How does the concept and reality of space play a role in schooling and community?
The concept of space is not one that I had considered when initially defining an essential question for the Teachers for Global Classrooms field experience. The Green Tiger: The Costs of Ecological Decline in the Philippines, the $3 bargain book I found online, triggered in me multiple questions, and I eventually, tentatively, decided to explore how local and ecological issues are facilitated in the classroom. However once I arrived in Quezon City, part of Metro Manila, the question seemed less feasible. Not ‘escaping’ the city of 12 million people for the three weeks made it harder to see any of the issues I had been reading about, and as I quickly learned, the Filipino curriculum is a nationally based modular system and while there is leeway for teachers to tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of their students, I realized my question was not the right one for the time and place I was in. Over the course of several days both in and out of classrooms, crossing busy streets, watching and talking with people, the concept of how space is used and how space helps create and guide the metro community began to become a stronger concept, leading to the question How does space exist and not exist in Metro Manila Filipino society, in particular with respect to schooling?
Metro Manila is composed of almost 20 cities, and as a result, is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Due to a lack of city planning as the region evolved from smaller towns and communities over the last 400 years, there is little open space. While places such as Jose Rizal Monument and the University of the Philippines provide walking areas and places for families to picnic, green space and parks in general are not easy to find in many of the regions of the metro area I visited. However, along most medians in the major roads. significant planting of flowering shrubs is evident, and while bags of trash and broken concrete pile up on the streets, and trash truck are not commonly seen, I saw lots of government workers cleaning up leaves and trash from the medians themselves, and there seemed to be significant work in trying to keep clean median areas. For most of the time though it was a city of contrasts. Along Katiputnan Avenue in Quezon City, piles of trash and rotting garbage pile up on the sidewalks already littered with cars and broken concrete. Next to these piles, a young boy is paid to sweep up the little pieces of trash that blow in front of the business, and the young woman is constantly mopping the tiled lobby of the hotel in which I stay. People keeping their space clean. Almost everywhere in the city there are potted plants crammed into tiny spaces. Plants were not limited to the rooftop apartments and on the most crowded or impoverished streets, there was evidence of people keeping their space green.
Space has a different meaning in the living situations of people in Metro Manila, and perhaps outside the city too. Here houses are on top of houses; larger more well kept houses abut smaller houses, and homes that many of us would struggle to call homes, house multi-generational families. Underpasses on the highways are houses for some, using mattress springs and corrugated metal as the walls and roof, with laundry lines hanging from the concrete legs of the road above. Jeans and t-shirts of every color hang limply in the warm muggy city air, in shanty towns or on modest rooftops and it is impossible not to marvel at the ability of people practically living on the street to maintain white school uniform shirts for their children.
During the almost three weeks in Metro Manila, I was able to visit many areas. Almost all contained combinations of business and residential areas, crowded with people and vehicles, trash, street venders, smiling faces, shoppers, school kids walking home. Global City is different. Built in the last 3-10 years on an old military base within Metro Manila, this area is a expanse of tall expensive high rise buildings, both commercial and residential. Everything is laid out on a grid, and non-filipino chain stores line the avenues. Walking around here I could have been in so many modern shopping/living places in the world, and I mentally changed the world ‘Global’ in to ‘Generic’...I realized that the image I had of Metro Manila had to change, and that this space had allowed city and business planners to bring in new concepts to their city.
While I did see distinct regions of Metro Manila, such as Global City, and the downtown area of Makati, many of the other regions on the surface seemed similar in terms of space. Unlike the city where I live where neighborhoods are more distinct economically, much like many western cities where neighborhoods are well defined, in Metro Manila, it tends to be less defined. While there are many gated communities in each of the cities making up Metro Manila, even these were not in one area, and a resident who has a armed guard at the gate of their community overlooks smaller homes and poverty from their balcony in many areas.
While I did see distinct regions of Metro Manila, such as Global City, and the downtown area of Makati, many of the other regions on the surface seemed similar in terms of space. Unlike the city where I live where neighborhoods are more distinct economically, much like many western cities where neighborhoods are well defined, in Metro Manila, it tends to be less defined. While there are many gated communities in each of the cities making up Metro Manila, even these were not in one area, and a resident who has a armed guard at the gate of their community overlooks smaller homes and poverty from their balcony in many areas.
I was reminded too that space is different when looking at the insides of people's homes, and it reminds me again of how landscape and space play significant roles in housing design. One of the teachers shared with me how she had rented a one room apartment to live in with her two sons for a few years. It was the size of my hotel room at the Oracle hotel, less than 200 square feet. Even in Global City, a place where new development allows for innovation and change, apartments are often 60 square meters, or less than 700 square feet. More akin to cities like New York than Albuquerque (my home, where space is less of an issue), people live in much closer proximity. Space is also different when it comes to who lives together. In western society, it has become a trend for older members of the community to end up living in elder care facilities and not in family space. Culturally this is very different in the Philippines and for many Filipinos I learn that it is somewhat inconceivable to not consider having family members live and stay together. Multi-generation families live together and the market for elderly residential care is very limited. Some consider it a sign that the family is non-caring if they do not house their aging parents. Indeed, one of the classroom projects I observed was students designing a residential care facility but it was prefaced with an interesting conversation about why these older community members could not be housed with their families, a concept foreign to many of the students.
Perhaps most startling with regard to Metro Manila space is that of traffic, traffic patterns and transportation. While there are major highways in Metro Manila, most roads are cluttered with people in vehicles of multiple descriptions trying to make their way. A thirty minute ride on a Sunday morning, may take upwards of two hours during the week. A six lane road becomes eight vehicles wide and in many instances, four lanes narrow into one, creating bottlenecks, the likes most of us have never seen. U-turns lanes on the major roads slow the traffic down, as traffic pulls in to what should be the faster outside lane. I stand on the bridge that is the only way to cross the street looking down as cars and buses pull out in front of each other while motorbikes and cyclists weave in and out. These vehicles are inches from each other at all time. The two second rule of distance promoted at home is laughable here. Jeepneys crowded with people belch their way along these roads and side streets, and a small boat service ferries people across the somewhat trash strewn Pasig river that divides the metro area. A trolley service, more akin to a supermarket trolley powered by flip-flopped feet than a San Francisco style trolley, takes me via the railroad tracks when a train is not coming, back across the river, and I find myself riding through a trash strewn grassy space where the residents are grazing their goats and raising their cocks for fighting later. This is all becoming normal and I no longer flinch as our car pulls out 90 degrees to the oncoming bus, nor does it bother me that I can hear the man sneeze in the jeepney next to me. My sense of space has changed.
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With regards to traffic, I expect to see more anger and frustration in the residents, more accidents, more yelling and shouting. But it is rare in general. People seem used to and perhaps resigned to the time it takes to get places. People get up early in Manila. Markets and streets are bustling by 6 or 7 am. Only on Sundays do the roads seem to open up. On these days, after church, families congregate in outdoor areas to picnic and take walks around the park. Along with the chaos of the roads, we began to question the effects of this lack of space on the residents. I question the chaos in the lungs of the Filipinos as they breathe in the air, filling the space in their air sacks, their alveoli, with carbon monoxide and other pollutants. I spend time trying to find statistics on asthma and other lung diseases, and while I find that there are several air quality monitoring stations around the city, most are above the accepted levels although improvements are happening.
The more time I spend in Metro Manila, the more the concept of space interests me, and how space, as a concept affects everyone. Even the current president of the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III apparently has moved out of the Presidential Palace across the river to a smaller building because, as I was told, he thinks the palace is too big for him. But how does space define and affect the schools and the students of Metro Manila and what are the correlations with society?
During my visit, although I was primarily assigned to Ateneo de Manila high school in Quezon City, a private Jesuit all boys school, I visited many schools, both public and private, in other parts of the Metro Manila area. With no exception classroom sizes are much bigger than those of the USA -in general 40-70 students per class depending on the type of school, size of the room and age of the students. Some school structure their day with a two shift system as there are too many students for all the facilities and some students begin school at 6 or 7am while others take the afternoon ‘shift’.
In terms of classroom space, there is a variety. At Ateneo, each class has approximately forty boys, housed in relatively large but basic classrooms. By contrast, a public school in a reclamation area of the city (where people who used to live on a trash dump were rehoused) has to fit fifty or more students in a room no more than six by seven or eight meters. Literally, students chair desks touch the ones on two sides, with a small gap in front for access. Most of the schools in the city, independent of private status or not, do not have air conditioning and the spaces are 'cooled' through open windows on both sides of the room or just a metal grid in the wall where a window would have been. Ceiling fans are in many classrooms, but in some of the schools don’t work, or when they do rotate loudly. Most schools are also several storeys high and with open windows and large school populations (6000 or more students in some), the noise is constant. Sitting in some classrooms I can hear the hum of the traffic on the road right outside and I marvel at how the students are able to hear and concentrate. The space is full of sound.
Space too is limited for teachers. Students stay in their classroom, leaving it only to get lunch, use the restroom, or go to science lab class, if the school has a lab, or in some cases, voc-tech classes. Teachers are the ones who rotate rooms, carrying the items that they needed, only to return them to their workroom at the end of the day. At Ateneo each teacher has a cubicle that is their own that they use for storage and for working. Computer access is via the adjoining computer lab. Other schools have only lockers for the teachers and grading and planning is done at a workbench in a community room not much bigger than the smallest classroom and computers are in the school library. As a result, the classrooms on the surface can, to a casual observer, appear more stark than in the USA, lacking in color and posters, but the starkness is moderated and hidden by the enthusiasm and smiles of the students.
Space also takes on a different meaning in terms of how the school classes are set up. Unlike high school in the USA where students move to different classes with different groups of students for each subject and moved 5-8 times per day, in the Filipino school system, in general, students stay in a class group for all topics for several years. While there are variations from school to school, and often tracking and examinations are involved in allocation of students to classes, a class of students stays together for multiple years. At Ateneo for example, it is rare that a boy leaves the school and so the forty boys are together for three years, and I get the sense that over time they become more like brothers. While I observe more gregarious and rambunctious boys in the class, there are others who are very quiet and reserved and yet there appears to be genuine affection and respect for each other and a sense of safety and sense of community and respect. Even at lunch times, when boys leave the room to go to the cafeteria, often they return with their food to eat with members of their class, and a strong sense of community developed as a result.
Another practice or philosophy that is dominant in Ateneo but observed in the other schools too is the lack of space when it comes to combining education and religion. Many schools have a student say a prayer before each class, and sometimes at the end of the class. The Catholic Church is the dominant religion in the Philippines (although there is a large Latter Day Saints and muslim population in the Philippines) and religion plays a significant role in the development of the students in many of the private schools in the Philippines, and also among the public ones. In most classrooms I observe a cross on the wall and prayers being said in the classrooms. Many schools integrate service learning into their practices and the overlap of this with religious practices and personal practices is not just symbolic, but part of the fabric of the school and greater community.
As with all the schools we visited, part of the Filipino education system is to integrate and find space for Filipino culture. All schools require students to learn Filipino, although all regular education classes are supposed to be taught in English. Many students outside of Metro Manila also speak a local dialog and so the benefits and challenges of three languages are part of the everyday educational system and for individuals in learning. A desire of the schools to teach us more about the Filipino culture is evident with every visit. At all the schools we are greeted by students singing and/or dancing an/or playing music about their history and culture. The generosity to share learning and information and gifts with us is endemic, but goes beyond the ‘show and tell for guests’ and I come away with a strong sense of Filipino pride in their diversity and customs. Indeed, one school’s vision is “We dream of Filipinos who passionately love their country and whose values and competencies enable them to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation.” As I listen to and watch students in every school sing to us, I wonder what songs my school would sing to Filipino visitors. I cannot come up with an answer.
One last observation of space with regards to education is student leadership and responsibilities. At Ateneo as with many of the other schools I visit, students are expected to take on significant and important leadership roles and work directly with faculty and staff to facilitate events and classes integral to the school. Students also take on daily roles as classroom leader and the overlap between teachers and students is greater. The academic space between them seems smaller. Side by side with this however is the generational respect and space that is obvious to us visiting teachers from day one. Whenever we (or another adult) enter a classroom, students stop what they are doing, stand, and greet us with “Good morning visitors”. Once they get to know us however, the physical proximity decreases quickly, especially if a camera is available and the ubiquitous ‘selfie’ shot breaks down barriers faster than any conversation can.
So how do the school observations of space overlap the societal ones? In part, lifestyle. Students get up at 4:30 or so in the morning in order to have enough time to eat and travel to the school. in Metro Manila with the traffic situation, it can take a significant amount of time to get to school even if the student lives only a few miles away. While walking to school may seem simple if distance is not an issue, the crowded streets and traffic make it slower and more hazardous than it is in the USA. For many students personal time and space after school is taken up by school or personal responsibilities. Ateneo boys are often at school 10 or more hours per day, with one to three hours of travel depending on traffic. At Ateneo, as with many other schools, many students have a family member, a parent, working overseas. In the airport there is a line to enter to airport gates dedicated to overseas Filipino workers and prior to the trip I watched a documentary on Filipino teachers working in the Baltimore School District during the school year and returning home for the summer. In speaking with a staff member at Ateneo, I was reminded how many Filipino students’ emotional space may not be filled, as their parents are working overseas. For many students here, as compared to the USA, students are required to take on more responsibility and ‘grow up faster’ both in the school and at home as a result of the ‘space’ determined by global economics.
Another challenge faced by the Philippines, although shared with many countries, is the balance between space for the Filipino culture and the surge of globalization, in particular the influence of western consumer practices. While we saw strong cultural practices in all the schools, outside of the schools, Filipinos are surrounded by different cultural pulls. New developments such as Global City, while beautiful and spacious in their own way, dilute the historical culture of the country. Throughout Metro Manila, billboards tout more western lifestyles, filled with images of non-asian models. Restaurants and supermarkets are filled with processed western foods and in speaking with a Filipino doctor, my assumptions that heart disease and diabetes are on the rise are supported….in that respect it is very similar to home.
Now I am 'home'. My space and my community has changed once more. I am back 'to normal' so to speak. I have more space, the immediate culture is different and instead of seeing people everywhere and buildings everywhere, the Sandia Mountains rise up 5,000 feet a mile beyond my house and I can be on my street and often see no-one. Internally though, my view has changed. I am fuller and have more perspectives. More people in my heart. My new challenge is to how to grow this past year's experience and to share it and my new understandings with my students and my community. I think I am up for the challenge.