I first read about the story of textbook crusader Antonio Calipjo-Go when I was a PhD candidate in Australia, Apprently he had made an advocacy of detecting errors in basic education textbooks. I never saw anything wrong with that. All writers make errors textbook writers not excepted. That’s why publishing houses hire editors of all sorts. One of my professors at UP, upon her retirement,made a lucrative career of editing textbooks.
Upon my return to inang bayan, I handled a class of science education grad students on my first term as an assistant prof. Many of them upon getting their masters became technical and content editors and specialists in Pinoy big publishing houses. It is from them I learned about the sordid tale of erroneous textbooks.
Mr Go seems to have given up in his crusade as the Inquirer reports.
I believe that this tale is a distillation of what I call corruption in academe and the limits of one man/woman crusades that we Pinoys often are suckers for. Academic corruption isn’t as blatant as in other places but it involves putting a price tag on knowledge and how teachers can twist this for nefarious ends. It also indicts our graduate education system and the whole Pinoy culture of education.
Looking for errors is a necessary task. Reviewers may have to be called, give their suggestions in the hope that these will be corrected. Academics who write the books will make errors since it will take superhuman effort to keep abreast of the advances in many disciplines. A good writer takes care that these errors are kept to a bare minimum. Even I do make errors in writing my scientific papers. A good peer review lessens (but not totally eliminate) the chances that such errors will see print.
The root of the problem really is keeping abreast of advances in the disciplines which requires a culture of research. Mr Go lambasts the writers who have PhDs and MAs strung after their names. The problem is in the existing academic hierarchical Pinoy culture, many of those who have PhDs or MAs rarely even bother to continue keeping tab of advances. In some schools the PhDs are treated with extreme deference. Any criticism made by someone without the PhD won’t be taken lightly. Our academic culture hates peer review as Professor Flor Lacanilao of UP has made clear in his essays. (BTW Lacanilao is a sort of Calipjo-Go of higher education. But since Laca has a PhD and he shoots broadsides against PhDs, no one can question his credentials, unlike what has happened to Calipjo-Go)
The culture of recycled knowledge endures. Local universities award graduate degrees to people who don’t contribute new knowlege. Anyone who has studied the dynamics of recycling would know that the recycled product is likely not as good as the original. Errors are propagated. Basic education suffers. Your son or daughter as well as mine does!
Overlaying this is the usual Pinoy culture of corruption which manifests as harmlessly as Christmas party “envelopes” in December or in the millions of pesos. Mr Go says he has been bribed. But Go was able to place whole spread adverts in the blurbs and this could run into the hundreds of thousand pesos each time. Educators like me know the salary that teachers get. How could Mr Go afford to pay for the adverts when usually academic societies get a one column five liner free space on page 16 for ads?
This seems to be Go’s achilles heel. And the higher ups in DepEd and the publishers knew they can sniff for the kill. Unfortunately Go fell into the pit himself. He apparently billed a publisher for a review with a fee. Anyone who knows what “conflict of interest” means immediately recognizes that Go fell into it! The op ed columnists just feasted on Go as he was impaled. And as expected the lawyers followed.
Reviewers may receive fair compensation. I have participated in a textbook review and received tax deducted honoraria. But I never had any axe to grind with the publisher. Textbook reviews are also part of my functions doing academic extension services. But we involved in science research are not keen on doing these since they take time out of research and the pay isn’t worth it given the tight schedules publishers require. Textbook reviews take a lot of time.
The sordid tale of Calipjo-Go is just tempting icing on our cake, the education system. The icing has the requisite corruption sugar in it. It also teaches us that one person crusades have their limits. Some NGOs have given their “condolences” but crusading NGOs never last. NGOs that work are pragmatic enough to “dance with the devil” as they say.
The solution may be in improving graduate training. But that is my opinion. Perhaps readers can lend me their thoughts.
Calipjo-Go is correct to lament that those with cum laudes who apply for teaching posts in his school can’t even compose a decent paragraph. This is evidence of our sick education system. Education credentials are commodities and even if the product is faulty and the market can take you in, erroneous textbooks that the student used hardly even matters.
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I have 1 question and 1 suggestion:
1)when u said Mr. Go was criticized for not having a PhD, is there more than academic arrogance here? I mean, for english for example, it should be pretty easy to spot the errors. There is no academic controversy for is/are usage. Same for math.
For history, there may/may not be a consensus view, even about things that you might classify as fact.
so, for the PhD thing, was it because he was criticized for things he said about history (for example)?
2) to guard against errors, there has got to be a review system out there. Why not just expand it as much as possible, to say 50 experts to read a textbook, on the theory that all 50 people/experts can’t be wrong at the same time.
Sometimes we don’t even need errors in text books;information gets updated like the Pluto as a planet as an example.
For those with internet access,they can thank the proponents of wikipedia,even with that medium you have to monitor updates.
As for the review stuff,I agree with those mentioned without having to repeat all of them.
I agree it is academic arrogance but a PhD or and MA are increasingly considered as professional qualifications for teaching. In fact a PhD is a licence to do all things regarding teaching and research. That’s the reason why those with MAs and PhDs after their names got pissed off when Go started pointing out their errors!
The PhDs and MAs have to jealously guard their profession. It’s like doctors downplaying patients who play “doctor” or lawyers looking down at non-lawyers who act as “attorneys”. Pinoy society has tolerated this “arrogance” for ages!
Professionally, the textbooks should have been reviewed by people with similar qualifications to those who wrote them. But this is where things got messy with Go.
In fact one of his “errors” such that Mosques were designed by Christian architects isn’t an error really as an archi prof told me. Some mosque designs were taken from Christian basilicas when some Arab countries converted to Islam.
I point this as a case where Go doesn’t have the expertise to publicly come out and comment.He should have exercised some restraint.
Having 50 reviewers is fine but where would be get the 50? Given the poor state of our graduate education, we will be hard to find them.
In fact a PhD is a licence to do all things regarding teaching and research.
When you say ‘license’ blackshama, does this mean that a person with an undergrad degree, or with no degree at all, cannot get published in the journals? Do journals actually look at academic credentials, or do they just look at the research without bothering themselves about the acedemic credentials of the person seeking to publish?
As for Mr. Calipjo-Go’s crusade, like-minded individuals should continue it in their own small ways. Parents can go through their children’s textbooks and alert the schools and teachers about errors they find.
@Blackshama
I’m shocked at the fact that there aren’t any 50 independent experts in history, science, math, economics in the Philippines. In all the country? I’m sure there are more than 50 economists in the philippines who would accept a reviewing job for a HS econ textbook. It doesnt have to be too specialized — this is after all HS/elementary textbooks.
For example, for math at this level, any scientist with some mathematical experience can critique it/check the solutions manual. [this is at most, easy college algebra for grade school]. It would be harder for HS math, but i’m sure u’d still find enough MA Math people to check the solutions to a Trig Text, or a Calc text [or better yet, just import these math books -- TCWAG is pretty good]
yeah yeah yah…..bragging about PHD…the bottomline is…WALA KAYONG NAGAWANG KABUTIHAN PARA SA IKABUBUTI NG INANG-BAYAN AT MAMAYANG PILIPINO…
yung mga nasa position (opp at admin) na mga PHD kuno!!!! mga PHD din sa pagkakurakot!!!!
brilliant mind…!!!! yeah yeah yeah…
puro dakdak
Excuse me Juwan_D! Di kita nakita noong ng sampling kami sa 1) Guimaras oil spill, 2) Princess of the Stars tragedy, 3) Iloilo flood disasters right after the bagyo. Sino ang magsasabi kung may environmental risk sa buhay ng tao? Mga abogado, politiko pogi points lang ang nais o mga miron from the peanut gallery ba?
Bago mag dakdak, siguradohin mo lang muna na may K ka!Dahil sa ganitong larangan minsa’t kailangan kailangan ilatag mo ang buhay mo sa peligro!
Jeg
Yes they can publish but professionally it is hard. Those with undergrad and masters degrees are considered research apprentices and they should publish with the licensed practitioners (PhDs). This is the usual practice. Besides the licensed practitioner usually catches the criticism from the reviewers.
I don’t have a problem with Calipjo-Go’s crusade. It would be better is it wasn’t a one man effort though. He may have alienated not a few symphatetic people.
GabbyD
You hit it on the nail. While we have heaps of PhDs, DEds, MAs etc, we really don’t have enough real scholars who can do that kind of job in this country
whoaaa….tinamaan ang ego ni mr PHD…
well…excuse me ka din…gamitin nyo yang galing at talino nyo sa mas malaking bagay pa…puro kayo blog ng kagalingan nyo dito…ni hindi kayo magkaisa para labanan ang kasalumuyang pamolitika at kasalukuyang mga politiko!!!!
magkaisa kayo…at ayusin ninyo ang bansa natin…oo tumulong kayo sa guimaras oil spill, trahedya ng baha at trahedya ng pagkalunod ng barko na sinabi mo…oo andun kayo..maswerte kayo dahil kaya nyong pumunta dun at tumulong…ang taong katulad ko ay hindi pwedeng umalis sa trabaho di pwedeng mag-absent dahil sayang ang isang araw na bayad…
ang nagawa ko lang noon ay magbigay ng maliit na halaga para sa mga kababayan ko na naapektohan..di ko kayang magbigay ng malaki…
ikaw blackshawhatever….wag mo ipangalandakan ang bagay na nagawa mo para sa kababayan natin…kung tumulong ka..mabuti..pero kung ipangangalandakan mo dito ang naitulong mo at sabihan mo ako ng wala akong K dahil wala ako dun at ikaw may K dahil andun ka ay may PHD ka…LOSLOS KA!”!!!!!
Kuya Juwan,
Hindi mo ba alam kung gaano ka dami ang mga PhD na nagtratrabaho sa Starbucks kaya ang sarap-sarap (at mahal-mahal) ng kape nila?
Kita tayo sa Starbucks para makita mo ang kagalingan ng mga Phd nila :)
Conyo…balita ko nga mga phd na din ang marami sa MMDA….
Conyo
Sa America lang ‘yon. Kulang ang totoong PhD sa ‘Pinas! That’s why oversubscribed kami. BTW, you might spot the PhDs you cite at the Starbucks at the UP Ayala-Technohub!