Research and Information

Today's topic at training was Research and how to teach it to SHS. The facilitator seemed knowledgeable. Unfortunately, her audience, on their 12th day of "incarceration" were either too tired, too preoccupied (with their gadgets as the hotel offered free wifi) or just naturally shutting down their brain stem at the mere mention of the word "research". Research isn't exactly a strength among basic education teachers. Many of them struggled thru their Master's just so they could get a more respectable rank. In many divisions, research is synonymous to the local government's additional COLA of 1500/month. Or so I discovered.

I remember that years ago, as a teacher in a very research-oriented university along Taft Ave., I made the mistake of revealing my lack of interest in research. I think that was the beginning of my downfall in the eyes of my superiors. I eventually began to appreciate research's role in the academic profession but I wasn't able to cultivate a good enough reputation in it. Proof is the fact that my dissertation took too long to be defended and when I finally did, my panel already had made up their minds it wasn't good enough. Not that it was the worst paper they have ever read. But that's another issue. 

I have since taught Intro to Research to technology students somewhere near Morayta. I loved the subject. I enjoyed teaching it and getting my students started in the wonderful word of sociological research. They didn't have much use for it though bec by the time they got to thesis writing, a whole new angle to research is presented or forced on them, that of the technological kind. They even forgot the importance of honesty in the use of sources. All they cared about was the design or program their thesis was all about. 

Research is also not a strong suit of Filipinos in general. There are very few people who are into it. Many Pinoys seem averse to the "tedious" process of finding out more and that they'd rather accept what ever info is presented to them despite the obvious irregularity, lack of logic and truth in it. Google has made info so accessible that many Pinoys take it for granted. Instead of making the search engine their friend, they have become too lazy to use it to their advantage. It's like settling for the info received thru the grapevine or the neighborhood gossip. Many would readily believe the tall tales bec verifying them would just take time.

Several times, the problem of fake news was mentioned by almost every facilitator we've had. The teachers seem to acknowledge it but so far no effort was made to discuss it further. Yes, even if the queen of fake news has recently been rewarded for her achievements in it. The talk centered only on how much she would be getting. Nothing much on how she has twisted the appreciation for the truth and the factual on socmed. The teacher seated near me even pointed to (and ready to believe) the latest fake story of two senators holding hands on the street. I was just quick enough to correct him. Good to note that his source was FB and mine was Twitter. We do realize though that it's not really the platform but the user. This morning there was this misleading use of a still photo from Coco Martin's teleserye to depict the worsening drug situation in the country. And that's from Reddit, supposedly a better, more reliable platform than FB. 

Anyway, information is power and in this age of Trump and Duterte, false information is more powerful than facts  it seems. It has won elections for the undesirables and unimaginables. I don't know when we are going to come around and realize the value of research and the pursuit of facts but obviously we can't just rely on our educators. Not yet. They, too, are in the infancy stage when it comes to research and its rewards.