How the Filipino parent’s emphasis on academic success may encourage mediocrity

One of the things that characterises the Filipino parenting style is a focus on academic success. For Filipino parents, education is crucial and subsequently, the brightest children are placed on a pedestal while those with bad grades get strong reprimands. This, I think, can lead to a strong fear of failure. Rather than taking on the more difficult challenges, children who wish to please their parents quickly learn to opt for the those that have the highest chance of success. After all, good grades led to praise whereas failure only means a taste of tsinelas.

Filipino schools just add to the problem. Pressure from both parents and administration make teachers very reluctant to fail students. An industry professional who was offered a teaching job recently commented, “One of the reasons I refused [the job] is that if I fail 80% of the class [who were underachievers], I would be kicked out. Incredible. Raise the standards, and you get the boot. Keep them low, and you stay on forever.”

Ironically, the Filipino parent’s over-emphasis on success may restrain excellence and encourage mediocrity. It could help to explain many of the challenges our country faces. Maybe rather than being afraid of failure, we should accept it as being one of the key ingredients for innovation. Poor students should fail but we should also reward those who bounce back after hitting the dirt.

According to Randy Nelson, dean of Pixar University, a professional-development program for the well-known animation studio, the core skill of an innovator is error recovery, not failure avoidance. Perhaps if we change our attitude to failure, we may help raise a generation of innovators for the Philippines.

Edutopia video

“Pixar University’s Randy Nelson explains what schools must do to prepare students for jobs in new media.” http://www.edutopia.org/


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Manila’s charcoal fields

Filipino child in charcoal fields

A German photographer, Hartmut Schwarzbach, is a finalist for the Sony World Photography Awards 2009. His entry portrays the children of a charcoal burner’s camp in Manila. According to an article on the BBC News website, around 30 million Filipinos live in poverty. For comparison, the UK’s population is at around 61 million.

This photo won the third-prize in the UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007. It shows of one of the camp’s children, Annalyn, on her ninth birthday.

Read more about this at:

Also take a look at the related post about Payatas, Metro Manila’s rubbish dump.

For home care workers in Bedfordshire County Council area

A manager of a home care organisation in Bedford asked us to help inform Filipino workers in the area about their rights to transfer benefits. Apparently, another company has provided incorrect information to their staff.

If you are working for a home care provider in Bedford, Biggleswade, Sandy, Arlesey, Shefford, Stotfold and surrounding areas whose contract with Bedfordshire County Council has not been renewed, you may be entitled to transfer to our company under the Transfer of undertakings (Protection of Employment) TUPE – regulations. Under these regulations your employment rights are protected and you should be able to continue working in the same geographical area you have been used to and provide continuity of care for those Service Users that you currently look after. If you currently need a work permit with your current employer it should be possible, under the TUPE regulations, to transfer this to our company.

If you would like to consider this option, or would like any further information, please contact Plan Personnel on 01234 270242.

Our full contact details are as follows:-

Plan Personnel
Unit 15 b Bedford Heights
Manton Lane
Bedford
MK41 7PH

Tel: 01234 270242
Fax: 01234 341280
Email: [email protected]

Please also see his attached fact sheet: Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) TUPE

This is third-party information so please check the facts for yourself.

New TV Show is looking for Brits with a South East Asian Background

A TV production company is looking for young people with a South East Asian background to take part in a series revolving around food. The programme will take people on a cultural journey to South East Asia to give them a chance to see where and how our favourite foods are made.

They’ve asked us to post this press release:

Are you of South East Asian origin? A brand new BBC TV show is looking for Brits with a South East Asian background to go on a journey of discovery to find out here our food comes from.

Does food play a major role in your life?

Ever wondered where your food comes from?

Have you never had the chance to visit Asia?

We want to give you the chance to travel to South East Asia to find out how the food we eat is made.

If you are aged between 18 and 26 and interested in finding out more,
Please call one of the team on 01273 224 819
Or email [email protected]

Tasmin Poynton

Tasmin Poynton, one of our visitors, wanted to let us know about her place in the Miss Fresh Photographic competition.

Tasmin: "I’m 18 and live in Wiltshire, my mum is from Philippines (wooo) and my dad is English. To my knowledge, I am the only Filipino girl in the heat, and would love to become the first Filo-English Miss England! I am a black belt in kickboxing, I have been doing the Filipino martial art kali illustrisimo for about 3 years now, and I also have a keen interest in music: having a grade 2 in clarinet, grade 4 in violin, and grade 6 in piano. After I finish college, I would love to stay with my family for a year in the Philippines and do some sort of charity work, including help street families and children. By becoming Miss England I feel that I will have the ability to achieve this, as well as various other voluntary work all over."


Here’s the text from her promo poster:

Tasmin Poynton

Tasmin Poynton has been selected as one of the 20 finalists for the Miss Fresh Photographic competition which is being held by the Miss England organisers. Tasmin is a student at Chippenham College and is hoping to win the title of ‘Miss Fresh Photographic’ and a place in the Miss England semi final next June. Every year, Miss England is selected for the finals of Miss World. During 2008, the Miss England contestants have raised over £100,000 for various charities around the country including £30,000 for the Institute of Cancer Walk with Cancer Campaign. In 2007 Georgia Horsley held the title of Miss Photographic and WON the national final!

Tasmin needs your support to help win in the quarter finals for the Miss Fresh Photographic title. You can vote for Tasmin by texting TASMIN POYNTON TO 84205 or vote from a landline which is 0901 6561500, and enter the unique number 18 when requested (votes costs 60p plus standard network charge)

Thank you all in advance for your support.

VOTING ENDS FRIDAY 14TH OF NOVEMBER AT 12 NOON

+63: showcasing creative trends in the Philippines

I recently found +63, a site showcasing creative trends in the Philippines. They aim to feature work from Filipino creatives around the work. If you’re a designer or artist, you might want to pay them a visit: http://plus63.net

"+63 is a collective blog dedicated to providing an online venue for Philippine creatives. The idea behind +63 is to create a rallying point for the industry by adapting and updating the international country code for the Philippines into a recongizable trademark for Filipino culture, design, and art.

The site features articles and entries on industry trends and provides a base for interaction among Filipino artists by allowing user participation. The goal is to provide a source for updates on developments in the field and a venue for relevant discussion."

Plus 63 Logo

Are you less Filipino if you lose your accent?

Sunny Vergara, in his American Pop blog, writes about how he doesn’t like losing his Tagalog accent. The implication in his post was that losing your accent was like losing part of your identity. He disliked people pointing out his American accent, presumably because it made him feel less Filipino.

I’ve heard this opinion many times before but just don’t buy into it. Why should improving your language skills suggest that you’ve turned your back on your background? Surely a big part of mastering any language is to try speaking it like a native?

We had to learn French and German at School. Aside from learning grammar and vocabulary, the top students tried to lose their English accent. None felt that this would somehow make them less English. For them, it wasn’t even an issue. Why is accent such a big thing with us Filipinos?

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Documentary production company needs translators

A Chiswick based production company is currently filming a medical-based documentary in the Philippines and requires translators beginning the 22nd of August. They need 4-5 people to be able to translate from Tagalog and possibly Hiligaynon.

They will provide successful candidates with timecoded DVD’s from the 22nd of August and will need to have translated word for word onto a formatted word document as soon as possible.

This job is paid and will be negotiated on query.

Please get in touch ASAP if you’re interested and I’ll send you contact information.

Do you understand the Filipino psyche?

Jimmy Soriano, a Manila Times columnist, writes about his view of the Filipino psyche.

While UK-born second-generation Filipinos share some of these traits, I notice that they’re also the cause of conflicts between us and our ‘first-gen’ parents, friends and relatives. I’m specifically referring to his point about Filipinos being reactive and unwilling to openly settle problems.

What do you think?

It is safe to assume that Filipinos, as a people, are among the ‘easily pleased’, as compared to the other nationalities of the world. This notwithstanding, they also get hurt very easily, very onion-skinned in a manner of speaking. Little things make Filipinos in general happy but even the slightest incident could also trigger their disappointments.

Read the rest at: soriano-ph.com or manilatimes.net.

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