September Snippets: The Need to Educate a Younger Generation

A few days after giving the lecture on editorial and opinion column writing during the school publication adviser's training at Angono National High School, I was notified again by URS Angono extension unit head, Ma'am Annie Balbuena that another lecture in the same venue is on the works. This time, the session will be for the elementary and high school students who are part of different school publications.

I just made some clarification with Ma'am Annie on a few things about the event before preparing for my talk, which was more relaxed this time. And since I mentioned the importance of knowing your audience (or readers) during my previous lecture,  I only did a few revisions on the material that I used a week before to make it relevant to the new batch of attendees.

Talk about relaxed from the discussion to the outfit -- because this is just a repeat :-D

I arrived to a room full of 126 students on the morning of September 19, but this number was eventually split into different groups. I want to believe that there was a reason as to why my schedule for the lecture fell on a Thursday; because while I sat on the designated area for guest speakers (my mentor, Ma'am Cez Rañola-Villegas was also scheduled to give a talk on feature writing that day), looking at the students as they settle in their seats left me with a thought running in my head.

These kids were just like me back then.

My lecture with the students were done in 45 minutes, and it was fun and interesting. I also used a "question and answer" segment and it showed the competitive side of the kids. While a great number of participants were first timers, there were also quite a few who were attentive and had an idea of what was being discussed. However, when we reached the competition part, that was when the other realizations started sinking in.

I had to raise an issue with the entries and informed one of the organizers that we could not declare a winner for the elementary category in editorial writing; because of this, the participants had to be called back the next day for another  round of competition.

I took this photo with the hopes that after an hour, there will finally be a winner.

Repeating the competition meant a return appearance for me the next day. As I observed these elementary campus journalists while doing their task (after having to redo the explaining, and providing them with a different contest material), next to thinking about a few shortcomings that I may have overlooked the day before, the message sent by one of my former staff writers, Michael Ray hit me:

The challenge now is how to teach journalism to young minds and instill it to them in this age where they are more exposed to using social media instead of spending time to read a newspaper.

And he was right. At the start of my lecture the day before, I had to hide my disappointment when only a student from the crowd raised a hand after I asked who among them still reads a newspaper. The problem about being too immersed in technology and social media further became evident when I saw how some students view current events. Unlike high school students who can somehow grasp the idea of editorial and opinion column articles, discussing the same topic to a younger group of elementary students is challenging and would entail an amount of patience. 

One of them even labelled journalists as "expert gossip mongers" (or in simple terms, chismoso) in his/her contest entry which made me to candidly think for a moment that maybe, I should just sell my college diploma. 


But on a more serious note, while a few of my friends were proud and happy with what I have done and accomplished, the need to educate young minds on the importance of verifying facts, and being aware about issues involving the country and its citizen in this time of rampant AI and social media dependency is a serious matter. This is a "chief complaint" that needs to be taken seriously, and addressed attentively because next to the elderly population, the young mind is prone to being a prey to twisted truths and false information.

Despite the unforeseen situation that occurred, I was just happy to have done my part of imparting my skills, time, and expertise in shaping the minds of these aspiring campus journalists. And if I should be invited again to another opportunity similar to this one, I would still respond with a resounding yes -- and I aim to do better; because by doing these talks and lectures, I am not just teaching kids about the importance of the profession. It also gives me a significant purpose. 


(Photos courtesy of Sir Bernard Jaz Bautista Sanchez and Ms. Maria Cecilia R. Villegas)

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