raganas luayon chap 1

q1. very good revision; no comment
Chapter I

Introduction

Rationale

We are social beings in nature and one cannot take away our need to communicate and interact with other people. The whole process of learning about life, behavior, beliefs and actions comes with socialization. In socialization, we learn different roles we are to play in life. For example, girls learn how to be good sisters, friends, wives and mothers while boys are taught how to be good counterparts of these roles. The construction of our personality also depends greatly on how we interact with other individuals. In adolescence, the most intense and the most crucial period of our lives, much of our personality takes shape. The socialization process has the capacity to lead us to particular directions by constantly exposing us to other people’s beliefs, attitudes and providing us with experience that we can learn and benefit from.

The socialization process can be in any form. Looking around the world, we see that different cultures use different techniques to socialize their children. According to O’Neil (2009) in an untitled educational article, there are two types of teaching methods – formal and informal. The formal education happens in a classroom and is usually a controlled type of teaching by adult teachers. In contrast, informal education can happen anywhere. It involves a constant practice of basic skills and the exploration of the world. Successful socialization leads to uniformity within a society. If all children are brought up by the same social structure, then it is highly possible that these children will grow believing and doing the same things. This concept has been a strong motivation for national governments around the world to standardize education and make it available for all children.

In the Philippine context of socialization through the social institutions, there are various approaches in socializing the students. Government owned schools are the most known way of accessing affordable education but these schools nowadays are very crowded. In the words of Federis (2006) in her online article entitled Bulatlat, “at present, the Philippines has the worst pupil-teacher ratio in Asia at 45:1”. Parents who want their children to be well-taken care of and receive the best attention from teachers find refuge in private owned schools. Private schools however are a bit pricy and the level of diversity among the students can be flat. Because public schools have more students in a class, children will be likely exposed to other children from different socio-economic classes which can broaden the social experience.

The private schools here in the Philippines are either religious schools or exclusive schools for a specific gender but in some cases they can be both. Although public schools have problems with academic performance, exclusive schools that are religious at the same time were found to have issues with tolerance. A study conducted by Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics and participated by 43,000 high school students in 2010 in The Ethics of American Youth: 2010 can attest to this claim. Students from exclusive religious schools confided that they have used “racial slurs and insults” and have bullied someone in the past because they belonged to a group different from theirs. These kids are being held in their own social bubble instead of mingling with the general population making them close-minded towards the feelings of other people.

Private schools here in Cebu are no different. Most of the top private high schools here in Cebu City are exclusive religious schools. Students from these high schools, however, will eventually have to proceed to mixed-gender colleges. We have a handful of this kind of students here in the University of the Philippines Cebu College. We have noticed that our friends from these high schools are “different” in a way. They are very witty and if you pound their heads into a book in order for them study, they can very well excel in class. However, they are easily distracted by the opposite sex. They never seem to outgrow the childish symptoms of having a crush: sweaty palms, racing heartbeats, butterflies in the stomach and that feeling that “takes your breath away”.

Our friends who came from exclusive schools inspired us to choose this topic to unravel the mystery behind their childish acts. We have decided to conduct this study regarding the level of socialization of students from exclusive schools by comparing them to a mixed-gender school. If our assumptions serve us right, then exclusive schools do have a faulty system in socially preparing our youth for the world outside their gates.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine whether the type of school of the students varies their interaction with the opposite sex. The types of schools are exclusive school and mixed gender school. Exclusive refers to schools open only for one sex while mixed gender schools are open for both boys and girls. This study specifically aims:

1. To determine the correlation between the type of school and the levels of interaction with the opposite sex of the students.

2. To know how does the type of school affect the levels of interaction with the opposite sex of students from exclusive schools and students from mixed gender schools.

3. To identify which type of school develops higher levels of interaction with the opposite sex in its students.

Significance of the Study

Our study is an initial step to welcome innovations in the educational system in our country. We believe that the basis of learning does not solely depend on the academic lessons taught by teachers but also on the entire educational environment of the students. This includes the group of people the students are associated with as they go through the learning process.

The government institution can benefit from this research on the grounds that it will determine which type of school creates academically excellent graduates imbued with good character plus high social ability.

Our study will also help parents choose the better school for their children to ensure a bright future for them. Education is the greatest gift parents could give to their children. This will be a great advantage for them to surpass whatever problems they have to take. In the future they will be working for or will be dealing with other people.

In connection to the previous beneficiary, almost all occupations nowadays demand people who can deal with all kinds of personalities. No matter how low-earning or highly paid one’s job is, he or she should get acquainted with people to perform his or her task well. Companies of the industry will benefit by knowing which type of school will produce the best professionals of the future.