May 13th, 2008
It’s all in the ears part 3
Dear mouse,

We got a stormy weather yesterday. Except for strong wind that made the leaves of the trees dance the jive and rain that hardly wet our terrace, there was not much signs of the bad weather in our place. So I was suprised when I saw in the news that some places are already flooded.(in one area, the reporter showed that water was five feet, cars were stranded and street signs were hardly visible, people were being evacuated). These were the low lying areas in Maryland and Virginia. Today, although coastal flood warning is cancelled in some areas, the flood warning due to overflow of river basin is still enforced.
But there was much “flooding” inside my home after Charice Pempengco sang. (see my previous post).
The phone rang while I was watching a cute 2 and a half little girl (one of the World’s Smartest in OPRAH) demonstrated her talent. By this time the “flood has subsided”. She was pointing the countries in a big map as Oprah said the name of the country. She would also clap and laugh when the audience burst into applause.There is this young boy who plays the piano by simply listening. He said that he can memorize a song after hearing it in two minutes. Sus, ako, maraming taon hindi ko pa mamemorize ang Bayan Ko. (translation: I can’t even memorize the song Ang Bayan ko).
Not all these kids were presented in the live audience however except for Charice, a boy dancer, the map whiz kid and … excuse me while I pick up the phone.
The mother of the boy and girl from hell. I thought she is going to tell me to watch OPRAH but I remember, she is in a different time zone.
Mother of B and G: I got the cards of B and G for the quarter. I can say that education here in the States is better than the Philippines. When I was in this age, I did not take up these “courses” in the subjects.
Me: Mmmmm (I know this is going to be a justification of not sending the children to the Philippines) She started reading to me the grades of the girl.
Mother of B and G: Math. Data Analysis and Probability 3; Patterns, Algebra and Finance, 3;
Geometry and Measurements; Civics and Government, World History 3, US history, 3; Economics, 3.
Me: Wait, wait, wait. ( Suddenly I CAN HEAR. ALLELUJAH. I interrupted her in reciting to me the subjects and the grades). Isn’t it your daughter is in Grade 1?
Mother of B and G: Yes. She did not go to nursery and prep.because I can not afford to send her to one.
Me: No I mean, these are her subjects in Grade 1? Data Analysis, Probability, Economics, whoaaa. And what do they teach and how do you assist in her assignments? (I do not mean to insult her but even I who taught Quantitative Analysis in the Graduate School, it took me several semesters in College and Graduate School to understand and love these terminologies).
Mother of B and G:I don’t know and I never assisted her in her assignments because all I saw were drawings. Like I saw her draw a circle, a triangle and a square.
Me: And did she use a slide rule or measure the sides of the triangle and the square to see if they are equal?
Mother of B and G: No, some drawings are already there and all they do is identify whether it is a square, a circle and other figures.
Me: Now I get it. That’s Data Analysis and Probabilty that the children can identify the drawings. hikhikhik. Some course titles that these educators use. What about Character Education?
Mother of B and G: CED, under CED, Caring, 4; Respect, 4; Fairness, 4; Responsibility, 4; Citizenship, 4.
Me: Wow, if I were the teacher, I could give her a medal of Most Behaved. But how come you can not discipline her while she behaves well in the class?
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