Our public school textbooks need a companion anthology

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As I read the life accounts of some of my favorite writers, I noticed a recurring reason they developed a love for reading at a young age. They either had a mini library at home or a relative lent them books. This access to books, I’d like to point out, really made a difference.

I can’t help but imagine our students in public schools enjoying the same advantage. We often complain that students today don’t read, but even with programs meant to encourage them, do they have books within their grasp?

In 2024, the Department of Education implemented a national reading program, aptly named Catchup Fridays. One shortcoming, however, and ironic as it may seem: No book was released exclusively for it. It was like marketing the benefits of reading but failing to provide students with something good to read. For the record, the program was already terminated.

Producing a new kind of book, not a module, for any program to promote reading is both reasonable and practical. Yet producing alone does not suffice. The type of text selected for the book is not something to be downplayed. This time, the content is the real deal.

DepEd might take inspiration from the kind of book distributed to public schools in the postwar years. Judging from its content, the book was an anthology. It was about the size of half a standard bond paper but packed with “good literature.” It was good because the prose came from Filipino writers prominent in the era.

The selections, I’ve noticed, were not very long, which I suppose was deliberate. Back then, I’d complain when our high school teacher gave us a short story for our reading report, but the story appeared to be very long. How can it be short when it runs for pages? I’d protest in private. Reading, no matter how we frame it, is taxing and boring, at least for many of us, and surely for our learners. So length must be a criterion, in view of what’s obvious: Our students have short attention spans.

There is prose that seems never-ending, prose that is filled with long, paragraph-heavy sentences. Take, for example, the works of Nick Joaquin. His writings might carry the hallmark of fine literature, but they are not the best option. I’d say they are not suitable for our high school learners.

Joaquin’s work is not just long; the language, especially his syntax, is also too intricate for young learners. How much gray matter is required? I couldn’t tell. Not to judge how their minds work, because even I, a regular reader, would take several rereadings just to unpack the writer’s puzzling thoughts. The selections, therefore, should be relatively short and manageable.

How about introducing stories that are catchy?

I think it’s time we put our local tales at the centerpiece. On my shelf, there’s a book that compiles the oral narratives of Leyte. The tales are noir, magical, and infused with humor and local color; in essence, they’re interesting. The collection includes the local variant of the iconic Snow White, where the antagonist offers rice cakes instead of a poisoned apple. If the stories in the book fascinated me, how much more our students, whose minds are still receptive to wonder, fantasy and magic?

The inclusion of this kind of selection might change their notion of reading. Such a draw because the narratives are ours, reminiscent of the stories our lolas and lolos used to tell at nighttime or during brownouts.

We’re hitting two birds with one stone if local narratives are picked. Aside from their ability to capture attention, the move will also help preserve our literary heritage from extinction.

But will we forget the stories that have gained critical praise? Or those that have been used perennially in textbooks? While we can’t go wrong with the classics, it’s time, however, to honor the voices of young talents whose works breathe the “now” of politics and other matters that affect us all today.

Narratives exploring themes like identity, protest and resistance, and globalization, among others, touch on the relatability factor. The department might source materials from Philippines Graphic Reader. The magazine claims to be the first and only magazine on Philippine literature in English. And for wider representation, there are outstanding works, fiction and nonfiction, from the Philippine South. The Cotabato Literary Journal, Bangsamoro Literary Review, Dagmay and Katitikan can provide strong selections.

I care too much about what the new kind of book should contain, but isn’t my wish for the education department to produce it unlikely?

I find it unlikely to be heard or granted, since procuring textbooks remains a struggle. The education department has yet to meet the nationwide demand. Money, of course, sits at the root of this struggle. The kind of book I’m proposing, however, won’t break the bank, if modeled after that anthology published decades ago. If it’s almost pocket-sized and printed on cheap paper, so be it.

Another good feature is that the book differs from the textbooks used in schools today. The regular textbooks, aside from being filled with bland expository texts, are also flooded with activities.

The problem with the current setup of our textbooks is that they are nothing short of worksheets. That’s one reason students loathe the idea of reading. Don’t get me wrong, the activities are meant to reinforce or check their understanding. The key, however, is to limit the exercises. In the anthology, this principle will be applied. The focus is on the selections. There may be checkup questions after each text, but only a few, because too many would drain students’ energy and diminish their interest.

The goal here, just to set things straight, is not to replace textbooks. Our textbooks, I believe, need a supplement or companion. Because in the end the fact remains: Getting our students to read is a pipe dream. What if this kind of investment could change the whole picture? If not this, what else?

Jeric Tindoy Olay is a teacher, poet and opinion writer from Macrohon, Southern Leyte. Recently, he has begun exploring creative nonfiction, and his first piece in this genre was published in Esquire Philippines.

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