An argument against 'Filipino' in college

SABBATICAL NOTES. 20 JUN 2014. FRIDAY. N2. 
An argument against 'Filipino' in college. 

MY ARGUMENT IS simple: The schizophrenic Pilipino/Filipino dialect of the Tagalog language being rammed into the throat of every Ilokano, Kapampangan, Bikolano, Waray, Tausog, Mangyan, Kankanaey, Ifugao, Chavacano, and the rest is bad for our collective health. 

To keep it as a subject in General Education in college and university is poison.

To let it be included in the GE cluster is a waste of tuition money and student time.

There is no need to totally brainwash the already brainwashed peoples of the Philippines.

The peoples of the Philippines since pre-school have become subservient to the hegemonic educational system courtesy of naive nationalism and unproductive patriotism that we all rely on to rationalize this error that we have been doing for the last 90 years--this error of teaching them the Filipino dialect without at the same time teaching them their own language.

The Filipino dialect is not a language.

The Filipino dialect is not our 'sariling wika.' Let us call a spade a spade, despite the fact that some misguided academics say otherwise.

A dialect is not a language, but a segment of the already codified language, and that a change from 'titser' to 'guro' or otherwise as a change in the lexicon of the Tagalog in order to make it P/Filipino is one of the lousiest argument one can ever put forward to justify a mistake.

Somewhere, the advocates of 'Filipino' to be taught in college are all mistaken: there is no need for these people to waste the time of college and university students, a time that is needed (1) to make them come up with a reconnection to their own sense of self, language, and culture; and (2) to gain employable skills for their profession. Filipino the dialect has no economic value.

Apart from those teachers who will lose their job--some 10,290 of them who are full-time Filipino teachers--there is no other single argument that we can put forward to justify the teaching of this dialect without committing linguistic injustice and cultural tyranny.

I cite here the analysis of Tim Harvey. He has dissected what ills us all, and we must now name this illness as our 'eager-beaver' way of appeasing the naive nationalists and myopic patriots of the homeland. He says:

"The loss of 10,290 full-time instructors teaching Filipino in the tertiary level is an interesting argument. So, by the proponent's own admission, the policy has become a self-perpetuating, self-interested "make work" project.

"Considering that the largest and fastest growing single sector of the Philippine economy is the balikbayan economy founded on the exportation of human capital (in return for vital hard currency), and how little competency in Filipino plays a role in that (1), it seems that the work and economic argument would be better directed towards international languages (like English) that would support demand for Filipinos abroad.

"Of course, this is a continuation of the legacy of colonialism which Filipino seeks to put an end to. . . by ending the annual exportation of approximately 1 million Philippine workers, students and professionals so they can be diverted to become Filipino instructors in a glorious Filipino nation (that 70 years of this policy has failed to produce).

"I'm sorry if I may seem a little mocking of this argument. I'm afraid that I've become impatient with the hypocritical, self-serving, anti-intellectual arguments of the pro-Filipino faction.

"There is a justification for Filipino, that applies to the rest of the nation's languages. .. that is, the study and codification of all Philippine languages. Of course, as we know so well, such a more positive, embracing approach to Philippine languages (and culture) is decidely NOT the intention of Filipino which seeks to destroy them under Filipino neo-colonialism." [Retrieved from email, 20 Jun 2014)

Let the country understand that not every person in and outside the Philippines is a moron.

Let the country understand that there are so many people who mean well for the country, but these people have never been given the chance to say their piece.

Let the country understand that these thoughts are not reactionary thoughts but thoughts that are aimed at a better way of nation- and state-building.

20 Jun 2014/FELIPENAS