Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The farm school without a farm

By Linda Bolido in the Inquirer

Don’t expect to find a farm or students planting rice at Dagatan Family Farm School in Barangay Dagatan, Lipa City. 
Despite the name, no actual agricultural work happens on campus. The school is more about preparing students in the communities it serves for the family livelihood or enterprise which, in many rural areas, is still farming.
But to learn about agriculture and other enterprises, students go home or on field visits to other people’s farms or businesses. In Dagatan, the Philippines’ pioneering farm school, “farm” now encompasses agriculture-related and other small- and medium-scale enterprises.
The 80 students of Dagatan, which opened in 1988 with 36 enrollees, come from families involved in farming, poultry and livestock raising, sari-sari stores, buying and selling, and other modest enterprises.
They are studying not only to earn a high school diploma but also to help manage or increase the productivity of the family business and, perhaps, eventually take over from their parents.
As school director Randy B. Pesa says, “They study even as they work,” a reality in many farming communities where schools often “lose” students during critical seasons when additional hands are needed on the farms.
Pesa says many students find, even before they graduate, solutions to their businesses’ problems and are able to help their livelihood grow. As a result, many drop the idea of going to college or postpone it to nurture their businesses.
It is the outcome that the Department of Education is hoping for with the Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K to 12) basic education scheme, which aims to offer graduates more options by providing them skills that will make them employable, especially in their own communities, after high school.
Dagatan teaches students the basic academic competencies DepEd requires. It also follows DepEd’s 10-month academic calendar.
Where the school significantly differs from the mandated routine is by alternating formal classroom and home instruction. Every other week, students stay at home to help in household chores and the family enterprise.
While academics are not completely out of mind during this time as students have class work to do, the homestay is meant to be a mutually enriching experience for both youngsters and adults.
In a journal called a communication book, students record their experiences, what they learned helping with household chores or the family business. It shows the kids’ progress and what they learned during field visits, discussions with professionals and resource persons, which they are expected to share with their parents.
‘Paksa’ 
Pesa says that every year, the school board chooses a paksa, the unifying theme for the year’s instruction that will guide field visits and professional discussions. For agricultural matters, for instance, discussions with experts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and successful farmers are organized.
Exposure to different means of livelihood and enterprises, Pesa says, helps children decide what they want to be.
The students’ individual profiles and consultations with parents help determine the year’s paksa.
The theme anchors class discussions and is integrated into all the work. “We try to connect the paksa to every lesson,” Pesa says, although he admits this is not always easy to do in mathematics.
Guided by their tutors, the students prepare their questions before outings. “Kids have to learn to think and to write….
If they learn how to ask questions they will develop self-confidence… . They learn to write, develop creativity and communication skills,” Pesa says.

“If there are questions that were not answered during the field trip, there will be [professional discussions],” Pesa adds.
Parents’ commitment
Field visits and discussions can involve more than just enterprise. Pesa says they visited, for instance, the community’s “model family” to help students clarify or receive guidance on  some domestic issues.
During the homestay, tutors visit the students to make sure learning continues. Pesa says the first requirement of parents with children in Dagatan is their commitment.
Parents have to be actively involved in their kids’ education. At home, they have to make sure school work is done and children complete every chore.
Parents have to be present during the tutor’s family visits. They are expected to give an honest assessment if they want to help their kids develop properly.
The homestay and extensive interaction with the community and experts are all part of an important aspect of learning at Dagatan, what Pesa calls formation. Dagatan education has a very strong spiritual and moral underpinning, owing to the fact that its founders had links to the Catholic religious group Opus Dei founded by St. Josemaria Escriva.
Pesa says parents also learn and “achieve formation” because they read and discuss what the kids write in their communication books. Many parents say they learned, through their kids, new ways of doing things and solutions to problems.
Parents also have to write or have their children write their personal reflections.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Opus Dei Headquarters

There is a good deal of interest on the Opus Dei headquarters. Mainly because of the Da Vinci Code, and so the focus is the US Headquarters in New York. 

However, the real worldwide headquarters is in Rome. Here is an article from the website dedicated to St. Josemaria.

The prelatic church of Opus Dei

The mortal remains of Saint Josemaría Escrivá are contained in a casket located beneath the altar of the Church of Our Lady of Peace. Millions of people throughout the world turn to Saint Josemaría’s intercession to gain graces of every kind from God. Many come to the Church of the Prelature to continue their petition or give thanks for graces received through his intercession.

On December 31, 1959, Saint Josemaría celebrated the first Mass in the church of Our Lady of Peace. After Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature, this became the Church of the Prelature. Saint Josemaría’s devotion to our Lady is the reason for the title of this church and the main picture. The crypt of the church holds the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and confessionals. Saint Josemaría preached with untiring zeal on our need for the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, given by God to his children as a source of peace and never-ending joy.

The crypt is also the burial-place of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo (1914-1994), Saint Josemaría’s first successor at the head of Opus Dei.

“Holy Mary is the Queen of peace, and thus the Church invokes her. So when your soul or your family are troubled, or things go wrong at work, in society or between nations, cry out to her without ceasing. Call to her by this title: 'Regina pacis, ora pro nobis — Queen of peace, pray for us.' Have you at least tried it when you have lost your calm? You will be surprised at its immediate effect.” Saint Josemaría Escriva