop.

 

PBH conducts seminar-workshops with Barangay Greater Lagro QC, for senior citizens;
and works with the academic community (UST Graduate School Students).

18. What would happen to PBH after Ka Melly?

First of all here is a cursory look into the lessons of PBH, by subject matter: Current Events, Food and nutrition, Ecology and Environment, Agriculture and Food, Practical Tips for Everyday Living, Science and Technology, Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery,

Medicine and Healthcare, Education and Training, Lighter Side of Life, Communication and Arts, Humanities and Applied Aesthetics, Morals and Ethics, Economics and Entrepreneurship, Family and Society, Biology and Related Life Sciences, Culture and Tradition, Industry and agribusiness, Personality Development.

The least discussed are Politics and Religion.

With the Website avrotor-blogspot.com (Living with Nature) (or Dr Abe V Rotor) these topics can still be accessed as short articles accompanied by photos and illustrations, and written in English, in simple style. These topics will remain accessible worldwide, perhaps for years, to visitors of the website. No other conditions are set, aside adhering to the genuine purpose of the lessons. acknowledgement of the source, and that the  Code of Ethics in Journalism, and conditions set by the Web are not violated.  

These lessons shall be phased out as PBH lessons, ultimately becoming independent articles linked to various websites - riding on the principle of Multiplier Effect. And new articles shall be added on regularly under avrotor.blogspot.com (Living with Nature, with two extended blogs). 

As long as there are visitors to these blogs, PBH lives on.  So does the indefatigable Ka Melly, who built Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid as an insitution.    
  

                                                For Ka Melly

The Plus Factors of a Happy and Fulfilled Life,  

and - Yes, you will live long. 

Dr Abe V Rotor  

                           The Pond - A Place of Happy Thoughts, in acrylic AVRotor

When the sun rises, be there and catch its rays, pristine, golden piercing the fog and mist, turning dewdrops into diamonds cascading to the ground, vanishing into the air, birds chirping to herald the day - you will live long;

When the sun sets, it is but the parting of day, no tears no regrets, it goes to its bed on the horizon, and soon, you too shall find rest in comfort and thanksgiving, taking away the rigors of the day - you will live long;

When tired muscles and nerves, before they snag and pull you down, stop and let nature take over, you have a lot of reserve you don't only know - breath deep, relax and dream of the things you love - you will live long;

When in doubt and indecisive, cautious and anxious, these you must respect, they are within your barometer telling you to find the best path to take - and, if ever the risk is well deserved, take the less trodden with pride - you will live long;

When lost in the woods or in the concrete jungle, in eerie shadows among trees or blinding neon lights, stop but briefly for composure, but never stop, your home is just there waiting for you - you will live long;

When feeling sick you are sick, when angry you are angry, when lonely you are lonely; when happy you are happy, you are the master and captain of your life, steer your ship well having set its course - you will live long;

When the seasons are changing fast, you must be in love with your work, your life and family, your friends and organization - they make things easy for you, as you make things easy for them too, rejoice, it's a great life - you will live long;

When your pulse is racing with your heartbeat, temperature sending blood to your head, eyes blurred by tears and anger, your gait and stride now heavy and disturbing, your smiles and laughter leaving dry furrows, take a break, a long break - you will live long;

When sick doctors affirm, don't give up, the good hormones will drive the bad ones away, stem cells in your bone marrow will double up, metabolism slows down, enhance these natural processes, be happy - you will live long;

When you are yourself and not somebody else, when models rise to challenge you, when idealism and reality meet at the hallowed ground of humanity, where goodness prevails, be more than a witness, you have your own role to play - you will live long;

When life advances past your prime, look to the golden years, the best of life yet, believe in wisdom distilled from knowledge, in a diary you wrote as your living epitaph, for having borne children, the meaning of immortality - you will live long;

When the Angelus bell rings and you hear it not a peal but sweet call, when all around you gather your family and friends, those you found joy in helping - the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, the lonely and abandoned - those you served on media as the Good Shepherd. you will live long, and forever live. ~

--------
NOTE: Ka Melly, now retired from government media, continues broadcasting on Eagle Network.  The latest I listened to her program was about synthetic vinegar, and about state education. I closed my eyes and imagined Ka Melly and I in tandem on radio through the years, indeed a beautiful reminiscence.  How amazing she pruned down diplomatically and subtly her guests' assuming posture of their "specializations." In media one should be polite and unassuming. Learned people, especially scientists, must tone down from their pedestal to reach the level of understanding of the audience, and more importantly, they should at all times uphold intellectual honesty.  Kudos to Ka Melly for handling the interviews with wit and superb moderation. avr    Philippine broadcasting building QC

Part 9 - Major Concerns of Extension

Extension is applied teaching, a means of transforming people capabilities, beliefs, ideas, and above all, infusing the faith that they can help themselves.

Dedicated to my mentors and colleagues at UPLB:  Dr Tom Flores, Prof. Leo De Guzman, Dr Roger Cuyno, Prof Diosdado Castro and staff of  Farm and Home Development Office (FHDO) 1961-1963

Dr Abe V Rotor

 The aim of extension is to narrow down the gap of potential and actual production - that obtained in research institutions and that on the farmers' fields.   

Your program: 
     If it is of high quality, people will respect you.

     If it is relevant, people will need you. 
     If it is measurable, people will trust you. 
     If it is innovative, people will follow you.

— From the desk of an extension worker

It is a great honor and pleasure to share with you my views and experiences on the concerns of extension in grassroots education and technology transfer. I will concentrate on agriculture since this is the universal thrust of extension. Besides, agriculture is the base of our economy and eighty percent of our population directly or indirectly depends on it. The following are the most important concerns of extension in the Philippines:

1. There is a wide gap between available technology and the level or degree of field application. This gap is traced to limited resources and opportunities as well as attitudinal problems. The ac­tual farm yield is only 40 percent of the potential yield, and 25 to 30 percent of experiment station yield. It means therefore that the problem lies not on the lack of technology but on the poor use of tech­nology at the farmers' fields. Based on economic farm yield, our annual production of palsy will increase from the present figure of 9 million MT to 14 million MT. We would then become a consistent net exporter office like Thailand, the world's top rice exporter today. The aim of extension in this case is the effective and prompt transfer of the technology that narrows down the yield gap.

2.  Adoption of technology on the farm should be tied closely with agricultural business. In a recent hearing on the present rice problem conducted by the Senate's committee on science and technol­ogy, the Philippine Rice Research Institute or PHILRICE testified that rice production in experimental fields has leveled up to 5 MT/ha while farmers are getting yields of only 3 MT/ ha or below. Favorable market conditions stimulate production and enhance the plowing back of income to pay for the technology and hired labor in farming. Farming should be therefore an enterprise rather than a mere means of livelihood. Most farms in the country are run by subsistent families. Extension should be able to design a balanced program that has the integrated technology and agribusi­ness components.

3. Appropriate technology in developing countries is more of innovation than modernization. Technology builds up an existing practice. We take the case of "payatak" rice farming in Samar, a very traditional practice, almost zero tillage. Here, the field is trampled by carabaos, planted with old rice seedlings, then left entirely to nature. The yield obtained is very low but there are certain favorable aspects of this practice.

• ·    The family food needs are supplemented by carabao milk and curds, fish, frog and snails. These edible species live naturally on the wetland and survive the short summer in the carabao wallows.
• ·     Ecology balance if contributed largely by minimal disturbance of biological and physical conditions.
• ·    Farm by-products and wastes, such as hay and ma­nure, are put to use.
• ·    Labor is entirely provided by the family.

Extension should be able to first identify these good points and preserve them. The introduced technology should look at both increased production and these benefits as its objectives.

4. Technology should be recognized in the context of both research and enterprise systems developed through intermediate stages. The research system bridges the laboratory and experimen­tal field, the enterprise system, the farm and the market. Both systems are linked by partnership and collaboration among scientists, engineers, agriculturists, farmers, etc. The idea is to provide channels and a network through which the product of research becomes ultimately useful by the consuming public.

Extension should likewise be aware that modern technology requires intensive, and too often, expensive.

(1) infrastructure which may later turn out as "white elephants",

(2) research with sophisticated facilities and too many consultants and assistants,

(3) mechanization combines get stuck in rice paddies and grains cake or germinate in silos and bins,

(4) hired labor disputes end in strikes and court cases,

(5) big invest­ment/capital which end up eating operational funds putting the project to a stop.

The once ultra modern Food Terminal Incorporated (FTI) attests to the fact that progress is not synonymous to modern technology. Even as it is being offered for privatization there are no apparent takers. FTI is not an isolated case of non-performing assets of the government worth billions of pesos. Extension should be aware of the necessity to undertake a very careful and accurate assessment of situations and projections, and put behind seemingly beautiful package deals offered by other countries, including grants and donations. Extension should be instrumental in pilot or module testing before embarking into full adoption of modern technology.

5. Productivity of shrinking farms can be increased through crop and product diversifications, and integrated land reform breaking up large estates, including sugarlands and coconut lands, and the subdivision of properties resulting in unecon­omic farm sizes, certain approaches may be adapted to increase ­productivity, such as multiple cropping, agro-processing and integra­tion-related projects. Another diversification model is for coconut lands.

The ordinary coconut farmer can indulge in the following activities, namely (a) copra making, (b) intercropping with cash crops such as grains and legumes, and (c) animal production (goat, carabao and cattle raised between coconut trees). To accomplish all this, extension will have to assist in bringing in the services of government agencies as well as those of the private sector. Farmers will be organized into cooperatives as a pre-condition of collective production and marketing.

Hypothetically, integration is of two kinds, horizontal and vertical, and the combination of both. This HV integration model applies in areas where the principal crop is rice, corn or sugarcane. It can also apply in non-traditional areas. Extension should be able to accomplish farm plans and programs based on integration concepts and models. But it is advisable that successful projects be used as models.

6. Holistic development considers the major division of the geographic profile and recognizes their ecological interrelationship. Twentieth century agriculture started with the opening of frontiers of production; pushing development towards marginal areas - up­lands, hillsides, swamps and sea coasts; and later, the manipulation of nature on the species level, creating desirable varieties of plants and breeds of animals at the same time improving their agronomy and husbandry. Very recently, we began to think on the chromo­somes and genes in what we term today as genetic engineering.

Today, with our high population rate of 2.8 percent, which is one of the highest in the world, marginal settlements mushroom in coastal areas, hillsides and suburbs of urban centers. Definitely these areas are productive and a large part is unsuitable for agriculture. Exten­sion should be able to identify the sectoral and ecological divisions of the geographic profile and design programs based on their peculiar physical and biological characteristics, and on their effects to the whole system. We are witnessing many cases where destructive upland and hillside farming has led to erosion, which in turn, cause siltation and low water supply on the plains. Low river flow and a low water table result in salt water intrusion through backflow and seepage destroying farm lands. Pangasinan, Pampanga, Bulacan and the Ilocos provinces have reported cases of salination. We are also aware that a reduced vegetative cover leads to changes in the micro-climate which in turn affect adversely the whole ecosystem.

Perhaps we can reduce the size of the profile under study into a model of a dam site. It maybe as small as a village catchment to a huge power and irrigation project. The model described in this example is found in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, a water catchment for irrigation. The project consists of a watershed (forest and woodland) with an area of 200 hectares, a catchment which can hold water to irrigate effectively 50 hectares and generate electricity for one sitio. Freshwater fish is raised as part of the project's income. The main source of income is the irrigation fee. China, Japan and many European countries have advanced technology in water catchment that no drop of precious water is lost, so to speak.

Area development maybe initiated by nucleus projects. Later, if these projects become successful, similar or related projects can be put up, or the original projects expanded. Coalition of developed areas leads to integrated area development, a process that is community-led or government assisted, or both. There are communities that develop even without government support. One such case is found in Quezon, Palawan, a remote town. Many development programs start with a grand design and heavy infrastructure. The Australian project in Samar is infra­structure-oriented, not geared straight to the alleviation of the plight of the masses. The 8-inch thick road built from the A $50 million grant could have been in the form of village bodegas, school houses, informal education of farmers and fishermen, initial capital for small business, cooperative development, and such programs addressed to meet the felt needs of the poor community.

7. The success of the extension depends on linkage network and complementation with all sectors o society. The extension agent is at the center of many activities. He provides information about the market. He translates researches into primers and takes a hand in their field application, identifies sources of input and credit, and helps make them available. He is a technician, teacher, consultant, community worker, and above all, a catalyst. To show the nature and extent of networking and complementation in which extension is involve, we study the four sets of factors that affect the post-production system of the grain industry.

 This includes the marketing aspect. This example is being singled out because of its significance. Some 10 to 37 percent of our national rice production is than 1 percent, and the US with less than 5 percent in postharvest losses. Extension works on a cycle of activities, namely, (1) informa­tion, (2) determining needs and problems, (3) setting objectives, (4) program preparation, (5) making the work plan, (6) coordination, and (7) evaluation.

 

8. It is important to first knock down the false notions as well as fallacies of development before developing an extension program.

Among these are the following:

(1.) The felt needs of the poor revolve mainly on their survival motives and therefore non-material and aesthetic values are non­-essential to them. This is not true. People deprived of material things equally seek approval, security, affection, self-esteem, recognition, and even power. The hierarchy of needs by Wilgard, adopted from Maslow is based on the priority principle and not on the principle of exclusion if one has not attained the motives of the lower level.

 

(2.) One root cause of low productivity is the lazy nature of people. Indolence, according to Jose Rizal is traced to a natural cause wherein the metabolic rate is slowed down by extreme weather conditions (heat and high humidity), while leisure is commonplace because of the endowed environment. We pointed out that colonial­ism and feudalism dampen the spirit to work and aim high. Today neo-colonialism and neo-feudalism still exist in our society. One other reason for low productivity is the prevalence of malnutrition and diseases which reduce body resistance and drive.

(3.) Foreign investment in the country stimulates economic growth. In certain ways this is true. The question arises when we equate the gains between the foreign investor and the host country which provides labor that is paid cheap and prime land not compensated well enough. Other issues that do not favor equitable distribu­tion of profits can be explained by the poor implementation of our policies and laws which sometimes result in the manipulation of profits favoring the foreign investors. This is not to mention the exploitative nature of joint ventures under the guise of natural agreements.

(4.) A progressive rural society naturally depends upon a strong agricultural economy which in turn is dependent on people who provide the much needed labor in the agricultural frontiers. But the frontiers have long been shrunk and vastly exploited, and the farms now reduced in size. 

UPLB, seat of Agricultural Extension in the Philippines and Southeast Asia 

Even intensive farming cannot absorb rural labor. That is why there is an exodus to urban areas. Today more than half of our population lives in cities and big towns. With 1.6 million new Filipinos added to our 95 million population, the hypothetical population structure looks like a squat or broad-based pyramid where the young people mainly children are at the base. These are highly dependent upon a narrow stratum of working popu­lation. The average Filipino today is an early teener. Such popula­tion structure and the attendant demography of a young population do not lend a healthy picture to our economic recovery unless drastic measures are adopted to arrest our runaway population growth.

(5.) The majority of people are concerned with matters that affect themselves, their family and close friends over a short period of time. Long term objectives are not very common to the ordinary person. It is true that marginal communities do not plan much ahead. Afflu­ence, on the other hand, propels people to plan for the future and the next generation. It enlarges the people's concern for other people and for larger community, and creates national and international consciousness.

(6) Stimuli to growth are distinct from the factors that limit it. In his book The Limits to Growth, Dr. Meadows explains that the very stimuli to growth could negate growth itself. Population can strip the economy of ecosystems. Industry spews wastes that destroy the environment. Exploitation of natural resources may lead to irreversible decline.

Conclusion 

Our Philippine society is not an isolated case. All nations, including the developed ones, suffer in varying degrees the same age-old problems of poverty, degeneration of the environment, unem­ployment, inflation, malnutrition, disease, alienation of the youth, the decline of the belief in the institutions and the rejection of traditional values. The endless search for their solutions is also man's unending dream. We draw much hope in extension, for extension is applied teaching, a means of transforming people beliefs, ideas, and above all, infusing the faith that they can help themselves.~

--------
Presented to the UST Graduate School during a faculty development seminar on the Social Commitment of Education.  Paper by the author as visiting professor.   HoChiMinh University of Technology Vietnam  2006, and Sokhothai Thammathirat Open University, Bangkok, 2010. 

Part 10  

Maestra Caridad Rocero-Lazo

                        - Model Mother and Teacher

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur (Philippines) to the World Series

 The  Universal Teacher 

In memory of Maestra Caridad Rocero-Lazo

- teacher par excellence  

"If angels search for a most precious thing,
        It is a teacher, the monument builder,
the mother in school and home, epitome 

       and bridge of the young and the elder." - avr 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Author, former Grade III pupil of Auntie Caring, at San Vicente 

(IS) parish church in 2012.  

Three generations, this great teacher taught:

    in her own, mine and the present time;

and teaching still the lesson of life,

    in her golden sunset, across the clime. 

Under thatched roof and battered wall, 

    from the ash of war a Phoenix rose,

she said, "Peace with hope conquers all,"

    and we tread on the right path she chose.

That was long time ago in fresh memory,

    from blackboard to traversing cyberspace,

and looking back the sage in her beams

    to say "Just look back awhile in a race."

Wisdom truly is to hold on tradition 

    as the world goes round - to anchor change

to hold on to life's meaning than adrift,

    floating with neither a goal nor range. 

  

Philosophy to hold on to search for why,

    knowledge to skill transformed, what to how;

the course of events’ periodicity, history,

    that made great men, values then and now.

Strange these are to the mind and heart

    of the young that we were then, and today,

the crucible of teaching that makes heroes

    though unknown, rings triumphant someday.

What among lessons is truest yet sublime?

    we look back who molded us a living clay;

herself the tutor and model, ‘til all of us

    cured and hardened to the hour and day.    

   

If angels search for a most precious thing,

    It is a teacher, the monument builder,

the mother in school and home, epitome

    and bridge of the young and the elder. ~  

Holistic Mentor-Learner Interaction

The key to effectiveness in teaching is a holistic approach whereby there is a mutual and orderly interaction in the teaching-learning process, with the teacher placing a high premium on the development of thinking and understanding. Educators attribute teaching expertise to the teachers’ affectionate interactions with the learners, and to their efforts towards developing learners’ responsibility for learning. There are of course many other factors that influence effectiveness in teaching because of the wide diversity in culture, affected by certain economic, ecological and political conditions.

Today’s criteria of an outstanding teacher may be on the extent of educational preparation, preferably one with a masteral or doctoral degree holder, the use of modern teaching and management tools, and the prestige of the institution she represents.  Not in Maestra Caring’s time. WWII had just ended. The Phoenix had just risen from the ashes of war, so to speak.  Things were simple if not rare.  This was the greatest test of a teacher.  

Looking back through the years, I realized that the attributes of a teacher – true and devoted to her vocation – lie on just simple things.

· Logical and creative thinking, the left and right brain in perfect balance

  and tandem.
· Demonstration as model personal virtues and character that nurture

  favorable teacher-student relationship;
· Drawing inspiration from within and outside the school, from members

  of her family and community.
· Positive and cheerful disposition in pursuit of goodness and service as

  a guardian guided by the wisdom and humility of the Good Shepherd. 

Because of Maestra Caring, I strive to be a teacher too, so with many other disciples, and follow her footsteps all the way.~

------------------------------

A Place Called Home, Sweet Home

Dedicated to Ms Caridad R Lazo, author's teacher in the elementary, 

San Vicente, Central Elementary School (San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.)

"Life of earth may be an illusion 

     of reality and of fantasy,

of time and space in odyssey 

    as we hold on to our bastion, 

we call our Home, Sweet Home." 

Home, Sweet Home with Mama Karing

   "We all love you!" From Mama Caring's children

Home is where we grow up and shall die,

     where we live happily at peace; 

where the sun rises and sets at ease,

     yet never, never bids goodbye. 

Truly it's the home that stands forever, 

     where love's in incessant refrain; 

where we sought comfort from hurt and pain,

     where tears fall and bring the shower.

Years, years after, and we're all alone, 

     by the window watch the sun glow,

thinking through the arch of the rainbow,

     now the children have their own. 

It is the home we build together,

     with our spouse and our children,

it's here we create a little heaven,

     and life's virtually forever. 

Life of earth may be an illusion, 

     of reality and of fantasy,

of time and space in odyssey 

     as we hold on to our bastion 

                     We call our Home, Sweet Home; 

                           Home, Sweet Home. ~                             

                       

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: The characteristics of an effective teacher are described in a book written by Dr. Flordeliza Clemente-Reyes, Unveiling Teaching Expertise – A Showcase of 69 Outstanding Teachers in the Philippines, 1999.The book summarizes the results of a nationwide research initiated and funded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the National Council of Educational Innovators (NCEI), with the support of non-governmental organizations and various colleges and universities. The author is one of the outstanding teachers in this survey from 28 private and 12 state universities distributed in 12 regions of the country.

--------------------------------

National Teachers’ Month and World Teachers’ Day: 05 September to 05 October of Every Year as “National Teachers’ Month” signed on August 24, 2015 by President Benigno S. Aquino III and to the designation of the World Teachers’ Day every 5th of October by the United Nations Evaluation and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),

                                                 Part 11 

- STOU - First Open University in Southeast Asia

In celebration of National and World Teacher's Day, October 5, 2023

Dr Abe V Rotor

Visiting Professor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Thailand which means "land of the free" is a peaceful and progressive country, which I can vouch from the fact that I have had the chance to be with Thais since my student days, in visiting Sokhothai Thammathirat Open University, among other institutions, and from the fact that the Philippines historically gets most of its imported rice from Thailand.

This article is my humble way of showing my appreciation to Thailand or old Siam, truly the land of the free.

NOTE: Please open also in this Blog: Thai Food - Unique, Irresistible (March 7, 2010); A Day with the Elephants - Beauty and the Beast (March 7, 2010); and Reclining Buddha (March , 2010).

STOU professor on live television lecture.

Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University campus, Thailand

Printed instructional materials

Nationwide radio and television centralized control panel

Interview: Dr Abe Rotor and Professor Suchin Phongsak

Visit to Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University

Dr. Abercio V Rotor, professor of the University of Santo Tomas (3rd from left) poses with STOU faculty headed by Dean Achara Cheewatragoongit (4th), and Prof. Sukanya Phromphon (extreme right) during a recent visit to Thailand’s second largest open university, which has a population of 280,000 students. Dr. Rotor is also head instructor of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People’s School-on-Air) broadcast daily on DZRB network . Others in the photo (L to R) are Asst Director Elvira Martinez and Asst Director Cecilia R Rotor of National Food Authority, Prof. Suchin Phongsat (former STOU professor), Mrs Cora Rocero Phongsat, and a faculty member and coordinator of the group.

Ode to STOU - First Open University 

in Southeast Asia

Dr Abe V Rotor

Pioneer thou art, institution of the common man,

Beating hitherto a path unknown to deliverance

From the false gods, ruthless masters and ignorance,

Thousands at your bidding come at your command.

From Socrates to Plato, the university got its name,

Philosophy took root in wisdom and humanity;

Didn't Bertrand Russell say, "Away with aristocracy?"

And utilitarian education grew up to fame

Called functional literacy that people most treasure,

Three Rs - (w)Riting, Reading, (a)Rithmetic - but not enough,

What these mean and what they do to ones life the key -

STOU brought knowledge to and from the shore

Bridging disciplines together, amalgamating them

Like alloy, theory and practice, the heart and mind,

Psyche and spirit into holism of purpose and faith,

Into one nation, strong men and women at the helm.

To all walks of life, for a better life man has fought,

Who till the land, turn the wheel of industry,

Victims of circumstance, imprisoned by poverty,

Whose schooling fell short from skills they sought.

Globalization - the name of the game the world plays,

Homogenization of cultures and melange of races -

Are too far out, vague of purpose at the grassroots;

Education cautions the people from the race.

Here at STOU the beacon lives through night 'til dawn,

On the Information Highway, through walls hardened

By indifference and neglect, for hope has no dead end;

For here at STOU learning and living go on and on.~

          Dedicated to our kind host and staff of STOU.

Part 12

 Renaissance Man: Fredelito L Lazo
Story teller, teacher, public servant, rolled in one

Dr Abe V Rotor

Classmate in elementary at San Vicente Central School (now San Vicente Integrated School 1952-57); high school at the Colegio de la Immaculada Concepcion (CIC, now Divine Word College of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, 1958-1961)

Three-in-one is a rare phenomenon in a person: multi-awarded literary writer and playwright, dynamic teacher, and dutiful public servant.

We don't have to go far to find that person; he is here, a native of a relatively small town - San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, a hike west of Vigan, the provincial capital. He is indigenous, a true Ilocano, in his everyday dealings with the public as provincial secretary; in his literary compositions of short stories and stage plays about local people, places and events; and in his methodology of instruction as a high school teacher.

Fredelito L Lazo

Lito, as we, his classmates in elementary and high school, call him, is the silent type of a person, nonetheless friendly and helpful. They say that it is in solace that one draws out creative thoughts, soaring into the depths only the imagination can reach. It is also a retrospection for memories come afresh and alive. In both cases creativity flourishes in dichotomy with the faculty of reason, converging into the making of a masterpiece.

Creativity is a gift. But more than that, it is a gift well earned. And it has a price - and a prize as well. Indeed, this is life's mystery. A painful experience becomes a story of courage, tragedy turns to victory, loneliness leads to a soulful communion with the Creator. Doubt traces an untrodden path. "Sweet is sweeter after pain," said our English teacher, Mrs Socorro Villamor. She would recite William Cullen Bryant's

To a Waterfowl. And she would ask us to memorize this chosen stanza.

"He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright. "

Lito would recite the stanza, and each of us in class would do the same. We compared the theme with that of Percy Shelly's To a Skylark. They are prayers, and the message is one - that throughout our life wherever we go God is going to be with us, guiding us down the right path.

In our age of electronics, I would liken Lito to the brave warrior in A Never Ending Story, for Lito has gone through difficult stages of life and even reached the "edge of Fantasia," where reality and fantasy divide, where the greatest enemy is oneself. But it is by overcoming this enemy that we truly earn a place on the highest rung of the Maslow's Ladder, that of self-actualization. It is through this rough and thorny road that made Lito win literary awards, four in short stories published in Bannawag, the leading Ilokano weekly magazine. It is through this experience that he earned a respectable position in the local government, and for becoming an effective mentor.

These are but the later chapters of life. The Second World War erupted as he came into this world, a war baby, and when peace finally returned after four tumultuous years, the task of rehabilitation denied him, like many of us kids in his time, the comforts of childhood, but instead tempered him to face the realities of life - an initiation to Robert Frost's famous line, "And miles to go before I sleep; and miles to go before I sleep."

Three institutions Lito worked with and served the people - old and young alike, in the true spirit of an Ilocano: Ilocos Sur National High School; Benito Soliven Academy, Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur; and the Provincial Capitol of Ilocos Sur.

The plot of Lito's personal life is the basis of many of his stories and stage plays (zarzuela), the original people's telenobela of today. His writings and plays reflect him as a disciple of positivism, an ability to hold back the dark side, and instead project the bright one. It projects the heroes in Ernest Hemingway's stories, and the adventurous kids of Mark Twain. It is the determination in treasure hunting in Robert Louis

Stevenson stories, and the drummer boy who never learned to beat the sound of retreat.

Bannawag (Liwayway Tag) is the leading Ilokano weekly magazine.

Writers take us to the realm of detachment and contemplation, a characteristic of the great writers such as Russian short story writer, Anton Chekov, who is immortalized in a statue in Kiev, Ukraine, and that of sculptor Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. Well, we all experience such moment, but there are those who are sensitive in capturing a fleeting idea - Carpe diem, in The Dead Poet Society. From a writer this "spark of genius" grows into a literary flame. Call it in other terms - expression, awakening, erudition - or institutional titles like Dawn, Arise, Eureka!

Imagine how an artist would teach the varied subjects in high school. Literature, humanities and English would be fine, but how about the other subjects? There is no conflict about that. Experts say, generalization now; specialization later. But today, there's a growing demand for the return of Liberal Arts - a revival of a balanced left and right brain tandem. It is a global renaissance in education. This is where Lito the teacher, has advantage over teachers in general. Liberal art is putting values in education, values that make the student not just a learned biological being, but as an enlightened member of humanity with the finest in character towards himself, his fellowmen, Nature, and his Creator.

---------------------------

Today, there's a growing trend to return to Liberal Arts - a revival of a balanced left and right brain tandem, the key to the wholeness of the human being. It is a global renaissance in education.

---------------------------

We can't help but go back to the wisdom the Greeks handed to the whole world: Philosophy is traced to Socrates, idealism to Plato, and naturalism to Aristotle. Then there is a truth- searching Diogenes, a serendipitous Archimedes, a master story teller Homer, and a great warrior laying the cornerstone of global order, Alexander. Finally, there is the Academia, the forerunner of the university, the seat of wisdom.

The relevance of this citation is far-reaching, but it is reflected in the life and works of Lito. Lito is an idealist, and yet real, for how can one serve the public sans the Grecian touch? To teach without mythology? It is said that "legends make us heroes, and myths gives us wings." How can we reach out for the grass roots, without popular drama, something the masses can identify themselves to be a part of a drama - on or off the stage - in Shakespeare's adage, "The world is a stage and every one of us has a role to play."

But Lito has yet to hurdle another test - that of the infirmities of old age, romantically the golden years. Following his retirement he has never truly stopped. On his study table await stories and plays to write and complete. A loving wife guides him in his walk. With five successful children, and grandchildren, his mailbox and e-mail, are never wanting of good cheer. The community holds high esteem of him. His students have become teachers like him, public servants, and writers, albeit other careers. "Once a teacher, always a teacher," but to Lito, "a teacher builds teachers." It is passing on the torch of wisdom and character.

Through a window of a simple home, amid a happy family in a small town, the night is darkest before dawn. It is also a candle's greatest hour. ~

13. From Public Servant to University Professor (10 Questions

An interview with Dr. Abercio V. Rotor, former director, National Food Authority; and chief consultant, food and agriculture, Senate of the Philippines.

   

Miss Jannie SM Rojas interviews

Dr Abe V Rotor in his office-residence. A re-print, 1989.

1. How long did you serve the government?

Twenty-two long years, all in all, until I opted to take the early retirement package. 

What reason did you retire early?

I thought I had done my part in government service. That was in 1989, the turning point of the globe,  so to speak. USSR was dissolved, the two Germanys united, the Cold War ended, the Internet began to wire the world, the Philippines was overly sober with People Power euphoria. I wanted a change of career as well.   

2. It’s quite strange, but was it for good that you would rather be a university professor than to remain a public servant?

Terms tend to be semantics, whichever, it is still service to the country and people. I found both challenging and fulfilling.  

3. How would you measure your output in government vis-avis with that in the academe?

Well, you really can’t compare, but I am proud to say I was part of the success of the Philippine Food Self-sufficiency Program which spanned for two decades. Then I wrote books about it, but more than that, the assurance of sustainability – economic and environmental. This is the deviation, a change in the conventional concept of development.

4. Are you saying development programs lack safety net for environmental protection and the assurance of future generations?         

If I may say so, yes. If we look into global warming, acid rain, erosion and siltation and the like, leading to decreasing productivity and destruction of the ecosystems.  

5. Then how could you relate economic development and environmental conservation?

When I was with the government I thought economic development was the key to human progress and stability of society. Our capitalistic system – and socialism as well – did not prove this to be true. There’s limit to growth. And the irony is that the very factors to growth on reaching a plateau drastically decline to a catastrophic dive. This is evident in the EU’s danger of dissolution, the US fledging economic reform, financial crisis the world over, massive unemployment, Arab Spring uprising, Occupy Wall Street, etc. This is disturbing globally. Unless we equate economics and ecology, we will sacrifice one over the other, and vice versa.  There has to be a harmonious formula.

6. Did you advise the Senate and Malacañang about all these in your time?

No, I was naïve.  Actually I was not sure. Even if I was I would not stand against the current of change which was too swift at that time.

7. You are saying it’s only now that you realize development is following a wrong path.

There are many people like me who think this is so, but they also believe it’s not late to take the better route to solve recession, global warming, pandemic diseases, now ecomigration where people are displaced by the rising sea and  violent force majeure.   

8. Going back to your experience in the government, what is it to you the meaning of “a public office is a public trust?”  

It’s a motherhood statement, a motto, and guiding principle. It makes government service a vocation. But more than efficiency, integrity, loyalty, the government needs leaders with ideas, even if that idea has yet to come. For example.  “Reaganomics” (produce and stimulate market), was ahead of its time. Wireless technology binds people around the world – a remote idea come true.

9. What you are saying is that a public servant should also be a scholar in his own right.

That’s the path I took, and I hope I'm in the right direction.

10. You seem very active at your age. How old are you sir, if you don’t mind?

I’m past seventy (eighty) – I’m in the golden years of my life.

Interviewer’s Notes about Abercio V Rotor, Ph.D.

Award-winning author of "The Living with Nature Handbook" (Gintong Aklat Award 2003) and "Living with Nature in Our Times" (National Book Award 2008); professor, University of Santo Tomas; School-on-Air instructor, (Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, winner of Gawad Oscar Florendo for Development Communication) DZRB 738 KHzAM Band, 8 to 9 o'clock evening, Monday to Friday.); Outstanding Teacher in the Philippines (Commission on Higher Education - CHED 2002); Filipino Scientist (DOST-Batong Balani); former Director, National Food Authority; and Consultant on food and agriculture, Senate of the Philippines. Dr Rotor’s radio program is linked with the Internet – Living with Nature, School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com or Dr Abe V Rotor or Living with Nature School on Blog).

Part 14 - Nature is our best teacher. Here are vital signs to watch.

Nature is our best teacher. Here are vital signs to watch.
Rain is coming, take heed! Hovering dragonflies, aggressive biting of mosquitoes, ants on the move carrying their young and provisions.

                                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

                         Monsoon rains may last for 18 consecutive days, hence the term 

                         siyam-siyam, from which Masagana 99 rice program was coined.

Let's recognize Nature as our best teacher.

Read Nature. You will enjoy life, live healthier and longer. You'll gain more friends and respect from people.

Above all, you will be at peace with yourself and with your environment.

Here are some biological signs to watch. They are Nature's barometer, so to speak; Nature's clock, Nature's way of communicating with the living world.

1. Mad dog – Its tail is tucked underneath; animal restless biting at anything within its reach; froth coming from its mouth; stealthily moves about without any apparent direction; dreads the presence of water (hydrophobia);

Dogs must be vaccinated with anti-rabies and not allowed to go in the street. (Nikko, our pet at 15 before he died of old age.)
usually occurs during hot days particularly in summer. Be keen; keep distance; notify others of danger; get help.

2. Drought – Occurs in summer; landscape scorched; dry river beds and ponds; brush fires occurs; lake water recedes; crack on earth, especially areas under water in monsoon; worst scenario - flowering of bamboo usually during El Nino, a phenomenon that happens every 7 to 10 years.

Leaves oft talisay (Terminalia catappa) turn orange to red before falling to the ground, a sign that the Amihan (cold season) has arrived.

3. Earthquake – Farm animals restless; horses kick and neigh; pigs snort; fowls abandon usual roost; turkey cackle; cattle seek exit from corral; dogs howl; and the like. Wild animals abandon abode – snakes come out into the open; reptile keep out of the water; elephants defy their master’s command; birds abandon nest, other emigrate.

4. Typhoon – Doldrums-like calm; uneasiness to both humans and animals as barometer reading drops which means atmospheric pressure goes down; arthritis and hypertension

symptoms are felt by sensitive persons. As typhoon approaches, sea becomes rough; sky overcast; clouds move fast to one direction; gusts of cold and warm wind, thunderstorms.

A restless cockroach in the evening

heralds the coming of bad weather.

5. Influenza – Precipitated by alternate cold and hot weather, thunderstorms, abrupt change in season. Influenza season is usually at the onset of amihan as the habagat comes to an end. Practical signs: people coughing in church and other gatherings; sale of cold tablets and antibiotics is up; hospitals full. Epidemic starts in the family, neighborhood, local community; also, in schools, malls and markets, and may spread to cover a city or district or province. Modern transportation has made spread of flu easier and wider.

6. Pristine Environment – Abundance of lichens on trunks and branches of trees, rocks, and soil. There are three types: crustose (crust), foliose (leaf-like) and fruticose (fruiting type). They are biological indicators of clean air. The ultimate test is the abundance of the fruticose type.

7. Inclement Weather – Halo around moon; gray and red sunset; a storm may be coming depending upon the intensity of these signs.

This field cricket PHOTO, nature's violinist, is most active during warm summer night.
8. Rain - Dragonflies hovering; aggressive biting of mosquitoes; ants move to another place carrying their young and provisions. The latter predicts heavy continuous rainfall or siyam-siyam or nep-nep. Herons on the move heralds the monsoon.

9. Monsoon – Frogs croak; insects (termite, ants) swarm; lightning and thunder get frequent; first heavy rain in May vegetates the landscape, thus turning from brown to green. It comes early or late, but usually in later part of May. Global warming has brought unpredictable signs indicating that our climate is changing.

10. Ripening of Fruits – Generally from green to yellow to orange (banana, orange, apple, etc. Determined by smell: guava, jackfruit, durian, melon, etc); shiny rind (caimito, siniguelas). Dull skin (chico), enlarged ridges and furrows (atis, guayabano, anonas).
                  

When earthworms crawl out of their holes and search for higher grounds, it is a sign that a flood is coming.

Can you read other signs?
1. Sweetness/sourness of fruit
2. Maturity and succulence of vegetables (okra, cucumber)
3. Tenderness of nut (buko, macapuno)
4. Sweetness and maturity of fruit (watermelon)
5. Time to harvest singkamas, onions, garlic, sugar beet
6. Presence of jellyfish
7. Red tide season
8. Coming flood (earthworm abandon their burrows.)
9. Time to harvest palay, corn, wheat.
10. Slippery walkway (presence of algae and scum)
11. Depth of water (by color, sound of oar, current, clarity)
12. Cloud reading of weather.
13. Glassy eyes (deep feelings like hatred, or “wala sa sarili”)
14. Wrinkles at the corner of eyes (happy disposition)
15. Furrows on forehead (problematic)
16. Rough hand (worker, also athlete)
17. Brilliant and attentive eyes (intelligence)
18. Clumsiness, strumming (nervous, uncertain)
19. Heavy feet (angry, lazy)
20. Tight jaw (angry, restlessly active)

Open Forum:
1. How reliable is “gut feel”
2. How about ESP?
3. What is “aura?” How does it apply to relationships?
4. What is Biological Clock? Name how it affects your life.
5. Life starts at 40 – how do you interpret this?
6. What are prophets to you? Are there people who can see the future? Do you believe in Nostrodamus?
7. Are dreams hidden motives, indirect messages, prophesies?
8. How superstitious are you? Do you practice superstition?
9. Do you think you were once living on earth in another being or living thing, in another time and place? Do you believe re-incarnation?
10. How fatalistic are you – you are predestined even before you were born?

Please share us your knowledge and experiences. Learn more from Nature - she is our best teacher. ~

Part 15 -  The essence of Aesop's Fables is as fresh as ever

Even as Aesop fables are taking a new dimension as viewed in a changing world, their essence is as fresh as ever. All one needs to realize them as relevant as they were in Aesop’s time is simply to reflect on them himself. For human character and behavior have not really changed since then.

Researched and presented by Dr Abe V Rotor

lecture, UST Faculty of Arts and Letters; 

lesson, Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid*

Aesop's Fables have been told and re-told, then written and re-written countless times as a form of entertainment and education. Anecdotal and comic sketches were everyday forms of amusement in ancient Athens and Delphi. Today these works envelop many realms of life including psychology, politics, spirituality, education, health and well-being. Whether the man himself or Aesop the modern construct of scholars, his influence and commentary on human behavior has been firmly established. (C.D. Merriman)

…………………………………………………………………………………

Aesop did not write down his fables. He told many people the stories and they remembered them. It was nearly two hundred years before the stories were collected together and published. The fables were not published in English until the 15th century, but since then they have been read by people all over the world. Their moral lessons are as true today as they were 2,500 years ago when Aesop was alive. …………………………………………………………………………………………………

Childhood Lessons from Fables 

The first lessons I learned from my father came from Aesop’s fables. Quite a number of them are still fresh in my mind nearly seven decades after. 

Fable or fibula in Latin is a story or tale, especially a short story, often with animals or inanimate objects as speakers or actors, devised to convey a moral. So simple and universal are fables that no one could possibly miss the lesson of each story. 

Before I proceed let me say a few words about the genius behind this ancient art of storytelling. Aesop, the founder of fables, was a native of old Greece, a former slave who earned his freedom out of his genius and wit, a master in allegorical philosophy. It is for this natural gift that he also gained fame – and ironically, it is also for this that he met a lamentable end in the hands of enemies whom his fables created. 

Aesop is the greatest fabulist of all time, and if there are other prominent fabulists after him and at present, there is likely a trace of Aesop in their stories. Even modern fables like the movie Babes, about a pig that gained its right to live by learning to be a "sheep dog," reminds us of Aesop. 

Or take the case of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a story about man’s folly and greed for power and wealth and lavish living. 

But little can we perceive the original morals of Aesop in most of today’s animations. There is simply too much fantasy that masks the lesson, especially so with the versatility of technology that emphasizes scenarios that heighten the plot as if fables are running entertainment stories. 

What technology misses is that it fails to capture the refinement of presentation and the purposeful message that lingers in afterthought. Aesop has a unique way of making his reader to first look within himself before casting judgment upon others. Like many philosophers in his time, he believed that change is basically internal and often, discreetly self-atonement and non-effacing.

Aesop is Aesop for such extraordinary character as can be gleamed from records about the man. To wit -

“It is probable that he was of a low and diminutive stature, though agreeable in his complexion, and polite in his manners. It is however, certain that he had a great soul, and was endowed with extraordinary mental qualification; his moral character approached to a degree of perfection to which very few have attained. He appears to have had a true sense of morality and a just discernment of right and wrong; his perceptions and feelings of truth were scrupulously nice, and the smallest deviation from rectitude impressed his mind with the greatest antipathy. “

No considerations of private interest could warp his inclinations to as to seduce him from the path of virtue; his principles are steadfast and determined, and truly habitual. He never employed his great wisdom to serve the purposes of cunning; but, with an uncommon exactness, made his understanding a servant of truth.” (Oliver Goldsmith, Life of Aesop) 

While we recognize Aesop as the father of the fable, there were fabulists ahead of him like Archilochus who wrote fables one hundred years before. But it is certain that Aesop was the first that brought that species of teaching into reputation, building upon the style of using animals and inanimate objects to describe the manners and characters of men, communicating instructions without seeming to assume authority of a master or a pedagogue. 

Here is a story from which we can gleam the Aesop’s indomitable reputation. He adopted a unique strategy to reconcile his master and his estranged wife who had left him. It is said that Aesop, then a slave of Xanthus, went to the market and brought a great quantity of the best provisions, which he publicly declared were intended for the marriage of his master with a new spouse. This report had its desired effect, and the matter was amicably settled. And at a feast to celebrate the return of his master’s wife he is said to have served the guests with several courses of tongues, by which he intended to give a moral to his master and wife, who had by too liberal use of their tongue almost caused their permanent separation. 

In another occasion, Aesop astounded the sages of Greece. An ambitious king having one day shown his vast riches and magnificence, and the glory and splendor of his court, asked them the question, whom they thought was the happiest man. After several different answers given by all the wise men present, it came at last to Aesop to make his reply. 

He said: “That Croesus was as much happier than other men as the fullness of the sea was superior to the rivers in his kingdom.” If we were to base Aesop’s sagacity and severe morality his answer would rather be one of sarcasm rather than compliment, but he was undoubtedly understood by the king to be a great compliment, that in his vanity exclaimed, “The Phrygian had hit the mark.”

Afterward, alone with a friend, Aesop commented, “Either we must not speak to Kings, or we must say what will please them.” 

While he was living at the court of King Croesus, now a free man, celebrated and famous, he was sent on a journey to the temple of Apollo at Delphi. There he was accused by the Delphians of sacrilege, and he was convicted by an act of the greatest villainy. They concealed among his baggage, at his departure, some golden vessels consecrated to Apollo, and then dispatched messengers to search his baggage. Upon this he was accused of theft and sacrilege, and condemned to die.  The angry Delphians pushed him over a steep cliff to his death. 

Aesop’s ironic death is not the first among respected citizens of Greece, paradoxically when Greece was at its peak of power, as we can only imagine with this aphorism “the glory that was Greece.” 

Not far after Aesop’s time, Socrates, the greatest philosopher of Athens in his time and one of the greatest minds the world has ever known, was condemned to die by drinking poison hemlock for “corrupting the minds of the youth.” Socrates opened the gate of enlightenment; the concept of the Lyceum or university. 

I have selected a number of Aesop fable to suit the purpose of conveying important messages related to contemporary issues in a manner that they can be understood at the grassroots. This is the purpose of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's school-on-the air) to impart functional literacy to the masses. It is not the intention of the lessons to impose moral authority, much less to proselytize our society of its failures and weaknesses. It merely seeks to elevate awareness for change, in the humblest manner we may find ways to reform, through the lessons in the fables Aesop related more than two thousand five hundred years ago. 

Here are some of the popular fables of Aesop with the morals they convey. Popular Aesop Fables 

1. The fox without a tail – Wise people are not easily fooled

2. The shepherd boy and the wolf – If we tell lies, no one will believe us when we speak the truth. 

3. The boastful traveler – People who boast are soon found out. 

4. The crow and the fox – Beware of people who say nice things they do not mean. 

5. Who will bell the cat – Some things are more easily said than done. 

6. The crow and the swan – Think well before you copy other people. 

7. The wolf and the lamb – People who want to do something bad can always find an excuse. 

8. The lion and the hare – It is sometimes wiser to be content with what you have. 

9. Brother and sister – It is better to be good than to be just good looking. 

10. The goose that laid the golden eggs - A greedy man can lose all he has. 

11. The wind and the sun– Kindness often gets things done more quickly than force. 

12. The trees and the axe – Be careful when you give way over small things, or you may have to give way over big ones. 

13. The dog and his reflection – If you want more because you are greedy, in the end you might find you have less. 

14. The fir tree and the bramble – People who are too proud may be sorry later. 

15. The ant and the dove – No one is too little to be helpful. 

16. The boys and the frogs – Do not do things to other people that you would not like to be done to you. 

17. The raven and the jug – If you try hard enough, you may find you can do something that at first seems very difficult. 

18. The dog in the manger – Do not stop others having what you don’t need. 

19. The fox and the grapes – It is silly to say that you do not want something just because you cannot have it. (idiomatic expression: sour grapes) 

20. The wolves and the dog – Those who cannot be trusted deserve to be treated badly. 21. The fox and the lion – Things are not always what they seem to be at first. 

22. The bear and the travelers - A real friend will not leave you to face trouble alone. 

23. The fox and the stork – If you play mean tricks on other people, they might do the same to you. 

24. The man and the partridge – No one loves a traitor. 

Versions and Interpretations of Aesop’s Fables 

The interpretation of an Aesop fable may vary. For example, The Fir tree and the Bramble, has this earlier interpretation, from Oliver Goldsmith, citing Bewick’s version. Poverty secures a man from many dangers; whereas the rich and the mighty are the mark of malice and cross fortune; and still the higher they are, the nearer the thunder. To have a better view of the moral, let me cite the fable from Bewick’s. 

The fable starts with a verse, as follows: 

Minions of fortune, pillars of the state, 

Round your exalted heads that tempest low’r! 

While peace secure, and soft contentment wait 

On the calm mansions of the humble poor. 

So the story goes like this. 

“My head, says the boasting Fir-tree to the humble Bramble, is advanced among the stars; I furnish beams for palaces, and masts for shipping; the very sweat of my body is a sovereign remedy for the sick and wounded: whereas thou, O rascally Bramble, runnest creeping in the dirt, and art good for nothing in the world but mischief. I pretend not to vie with thee, said the Bramble, in the points that gloriest in. But, not to insist upon it, that He who made thee lofty Fir, could have made thee an humble Bramble, I pray thee tell me, when the Carpenter comes next with the axe into the wood, to fell timber, whether that hadst not rather be a Bramble than a Fir-tree?” 

Compare the same fable with this simplified version for children. Here it goes. One day, on a hill top, a fir tree said to a bramble bush. “Look at me. I am tall, strong, graceful and very beautiful. What good are you? You are small, ugly and untidy.” This made the bramble bush very unhappy because it knew the fir tree was right. But next day some men carrying axes came up the hill. They started to chop down the fir tree. They wanted to use it to make a new house. ”Oh dear!” cried the fir tree, as it started to fall. “I wish I were a bramble bush, then the men would not have cut me down.” 

The Fox and the Grapes and other Fables

Sour grapes is a popular idiomatic expression which we often hear from people who find excuse for not having succeeded at a thing. It's like saying, "It's not worth anyway." Here is Bewick’s version of The Fox and the Grapes. 

Old maids who loathe the matrimonial state 

Poor rogues who laugh to scorn the rich and the great, Patriots who rail at placemen and at pow’r, 

All, like Reynard, say, ”The Grapes are sour.” 

And here is the main body of the fable. “A fox, very hungry, chanced to come into a Vineyard, where hung many bunches of charming ripe grapes; but nailed up to a trellis so high, that he leaped till he quite tired himself without being able to reach one of them. At last, Let who will take them! Says he; they are but green and sour; so I’ll even let them alone.” 

This is the interpretation from the same source (Bewick’s). When a man finds it impossible to obtain the things he longs for, it is a mark of sound wisdom and discretion to make a virtue of necessity. To compare with the simplified children’s version, the story goes like this as retold by Marie Stuart (A Second Book of Aesop’s Fables, Ladybird Books, 1974)

 A fox saw some nice grapes. “They look good,” he said. “I want to eat them, but they are too high for me. I must try jumping for them.” He jumped and jumped but could not reach the grapes. So he said, “I can see now that they are green. They are not sweet. I do not like green grapes. They are sour. I don’t want them.” So he went away without any. He knew that the grapes were really very nice. He just said they were sour because he could not reach them. 

This story gave rise to the idiomatic expression – sour grapes, which are an expression of frustration, a passive surrender, a defeatist argument, and a kind of defense mechanism. 

What could have led to the variation in the interpretation of the two versions? 

Thomas Bewick from whom Goldsmith based his English translation, lived in the later part of the 18th century and early 19th century, and apparently wrote and illustrated in wood block Aesop’s fables; whereas the children’s version is a very recent one. 

Understandably, it the social message in Bewick’s time and ours that has not changed, but it is in the way it is stated. The earlier version reflects the fineness in expression and diplomacy of the English language, unlike our contemporary style of expression - direct and moralistic. Thus the idiom – sour grapes was born out of the contemporary version. 

The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf (A Boy and False Alarms) 

Of all the fables I learned as child, I like best the story of the boy who cried “Wolf!” After bluffing twice, thrice, and make fun out of wit, people didn’t believe in him anymore. Then the real wolf came and killed all the sheep. 

Here is the story from Bewick written in Medieval English style. “A shepherd’s boy kept his sheep upon a common, and in sport and wantonness had gotten a roguish trick of crying. A wolf! A wolf! When there was no such matter, and fooling the country people with false alarms. He had been at this sport so many times in jest, that they would not believe him at last when he was in earnest; and so the wolves broke in upon the flock, and worried the sheep without resistance.” 

The fable shows us the dangerous consequences of an improper and unreasonable fooling. The old moral observes, that a common liar shall not be believed, even when he speaks true. 

The Mice in Council (Who will bell the cat?) 

It’s an interesting fable that behooves upon those who are good only as critics, and ruefully poor doers. It also applies to those who may be sincere in a thing they think is right, but lack the courage to do it. Why many evil things continue to prevail because of indifference! Let us look into the story. 

This is the simpler version for children to understand. Once some mice lived in a house where there also lived a big cat. Everyday she liked to eat some mice. At last the mice said to one another. “This must stop, or soon we shall all be eaten.” So after a time an old mouse said. “I know what we can do. One of us must put a bell on the cat. The bell will tell us when she is near and when we must stay at home. After she has gone away, we can come out again.” “Yes, that will be a wise thing to do. Let us do that,” they all said. “But which one of us will put the bell on her?” said the old mouse. “I am too old, I cannot run very fast so I don’t think I can do it.” “So are we,” said some of the others. “And we are too little,” said the baby mice. In the end no one would do it. So the bell was never put on the cat and she went on eating the mice. 

Another interpretation suggests that the fable must have been addressed to celebrated personages - people who are members of a council. 

In the story, the members offered solutions which they debated upon. Here the one who offered the solution to bell the cat came was a young mouse, who in fine florid speech convinced the council. Thereafter an old grave Mouse, who had sat silent all the while, gave another speech, in which he said that the proposal is ingenious. However, he thought it would not be so proper to thank the proponent unless he informs them how the bell was going to be fastened around the cat’s neck, and which mouse would undertake the dangerous assignment. 

Bewick’s interpretation speaks on a higher level of thought. To wit: 

“The different lights, in which things appear to different judgments, recommend candor to the opinions of others, even at the time we retain our own.” 

The Dog and the Shadow (The Dog and His Reflection) 

Perhaps the most popular fable about avarice is The Dog and the Shadow (The Dog and His Reflection) One day, a dog took a bone from a shop. He ran off with it before anyone could catch him. He came to a river and went over the bridge. As he looked down into the water, he saw another dog with a bone. He did not know that the dog he saw in the water was a reflection of himself. “That dog has a big bone. It is as big as mine,” he said. “I will jump into the water and take it from him.” So he jumped. When he was in the water, he could not see the other dog. And he could not see the other bone either. He had lost his own bone, too, because it fell as he jumped in. So because he was greedy, he got nothing in the end. 

The story invites the reader to reflect upon himself on these related lessons:

 • Excessive greediness mostly in the end misses what it aims.

 • Disorderly appetite seldom obtains what it would have.

 • Passions mislead men, and often bring them great inconveniences. 

Other Aesop Fables 

Here is a list of Aesop Fables which may not be as popular to us as compared with those in the first list. It is true that many fables have remained obscure and forgotten in some shelves, relinquished aside in favor of modern day fables and animations. Ironically many stories about animals are not fables at all. Even legends have a place of their own, and a lot of them do not fall into the category of fables. 

The Minotaur for example will remain firmly within the sphere of mythology, more so with the mystical beasts legends and myths like Medusa and the Dragon.

 • The Ant and the Grasshopper – “Save for the rainy day.” Action and industry of the wise and a good man, and nothing is so much to be despised as slothfulness. 

 • A boar and a fox – A discreet man should have a reserve of everything that is necessary beforehand.

 • The fox and the crow – There is hardly any man living that may not be wrought upon more or less by flattery

 • An ass, an ape and a mole; The hares and the frogs – These two fables tell us that we cannot contend with the Orders and Decrees of Providence

 • The ant and the fly – An honest mediocrity is the happiest state a man can wish for. 

 • The horse and an ass – This fable shows the folly and the fate of pride and arrogance.  

• An husbandman and stork – Our fortune and reputation require us to keep good company. • A father and his sons – The breach of unity puts the world in a state of war. • The sick father and his children – Good counsel is the best legacy a father can leave to a child.

 • A peacock and a crane – There cannot be a greater sign of a weak mind than a person’s valuing himself on a gaudy outside. 

 • The stag looking into the water – We should examine things deliberately, and candidly consider their real usefulness before we place our esteem on them.

 • The gnat and a bee – Industry ought to be inculcated in the minds of children.

 • A swallow and a stork – A wise man will not undertake anything without means answerable to the end.

 • The Satyr and the traveler – There is no use conversing with any man that carries two faces under one hood.

 • The eagle, the cat and the sow – There can be no peace in any state or family where whisperers and tale bearers are encouraged.

 • The two frogs – We ought never to change our situation in life, without duly considering the consequences of such a change.

 • The discontented ass – Here is a beautiful verse written about this fable Who lacks the pleasures of a tranquil mind, Will something wrong in every station find; His mind unsteady, and on changes bent, Is always shifting, yet it is ne’er content.

And here is a shade of mythology in Aesop in these two fables: 

Hercules and the carter. Prayers and wishes amount to nothing: We must put forth our own honest endeavors to obtain success and the assistance of heaven; and 

Mercury and the woodman – Honesty is the best policy. 

The Little Red Hen – A Modern Fable

Once upon a time there was a little red hen that lived in a farmyard, and one day found some grains of wheat which she took to the other animals in the farmyard – cat, rat, pig. He asked who of them can help her plant the grains of wheat. None wanted to, so the little red hen planted the grains, and the plants grew tall and strong until it was time to harvest them. Again she asked her companions if they are willing to help. Just like before, none of them was. So the little red hen did the harvesting. And she did all the work – brought the grains to the miller and to the baker, and when the bread was baked he asked her friends, “Who will help me eat the bread?” “I will,” said the cat. “I will,” said the rat. “I will,” said the pig. “No you will not,” intoned the little red hen. “I shall eat it myself.” So she did. 

The Little Red Hen and the Grains of Wheat is a modern fable which evolved into philosophy that touches sensitive issues of modern living such as capitalism and socialism. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell may be different in presentation and philosophical connotation, from the traditional style of a fable. It is a socio-economic and political thesis in the guise of animals acting like humans do under a system which they themselves created. 

Even as Aesop fables are taking a new dimension as viewed in a changing world, the essence is as fresh as ever. All one needs to realize them as relevant as they were in Aesop’s time is simply to reflect on them himself. For human character and behavior have not really changed since then. ~

 

 

References: Goldsmith O (1973) - Treasury of Aesop’s Fables Avenel Books, NY 139 pp Stuart M (1974) A First Book of Aesop’s Fables (Vol 1 and 2) Ladybird Books

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 o'clock evening, Monday to Friday Dr Abe V Rotor and Melly C Tenorio

Annex

Effective Teaching Through Transforms and Dioramas

Mural of a Forest Stream, UP Museum of Natural History, Laguna

Exoskeleton of insects and other arthropods
showing plates and segments. UPLB Museum
of Natural History, Mt Makiling, Laguna.

Cross section of a typical mushroom, also
showing the diversity of mushroom and
relatives under phylum Mycophyta.

Mini diorama of mountain or Alpine biome,
St Paul University QC Museum.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Students in biology at St. Paul University QC used nails, paper clips, tin can, buttons and anything one can pick around, to make a giant paramecium, a microscopic one-celled animal found in hay infusion or in pond water.

Transforms stimulate both hemispheres of the brain, and they make the students become more aware and sensitive to the things around them. Imagine a series of nails glued along the periphery of the paramecium. It is a perfect illustration of cilia that the organism uses for locomotion, and to think that nails have another purpose and have nothing to do with biology.

Short of saying that this approach is ethnic art, in many ways the students feel at home in the learning process. It is indigenous and simple. It makes use of discarded materials. It is dollar saver because we can do away with imported models that are expensive and may not even apply to local conditions. Many materials around us are waiting to be transformed into something useful if we know how.

Giant stone frog guards a pond at UST Botanical Garden.

These are kinds of transforms and their applications. Many of these are found at the biological laboratory and museum of SPCQ.

1. Examples of transforms in chemistry are models of atoms of elements and molecules of common compounds. These can be made of styropore, plastic and paper materials, better still wood.

2. Size, distance and positions of the planets in the solar system can be conveniently shown in a transform that is perhaps the most common project in general science for high school.

3. In geology, soil profile, cross-section of the earth, and profile of a volcano, are relatively easy to make.

4. Plant morphology, taxonomy and various growth stages, are popular models to make.

5. Embryology is best studied with models, so with the human body.

6. In literature, Shakespearean plays provide a wide choice of scenarios to choose from.

7. For history, significant events are re-enacted through transforms. So with the important people in history. The wax museum in Madrid houses life size personalities and fiction characters.

8. Puppet shows are among the first applications of transforms and dioramas. Remember, the scene of The Lonely Goatherd in Robert Wise’s Sound of Music?

9. The biggest transform, if I call it as such, is the giant bird of Nazca. It is so huge you can only decipher the figure from an aerial view.

10. The boundary of transforms and specimens in many cases is a thin line. Sometimes they are but one. A stuffed bird with simulated environment is a perfect example.

Toy as Transform

As a child the author loved making toys and playthings out of simple things and without spending a cent. For example, a wooden thread reel makes a fine road buggy self-propelled by rubber band that serves like the spring of an old fashioned watch. There is no need of battery and there is no such thing as depreciation. Well, it is because it has few parts and there was no cost involved.

The invention fascinated the kids in the neighborhood. Soon they had their own buggies and engaged in racing, of course a shade of the Tamiya toy race car. The invention may not be worth patenting, but with exorbitant price of cars and spiraling cost of fuel, there is good reason to think of re-inventing the wheel.

Dileptus, a relative of the Paramicium, a protist (Courtesy of Dr Anselmo S Cabigan)

A homestead at the foot of the Alps (Former SPUQC Museum)

Cross section of a tropical island (Former SPUQC Museum)

Sowbug model, Museum of Natural History, UPLB, Laguna

Damselfly model, Museum of Natural History, UPLB, Laguna

When Dr. Anselmo S. Cabigan, a colleague in the teaching profession and a long time friend, showed me the works of his students in biology using nails, paper clips, tin can, buttons and anything one can pick around, to make a giant paramecium, which in nature is actually a microscopic one-celled animal, I thought it is a very good idea, a practical educational tool.

It is because you can expand your imagination and not only confine yourself to your left-brain. Transforms stimulate both hemispheres of the brain, and they make the students become more aware and sensitive to the things around them. Imagine a series of nails glued along the periphery of the paramecium. It is a perfect illustration of cilia that the organism uses for locomotion, and to think that nails have another purpose and have nothing to do with biology.

Short of saying that this approach is ethnic art, in many ways the students feel at home in the learning process. It is indigenous and simple. It makes use for discarded materials. It is dollar saver because we can do away with imported models that are expensive and may not even apply to local conditions. Many materials around us are waiting to be transformed into something useful if we know how.

These are kinds of transforms and their applications. Many of these are found in the SPUQ biological laboratory and the museum.

1. Examples of transforms in chemistry are models of atoms of elements and molecules of common compounds. These can be made of styropore, plastic and paper materials, better still wood.

2. Size, distance and positions of the planets in the solar system can be conveniently shown in a transform that is perhaps the most common project in general science for high school.

3. In geology, soil profile, cross-section of the earth, and profile of a volcano, are relatively easy to make.

4. Plant morphology, taxonomy and various stages in growth, are popular models to copy.

5. Embryology is best studied with models, so with the human body.

6. In literature, Shakespearean plays provide a wide choice of scenarios to choose from.

7. For history, significant events are re-enacted through transforms. So with the important people in history. The wax museum in Madrid houses life size personalities and fiction characters.

8. Puppet shows are among the first applications of transforms and dioramas. Remember, the scene of “The Lonely Goatherd” in Robert Wise’s “Sound of Music”?

9. The biggest transform, if I call it as such, is the giant bird of Nazca. It is so huge you can only decipher the figure from an aerial view.

10. The boundary of transforms and specimens in many cases is a thin line. Sometimes they are but one. A stuffed bird with simulated environment is a perfect example.

Children don’t learn much from toys anymore.

Today’s toys come handy with a rich variety to choose from. There is no more effort to play a toy, more so to understand how it works. Inside the toy is unknown, a mystery that a child would like to find out and explore. It is the dismantling and subsequent destruction that satisfies his curiosity – if ever at all. Even knock down models do not offer the fresh feeling of success. So with toy models with the computer or on TV.

Seldom does a child today grow wiser and more mature with toys. During my time as a child when one made a toy that works, it was victory. Making toys is learning and a part of growing up. It is earning for oneself a trophy.
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Before, one made his own toy and he knew how it works. Today one unwittingly destroys a toy to find out how it works. Before, the element of function is the test of ones skill, such as in making a top or kite. Today, function is the realm of the manufacturer. Ready-made toys simply cater to the child’s curiosity, and incidentally to his learning. Modern toys create demand through style and sophistication that are not basic to functional design and value.
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Transforms are Evolving with the Times

It is the impact and value of a transform that one must look for. It is the relevance to present day situation that makes these tools valuable. As science and technology progress by leaps and bounds, many educational models have become outdated. For example, in genetics, limiting the model to the structure of the gene, and only to this level, would not sufficiently explain the new science of genetic engineering. One must know the Crick and Watson model and its latest version showing the DNA splitting and re-organizing in order to understand how Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are made.

If we consider transform in its highest form think of simulation. The laws of physics are best illustrated here. Gallileo climbed the leaning Tower of Piza to demonstrate the relationship of mass and gravity. Darwin used transforms and actual specimens to illustrate his theory of evolution. Aerodynamics is studied in wind tunnels and weightlessness in gyroscopes.

Hands-on with Computer is a Different Experience

Computers are known for rapid processing, wide coverage, versatility and virtual reality. It has wired the world and shrunk it within the reach of every user of the tool. In fact the box and the user are one, so to speak. But it is this very dependence on the computer that leaves very little room for the user to seek basic knowledge and learn basic skills.

Computers cannot totally replace transforms, audio-visual aids, and other educational tools. In the natural world the senses are very important. They must be honed. They are man’s connection to nature. Development of a skill is an actual activity, and it takes time to perfect it. Values are gained with good company. Innovation emanates where there is necessity. It is like saying necessity is the mother of invention. Feelings are conveyed and shared in a very personal way. Which reminds me of a person who asked the computer what is the meaning of love. The reply was prompt and came in a hundred definitions. Not satisfied, he asked the computer to illustrate the feeling of one in love. To which the machine labored for the correct answer. Finally it gave up and replied, “Sorry, I cannot feel.”

Not with transforms. One must use fully his senses, a sixth included - a sense of appreciation that comes from the heart. “It is only through the heart that one speaks clearly,” said the fox to the Little Prince. It is true. True learning comes not only from the mind, but also together with the heart.

Transforms – Eveready Teaching Aid

A geometry teacher appeared at a loss. There was no blackboard; she was holding class under an acacia tree. “All right class, our lesson is about geometric figures,” she said simultaneously taking out a handkerchief. Every student took his handkerchief out, and the simple piece of cloth became a versatile educational tool.

When the author was a farmhand he used to count chicken as they queue out in the morning from the shed. Because there were many, he would position myself at a vantage point to insure he counted them all with a simple devise. By breaking the stick every count of ten, then add the number of breaks when all the fowls are out, it was not a difficult task. Then he would compare his count with the stick he used the day before.

Transforms serve as aids in measuring things where conventional or modern instruments are available. What other transforms of this kind do we know? Have you heard of the Pace Factor? Compute for your pace constant and you know how far you have walked or ran. Use it in determining the length of a corridor or dimensions of a hall or size of a rice field.

The author remembers Fr. Jerry Orbos in one of his homilies. To drive at his message he held a new pair of chopsticks. “You cannot use the chopsticks while the pair is still joined,” he said, and then broke it apart. “Now you can use it.”

Indeed transforms work best in bringing us back to our senses.~

x x x

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Abercio V Rotor 

Award-winning author of "The Living with Nature Handbook" (Gintong Aklat Award 2003) and "Living with Nature in Our Times" (National Book Award 2008); Recipient Father Jose P Burgos Achievement Award (2016); professor, University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University-D; columnist Bannawag Magazine, former Director, National Food Authority; and Consultant on food and agriculture, Senate of the Philippines.

 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]