“Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy,” noted sci-fi writer Robert Anson Heinlein.

Meanwhile the Department of Education (DepEd) recently announced that incoming Grade 1 pupils will have “enjoyable, less burdensome” time in school under the K+12 curriculum starting June 2012.

“The new curriculum is centered more on the students rather on the traditional way of teaching which is focused on the teacher,” Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro said.

To achieve this, the lessons will be introduced using the mother tongue-based multi- lingual education or the language spoken by the pupils at home. Also, learners are only required to go to school for a half day, from 6 hours to 4 hours contact time only.

According to Luistro, the new curriculum will give a “real learning experience” for the students because less contact time means “less stress”—from the memorization of lessons and other expenses.

To top it all, the department will “drop” Science subject in Grade 1. “Science” will just be integrated in other subjects, this to make the curriculum “more child-friendly.”

The learning areas for Grade 1 will be Mother Tongue, Filipino, Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, Music, Art, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH), Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan and English—which will be taught in the second semester and will mainly focus on oral fluency.

This is all wrong.Doing this is not only a way of underestimating the capabilities of the children but also robbing them of educational opportunities.

Dropping “Science” as a subject would deprive pupils an ample opportunity to discover more of themselves and their world, particularly at this age where they are more “curious” and open-minded. More, dropping Science would limit the quality of thinking of the students, and eventually the quality of life in the country.

Dropping Science and shortening children’s school time should not be done this time while the department is still facing dearth in its human resources and trainings, modern instructional material, school buildings, and facilities, among others.

If we let the students get more vacant time outside the school, this means that more children will be seen on farms doing something for their parents’ livelihood (which could be tantamount to child labor) or in street corners doing nothing.

Indeed the idea is “enjoyable and less burdensome”, yet only to the parents and teachers themselves. (comments at naldronaldreyes@yahoo.)

By: Ronald O. Reyes