Have you guys experienced these policies?
I remember the first taste of this policy when I was an elementary student in a private school. I thought it was dumb because we’re filipinos and it wasn’t even an international school, but since I was good at English, after some time complaining I let it go because it didn’t affect me that much, and I didn’t want to be seen as a bratty kid.
Now in college, we visited a museum showcasing the local Filipino culture. After exiting the museum, I glimpsed a sign that said something along the lines of “This is an English Only Zone”. I felt betrayed, because the museum was benefiting from Filipino culture but at the same time they’re suppressing it. Just like my previous private school, is it all just for the prestige?
And I think to my current situation. I am barely a fluent speaker in Tagalog. I often trip when it comes to uncommon words in Bisaya. And the worst part is that while filipinos are very ubiquitous around the world and on the internet, there are a dearth of resources in learning the national language at an advanced level, let alone the regional ones. I don’t even know where to find Bisaya fiction in my city!
How much more until we start forgetting ourselves in our self-loathing? When we start forgetting how to convey intelligent thoughts in our language to the point we sound stupid if we don’t speak in some other language?
My daughter’s school (not international or anything elite) has EOP. It’s favorable to her because her first language is English - thanks to growing up watching educational shows that are mostly available only in English. I’m not against it either because if you want to make it big, you need to be really good with English. That’s just the way how the world works.
They do have a Filipino subject and observes “Linggo ng Wika” (fucking hell getting her to memorize and perform an entire Filipino poem was a pain). The household is also tagalog-speaking.
What do you think of schools imposing penalties on those who don’t speak English even outside the subject English? I remember my private elementary teacher saying that they will be imposing a peso fine everytime we are caught speaking Tagalog. I’m not sure if they were serious though.
I think this happened when I was in high school a long time ago - right down to the fines. Younger me would probably be against it and I can see why a lot of people find it ridiculous, but now I see the practical reason for it.