“While I was browsing the pages, I saw her answers and explanation. The instruction on the paper said ‘Bilugan ang mga laruang pambabae at ikahon ang laruang panlalaki.’ I told her to only encircle those that are for girls, box if its for the boys, and that her answers here are all wrong. She might get zero marks. I let her explain why she answered it like that,” she added.
“Ate, ang laruan kase pwede naman lahat yan sa babae at sa lalake eh. Ako nga diba naglalaro naman ng kotse kotse-han at dinosaur. Lalaki ba ako? Diba hindi naman? Edi pwede to sa babae. Parang damit Ate diba? Pag ang lalaki nagdamit ng dress, hindi naman agad bakla diba? Eto talaga si Ate hindi marunong.
Sobrang napatawa na lang din ako. Kasi akalain mo ‘yun, in that young mind she had broken one gender stereotype na we often took for granted and treat it like it’s a non significant issue kasi it’s just the way it is. Then she opened this up. I am so ashamed of myself for telling her that her answers were wrong. If her teacher marks this wrong, I’ll still be very proud of how she justified her answers. Besides, it’s the lesson she learned that mattered not the numerical grade which she could easily get naman.
Ayesha’s been like that ever since. I also remember one time na nag-aaway kami ng younger brother ko and sya while listening to us argue told my brother na ‘Kuya, ang bad mo. Ang babae, nirerespeto at minamahal, hindi sinasaktan.’ Or something like: “Okay lang naman magpakasal ang babae at babae pati lalaki at lalaki kasi love nila isa’t isa eh. Walang masama naman dun diba?’ ‘Mahal kaya ng Diyos kahit bakla ka o tomboy basta dapat mahal mo sarili mo.’
Sobrang na amaze lang talaga ako kasi these are not the usual answers of a Kinder/Grade 1 student. Ang lawak lang ng tingin nya sa mga bagay na ganun. I am really a proud sister .”
Credit: Dianne Agura
Well, as a teacher myself, I kind of agree with Dianne when she said that she somehow is proud of this little brainy girl who clearly justified her answers. Even if I am a teacher, I myself can see the little girl’s point of view. Gender stereotyping was long taught to us in our classrooms and was also followed from one generation to the other but somehow the generation is changed. As we can see, our students now are more different from that before. There are times when what we teachers are telling them might not be wholeheartedly accepted by our children today. The educational system is changed and so as our students. What we think is not accepted before is now clearly accepted by many and that is also what our students are learning. Maybe, we will just have to admit that not everything we teach in the four walls of our classroom will then be accepted by everybody because nowadays what prevails is what we see with our naked eyes. Our students now are more exposed to social media that they can easily see the difference between what their teachers told them what they saw and believe.
This may be the time that educators evaluate and reconsider the things of the past that have changed and will somehow accept some changes so that our students nowadays will not be confused. It is just like in the work of the philosophers like Plato when he shared the allegory of the cave (try to research the allegory for yourself and see what I am saying). We should always consider that some of our students have a wider view of the reality before us and may try to reason with us if they get more and more curious about the things that they seemed to consider good but is actually taught the opposite (it’s for you to dig my point). – Clea | Helpline PH
