Our Regular Students Have Special Needs

One day, I had to follow up on the case of two students. One was the victim of stabbing, the other one, the alleged culprit, and they belong to opposing gangstas (gangs, slang).

One was a sophomore, the other one a graduating student. But this is not just their story. This the story of our youth today who are supposed to be hope of the fatherland.

But their story is an eye-opener of sorts for me to see one glaring reality. The inmates at the Las Piñas City Jail looked healthy to me. None of them can be diagnosed as deaf or blind or suffering from any handicap. But why are theses able-bodied men in jail?

Consequently, I reviewed our non-formal education program catering to their educational needs. NFE focuses on basic things that should be learned. Perhaps it is even more ambitious than Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) in its attempt to obtain the desired results even the prohibitive atmosphere of the jail.

The young people in the jail are apparently prone to oppression. As in most serious cases youth aggression is seen in two ways: sexual aggression or violent oppression. I had to reflect on how these thing cam to be. Not just based on the opinionated cognition of a possibly biased psychologist but more on the level of those who those who have really monitored these tendencies. May I therefore present two researches on these twin concerns.

First is the study, The Philosophy of Values Application in Current Social Context by Mercedita B. Caday, M.A. in Values Education form the University of the Asia Pacific. Here, the researcher made use of 340 respondents who were classified according to gender and age. Using a Likert Scale checklist, the researcher explored the many facets of human sexuality as experienced by young people.

Caday wanted to see how the adolescents understand themselves in terms of sexuality so that they can properly be guided in terms of human dignity.

In the study, she found that the moreal convictions of adolescents vary as evident based on their age. The younger groups of adolescents (males and females) have a stronger degree of moral convictions than the older groups of adolescents (males and females).

She also found that the adolescents are experiencing confusion as regards the dignity of human sexuality as seen in their conflicting beliefs. For example, they believe that children are blessings and treasures of families and yet they disagree to the idea that birth control or the use of contraceptives is anti-life practice. They also believe that marriage ought to be between one man and woman and yet they believe that homosexuality is a normal thing.

The students, or nay human being for that matter, are endowed with sexuality for good reasons, but because of perversions happening around them, they are having a hard time controlling themselves. To quote the researcher: “From here, he will know the importance of emotions and sexuality in relation to his spirituality. In the consideration of the spiritual aspect of man, the human body has is being dignified. He will also know that if emotion would not be subdued, the world would be in a tupsy turvy state; that if sexuality is to be separated from his spirituality, there would contradictions of the truths regarding the dignity of man. A male may contradict himself and insist on being a female or vise versa; a marriage is only a form of convenience and if there is an instance of inconvenience in marriage, what is right is just to cohabit without this natural institutions, a mother may deny herself of her essence by rejecting her femininity through contraceptives and abortions, a person may deny the spirituality of the human body through pornographies, drug addiction and other abuses…”

Emotion and sexual aggression can still however be controlled by solid and firm foundation. To quote from the research: “Emotions and sexual impulses could be subdued and controlled through the fostering of moral values, first through the family with its adherence to unity and solidarity. A child could be educated in values when parents themselves know and practice those values. And for the emotional development of the child, the parents have the society to aid them through formal education. However, society could not take away from the family its primordial role of education their children especially in delicate matters such as sex education.

The University of Asia and Pacific is well known for fostering values education - a subject area that is recently downplayed or simply integrated as teachers see it. We now turn to another research made by two proponents representing the Philippine Normal University school of thought, the PNU being also known for its vital impetus being given to values education.