The Filipino Student

   Being a high school student anywhere in the world is no joke and being a Filipino high school student is no joke either. From homes to schools, we, the Filipino youth, are raised and trained to be hard-working and productive citizens of the world. My name is Earl and I'm going to blog about the everyday High School life of a Filipino student starting now.

   

    The Philippine education system (until 2012), unlike from other countries, used to be comprised of 1 year of nursery school, 2 years of Kindergarten, 6 years of Elementary School, 4 years of High School and finally College (years may vary depending on the course or the field the student is studying). But recently in 2012, the Philippine government changed the system to the 'K-12' education system similar to that of the US and Australia. All students who graduated Elementary school on School Year 2011-2012 were the first batch to expreience the new system. I consider myself very fortunate to not have reached the new system for the reason that the new system adds 2 more years of High School which means 2 more years worth of money to be spent on Fare, food, Etc. 

   I am now in my 4th year of High School (last year of High School before I go to College). I graduated Elementary School in S.Y. 2009-2010. Elementary school was not very challenging for me compared to High School. My class is mostly composed of 16 year olds and a few 14-15 year olds (I'm 15 years old). I don't have any classes today  because today is Sunday.Classes here in the Philippines is different compared to most countries. In public schools (where I go to school), 30-80 students in the same year-level are assigned into one classroom together to form a what we call 'Section', where they become permanent classmates until graduation. Students do not choose there own subjects and time schedules. The teachers rotate their schedules to teach their subject to one classroom in one specific hour of the day and to another classroom in another specific of hour and this system usually goes on throughout the whole school year. The first subject usually starts around 7:30 am for a whole hour then another subject after that hour. Students go to school as early as 6 am everyday to prepare for classes and goes home mostly around 5 pm. This is a daily schedule. At 12 pm, we have our 1 hour lunch break where we chat together about class and "finalize" homework. Then at exactly 1 pm classes usually resume. All in all there are about 8 subjects us students sit through throughout the whole day and classes usually end on exactly 4 pm  everyday.

  The life of a Filipino student does not stop here. I still have so much to discuss about being a Filipino High School student. So please watch out for more of the yet-to-come blog posts I'm going to post here if you want to know more of how being a student here in the Philippines can be quite stressful and enjoying at the same time. Peace.