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AUGUST 2022 - MAY 2023
OPINION/FEATURE
K to 12: Benefit or Burden? Adding spices On 2013, late President Aquino put into act the K to 12 curriculum, following the international standards for education. On 2016, the said curriculum was implemented nationwide. This curriculum has the promise to give students better opportunities after finishing the program. However, issues regarding the curriculum started to bubble up. The promises promised by the curriculum seems not to be kept. This thought enrages millions of Filipinos as they wonder the importance of the program.
As the country faces the pandemic on 2020, the health crisis made it difficult for Junior High School (JHS) completers to continue Senior High School (SHS) as the country still recovers from the effects of the pandemic 3 years later. The lack of facility and necessary equipment are big factors that makes it difficult to run the program. Then at the end, the benefits that was supposed to be there are missing, making it a burden. The curriculum also somewhat under imply that a Junior High School completer is no better than a Senior High School graduate. This is supported by the continuing preference of companies to hire college graduates. They believe that those with a degree are more knowledgeable about the work at hand, more skilled, and are more responsible. So why bother continue to SHS program? Well, the program’s intention to be at par with the level of education on other countries is good. However, its implementation is the problem. Thus, the need for revision is sought, and the Department of Education (DepEd) responded by the assuring the public that they will review the program. As of this writing, the Department is currently reviewing the curriculum; and having reviewed the curriculum multiple times, no action was implemented. The K to 12 program has good intentions, but that is not enough. For me, the K to 12 curriculum has a bright future, but the need for change is long overdue. As they say, action speaks louder than words, and in this case, it’s very much true.
The Chinese Lion Dance: A Chinese New Year Tradition u KIMBERLY H. BENDICION
One of the popular traditions practiced every Chinese New Year is the lion dance. It is a traditional dance performed on big occasions like the Chinese New Year, usually done for good luck.
the lion’s movements with the help of the drum. The Lion will replicate different emotional states and exhibit comparable bodily motions during the performance, giving the Lion a lifelike appearance.
The Lion dance is a very significant part of Chinese New Year. It is performed to drive out ghosts, evil spirits, and monsters like Nian—a beast that lived at the bottom of the sea and only came to shore on the last day of the Lunar New Year to eat people and livestock. Such creatures are afraid of noises like clashing cymbals. Every motion the lion makes has its own melodic cadence. The gongs and the cymbals follow the drummer, who in turn follows
The lion dance blends kung fu movements, history, and art. The first few days of the Chinese New Year are when lion dances are performed. Two performers, one at the head and one at the tail of the lion, execute the lion dance. People imitated the newly arrived lion’s character and its actions in performance. Following that, the public continued to enjoy watching lion dances as a popular
performance in order to wish for luck at the Spring Festival or other events. Chinese folk culture, which has expanded around the world with Chinese immigration, is exemplified by the lion dance. Many lion dance clubs have been created by overseas Chinese in Europe, America, and other places. These groups perform during important Chinese holidays and festivals, including Chinese New Year. This tradition is very much still practiced in modern times. Since its popularity, more countries celebrate Chinese New Year. Therefore, bringing Chinese culture to new places, and is appreciated more around the world.
to Palarong Pambansa
Many of our citizens play various types of sporting activities. With this, we have an event named “Palarong Pambansa”. This involves student athletes from different regions all over the Philippines that enter to play different sports competitions every year. After a 3 year hiatus, it finally returned, bringing along new implications with it’s new format. This new format draw in mixed reactions from the sporting community. Deped initiated a new tier named “Pre-National Qualifying Meet”, with the intention to “lessen the number of delegations, shorten the duration of the event, prevent disruption of classes, and to lower the expenses”. This new rule also aims to follow the COVID-19 guidelines. The athletes will face various screening processes during the division meets, which has been ongoing, followed by regional meets in April and the newly clustered pre-national qualifying meets in July. This was the proposed competition format by DepEd. The establishment of this new rule was met by mixed comments. Some were content with it, while some didn’t really agree with the change. By establishing this rule, the chances for other athletes to get into a team that could potentially represent their city or the country are slimmer. A lot of players have good skills and potential to play in bigger teams, but it’ll be cut quite short because the Palarong Pambansa needs less players now. Many participants will be excited to play for their school, their district, and possibly, be one of the representatives of their city for the sport they’re playing. Practicing a lot so they can qualify, but not being able to because only a small amount of platers are needed. All the more reason to be excited to play, with the fact that the Palarong Pambansa hasn’t been around in 3-4 years, given the COVID-19 pandemic, and it just resumed its activities recently. What makes these sporting events fun is when you take the time to have fun playing. Cutting that short wouldn’t be as fun as it was before the rule change. The importance of the Palarong Pambansa to many student athletes is big. For some, they dream to play for it; to be in the national scene. Thus, cutting the number of players short might just cut their dreams short.