Excerpts from the Policy Paper on the Social Studies Curriculum and Textbooks of the UP History Department

Inquirer.net (part 2) published some excerpts from UP History Department's Policy Paper on the Social Studies Curriculum and Textbooks. Some excerpts from the excerpts:

How to be both factually accurate and interesting thus seems to be a monumental challenge that confronts social studies textbooks.

How true.

Several conditions in the Philippine public basic educational system inflate the reliance on social studies textbooks: the dearth of school libraries and poor access to other sources of information; uneven academic training of basic education teachers in disciplinal knowledge; and very heavy teaching load.

Agree.

How should we treat facts?

“facts, while vitally important, should serve as the beginning of historical instruction, not its conclusion.”

Facts are the indispensable raw material that historians use to interpret the past with respect to such immediate questions as causality, agency and effect; and larger (philosophical) questions of claims to truth, the directionality of human events, notions of time and space, and so on. But even before historians employ facts, they evaluate the sources, both epistemologically (e.g., in terms of new evidence or novel interpretations or perspectives) and methodologically (with regard to the source’s authenticity and, more frequently, the credibility and reliability of the evidence offered).

Why teach history?

History serves numerous purposes, from the development of citizens as meaningful members of a larger community with which they identify, to the training of the mind in critical thinking and sound judgment. A good citizen is one who, as our elementary textbooks teach our children, obeys traffic lights. A good citizen, too, is one who is able to weigh options and make decisions, including whom to believe and trust, based not on feelings of loyalty or partisan allegiance but on demonstrable grounds. The practical applications of historical skills abound in everyday life, from writing reports and accepting (or rejecting) them as trustworthy, to tracing household payments over time and tracking prices of goods at the market. Yet History as a subject is not highly valued and is best remembered as the one that requires a good memory.

(OK, this is something most of my students don't get.)

Findings of the team:
1. overwhelming emphasis on civics at the expense of Philippine history (seems to be different in our school)
2. civic values tend to essentialize the Filipino as stereotype and myth
3. some values are biases and run contrary to the curricular goal of teaching Filipino pride, identity and membership in the community, nation and world
4. "Philippine history, where taught, is approached from a limited, at times biased perspective that has the effect of sanitizing our past or presenting an incomplete picture of it."

I still have to read the entire study to get the meaning of the last statement.

Regarding competencies:

1. Training in critical and interpretive thinking is inadequate, while knowledge and retention of values and facts are highlighted.

2. Competencies particular to historical thinking, such as gathering information so as to form an opinion as well as the use and analysis of primary sources are not developed.

3. Training in writing is woefully inadequate since the assessment exercises lean toward objective, multiple type tests at the elementary level, and enumeration in first year high school.

Hmm...

Recommendations:
1. history as core subject
2. devise history-based content standards and historical competence standards
3. consistency of curriculum from grade 1 to fourth year
4. simplification of the textbook review procedure
5. “Open up” the textbook with primary sources.
6. Strengthen the disciplinal content of teacher training while maintaining the importance of pedagogical knowledge. The choice is not one or the other, but that teachers are trained in both.
7. Hold regular discussions among academic historians, Department of Education curriculum specialists, and elementary and high school Social Studies teachers in order to improve the curriculum and set standards.

I'll wait and see.