On Thursday Rep. Mary Ann Susano of Quezon City submitted a bill [HB 4370] adjusting the school calendar from June through March to September through June.
This is quite a string of thought since this quote was from an article dealing with an approaching typhoon and is barely connected to what I have to say.
The last time I was in the Philippines was in the summer/fall of 2003 when I participated in MSU's Study Abroad Program and went to UPLB. Before making my application to Study Abroad, I was planning to take a heavy summer session load plus a heavy fall load so that I could graduate on time. I was supposed to have graduated in May 2004. UPLB's semesters are staggered from MSU's. So it started in the middle of MSU's summer session and ended in the middle of MSU's fall semester. That meant that I would only be able to do one semester's worth of credit in the Philippines when I could have done two in America. I went to UPLB anyways and I have never regretted it. I came in during the rainy/typhoon season (hence the article.) Let me tell you-- thank god for typhoons (hurricanes for us who live by the Atlantic.) With the weather in the Philippines going from the low 80's to low 90's, typhoons brought down the temps for a little while. Two of them came by when I was there and I got to enjoy some comfy 70's for a little while.
In 1987, I moved to the Philippines where I went to school at Beehive Elementary in San Fernando, LaUnion. It was a private school and I had to wear these dorky uniforms. Nah, they weren't so bad... they were green and white (hmm... what a coincidence). Checkered and solid patterns. Anyways, students there are two years ahead of American students. They graduate at grade 10 versus our grade 12. When I got there, I was such a dumbass. In fact, I'm confident that I never passed. I think they graduated me just because I was the foreigner that they felt sorry for. Yet... I owe them a jump start on my academic studies. My grades pre-Philippines were pretty poor but when I got back, they shot straight up. When I enrolled at North Elementary in Mountain Home, ID I was ahead of my classmates. With that jumpstart, I continued to be at the top until I caught senioritis during my sophomore year. Then it just went downhill from there.
Back to the blurb. I think it's a good idea to adjust the semesters. I wonder what they think about it over there.
1 comment:
:) quite a story you have there.
although Philippine academics are stricter and more disciplined compared to the US, it stiffles your creativity.
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