Ranking lowest in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2020, the reading comprehension of students in the Philippines is brought to the spotlight. In terms of reading, findings indicated that over 80 percent of Filipino students tested failed to reach the minimum level of proficiency. The report also highlighted other areas of concern: competence in science and mathematics, student backgrounds, and situation in schools.

Reactions to this report were numerous. Commentators pointed to a deficient system of education that needs both funding and restructuring. In all this, reading culture plays an important role as the foundation of effective education. In fulfilling its shortcomings, one must thus investigate its history and place it in the present context.

Offset

Almost all human knowledge is written and stored for posterity. Carl Kaestle, former president of the National Academy of Education in the US, outlined the development of literacy in his paper on the history of literacy. Initially, pictures were used to represent ideas, and eventually these came to represent individual sounds, as was the case with Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Greek alphabet. Putting together these symbols made possible the recording of knowledge. Along with it is the capacity to read. Besides the oral, there then evolved a reading tradition passed on from one generation to the next.

Folk tales are thus written as literature, and societies began cultural and historical recording. Scribes were trained and employed in maintaining these records. Often, the resources needed to attain literacy were enormous, and thus literacy was exclusive to these scribes in governments that formed a bureaucrat class, as were in Ancient China and Mesopotamia. Technological advancements from then on have allowed for an expansion of the literati.

The coming of the printing press made more efficient what then took laborious hours of manually copying written text. Rising urban centers of trade and commerce in Renaissance Europe gave birth to a new middle class with resources to receive education and be literate. Yet, despite these developments, the tradition of reading remains inaccessible to many who have neither the financial nor social resources.

Today, digitization is revolutionizing education, with schools moving from traditional printed materials to online platforms of learning, replacing the chalk-and-board with PowerPoint and books with e-books and online modules. The push towards digitization is rapidly changing the tradition of reading across the world, and it is no exception in the Philippines.

Paper Jam

The PISA report shows a picture of the reading tradition in the Philippines, and the resulting reactions point to an underdeveloped culture of reading and system of education. Among PISA participants, the Philippines spends the lowest for every student in terms of funding. Schools report shortage of staff and higher education material. In both cases of student underperformance and material shortage, the socioeconomically advantaged fared far better than their disadvantaged peers.

In terms of readership, the 2017 National Book Development Board Readership Survey showed that 80 percent of adults and 92 percent of children surveyed had read non-school books in either print, e-book or audio format. But wide readership does not translate to a healthy reading culture characterized by criticality and reading comprehension, and despite a basic literacy rate of 97.95 percent, this still leaves much to be desired.  Public schools may be stocked up with books, but of questionable quality, and access to public libraries is still limited.

In ancient societies, literacy was restricted to a small proportion of the population. Former professor of social anthropology at Cambridge University Jack Goody and literary critic Ian Watt described these societies as “oligoliterate.” Full participation in the reading culture, still inaccessible to many, remains a form of present-day oligoliteracy. Developing such an inclusive culture necessitates opening it up to the masses through different means.

In the information age, digital media is seen as an alternative to print. Challenges, however, remain as only about 40 percent of Filipinos have access to the internet. A complete and outright shift to digital media could only lead to a larger oligoliteracy as sectors of society remain reliant on print media for information.

The Department of Education estimates that around 85 percent of Filipino students are in public schools, and 74 percent of these schools lack internet connection, which makes the sector tied to textbooks as tools for instruction. In some places, there is simply an absence of such materials.

Troubleshooting

In restructuring education, it becomes necessary to assess the material conditions of the people and to adjust accordingly. Otherwise, further development widens oligoliteracy and leaves some sectors at a disadvantage. Among the tools for development is technological advancement and digitization, and it is important to determine how compatible these advances are in a society beset by poverty and maleducation.

As history progresses, so too do the ways we read, write, store and access information. Yet progress can only go as far as the people behind it and the purposes they serve. Digital media, with all its conveniences and potential, cannot yet wholly trump the print, as the very people that the former intends to serve stand far distant from it. Print media keeps alive a reading culture in humbler abodes and communities, which form the bulk of the educational system’s beneficiaries.

There is no doubt that the advances made possible by literacy with a strong reading culture are innumerable. However, as has been shown by history, often participation in these advances are exclusive to a few who have the skill set and resources needed to access and digest information.

If we are to improve our level of education, advancements must consider the means with which it could be accessed by the people. A blossoming national culture of reading can only be fully realized when the means of information correspond with where the people are, both in print and electronic. ●

* Apologies to Will Rogers. Published in print in the Collegian’s February 11, 2020 issue with the title “Pressing on the Print.”