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REACTION PAPER ON THE TOPIC FILIPINO STUDENTS STILL LOW IN MATH, SCIENCE BY
SHEILA CRISOSTOMO
PETER PHILIP M. PEREZ
Master of Arts in Education
Divine Word College of San Jose

According to the report of Sheila Cristomo the Filipino
students garnered a score of 349 and 350 in science and
mathematics respectively. Indeed Filipino students are still low
in Mathematics and Science education as per the latest report in
the latest TIMMS and this is due to numerous factors which has
makes this to be so.
There is some probable cause to this educational phenomenon
which has in one way triggers the said to continuously happen in
the educational standing of the country in the said field of
endeavors. In these respects we might as well consider the
things such as the scattered land conditions of the country, the
economy, and the overall demography of the country. From the
said key factors, there exist an offshoot or fission factors
which further influences our way of dealing in the said subject.
As regards to the scattered land condition which in more
specific terms refers to the existence of more than 7000 islands
in the country inhabited by different sub races to be catered by
the educational system we have. Here, we can say that the
administration and supervision of the curriculum as regards to
the said subjects under consideration and the rest of the
subjects in general has been affected by the said condition in
which the Education program specialist for specific subjects and
the field supervisors find it hard to monitor what is going on
in the field for reasons of hassle in transportation which
affects their disposition to monitor the said field offices.
The land area for instance of top scorers such as Singapore
and Hong Kong does not equal that of the mainland Luzon; this
effects positive things on their performance not only in science
and mathematics but in the entirety of the subjects as mandated
by their very curriculum. This can be attributed to the ease of
doing the administration and monitoring as regards to the said
endeavors of educating the learners.
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The economy of the country also affects the performance
level we have as regards to science and mathematics. The fiscal
resources of the country alone inevitably affects this standing
we have for very obvious reasons, this further results to lack
of other resources which has a direct impact on the achievement
of students; lack of primary tools and equipment needed in
teaching science for instance are lacking not only in the
hinterland schools but also among the biggest National High
Schools we have in the provinces. Furthermore, even the most
basic needed materials are lacking in the field offices of the
Department of Education; lack of books proves to be the most
fatal variable which triggers the low performance of students in
the two subjects under consideration; the said absence and/or
lack increases the possibility of flopping any achievement test
to be administered to be administered for this serves as the
major resource of information in the said subjects. Economic
condition in general, which affects the ways we do things are
seen to have bearing on the performance of the learners if we
are to dig deeply on the matter.
The demographic condition of the country which is very
broad in scope proves to have a bearing on the performance of
the Filipino youth in science and mathematics; the way we
perceive things based on our culture, the beliefs and practices
and thee overall values has both direct and indirect bearing on
the performance of the learners as regards to the subject under
consideration.
All in all, the country is not yet ready to face the
challenges of global competency regarding science and
mathematics; we are more attuned to satisfying the very basic of
the human needs which according to Abraham Maslow is the
physical needs which is the very foundation of the human needs
which needs to be satisfied first before going to the higher
ladder of needs such as that of self-actualization which in this
case can be equated with educational attainment.