going to school in the Philippines

[FOBANESE]

Hi all! I was just wondering if some of you could tell me what it is like to go to school there? I grew up outside of the Philippines and since elementary, I've always wondered what my educational experience would have been like if my family had stayed in Tacloban.

High school: Are there frequent fights? I remember in my high school, grabe talaga! there were several gangs and always a new fight each week, especially among the girls in the gym locker room!

What kind of food is offered in your cafeteria? In my school, we always had cheeseburgers, mexican food, sandwiches, and spaghetti. Also, students were required to remain on school grounds during lunchtime unless they were 3rd or 4th year students. When I became a 3rd year student, my friend and I would go to my house to eat kanin! Other than that, since my other friend obtained her driver's license, we would often get a ride from her to fast food restaurants. Lunch-period was only 40 minutes.

What kind of courses are available outside of mathematics, english, history, and sciences? In my school, driver's education and career decision classes were required for graduation credit. We also had classes such as photography, video production, spanish, french, leadership, drama, and physical education.

What activities do you usually participate in after school? My friends and I usually watched football games and participated in the class committee

College: How are dormitories? Is there co-ed living? Last year, I lived at a dormitory on campus and had 1 room mate and 4 suitemates. Parties happened all the time and the dining was all you can eat, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

How are the exams? Here, we have midterms and finals. Since my university is on a quarter schedule, classes last about a 3-month period so time goes by very quickly.

What is your budget during the school year? It's quite expensive were I go to school at, but thank God that there is financial aid in the U.S., where low-income families can receive financial assistance (grants, loans, and scholarships) in paying for tuition and living. I am supposed to be paying $25,000 USD per year, but because of financial aid, last year I only had to spend $2,000 USD. Books are so expensive, they are usually around the price range of $50-100 USD and professors change required textbooks every quarter! >=[ So basically, the books I have now cannot be resold to students taking this subject next quarter.

I apologize if this was extremely long, lol.

[pumpysworld]

In general, Filipino students are very well-behaved.

The food is cheap but can be unsafe because the Philippines is a Third World country.

Security measures are dependent on the school's budget. For most Philippine schools, students can leave anytime due to lack of security. Around 50 percent of Filipinos never finish high school and many become out-of-school youths. That's because between 40 to 70 percent of Filipinos live below the poverty threshold. Here's some more data about Phil. schools:

- at least 60 percent have no roofs, toilets, potable water, blackboards, electricity, principals, etc.; the country is short by tens of thousands of teachers and classrooms each year;

- the ratio of books and desks to students is around 1:3; the average class size is 60, with 120 or more students in one room for some places;

- Filipinos have only 10 years of pre-university education;

- around 40 percent of schools are privately owned bec. the government cannot provide enough schools to the public; private school ed. is barely affordable for most Filipinos and the best have facilities that are like those of average U.S. public schools;

- most books are old, reprinted, used, or all three; several local textbooks contain many errors.


Hi all! I was just wondering if some of you could tell me what it is like to go to school there? I grew up outside of the Philippines and since elementary, I've always wondered what my educational experience would have been like if my family had stayed in Tacloban.

High school: Are there frequent fights? I remember in my high school, grabe talaga! there were several gangs and always a new fight each week, especially among the girls in the gym locker room!

What kind of food is offered in your cafeteria? In my school, we always had cheeseburgers, mexican food, sandwiches, and spaghetti. Also, students were required to remain on school grounds during lunchtime unless they were 3rd or 4th year students. When I became a 3rd year student, my friend and I would go to my house to eat kanin! Other than that, since my other friend obtained her driver's license, we would often get a ride from her to fast food restaurants. Lunch-period was only 40 minutes.

What kind of courses are available outside of mathematics, english, history, and sciences? In my school, driver's education and career decision classes were required for graduation credit. We also had classes such as photography, video production, spanish, french, leadership, drama, and physical education.

What activities do you usually participate in after school? My friends and I usually watched football games and participated in the class committee

College: How are dormitories? Is there co-ed living? Last year, I lived at a dormitory on campus and had 1 room mate and 4 suitemates. Parties happened all the time and the dining was all you can eat, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

How are the exams? Here, we have midterms and finals. Since my university is on a quarter schedule, classes last about a 3-month period so time goes by very quickly.

What is your budget during the school year? It's quite expensive were I go to school at, but thank God that there is financial aid in the U.S., where low-income families can receive financial assistance (grants, loans, and scholarships) in paying for tuition and living. I am supposed to be paying $25,000 USD per year, but because of financial aid, last year I only had to spend $2,000 USD. Books are so expensive, they are usually around the price range of $50-100 USD and professors change required textbooks every quarter! >=[ So basically, the books I have now cannot be resold to students taking this subject next quarter.

I apologize if this was extremely long, lol.

[FOBANESE]

Wow, generally well-behaved? That's the exact opposite of students here! Especially in high school, most students have absolutely no respect and often use foul language when they are angry at the teacher.

The figures that you shared are disheartening. I think everyone deserves a quality education and it is unfortunate that there is not a sufficient amount of money going to the educational system in the Philippines.

It's crazy when a lot of my classmates constantly complain about school and are basically taking the opportunity for granted

If there is 10 years pre-university education, does that mean it is only Grades 1-10? Over here, we have elementary (kindergarten - grade 5), middle school (grade 6 - grade 8), and high school (grade 9 - grade 12).

Oh yah, I forgot to ask, what grading scale is used in schools? Over here, we use the A-F letter grade system. (A = 90-100%, B = 80 -89%, C = 70 - 79%, D = 60 - 69%, F = 59% and lower)

[pumpysworld]

I've heard about the lack of disrespect, and I'm told that Filipino teachers who go to the U.S. find it shocking. (Thousands of Filipino teachers are moving to the U.S. due to lack of teachers there. One recruiter said that the U.S. will need something like a million teachers in the next few years or so. This will affect the Philippines significantly.)

There are only ten years of pre-university education in the Philippines, compared to twelve or thirteen in other Australasian countries. Filipinos also have some of the lowest scores in science and math worldwide, at least according to TIMSS.

The grading system is something like that, but it's usually A to D. The system changes for some private schools, though.