‘Yes, history should be an enjoyable subject, like a great Netflix movie or a good K-drama series!’

Days ago, a certain Twitter user, allegedly Nadine Lustre, tweeted that while she learned a lot in school, she thinks that six years of “repeated history” was a “waste of time.” She further tweeted that she pertains to the characteristic of having the same topic for the whole six years, and that the only thing that changed was the brand of books. She later added that this repetitive topic makes it counterproductive and wished for the efficient and effective teaching of history.

https://twitter.com/hello_nadine/status/1476097746520223746
These series of tweets received mixed reactions from netizens, especially teachers. Some accused her of being stupid as there was no such thing as “repeated history” due to the spiral nature of the Philippine basic education curriculum for social sciences. Some even took it as a manifestation of the problem of Philippine academics on the emergence of historical distortion (not revisionism, as some would say) and fake news. Even the National Quincentennial Committee, in a now-deleted Facebook post, invited her to their page to know more about Philippine precolonial history and thanked her for making them realize the need to further popularize history.

As a teacher and a graduate student, I personally get where she comes from. Apparently, her frustration comes as well from what is happening at present, where historical distortion and fake news are rampant. Thus, one would really think that studying history for six years is just a waste of time. It’s as if Filipinos did not learn anything about their past at all. Sometimes, I too have those kinds of frustrations, which sometimes make me ask myself if I really live up to my chosen professional vocation.

However, one must also understand the implied problems that her tweet disclosed. Perhaps for some learners, history classes are a “wasted time” because of (1) some problems in the curriculum and teaching strategies of history education in the Philippines, (2) the inaccessibility of some important primary sources for Philippine history classes, and (3) the issue of trivialization when discussing Philippine history both in classrooms and in public discourse. It should be added as well that these problems, however, are not new: historians such as the late National Scientist Teodoro Agoncillo have already enunciated it 60 years ago. Sadly, these issues persist in the Philippine education sector, whether public or private, basic or higher education.

Curriculum and pedagogical blues

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Curricular and pedagogical issues can be a cause of this negative impression of history classes. In the usual Filipino schooling experience, one would say that history classes are boring and feared because instructors resort to rigid memorization of persons and places, dates and events that are not relevant to the students’ own lives. Some students even share that their teachers, instead of discussing the lesson, instead assign topics to students to report in class without processing it after. Others would also note that their history teachers do not teach and instead let them watch films until the end of the school year or semester. These anecdotal experiences perhaps traumatize some learners, making them hateful of or disinterested in the subject by the time they leave school.

Adding to this problem as well is the issue of the qualifications of instructors who handle these kinds of subjects. Some educators would disclose that some schools, both in basic and collegiate levels, assign history courses to those who are not specialized in teaching them, due to the lack of social science graduates who can handle the subject. Some would even say that the curriculum of the Bachelor in Secondary Education, major in Social Studies does not sufficiently provide future social science educators with knowledge in historiography and social science research. Likewise, competence and knowledge in history research and analysis are not included in their professional development training, especially before the start of the school year.

Others criticize the curriculum prescribed by the Department of Education as insufficient for students. Some social science educators criticize the removal of Philippine history in the junior high school K-12 curriculum and its integration into other high school social science courses as insufficient. For them, it may lead to some students believing in false rumors and distorted historical facts. They likewise argue that some important topics in Philippine history, such as the Martial Law regime, effects of colonialism, and marginalization of indigenous peoples would be left undiscussed and thus prone to be repeated. Hence, organizations such as the High School Philippine History Movement and the Philippine Historical Association have campaigned for the return of Philippine history in the junior high school level. The HSPHM, in particular, started as a signature campaign in Change.Org, led by educator Jamaico Ignacio.

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Inaccessibility of reliable and accurate historical sources

Another issue of Philippine history education that merits discussion is the lack of access to important major historical sources. This is important, as the ability of educators and the public to access historical documents may help them understand further history straight from primary sources. However, this is not the case in the Philippines: most, if not all teachers, do not have access to primary sources, nor the ability to do research with them. Apart from the usual language barrier problem (in cases of documents written in Spanish, Japanese, or precolonial script), this was also caused by the gatekeeping of some sectors in Philippine history and culture, due to bureaucratic, institutional, and sometimes personal reasons.

Furthermore, most, if not all archival materials in the Philippines remain undigitized and unavailable to Internet users due to lack of resources and manpower. Despite the passage of the National Archives of the Philippines Act of 2007 (Republic Act No. 9470), some institutions, both public and private, do not have a systematic archival system, thus making some records unavailable, or sadly, lost in time. It is sad that Filipiniana materials are easier to get abroad through foreign websites (e.g. Spain’s Portal de Archivos Españoles or PARES, and the United States’ National Archives and Records Administration) than on our own shores.

The problem of accurate and reliable sources is not also limited to archival materials. Despite the DepEd’s assurances of quality control of teaching materials, textbooks containing erroneous information still make it to the classroom. These materials, which are being used by students all over the country, may impart misinformation to the learners. Some schools even use Martial Law-era textbooks despite being in the 21st century! In addition, some textbook materials in the Philippines lack good aesthetics (i.e. grayscale colors, usage of caricatures) which does not help learners to effectively visualize events in the past.

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Trivialization of Philippine history

Last but not least of these issues is the apparent trivialized approach to discussing Philippine history both in academic and public settings. This issue, while seen more on social media pages, is also evident in the classroom. This happens when a historical event or personality is being featured through trivia and entertainment instruments devoid of any meaning at all. It also happens through the emphasis of nicknames and the titles of individuals or events instead of their actual essence or legacy (negative or positive) to society.

Instead of helping people to see the relevance of history in their daily lives, this gives the impression that history is just a set of trivial facts. History is thus reduced to its entertainment value, instead of being an instrument for meaningful reflection. Hence, we have misconceptions of the role history plays in our personal and social lives.

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Goal: Make history alive and useable!

So, what then is the solution to this predicament? As Agoncillo has written decades ago, educators and historians should make history come alive in class. Instead of forcing learners to just memorize facts, history classes should invite them to visualize events in the past as if they were there. Instead of forcing them to report, learners should be given stories that would demystify events, and they should be delivered in the manner of a barkada kuwentuhan or the tsismisan of your neighborhood Marites.

More importantly, discussions on Philippine history, whether in the academic or public sphere, should always answer the question, “So what?” or find its saysay (relevance or meaning) in our lives, helping us reflect about our past, present, and future as individuals and as a nation. This would transform history from being mere narrative to being a useable past, as Renato Constantino would say. However, this will only become possible if institutional interventions are made for educators. Sufficient, inclusive, and empowering trainings, accessible historical materials, and mentoring should be made available, to make our teachers skilled in handling these subjects.

And yes, history should be an enjoyable subject, like a great Netflix movie or a good K-drama series! – Rappler.com

Michael Anjielo Tabuyan is a senior high school faculty of St. Scholastica’s College Manila and taking his MA in Philippine Studies, specializing in Socio-Cultural Studies, from the University of the Philippines’ Asian Center. A political science graduate, he has taught humanities and social science courses in both collegiate and basic education levels.