Philippines

= Philippines﻿ = Jessica Warvel **Capital:** Manila **Official Language:** Tagalog **Population:** 2009 Estimate 91,983,000 **President:** Benigno Aquino III = Overview of the Philippines:﻿ = The name //Philippines// is derived from that of King Philip II of Spain and consists of 7,107 islands. The overall land area is comparable to that of Arizona lying about 500 miles off the southeast coast of Asia. Aboriginal inhabitants arrived in the Philippines from the Asian mainland around 25,000 BC and were followed by waves of Indonesian and Malayan settlers onward. In 1899, the Philippines were ceded to the U.S. by the treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War. On July 4, 1946 they recieved their full independce and Manuel A. Roxas y Acuna was elected its first president.

The culture of the Philippines reflects the complexity of the history of the Philippines through the blending of several diverse traditional Malay heritage mixed with Spanish, American and other Asian cultures. Filipinos began creating artistic paintings in the 17th century during the Spanish period. The earliest paintings were religious imagery from Biblical sources featuring Christian icons and European nobility.

= Accomplished Artist Romi C ManaQuil﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ = ManaQuil was born in 1942, the eldest of five children. As a child he discovered watercolors from his father and immediately learned how to draw well before he learned how to write. He graduated high school in Manila with honors and in 1959 began college at the U.P. School of Fine Arts. While still a student he started illustrating for Liwayway which is the oldest and biggest circulated vernacular magazine in the country. While working for Liwayway after graduation he popularized the dry brush technique in illustration magazine, influencing most of the other artists who were older and better known. In 1967 he started as an instructor for Illustration, Advertising Design, Cartooning and Watercolor Painting at the U.E. School of Music and Arts. He married in 1969 and had five kids. In 1977 he rose from instructor to Assistant Professor to the Department of Visual Communications where most of his successfull paintings were developed afterwards.

=Successful arts organization The Cue Drama Club=

"This club aims to promote theater consciousness among the young high school students and for them to discover the world of drama, which requires not only artistry but also craftmanship in the disciplines of acting, directing, singing, composing, writing, building, designing and technology."



This club seems to be recently developed in the late 90's but it is an after school program of aspiring young thespians composed of students from La Salle Greenhills High School in the Philippines. Some of their productions include the //West Side Story, PIPPIN!, Hunchback of Notre Dame,// and others including //Romeo and Juliet.//



=Education in the Philippines=

Public schools are government funded and are free to the public but 24% of Filipinos of the relevant age group do not attend, usually due to absence of any school in their area, education being offered in foreign languages only, or financial distress. In July 2009 the Department of Education acted to overcome the foreign language problem by ordering all elementary schools to move towards mother-tongue based learning initially.

Each school year in the Philippines starts in June of one year and ends in March with April and May off for summer break, one week off for semester break and a week or two off for Christmas break. Filipino children may enter public school at about age four starting with Nursery up to Kindergarten. At age seven the children enter elementary which last 6 to 7 years followed by secondary school which last 4 years. Students may then sit for College Entrance Examinations to then enter tertiary institutions that last for 3 to 5 years.

Primary education in the Philippines covers a wide curriculum. The core subjects include Math, Science, English and Filipino languages and //Makabayan// (Social Studies, Livelihood Education, and Values). Other subjects include music, arts, and physical education. On December 2007, Philippine president announced that Spanish is to make a return as a mandatory subject in all Filipino schools starting in 2008. Teacher training for this level of education must receive what is called a Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED). The program is intended to develop elementary school teachers who can teach across the different learning areas in grade school which draw from disciplines in the social sciences, humanities and other related fields. Few teacher education institutions in the Philippines offer science or mathematics as major specializations. In mathematics, only universities with accredited engineering colleges can offer most of the higher-level mathematics courses required for a major specialization.

Secondary education in the Philippines is largely based on the American schooling system as it was until the US started reforming their educational system in the middle of the last century. The Department of Education (DepEd) specifies a curriculum for all high schools that are either public or private. The first year of high school has five core subjects, Algebra I, Integrated Science, English I, Filipino I, and Philippine History I. Second year includes Algebra II, Biology, English II, Filipino II, and Asian History. The Third year has Geometry, Chemistry, Filipino III, and World History and Geography. Finaly, the Fourth year has Calculus, Trigonometry, Physics, Filipino IV, Literature, and Economics. Minor subjects may include Health, Music, Arts, Technology and Home Economics, and Physical Education. In selective schools, various languages may be offered as electives, as well as other subjects such as computer programming and literary writing. Chinese schools have language and cultural electives. Preparatory schools usually add some business and accountancy courses, while science high schools have biology, chemistry, and physics at every level. Secondary students used to sit for the //National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT)//, which was based on the American SAT, and was administered by DepEd. Like its primary school counterpart, NSAT was phased-out after major reorganizations in the education department. Now there is no government-sponsored entrance examination for tertiary education. Higher education institutions, both public and private, administer their own //College Entrance Examinations (CEE)//. Vocational colleges usually do not have entrance examinations, simply accepting the Form 138 record of studies from high school, and enrolment payment.

Most tertiary institutions, generically called //higher education institutions// by the Commion of Higher Education of the Philippines (CHED) are licensed, controlled, and supervised by CHED. There are seven art related colleges in the Philippines which include //Ateneo de Manila University: Fine Arts Program// and the //University of the Philippines-Diliman: College of Arts and Letters.// The core curriculum of the Ateneo education is largely made up of courses offered by the rich traditions in philosphy, faith, literature, language, arts and culture.

=Conclusion= Learning about this country's practices I was surprised to have found that almost every grade level included some form of arts education being taught. Comparing this to my own experiences with arts education I also had art available as an elective because every school I attended the focus was more on the four core subjects just like in the Philippines. Overall the educational system in the Philippines is quite similar to the US because they modeled their educational system after ours.

[] [] [] [] [] [] -My mom, my brothers