A Function of Filipino Culture?
I’ve been trying to understand something about the Filipino I know and I’m not sure if it is part of Filipino culture. It is something I often see. Is the education deficient? I often see a lack of knowledge in certain aspects of life in general. The two chief areas that I’ve been curious about are medical information and environment. I think a high rate of poverty is part of it but I do think it is in part due to Filipino culture. One thing I’m sure of it is not stupidity. When a foreigner insinuates that it gets my blood boiling. It really shouldn’t though, I should forgive the foreigners stupidity.
About two days ago, Jessie told me that “Cheryl’s baby stops breathing and turns white?” The baby is less than two months. Cheryl is 18 years old, a brand new mother as her baby is only two months old. Cheryl is a very sweet girl. Cheryl is uneducated and quite poor.
Jessie is 32, educated and not poor by Filipino standards. Jessie finished two years of college, comes from a family of school teachers, accountants and a politician here or there. Her brother is a Barangay captain. A middle class family. Jessie is a mother of three.
Neither of these two women knew about sudden infant mortality or crib death! I have been trying to come to terms with that. I learned about sudden infant mortality when I was about 12 from watching Marcus Welby MD. You’ll need to be above 40 to know what that show was about.
Public Service Campaigns To Influence Culture
Then there were the numerous TV campaigns that ran in the 70′s and 80′s about the problem. Parents often feel so guilty and the doctors have to consider child abuse in such cases so that compounds that sad aspect of this.
Then there are child birthing classes where more is taught on this. Since that happened more than 30 years ago for me, I have forgotten much. I told Jessie to look it up on the web as I remember there were some things that could be done to reduce the risk. I didn’t remember what though.
I was so glad when my children reached 2 years because I’m a worry wart and I was always afraid of it.
So I was baffled by neither of them knowing anything about this syndrome. I began to think of what I know about Filipino culture. Though there is no real answers there, I did come up with a couple of ideas.
One will not see the endless number of public service advertisements on TV in the Philippines. It is obvious that some problems in the Philippines scream out for this kind of information on TV.
Pollution comes to mind, Filipino have been dumping things in the sea for so long that it seems almost part of the culture. I do see concerns about the environment in the Philippines. Don’t get me wrong, there are attempts to increase public awareness on that. I see so many people throw litter into the sea. It makes Jessie angry and it makes me sad. Maybe I’ll shed a tear one of these days, thinking back to that old 70′s public service ad with the native American shedding a tear after someone throws trash onto the edge of the highway as they pass by.
I’m sure those kinds of ads had an effect on me. I know I became much more conscious of not just dropping an empty pack of chips on the street after I was done with it. We use to just drop things where ever we where.
I remember a lady getting out of her car to chastise my friend when he dropped an empty bag of chips onto the street. We where hanging out in downtown Jackson, Ms. while headed to the fair. I suppose that made a lasting impression on me, though I thought she was a little crazy. If she did something like that in this day and age in America, she might end up dead.
I think a Filipino doing something like that would extremely unusual. Confrontation is avoided in Filipino culture. The tend to stay out of other peoples business except in less overt ways, such as gossip.
And there were many medical awareness ads for things like MS and sudden infant death syndrome. Probably the most memorable one was the “VD is for everyone” campaign. Kind of funny when I look back on it.
Oh and who could forget the “This is your brain and this is your brain on drugs” campaign. Very effective for impressionable minds.
And the early classroom education about drugs managed to scare me away from them.
Education Influenced by Filipino Culture
Studends don’t have 12 grade levels in the Philippines. They have grade school of K through 6 and many don’t go to kindergarten. Then students enter high school. I think this is very much a part of Filipino culture. It wouldn’t surprise me that is some colonizing power didn’t also advocate this in order to the kids out of school and into working in the flields.
It is part of Filipino culture to share your funds with family. The poor and middle class need to get their children out of school faster so they can help support their families.
I did some research on the American education system as I wondered if grades 7 and 8 were always a
part of the American system. However, I found nothing regarding that. I do recall that the summer break developed in America because families needed their children back at the farm during the growing season.
I suspect that topics like human biology are steered away from in many education systems within the Philippines. That would explain things like a lack of knowledge about medical issues. This would certainly be influenced by Filipino culture.
Sex is quite taboo in the Philippines. Probably the most widely practiced taboo act in the world. Discussion of it, except while engaged in tsismis (gossip) is strictly forbidden in polite circles of Filipino culture.
This has to remove some of the fluff that American schools might have.
Conclusion
Perhaps Filipino are more private than most of us from the USA. It seems that way to be but it may only appear that way. That appearance could be more a function of communication styles.
One thing I’m certain of is that Filipino are bright. Maybe I shouldn’t even make that point but with all the negative talk from foreigners about the Philippines, I think it is necessary.
I do think the culture of the Philippines plays a role in some areas of knowledge. When a subject is taboo, it is hard to spread knowledge. Poverty certianly has an impact of Filipino culture too.
One might say that in the American system, there has been system brain washing through the public service campaigns and education. I have seen Filipino refer to the practices of the church in the Philippines but I only recall seeing that expressed by Filipino that are expats themselves.
I think expats living in the Philippines can increase their enjoyment of living here with a better understanding of Filipino culture. I will continue to explore the culture of the Philippines and discuss my observations. To understand the Philippines, understanding its culture is crucial. I have learned enough about Filipino culture to know that is absolutely essential. I have much more to learn about Filipino culture than I already know.
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Tagged with: Expats • Filipino Culture • Foreigners • Living In The Philippines • Philippines
Filed under: Filipino Culture
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Wow really like the side scroll layout, it moves fast and seems to increase load speed.
I think the churches influence on the culture is a major factor in the lack of education. When USA was colonized it was a break from a group of oppressive governments run by or severely influenced by churches. So we had an explosive growth, need & pursuit for education. We have been around for a long time compaired to the small amount that filipinos have been a real indipendant nation. So education will take some time to come around and they still have a lot of influences from other nations.
Thanks Bigmoney,
Yeah, that feature will come in handy for my long post. First time I used that and it took me forever so I’m glad you liked it.
Next time I might try to break into two instead of the six.
The theme I’m using has so many features I can’t find them all.
I completely agree that it takes time. I think they key to for now is foreign investment, that will help to decrease the easy supply for cheap labor. As more are able to find work, incomes will rise.
As they rise, more Filipino will be able to start their own businesses and eventually that will mushroom. Providing even more jobs to Filipino from Filipino. At some point, those rich Filipino are going to find they are going to have to pay more for employees.
At the same time, the low cost of living in the Philippines will go up and expats will begin to migrate to other areas of the world. It has happened in some parts of India but there appears to still be massive poverty there too.
I do think change is in the air in the Philippines.
That takes a long time though. I’ll probably not be on the earth by then.
Most of Cebu was without electricity in the 70s! Lots of progress has been made already.
“When a foreigner insinuates that it gets my blood boiling. It really shouldn’t though, I should forgive the foreigners stupidity.”
Rusty, you are a kinder man than I.
I have not yet lived in the Philippines (will move there in October-November of this year) but have been there and a good many other places is that AO. I will come as a guest of the Philippine people because that’s exactly what I will be.
………………..
Why inadequate birth control in the Phils ?? Is the church the cause ?? There is just no reason for an 18 year old to have a baby in this day.
Tom
Hi Tom, yeah but I wasn’t very kind in my forgiveness.
Oh boy did you ask a loaded question there. One I’m not willing to answer.
What I will say is that there is a huge battle going on within the Philippines right now over Reproductive Health. The church is fighting it tooth and nail.
It is so heated that it has been a long time since I wrote about it on my blog. i noticed when I did, I got a several comments from Filipino that were opposed to the measure.
The church recently asked bloggers to blog about why they are against the Reproductive Health Bill.
I’m just not interested in drawing fire over that situation and I’m afraid that it is a real possibility that I could.
I have lots of opinions on the subject that I keep to myself. It is for Filipino to decide. It is their country and their culture so they should and will determine their own destiny. Many Filipinos, especially the government and the powerful, really don’t like foreigners injecting themselves into it.
I wonder if I’ll ever start remembering that Filipino means one.
lol For some reason, I think it is one of those words that is both singular and plural. I think that is wrong though.
“I’m just not interested in drawing fire over that situation and I’m afraid that it is a real possibility that I could.”
Understand and quiet I shall be……
Tom
You can gain some insights into the country if you google reproductive health bill in the Philippines and divorce in the Philippines. There is a new bill before congress to allow for divorce.
Both are topics I shy away from. Though, I do learn from following the topics. I really think I should write about the divorce law and I likely will. It is very unlikely to become law this year but I think it is inevitable. Might cut down on the murder rate too.
Like BigMoney, I also like the side scroll.
Tom
Cool, I’ll use it on longer post. Makes them easier to read and speeds up the serving of the site as well.
It took me about two hours to do that. The theme allows me to do that and there is an upgrade coming soon. I hope that the update will make that easier. Trying to adjust the hight of the text area was a bit of a pain. It wont be so bad next time, I have a better idea of how it works now.
Rusty,
Good article in which you have described a condition that exist in every country, including USA. If a person does not have access to information, then their options are limited. A person’s ability to access information can be hampered by their economic status, by a control group (church, parent) that thinks they know what is best for the person, or by political means. I agree with you that a person is not stupid because they have not been exposed to information. I would venture to say that in the USA, you might be surprised the number of people that would not know about sudden infant death syndrome. In some cases, if you had experienced a child’s death – the legal system you first suspect of neglect.
Even with the information, if you do not have money – you will not have access to services to address the issue. Hopefully, with education a person can improve the economic status, which will allow them the opportunity to access services or make more informed choices.
Thanks for your insights.
Yeah, they have some expensive ways to address it in the USA, monitors to monitor a baby’s breathing and such. Last time I looked into it that was expensive.
There is no way that this girl can afford that kind of thing. Even getting a crib for child is out of her reach. She can’t even afford to go to an internet cafe to look it up and she speaks and reads no English.
But not letting the child sleep on its stomach is one of the preventative measures. The girl has not been back around since fathers day. It is bugging me too, she needs to know this.
I’m sure there are people that don’t know about crib death in the USA but the number has got to be a small minority? I don’t see how a person with a 2 year degree in the USA could possibly escape this information. Though it probably wont be taught in college, it might be in a high school health or biology class. I can certainly thinks of groups that wouldn’t know about this in the USA. The swamps in La, the deep rural mountain areas of Tn and remote areas of the Western USA. I think even in a Memphis ghetto, most people there would know but, my personal exposure to that was quite limited.
I’ve been in hospitals that had posters up about it, I’ve seen some posters about abuse cases being mistaken as sudden infant death too. No doubt if a parent has to deal with this, they will also have to deal with probing questions and possibly falsely accused.
When my son broke his arm twice, the second time within 48 hours of getting it out of his cast, boy talk about suspicions. I was even getting dirty looks from the doctors until they talked to my son. The doctors didn’t ask us how he did it they asked him directly.
The first time his arm was bent badly, a green T fracture. Hard enough to see that then to have those accusing eyes upon me.
I just can’t imagine the frustration of this SID and then being accused of harming a child.
As for information, yeah, isn’t the Internet a wonderful thing. In the early years I use to say if you can’t find the information on the net, you probably shouldn’t know about it. haha
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a communist nation bankrupt itself trying to monitor what it citizens can see on the net. Much like USSR did with the arms race and the USA may be headed for too.
Rusty,
I believe this article is very important on many fronts. Know this is the WRONG place but I ask your indulgence as I know this topic is being reviewed often by you.
Please move to the correct place.
Tom
………………………….
A do-nothing Congress could solve deficit woes, CBO says
Inside the latest long-term budget analysis from Congress‘ chief scorekeeper is a stunning bit of news: If Congress did nothing, the government’s deficit problems would be mostly solved.
The pain required to leave government on autopilot would be severe: Taxes would rise from about 15 percent of the economy to 23 percent by 2035 as the Bush tax cuts expire and the alternative minimum tax bites half of all taxpayers. Meanwhile, basic domestic spending would drop precipitously.
But the Congressional Budget Office, in its latest long-term budget outlook, released Wednesday, said that do-nothing scenario would leave the government’s ledger in primary balance by 2017.
That contrasts with CBO’s more anticipated alternate scenario, in which Medicare and Social Security spending continue apace, and Congress – following the same path it has taken in recent years – extends popular tax breaks past their expiration dates, while again delaying promised spending cuts.
“Under CBO’s alternative fiscal scenario, revenues would increase much more slowly than spending, and debt held by the public would balloon to nearly 190 percent of GDP by 2035,” CBO said, adding that interest on the debt, which today accounts for about 1 percent of the economy, would reach a staggering 9 percent by 2035. “Such a path for federal borrowing would clearly be unsustainable.”
Excerpted from a longer article at the Washington Times
Tom, you should check http://rustyferguson.com not as many people read that as I don’t post there much any more. I try to once per week but I’m behind again.
You may end up hating me though.
hi rusty it is frank again and i have to say that it has being quite awhile that i have heard anything about sids or sudden infant death syndrome yes it has being a long time i remember hearing allot about that in the 70s and the 80s to and i would like for you if you could express my sympathy to that poor lady in the loss of her new born baby and also i agree to a certain extent to what that other man had to say on the subject that it is partly do to political and religion that has a lot of influence on the daily lives of the filipino there and also i agree with you to also that it has to do with the lack of education and also the way that many filipino are raised to also and so i will be closing now thank you. sincerely. frank.