The Filipino is worth dying.
– The Filipino
Did you know? English is considered an official language of the Philippines stated in article XIV section 7 of the 1987 constitution. You have to be thankful that a trendy, up-to-date language like English was recognized by the government. Unfortunately, in the same article, an ancient barbaric language like Filipino was also recognized as official. Yuck! How can the constitution be that outdated?
But wait, that’s not the only thing we need to be worried about. I understand that you have all been good citizens by only watching trendy news about foreign events, so you might not have heard about this yet. Back in 2012 the Department of Education implemented a multilingual education system based on the mother tongue! This means that languages like Cebuano and Hiligaynon will be used as medium of instruction for early elementary education. I can only imagine the devastation that you are feeling right now. But fear not. There is a way to work around this mess.
Many heroic parents who do not speak English natively are speaking only English to their kids. The nursery rhymes and movies your child can watch from the internet are all in English anyway, so it’s really easy for them to get immersed. This would make the kids’ mother tongue English (with a Filipino accent).
Genius! If a “mother tongue” education system holds up to it’s name, then schools should use English to teach kids whose mother tongue is English. However, can we really trust schools to do that? Don’t you worry! The other option is to send your kids to an international school. That way, it would be easier for the next generation to make the Filipino dream come true: go to America.
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