"Read in a Month" program

I was walking from the trike stop to the Ayala shuttle terminal this morning when I saw a sign painted on the wall near McDonalds: "Hillcrest Periwinkle School Read-in-a-Month Program". Obviously a marketing ploy conjured by someone who doesn't seem to understand what literacy is all about. And of course, parents who don't know any better will just lap it up in the hopes of having geniuses for sons and/or daughters. Of course at the age of 5, a child should be starting to read, but do you think that's the only thing they have in mind?

I guess it's true that ignorance is bliss. As for me who has been relentlessly reading about emerging literacy for my thesis proposal, this is something disturbing. Why are we too caught up in the notion that academic excellence is the only way to achieve success? We push our children to the limit all the time even at an early age and this makes them too stressed to endure the rest of their schooling years. Don't the parents understand that what's more important is to instill a healthy and positive attitude towards learning for them to take on each challenge with a sense of purpose? I guess not. There's too much to say, too little space.

It's just sad that not all school owners are responsible enough to keep themselves updated on the latest trends in education, especially in early childhood where there have been a lot of important developments in the last decade. What else could it be but a money-making venture? And the current educational system is not something to be proud of, either. Just ask any Education major, I suppose. Making a difference is really nothing short of a mean feat, for it looks like it's going to be a complete overhaul of beliefs and traditions that will bring in a lot of flak. As they say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.