of mr.holland's opus and jovit baldovino

i saw the movie mr. holland's opus at hbo.....and the movie made me cry. i cried on the part where mr. holland sang for his son who lost his hearing when he was still a boy. an irony for mr. holland, who is a music teacher and a composer. but the reason why i wrote something about the movie is not about the emotion i felt. it is something else.

it is about education.

on the latter part of the movie, mr. holland was told by the principal that the music program will be cut including arts and drama. mr. holland felt it was a personal vendetta of the principal because since the start of mr. holland's music program, this principal (he was then an assistant principal) was against it. there were many attempts by this principal to cut it before, but he did not succeeded. and now that the board of education has to cut budget because of financial constraints, the principal saw an opportunity to implement his desire, and decided that of all the programs in the school's curriculum, the music program of mr. holland should be the first to go. this scenario made me reflect.........

is it not also true that in our school system, music and the arts are not given much attention?

schools all over the country are focusing on reading. they are measured by the nat and if the nat score of the students are low - the reading skills of the students are always referred to as the culprit. so teachers are focusing their energy on reading. the efforts of the teachers and even the resources of the school are directed on enhancing reading skills and even in the review of students for the national achievement test or the nat. music and the arts are not given much attention. it is not even taught in some schools.

but inspite of this total neglect for music, arts and drama in the schools, thousands would flock for auditions in singing competitions such as pilipinas got talent.....talentadong pinoy, search for the singing stars.....pinoy idol, etc. many more would try their luck to acting.....dancing....miming.....and other acts which are closely related to music , arts and drama. filipinos love to sing. in fact the karaoke fever started in the philippines - yet, it is the most neglected subject in the schools.

recently, the philippine music industry saw the rise of one jovit baldovino, the pilipinas got talent 2 million winner. a poor kid from batangas who tried his luck to audition and ultimately won the prize.

but the BIG QUESTION IS... did the school make a JOVIT BALDOVINO?
there were many jovit baldovinos before - like nora aunor and recently charise pempenco. but did the school made all of them?

if filipinos are that good in music then schools should overhaul the curriculum and their programa offerings.

i believe that for the schools to become so meaningful it should make the curriculum relevant and cause the making of a - jovit baldovino. what i mean is that the talent of students in music , acting, dancing, and the arts should have been nurtured and refined in the schools....a nurturing that should have been the reason why they make it big in the music industry or in the film industry.

COME TO THINK OF THIS: is it not meaningful for the school, if mr.baldovino won in the contest because A CERTAIN MR. HOLLAND TRAINED HIM IN THE SCHOOL UNDER THE MUSIC PROGRAM ?


just thinking........