Asignaturang Filipino
(Filipino subject):
Its implications
By Flora O. Tipones
Teacher III
Rodriguez National High School
Cadlan, Pili, Camarines Sur
The study of Filipino subject is important because it signifies our identity as a nation. It is an effective medium for the training of the analytical thinking skills of Filipino youth and students. As a developing country, the Philippines needs nationalist leaders that will think, act, and work for the good of the impoverished Filipino masses. These future nationalist leaders will come from students and youth in the lower spectrum of Philippine society. Accordingly, the necessity for them to be educated based on the interest of the Filipino people. Their education must start with the study of Filipino language, cultural heritage, traditions, including the history of the struggles of Filipino freedom fighters against foreign dominations and their local warlords. Until now, the peoples’ struggles for their rights and welfare are still being waged in various forms.
Philippine development cannot be expected to be given by foreigners neither by Filipino pseudo-development experts trained abroad who think they are much revered if they speak in a foreign tongue. These Filipino elite talk big of the solutions of the country’s problems based on their case studies made abroad by foreigners. But because these programs are not really meant to address the needs of the people, they are doomed to fail.
