Learning social graces. The PhilRice (Insight) Story, 113
Frank A. Hilario
October 02, 2011
Had I succeeded as a scientist, I know I owe it all to my professors who instilled in their students the value of learning through their strict adherence to the learning process. Page 12
What is the learning process? Santiago Rigonan Obien doesn't say, and I a teacher can't tell you because there are many ways of approaching it. The strict ("terror") professors would insist that you listen and obey, that's all. In any case, this scientist did not become a world-class weed scientist, so do we consider this a failure on the part of all those professors?
In any case, note that SRO switches immediately to a different thought in the second sentence in the same paragraph:
The selection process for incoming students was not as stringent as now, and so, they may not have been the best. Page 12
He doesn't explain it either. But he is implying that the professors were that good and the students were not.
I consider the initial batches of UPCA graduates lucky for having first class professors. These professors were considered the chosen ones, the first government pensionados or scholars who went to earn their advanced degrees in the United States and Europe. When they came back, their idealism was at its highest level and wanted to translate them into the graduates that they would produce. Page 12
Idealism? Yes. But do not forget that those who went to the States and got their doctorates there came back to the Islands and wanted to apply exactly what they learned in the States. They were asking too much from their poor country. Idealism must be tempered with realism.
One thousand two hundred sixty seven of us enrolled as first year students at the College in June 1954 and in the end, only a little more than 300 finished in exactly four years in April 1958. This partly showed the rigidity of the training we had under our professors. Page 12
1st year at the Cow College in 1959, Frank H didn't finish his BS in Agriculture (major in Ag Education) in 4 years either; I finished in 5. In SRO's batch, that was a very high, unacceptable 77% failure in education; as a teacher, I would attribute that to poor teaching methods, or a mismatch between college preparation in high school and the reality of college courses. I'm not surprised. Dean Edwin Copeland planned the curriculum of UPCA so that it was highfalutin right at the beginning (1909):
1st Year: English 1, Math 1, German 1, Botany 1
2nd Year: English 2, Math 2, German 2, Botany 2
3rd Year: Chem 1, Math 3, Zoology 1, Agronomy 1
4th Year: Chem 2, Farm Engineering, Agronomy 2, Zoology 2
5th Year: Elective, Physics, Agronomy 3, Animal Husbandry 1
6th Year: Elective, Elective, Agronomy 4, Elective
That was a cultural shock to most of the Filipino boys taking up Agriculture being taught by non-Filipinos. English, Math, German, Botany - they were all taught as to be memorized, and of course memorizing is rote learning. It's the worst kind of learning.
In 1959, Chemistry was still there, Math too. German was now an elective and Spanish a requirement. It was a struggle to memorize chemical formulas; it was torture, not learning. I hated memorizing Spanish! I didn't see how I would use Spanish in working the soil. Not even in teaching high school students, for which I was trained to do.
Maybe our professors also saw the great cultural difference between the East and the West while working for their advanced degrees so they also imparted (to) us, as part of our learning, how to behave in a socialized world. In addition to academic and technical courses, there were subjects such as Euthenics, the social graces or the proper things to do during social occasions. They had to culture us, so to speak, knowing that if most of us came from obscure villages, then we may not be as cultured, for example, on the right table manners, the right behavior during social occasions. Page 12
When SRO was already Director of PhilRice, whenever there were guests or during special occasions, as a demonstration of his concern - and of his knowledge and skill - he would show off his best table manners. We were always impressed.
On my part, I already had some knowledge of the social graces by observing how my maternal relatives behaved in social occasions since they had been cultured, to some extent, in the (Castilian) way. At home, I was given responsibilities that allowed me to observe them. For instance, when I was in the elementary grades, my assignment was to drive away the flies with a big fan while Atty Bonifacio Rigonan, my maternal uncle, ate. I did this every time he visited our family in the barrio. My arms got numb while doing this funny and very demeaning colonial thing for about one hour. It took him that long to eat his lunch because he chewed his food slowly... Getting hungry in the process looking at all the food served him by my mother, I was also observing how he was doing things, what cutlery he used, how he used his napkin, and what he did when finished, and other behaviors. I learned the proper table manners from these encounters. Pages 12-13
"Very demeaning colonial thing" - He obeyed his parents anyway and learned social graces at the same time. Occasionally, I saw him use this knowledge on visitors, and I thought the Japanese officials were very much more impressed than the rest of us. Remember, the infamous Death March of World War II forced on prisoners by the Japanese killed his elder brother Francisco. These modern-day Japanese must have taken it as a symbol of the graciousness of a host; what they probably didn't know was that it was also a sign of the forgiveness of a grieving heart.
All this, in a way, prepared me on how to behave in social occasions, strengthened by my survival and social instincts, having come from a family that was a role model in our barangay. I was able to deal with all types of people in the end. This and what our professors taught us armed me with the proper behavior that came in handy when I was relating with many people at all levels in my work as administrator. Some would do it with bewitching charm. At my best, I did it with social grace and respect for whoever the person was. Page 13
"Having come from a family that was a role model in our (village)" - A role model for the richer families, not the poorer ones. I remember SRO telling me how his mother would store food and rice for the lean months; that was mostly for the poor families to borrow from. Her mother cared much for those who had less in life.
A good manager cares much more for the lower ranks. Now, did SRO borrow that kind of care from his mother when he became Director of PhilRice? We'll see!
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