Konting plate

Netnet Camomot .

THIS corner of the world also had a Christmas tree lighting ceremony last Dec. 1, complete with fireworks. Of course, I didn’t read the invite until two days later while sorting through the tall piles of documents, newspapers, and scratch papers on my desk. That’s when I had an aha moment: Aha! Christmas tree lighting man diay to! Because, of course, I couldn’t help but hear the fireworks’ ear-shattering noise.

President Rody Duterte does want to have a nationwide ban on firecrackers since he was able to implement that in Davao City, but how is that possible for the fiesta- and firecracker-loving Pinoy?

Is it then easier to stop the proliferation of drugs than to stop firecracker use? But drugs are still alive and kicking in Pinas as drug busts continue to catch drug users and pushers. So, banning firecrackers must be easier than banning drugs.

Aside from fireworks and firecrackers, ’tis also the season for food, and losing weight amidst the Christmas parties, noche buena, and media noche is like losing weight during a Pinas fiesta—”It’s impossible, tell the sun to leave the sky, it’s just impossible.”

As impossible as Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo becoming friends. Or Robredo and vice presidentiable Bongbong Marcos becoming friends. Or a typhoon like Tisoy not killing 17 people, not causing floods, not destroying buildings, crops, and power and communication lines.

If you’re still recovering from the nerve-racking Tisoy emergency mobile alerts from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, be grateful that Pinas now has those alerts, otherwise, you would wake up floating on water.

But Tisoy increased Angat Dam’s water level, so, it’s now a question of pro’s and con’s. Er, pros and cons.

Now that the Apostrophe Protection Society no longer exists after its founder, John Richards, decided to shut it down recently, feel free to put an apostrophe—or not—wherever and whenever in whatever. But he hints on starting a group for the much-abused comma. I gotta feeling he would start with the panda that eats, shoots, and leaves. Haha.

Since when it rains, it pours, Tisoy damaging schools could make a teacher look at the positive side: At least a school building could be repaired or rebuilt—or its structural engineering, quality of construction materials, and construction cost audited. But test results for a specific period are deemed final, and could not be erased and replaced by a fake grade. Unless! Well, miracles do happen in Pinas, eh?

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released on Tuesday last week the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results, and Pinas was at the bottom of the list for reading literacy, and second to the last for mathematical and scientific literacy.

The test was conducted in 2018 for 600,000 15-year-old students from 79 countries that included China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, France, Switzerland, etc. (Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer). It was the first time for Pinas to join the educational achievement test which started in 2000.

The country’s medium of instruction was used for the test and Pinas, that’s English. PDI quoted Education Secretary Leonor Briones as saying, “It (English) is clearly a weakness of our learners and could possibly have an effect on [their] performance.”

And “birds suddenly appear,” as the song goes. Er, my thought bubble appeared: Whaaaaat?! Do you mean to say Pinoy students don’t know their English any more?! What the…?

So, the students would have fared better with Tagalog as the medium of instruction? What’s the Tagalog word for chlorophyll? Whew.

Pilipino was the most difficult subject for me way back when I was still a student. I always relied on an English-Tagalog dictionary—and some Tagalog-speaking classmates—each time we were required to write Pilipino essays.

Well, some managers now prefer job applicants from a state university in Cagayan de Oro over what a Cagayanon may consider as the city’s premier university because the former are way much ahead in expressing themselves in written English, with minimal grammatical errors, better composition, and clearer ideas. But in the Pisa test, Pinas’ private school students had better results compared to public school students in all categories: reading, mathematics, and science.

As if the mind-boggling Pisa test results are not enough, OECD revealed that 65 percent of the Pinoy students who took the test said they were bullied, which is much higher than the average 23 percent for other participating countries. Hahay. Kaluoy tawon sa Pinoy student.

Let’s look at the bright side. At least Pinoy athletes are collecting gold medals at the ongoing 2019 Southeast Asian Games. These athletes are or were students in Pinoy schools, does or did English play a major role in their grades?

A fallback is something one can rely on when the going gets tough. Not all athletes can morph into coaches or gym owners once they’re retired, thus, they still have to learn some quality ABC’s. Er, ABCs.

It’s time to ban firecrackers and have a designated area for fireworks so the Pinoy student can have peace and quiet as he contemplates on his preferred medium of instruction.

Contemplate could also be the best scenario for a dieter in this season of yummy food and Christmas parties: konting plate.

Meanwhile, there’s the Pinoy tourist visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa for his Christmas vacay. Okay ra man ang weather didto—10 degrees Celsius only. Cuddle weather.