THE OPPORTUNITY FOR AN INTEGRATIVE ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY SUBJECT IN

THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM

_________________________

A QUALIFYING PAPER
PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY
OF SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

_________________________

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
MASTER OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY

_________________________

SUBMITTED BY:
FRANCISCO M. SALVADOR
MAY 14, 2019
 ABSTRACT

The Philippine educational system in the basic education level has shifted towards a more
globally aligned scheme –the K to 12 Program. The major objectives are towards a more
competitive educational system to adapt to the challenges the country’s education system have
been facing in the global setting, and more importantly, to prepare the Filipino learner in the Senior
High School level towards a more structured holistic readiness embedded in a three-fold paths of
life opportunities – employment, entrepreneurship and college education. Thus, the Filipino Senior
High School learner is engaged within a pedagogical curriculum that enhances his needs towards
a more competitive employment opportunities, towards better preparation for a college education,
and/or towards an opportunity for a business enterprise, depending on a two-year Senior High
School strand he undertakes. If the aims, then, of the new system is set to prepare the senior high
school learner after graduation, then it is imperative to arm the Senior High School curriculum not
only from the perspective of livelihood and educational preparations but as well as on the
perspective of holistic development of the entire human person within his community, particularly
on ethical responsibilities he has for himself and others. This is the ground of arguments which the
writer seeks to present in this paper.

The writer draws insights from a 2017 education curriculum proposal for teachers in the
context of ethics and values. The challenges being met by the inclusion of Senior High School in
the educational system are still an on-going process. Though it may be true that the system is still
on such an on-going process in its development, there is a pivotal need that must be addressed in
the curriculum for that holistic aim, particularly in the public school perspective. Values education
subjects are specifically included from Grades 1-10 of the new educational system. The glaring
absence of a specific subject in values or ethics in the Senior High School curriculum of the public
school system is something that must be addressed towards a holistic approach that the senior high
school leaner must be exposed with. The paper then is structured in a tripartite discussion. The
first part presents values and ethics as major aspects of an educational tradition and curriculum.
The second part speaks on the proposals for ethics and values in the contemporary educational
curriculum in schools, and the last is about a contextualized ethical philosophy in the senior high
school curriculum.

Key Terms: education of learners, holistic, development, proposals on ethics and values in the
curriculum, contextualize, necessity, responsibility, I, others, community of responsibility,
INTRODUCTION

“Ethics and values education steers children or students towards

the search and commitment to fundamental values, meaning and
purpose in their lives. Ethics and values education is also concerned
with respectful attitude towards others (both individuals and
communities alike) and putting one’s beliefs, attitudes and values
into practice and in everyday life.”- Bruno Curko, et.al.1

Education is an inevitable process. Philosophers of the ancient times were not merely

thinkers for themselves. They stood out representing others in their pursuit of what must be true in

the natural world. In this sense, they tried to transcend from within themselves about questions and

inquiries that they understood everyone has to understand, or at the very least, have an idea of. It

is that sense of responsibility to put into light gray realities that abound that thinkers wished to

undertake. Most of them became peripatetic individuals who tried to propagate their understanding

of the realities of things in the world. In short, they were trying to rear or train individuals from

the harsh reality of incognizance after overcoming the same within themselves. This is the very

nature of education. Nevertheless, education is not only based on the perspective of understanding

the world and the self. It transcends from there into the relationships towards the world and the

self. One does not educate himself for the mere purpose of understanding this self, but in doing so,

towards the understanding on how he can live a life for himself, whether as rooted in metaphysical

awareness or scientific significance. He tries to understand himself, through education, so much

so that he could achieve to live a life worth living for himself. This can be an acceptance towards

the aesthetic and spiritual value of the individual where he begins to dwell on self-awareness and

self-acceptance, or a realization of a role beyond the realm of the metaphysical. This, on the other

1
Bruno, Curko, et.al. Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens. Austria: Erasmus+ Ethika,
2017, 7.
hand, is the achievement of a physical significance that he may cultivate through science.

Achieving this understanding of the significance of the self leads on to wanting a significance

beyond himself and into the world – other human persons or individuals other than himself. These

two must not be taken in a similar context. Other human persons obviously presents itself.

Individuals other that himself may be other creatures or physical manifestations in the natural

world. Thus, education becomes a process of understanding the self into a transcendence of

understanding his relationship with himself and others. This understanding of relationships

towards the self and the others may be coined in the contexts of Ethics and Values Education.

WHY VALUES EDUCATION AND ETHICS?

Socrates is considered as the “Father of modern education” today. Why the start on

Socrates? Why not? Although there are interpretative accounts of Socrates denying his being a

teacher, this act is suggested merely to be an aphorism on his part to separate himself from the

Sophists in Athens during his time. For him, teachers were distinguished into the natural

philosophers, the orators, the Sophists and his own kind. This distinction is not necessary for the

purpose of this paper. All of them may be considered educators, all trusting in reason – a similar

despicable feature they all share.

But then, from the point of historical rooting, it becomes inevitable to go to Socrates if the

practice of education is understood. The education that Socrates tried to impart is basically based

on his very own personal model. Plato, in the Dialogue presented him to have lived justly,

responsibly, piously, chastely, disciplined, principled and had genuine care for other individuals.

He was walking his talk. He tried to have others understand how life must be lived rightly and
avoid the wrong notions on life itself. Simply put, he was living ethically. His education is simply

based on Ethics. This paper does not magnify the personhood of Socrates as a model teacher. It

goes for the purpose in presenting that Education must be based on a principle that the learners of

today must be given with. If Socrates, a great teacher as the world simply knows him today, lived

a life based on Ethics, then education today must be contained with the same perspective. If this is

negated, then perhaps, Socrates must be scraped of his academic title of being the father of modern

education.

Moving forward from Socrates will give us Plato and Aristotle. What philosophical

perspectives was not absent in their teachings? Perhaps , it can be arguably said that their teaching

are reeking with Ethics. Plato, in explaining the significance of the Republic has Justice as a major

core in his ethical philosophy. The society becomes ethical when there is justice in the form of

social responsibility when he illustrated, “just as the body is in excellent shape when each of its

parts is performing its functions properly – heart, lungs, digestive system, muscles, nerves and so

on – so the whole soul is excellent when desire, spirit and reason are each functioning well.” 2

Aristotle, for his part expressed his ethical perspective in the Nichomachean Ethics. He believed

for man’s pursuit for happiness as the highest good. He expressed in the Nichomachean Ethics,

“Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly, every action and choice of action, is thought to have

some good as its object. This is why the good has rightly been defined as the object of all

endeavor.”3 Out of these three great Greek philosophers would follow ethical interpretations and

models throughout the history of education and philosophy.

2
Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. London: Mayfield Publishing
Company. 1999, 149.
3
Ibid., 189.
 What is clear and vivid is the acceptance for most contemporary thinkers and educators on

the necessity of ethics and values in contemporary educational curriculum. “With the explosion of

information available to students worldwide through technological advances, there has come an

appreciation that traditional teaching methods are inadequate.”4 What cannot be denied is the thirst

not only on knowledge acquisition and skills set mastery for the contemporary learners but that

longing to maximize their potentials through ethical considerations that “no matter how much

mastery of content we focus on, no matter how much curriculum and instructional match we create

for students, and no matter how we socialize our students to the country’s common traditions,

values, and norms, the most important aspect of schooling that Filipino children and young adults

need and must acquire --- is the set of ethical dispositions and critical abilities, skills, and

knowledge they need in building a just, equitable, and caring society.”5 The challenges that is

being posed by advancement in the communications technology, particularly on social media, is a

phenomenon that stirs innumerous questions on the ethical mindset of millennial learners. That is

why Ethics and Values education become imperative within the education curriculum. If the

curriculum fails to comprehend and consequently connect with the learners in the basic education

level, the fate of succeeding generations may sadly drift into apathy towards others, alienation of

self that may result on infliction of personal harm and individualism. Dr. Lourdes Quisumbing, a

stalwart of values education in the current public school education curriculum, somehow expressed

this beginning in 1986 with what she was then observing that, “Educational leaders soon realized

that values education had been handled as just another subject and taught merely as information.

They discovered that to bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior, the teaching of values

4
Rowan, Jowan R. Ethics for the Profession. Australia: Wadsworth Thomson Learning. 2003, 424.
5
Lalas, Jose W. Ethical Agenda in Philippine Education: Society’s Need to Balance the K to 12 Program. ( Feature
Article in the University of the Philippines Alumni Association-San Francisco www.upaa-sf.org),
must involve a total-person learning experience for every student: the mind and heart of the learner

needs to be actively involved in the learning.”6 And so it must be an utmost matter to truly and

continuously uphold Ethics and Values Education throughout the entire curriculum of not only the

basic and primary education but must be brought into the tertiary level as well.( For the purposes

of this paper, the tertiary level shall not be included for discussion.)

VALUES EDUCATION IN THE K-12 CURRICULUM OF PHILIPPINE BASIC

EDUCATION SYSTEM

The current study of ethics in the Philippine basic education system is still

embedded in the umbrella of Values Education and implemented under the Department of

Education Department Order 31, series of 2012 - Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of

Grades 1 to 10 of the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) Effective School Year 2012-

2013. The nomenclature/ learning area contained therein is entitled “Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao”

or EsP. It is one of 8 learning areas comprising the core curriculum. Description on the subject is

written in Filipino and the medium of instruction is the same. The objective is described as

…”lilinangin at pauunlarin ang pagkataong etikal ng bawat mag-aaral.”7 Every Grade level has a

specific Values Education subject and given an ample time of daily 30 minutes for grades 1 to 6

and 2-hour weekly time allotment for grades 7-10. It is worth noting that the covered grades are

only from grades 1 to 10. Although the K to 12 is enacted by Republic Act 10533(or Enhanced

6
Quisumbing, Lourdes R. A Study of the Philippine Values Education Programme. Paris: International Bureau of
Education, 1994, 26.
7
Department of Education Order Number 31. Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of Grades 1 to 10 of the K to
12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) Effective School Year 2012-2013. Pasig City. 2012, 6.
Basic Education Act of 2013, entitled “An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System

by Strengthening Its Curriculum and Increasing the Number of Years for Basic Education,” the

specific emphasis of teaching Ethics is still found in Deped Order No. 31, series of 2012. Going

back further, it is also worth noting that there was a Department of Education Order Number 41,

series of 2003, entitled “Values Education in the Basic Education Curriculum.” It emphasized

“…effective implementation of Values Education which is one of the emphases of the restructured

Basic Education Curriculum, values education teachers should be utilized fully to help the other

subject area teachers integrate values development in the subject area they teach.” 8

Understandably, the Senior High School levels are not covered by this order.

On January 21, 2016, the Department of Education issued Department Order Number 3,

series of 2016, entitled “Hiring Guidelines for Senior High School Teaching Positions Effective

School Year 2016-2017.” In this Department Order, Senior High School Subject Groups are

enumerated, but noteworthy is the fact that there is no specific subject for Ethics nor Values

Education. A certain subject with Ethics in its title is “Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.”

However, it is only taught under the Accountancy and Business Management Strand; not a core

subject for all Senior High School learners. Furthermore, it “…deals with the fundamental

concepts, principles and practices of ethical standards in the business environment.”9 Nevertheless,

there is the presence of a philosophy subject for Grade 11/12 learners with the subject title:

“Introduction to the Philosophy of the human person.” A careful analysis of the content of the

curriculum guide gives general principles on what the human person is in relation to his society

from a philosophical point of view. The human person is also described in the subject curriculum

8
Department of Education Order Number 41. Values Education in the Basic Education Curriculum. Pasig City. 2003,
1.
9
Curriculum Guide. Senior High School- Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) Specialized Subject. Pasig
City: Department of Education. 2016, 1.
guide content as “The learner understands the human spirit as an embodied spirit.”10 There is a

unilateral side taught about the human person. Contents of the subject cover topics on doing and

methods of philosophizing, freedom, intersubjectivity, human person in society, environment and

even death. The philosophy topic and the ethical spiral developmental considerations are wanting

for this specific subject.

The can be no denying the importance of the identified, subject but the lack of a continuing

specific Ethics and Values Education for Grades 11 and 12 learners is glaringly absent. Moreover,

in May of the same year, the Department of Education released a complete set of curriculum guides

for Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao with the title, “K to 12 Gabay Pangkurikulum EDUKASYON SA

PAGPAPAKATAO Baitang 1-10.” Again, it is worth noting that the Senior High School grades

11 and 12 leaners are not included within said curriculum guides. Quisumbing, in 1994 said:

“Teaching desirable values and responsible behavior requires educating the whole society…”11

This means, we have to enable our students how to value, to choose among alternatives, and to translate

knowledge and skills into practice. This is what is referred to when we speak of VALUES EDUCATION,

a neglected component in today's education.”12 She may have hit the spot in the inclusiveness of teaching

values education subjects not only within grades 1 to 10 but until grades 11 to 12 as well of the Senior High

High School.

10
Curriculum Guide. Senior High School- Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person Core Subject. Pasig
City: Department of Education. 2016, 2 .

11
Quisumbing, Lourdes R. A Study of the Philippine Values Education Programme, 4.
12
Ibid., 5.
SPIRAL DEVELOPMENT FROM VALUES EDUCATION IN GRADES 1 TO 10 INTO ETHICS

EDUCATION IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATION

If the K to 12 Education curriculum is geared towards a holistic curriculum on the

perspective of spiral developmental pedagogical approach, then the Edukasyon sa

Pagpapakatao(EsP) subject, given from grades 1 to 10, must be given a continuance arm through

the Senior High School program of the Department of Education. The existing Introduction to the

Philosophy of the Human Person subject contained therein must be more focused on Ethics and

Responsibility. The curriculum guides of Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao reeks already on the

development of the self of the human person. It is as well added more emphasis on the subject

mentioned for Senior High School learners. This paper, is grounded with the idea that the

Philosophical aspect of the curriculum must be inclined more on Ethics and Responsibility.

The very purpose of this argument are two-fold:

First is to answer the necessity of continuance of Values education from Grades 1 to 10

into the Senior High School. Secondly, to augment and enhance the existing Introduction to the

Philosophy of the Human Person subject through an Ethical Philosophy. The former purpose is a

necessary process to answer the call of curriculum development. The latter purpose is to equip the

learner appropriately who is on a crucial stage of his life – Adolescence, the step from being a

minor into being a supposed responsible human person for himself and for others. It is worth noting

that such is “the stage where conventional ways clash with seemingly radical ideas. Inevitably this

results to communication gap. This scenario becomes even more complicated as we couple this
reality with the changes in our culture today, where both parents are ‘pushed’to leave the home,

the country, just to earn stable income.”13

The Filipino Senior High School learner is bombarded with various contemporary ethical

dilemmas that guidance is imperative throughout these 2 years in the curriculum. Though

integration is highly encouraged in all subject areas, what is primordial is the continuing instruction

through a specific pedagogical approach – ETHICS as a particular subject. College curriculum

may contain a particular subject area on Ethics. However, removing the same from the Senior High

School program may be detrimental to the holistic developmental goal of education system for the

Senior High School learners. It must be noted that Senior High School learners are presented with

the three-fold objectives of “Kolehiyo, Trabaho at Negosyo.” Many students may not continue into

college anymore. Therefore, these students are already deprived with such necessary materials for

their holistic growth within the guidance of formal education, particularly in the public school

system. If the ABM Strand is given a specific Ethics subject (Business Ethics and Social

Responsibility in particular), why don’t students from other Strands of Senior High School be

exposed with an Ethics Subject; an Ethics subject for life as a whole? Moreover, the ABM students

also cannot refrain from the Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person subject. So, Is

Ethics only applicable in the business sector? Ethics, in the first place, taking its Greek etymology

ethos, “is a concept on moral principles that governs a person’s behavior or the conducting of an

activity.”14 Learners of the Senior High School program consist not only from the ABM strand.

They are represented in various strata of man’s activities covered under the different strands of the

Senior High School program. Therefore, there must be a general ethics subject that must be imbued

13
Villegas, Bernardo M. The Book of Virtues and Values. Pasig City: Inkwell Publishing, Co., Inc. 2011, 37
14
Collins Concise Dictionary. Sydney: Harper Collins Publlishers. 1999, 488.
in the senior high school curriculum. For the purposes of this paper, a particular Ethical model

shall be discussed in the perspective of proposal later.

Looking at the current situation, then, only a particular strand – Accountancy, Business

and Management (ABM), is the only strand that receives a specific ethical enhancement on top of

the particular subject -Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person. This does not respond

to the call for a holistic education that Filipino learners must receive within the basic educational

curriculum. This paper is presenting the challenge to give direct instruction to learners from Values

Education throughout Grades 1 to 10 and Ethics, centered on “I and the Other” principle for

learners in grades 11 and 12.

PROPOSALS FOR ETHICS AND VALUES IN CONTEMPORARY CURRICULUM IN

SCHOOLS

In March 2017, the ETHIKA project team, an independent educational organization funded

with support from the European Commission, released a publication entitled “Ethics and Values

Education curriculum proposals and training courses for teachers.” The document presents a

curriculum outline for ethics and values education for teachers and/or educators in schools and

kindergartens. It gives a thorough description and justification on the importance of not merely

integrating Values Education and Ethics in every education curriculum but more so, by suggesting

the inclusion of Ethics and Values Education per se in all levels of an educational systems. The

project team presented existing models and curriculums involving values education and ethics

from some European countries namely, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain and Germany. It
was revealed therein that Ethics and Values education is still an important aspect of the curriculum

for each country. However, Ethics and values education for most of the stated countries tend to

coin these concepts from the perspective of religion. Moreover, although ethics and values

education are found in their respective education curriculum, the procedure is more on the

integrative model into various subject areas. Relating these findings to the Philippine setting, The

Department of Education has specific subject matters for values Education in the primary

education levels from grades 1 to 10. These are presented via a Curriculum Guide for each grade

and presented under the K to 12 Gabay Pangkurikulum – Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, released

by the Department of Education in May, 2016. However, no specific subject on Ethics or Values

Education is included in the Senior High School Curriculum. Ethics, as a subject, become available

already in the tertiary level of education. Although the Philippines may not be substantially

different from the countries included in the ETHIKA discussion, it is noteworthy to consider their

suggestions on the inclusion of Ethics and Values Education beyond formal education curriculum

set ups. This means even in informal education, ethics and values education must be an imperative

endeavor in the education system.

Offering ways to develop a values and ethics-based education curriculum, Ethika suggests

to follow the quite standard distinction in ethics namely:

1. The Good, the Right and the Virtuous approach;

2. The Bloom’s model approach;

3. The “Ethical Circles Approach; and

4. The Integrative and Structural Approach.

These conventional ways to develop a values and ethics-based education curriculum may be

expounded in a different discussion.

 At the latter part of the discussions, ETHIKA identifies a curriculum course proposal that

involves “three key strands,”15 namely:

1. Philosophy with children and critical thinking

2. Ethics and values education: methods and tools

3. Ethical aspects and challenges of contemporary world

These are suggested to form the core of the curriculum for ethics and values education.

On this note, the writer considers to respond to the aforementioned key strands towards a

proposed Ethics subject that must be sought to be included in the Senior High School curriculum.

“THE ‘I AND THE OTHER’ – THE ETHICS OF RESPONSIBILITY,” AS A PROPOSED

INTEGRATIVE CORE SUBJECT IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM

“The relationship to the other man – that is to be the

definition, the main feature, the grand mystery, if you will,
of humanity and even of man himself.”-Emmanuel Levinas16

The thrust for an integrative core subject of Ethics in the Senior High School curriculum

of the Department of Education in the public school system stems from a global perspective on the

urgency of educating the millennial learners not only on their worth as individual human persons

but on their utmost relationship to other human persons as well. The K to 12 Gabay Pangkurikulum

sa Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao expressly points this out: “Ang Batayang Konseptuwal ng

15
Bruno, Curko, et.al. Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens, 57.
16
Emmanuel Levinas. Interview from Michel Field on June 29, 1993. Youtube, 2011.
Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao ay batay sa Pilosopiyang Personalismo tungkol sa sa pagkatao ng tao

at sa Etika ng Kabutihang Asal.”17

The upliftment of the “I” is never a point of concern in the education system. Students are

bombarded with ideas and lessons not only in values education but practically in various subject

areas about personal development. A careful examination of the curriculum guide for Edukasyon

sa Pagpapakatao 1-10 gives an unquestionable sound curriculum for the subject matter. The

problem, however, may stem from an external school factor that may be had to control – social

media. Today’s youth are hooked on social media. It has become a sanctuary for their personal

upliftment which may be ironic owing to the fact that social media is not personal media. Why is

this so? It is on social media that today’s generation express themselves freely. The original

objective of being within a social framework and be involved in such social network has become

more of personal expression framework. The youth use social media to share to the whole world

about what they think, what they believe in, what is beautiful and what is not. Every activity is

shared from one’s waking up, to the meal set at breakfast, to one’s wardrobe selection ideas, to his

arrival at his day’s place of activity, to his meal for lunch, to a captured moment while resting, and

so on. These are posted not to share with others but to share TO others with an intention to obtain

a personal favor in return through available reactions (Like, thumbs up sign, emoticons,etc) from

the others. Whatever is posted, like meals being taken, cannot actually be shared with others. The

objective has shifted from “sharing with” into “just sharing for others to see.” It may never be

known what the real intentions behind posting to the world the most sumptuous meal one is taking

or the most luxurious vacation one is into. However, what are they really saying to the others? Do

they really want others to experience the same? Are they really sharing their experiences WITH

17
K to 12 Gabay Pangkuriculum. Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao Baitang 1-10. Pasig City: Department of Education ,
2016, 3.
others? Or are they simply satisfying their need for personal actualizations? ETHIKA team may

have said it right that, “These days, insofar as our society teaches us to think about values, it tends

to inculcate a private rather than a public conception of them. This makes reflection a personal and

inward journey rather than a social and collaborative one, and a person’s values a matter of parental

guidance in childhood and individual decision in maturity”18 There is nothing wrong in personal

upliftment but there is another inevitable responsibility learners must learn to discern – OTHERS.

The Filipino learner in the Senior High School, deprived of an actual curriculum subject

for Ethics and Values Education, are mostly prone about this seeming disregard for others out of

the ill effects of contemporary scientific and information technology. In one interview, Levinas

observed, “…technology seemed to already be going towards the possession of man.”19 The two-

year absence of specific instructions on values and ethics truly is a vital loss for the senior high

school learner. The mere integration into various existing curriculum subjects cannot be enough

because there is no particular outline to follow for the teacher. Values education and ethical

upliftment are merely suggestive through the Affective aspect of lesson drafting. Thus, the learner

may graduate from the program but may not have obtained a holistic educational instruction at the

very least.

Gearing towards a particular subject in Ethics must then, have its unique feature of

emphasis. A particular core curriculum subject entitled with the course description Personal

Development is already in place. So there may not be a lack to emphasize the development of the

“I” for every learner. Neverthess, the “I” becomes complete through its relationship to the “Other.”

“To be I, signifies not being able to escape responsibility because I am bound uniquely to the

18
Bruno, Curko, et.al. Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens, 9.

19
Emmanuel Levinas. Interview from Michel Field on June 29, 1993. Youtube, 2011.
other.”20Simply put, the learner learns his very essence as a human person through his social

interaction; through his relationship with others. Such relationship, cultivated by the learner’s

received instructions from Grades 1 to 10 on Edukasyong Pagpapakatao, becomes more

meaningful when viewed towards responsibility to his fellowmen. “Consequently then, to be

onseself is to be for the others…the idea of the infinite is to be found in my responsibility FOR the

Other”21 There is no greater meaning for life , for the “I” of the learner than that.

This ethical emphasis towards “Responsibility to the Other,” as propagated by Emmanuel

Levinas, shall be very pivotal for the desired holistic education of the Senior High School learner,

on the pretext that a specific Ethical subject be integrated into the current curriculum subjects.

Though it may be true that learners need to have a vision and actual experience of the good life,

an Aristotelian concept on ethics, that the school must expose them, this must be complemented

with a reality concerning the learner’s imperative relationship with others – a relationship that

carries the same obligation for others to experience the good life that they must also personally

experience. An authentic good life can never be actualized within the boundaries of the self only.

The good life is in consonance with a similar experience by others. The social media example

above will be put in check through this ethical responsibility towards the others. In his book,

Thomas Wall captures this idea in saying that “…because if ethics focuses on the good and ignores

how we determine our moral obligations, then it clearly leaves much of our moral experience

unexplained… we clearly do have moral responsibilities to others not defined by law.”22 This does

not say that the learner’s responsibilities over arch on existing laws. What must be taken note is

that the senior high school learner needs to claim in his personhood that beyond graduation will

20
Hutchens. Levinas: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: State University of New York Press, 1986, 19.
21
Hand, Sean. The Levinas Reader (Ed.). Australia: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, 5.
22
Wall, Thomas. Thinking Critically About Moral Problems. Australia: Thorman Wadsworth Group, 2003, 50.
be a life not merely about their self-development but this vis a vis his ethical responsibility to

others. Without which, the senior high school learner becomes immersed into the adult world with

only thoughts of self-improvement that may eventually corrupts his very own personhood.

Again, this model may not obtain a definitive result as mentioned from the last paragraph.

However, the responsibility of the education curriculum to the learner is to expose him to matters

such as this and so equip him towards a more responsible personhood for his self-improvement

and his self-worth in his relationship with others.

CONCLUSION

An integrative ethical philosophy into the Curriculum of the Senior High School Program

of the Department of Education in the Philippines is not to criticize the existing format that the

department has already formulated. On the contrary, this paper is looking at the opportunity to

integrate a necessary specific ethics education for the Senior High School learners, particularly

those in the public school setting. Values education and Ethics in schools does not alienate a

specific level or curriculum program. It must be from Kindergarten until Grade 12. Though there

is an existing Values Education subject (aptly called Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, or EsP) in the

new basic education curriculum, the writer, who is a stalwart Senior High School teacher from its

inception in 2016, took notice of the need for a continuance of a particular Values Education

subject through the Senior High School Curriculum. This is because only those from Grades 1 to

10 are covered by the Values Education curriculum of the Department of Education. Thus, the

current set-up in the Senior High school program on values education is merely to integrate it into

the various curriculum subject through Affective formation into the lesson. This does not

necessarily impose the necessary values education that even Senior High learners needed for a
holistic educational objective of the curriculum. The core subjects Introduction to the Philosophy

of the Human Person is a better avenue to understand Philosophy and philosophizing as a whole.

However, the objective of this paper is to attain continuance of values education per se in the senior

high school curriculum through another Philosophical branch – Ethics, owing to the fact that senior

high school learners are at the threshold of adult life. Appropriately, the senior high school learner

must also be made to realize to understand the significance of his responsibilities towards others

when he ventures into the adult world; outside of the four walls of classroom setting. Most human

resource managers and/or proprietors value attitudes more than any personal self-actualization

presented by a worker or a partner in business. Thus the emphasis on the Responsibility towards

Others as an integral aspect of the proposed Ethics education for the Senior High School learner.

Responsibility towards the self shall be manifested via responsibility to other. It must be taken

note that the objective of the Senior High School program is not merely to prepare the learners for

college. Thus, the probability of students not pursuing college education, mostly those from the

Technical-Vocational Livelihood Strands, is immanent. Now, must these learners be deprived?

Moreover, even those belonging to non-TVL Strands of the Senior High School, still necessarily

be inculcated with values education for, again, continuance of their values education formation

received from Grades 1 to 10.

Lastly, philosophy major teachers who are in the Senior High School program will have

better opportunities to impart philosophical ethics perspectives that may not be the forte of pure

Education degree educators. This is not to question any credibility or integrity of concerned

teachers but merely to emphasize that there will be teachers credible enough to help in the holistic

education of the Senior High School learner. At the end of it, what is primordial is still towards
the benefit of the major stakeholder of the Education strata – the Learner; and on this context, the

Senior High School learner.

REFERENCES

Bruno, Curko, et.al. Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens. Austria:
Erasmus+ Ethika, 2017.

Cohen, Richard. Face to Face with Levinas. New York: State University of New York Press,
1986.

Curriculum Guide. Senior High School- Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Core Subject. Pasig City: Department of Education, 2016.

Emmanuel Levinas. Interview from Michel Field on June 29, 1993. Youtube.

Department of Education Order Number 31. Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of Grades
1 to 10 of the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) Effective School Year 2012-2013. Pasig
City, 2012.

Hand, Sean. The Levinas Reader (Ed.). Australia: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

Hutchens. Levinas: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: State University of New York Press,
1986.

K to 12 Gabay PangkuriKulum. Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao Baitang 1-10. Pasig City:

Department of Education, 2016.

Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. London:

Mayfield Publishing Company. 1999.

Quisumbing, Lourdes R. A Study of the Philippine Values Education Programme. Paris:

International Bureau of Education, 1994.

Rowan, Josh, et.al. Ethics for the Profession. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth. 2003
Villegas, Bernardo M. The Book of Virtues and Values. Pasig City: Inkwell Publishing, Co., Inc.
2011.

Wall, Thomas. Thinking Critically About Moral Problems. Australia: Thorman Wadsworth
Group, 2003.

Collins Concise Dictionary. Sydney: Harper Collins Publlishers. 1999.