Some lawmakers have proposed that Good Manners and Right Conduct be reinstated in the K to 12 program. When K to 12 was introduced seven years ago, GMRC was removed and integrated instead in other subjects in the curriculum.
1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro feels it is high time to remind the youth about core values. A similar bill was filed by Senator JV Ejercito.
There is no quarrel that children need to be taught the basics of human decency, especially at a time when so many communication channels vie for their attention. These distractions compete with the lessons preached or lived by their parents, teachers, and the immediate community.
The belief is that children need to be oriented, or re-oriented, to fundamental ways of behaving toward others and in the context of the larger society. These values, once ingrained in children at a young age, would stay with them and guide them as they progress in their lives.
Parents and teachers without needing to be told no doubt do all they can to prepare their children for life outside the home and school. These places are conservatories where elders are able to watch the words and actions of children, and correct them when they cross the line.
There are some who say that GMRC training should start even before children learn to read and write-—and we agree, if such training can be sustained well into adulthood.
We wonder, though, if there is such a thing as GMRC for adults who are now in charge of their own homes and organizations, who earn their own keep, and who recognize no higher authority.
We believe that when young people get out of school, they carry with them only idealism and good intentions. They do not necessarily go out into the world planning to be loudmouthed, arrogant, entitled, bigoted, or unfair to their fellowmen. They do not declare that they want to be plunderers or liars or killers when asked about their ambition.
It is when they are exposed to the realities—and the perks—of privilege that they usually forget the things taught to them as children, no matter how well-meaning and assiduous their parents and teachers were.
They allow these entitlements to addle their judgment and they become heady with the notion that they can do no wrong, and that they are above any norms.
Unfortunately, there is no grading system that can evaluate this, and no corrective measures can apply except the eventual consequences of their folly.