What is Good Attitude

 By: Aurelio O. Tolentino
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 23:21:00 11/14/2010 

We may not be able to change where we come from, but at any time we have the power to change where we go.

Let me tell you about positive attitude from my experience.

I started a life with a very negative outlook. Indeed!  In my desire to improve my conditions and those around me, I acted as a critic not just of myself but also of people around me. After all, it’s said, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
In the end, I not only failed to raise my standards, but people were unhappy with me and I was unhappy with myself!  My civic work, family and Church offered little help to clarify my situation. Even now, students do not take up positive attitude in school.

Norman Vincent Peale

With this disposition, you can imagine how the 1952 book of Norman Vincent Peale, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” so impressed me. Here are quotes that kept me strong after college:

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.”

“When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”

“Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory.”

“You can if you think you can!”

Robert H. Schuller

Then, I moved on to Robert H. Schuller who influenced my early years at entrepreneurship with his “Possibility Thinking.”  Here are his thoughts that keep my heart warm when it gets cold outside.

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”

“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.”

“Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count all the apples in one seed.”

John Maxwell

Much later, John Maxwell’s books guided me in exercising leadership with 200 people on regular status under my care. I found these treasures in his books:

“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”

“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”

“Your success stops where your character stops. You can never rise above the limitations of your character.”

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Stephen Covey

Then the thoughts of Stephen Covey on abundance mentality made bright my days as my company grew to more than 400 people:

There is so much to be shared in life. Look for its abundance, not its scarcity. When we share life’s abundance, we grow with others and they grow with us.

Here’s a paraphrase:

Meron ako, wala ka, share tayo.
Meron lahat tayo!
Wala ako, meron ka, share tayo.
Meron lahat tayo!
Meron ako, meron ka, share tayo.
Lubos lahat tayo!

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”  This is why I write.  Can you feel the spirit moving with all these thoughts? Can you see how the spirit of good attitude can be mightier than even the pen?

A common definition

If good attitude is so important, then we must define it and not leave its application to chance.

Remez Sasson defines it in his Internet article: “Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conducive to growth, expansion and success.”

I grew with these thoughts but had to struggle with three concerns.

First, even gangsters can apply such positive attitude at work and succeed! Why, I thought, if I had to change, I’d rather change for the better, not for the worse!

Second, positive thinking can be misconstrued as wishful thinking, braggadocio, losing touch with reality.

A man who aspires to rise above a difficult situation needs to be firmly grounded on reality. He is able to discern the quality of action leading to his aspiration and to take this kind of action from day to day.

In other words, good attitude, if it is truly good, may be translated to specific types of action that lead to success. Otherwise, such attitude is mental gymnastics, a self-delusion.

Third, at every step of any undertaking, how can we know if we’re moved by good attitude or negative attitude? If we’re not careful, we can fool even ourselves!

Evil minds can masquerade negative attitude as positive attitude to attract people to their way of thinking and behaving. Watch political ads in elections!

Define negative attitude

I thought that to clarify what positive attitude was, it would be helpful to define negative attitude.  I then had to consider all life’s nasty realities which make retreats necessary.
As shown in any altercation among people in unruly traffic, bad attitudes are human acts arising from uncontrolled anger, pride, laziness, envy, gluttony, greed, lust.

They result in a hardened heart and sickness inside.

Go back to your past experiences of bad attitudes. Test them against this definition.

Define good attitude

Then, I studied the opposite of these seven characteristics.

They are love, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, humility and self-control. Here are two, more—joy and peace.

Note the difference. Good attitude inspires; bad attitude depresses.

Let us put this distinction to a test. Would you know why the following examples inspire?

Now that we have defined good attitude, we can measure every act, every thought, every goal in accordance with what good attitude is before we launch ourselves into it.

If you know an action or event would give rise to a bad attitude or be motivated by it, would you still proceed?

We do not have to reinvent the wheel. The spirit of good attitude has been around for thousands of years, although it might not have been termed good attitude then.

Here’s the inspired reference on attitudes, Galatians 5:19-23, my source for their definition. This definition is so full of common sense that we don’t have to be Christians to believe it.

Good attitude is the key to competitiveness. It is the road of hope—the road less traveled.
But have faith and be discerning. It is the road to success. Take it.

(The writer is an entrepreneur, and author of the books “The Peso ExchangeRate: Why Are We So Poor?” and “The Philippine Economy: Do Our Leaders Have A Clue?” Feedback at map@globelines.com.ph. For previous articles, please visit map.org.ph.)

When Party List System Becomes a Mockery of Philippine Democracy

By:  Gilbert M. Forbes

It is a couple of days less than a year but politicians are starting politicking.  The same with groups masquerading to represent the under represented, underprivileged segments of the society, they too are poised at trying to garner a place at congress.

Its all about money why many scampered to get 
elected in congress through the party list system.

The primary objective of the party list system is to encourage the marginalized, underprivileged at mobilizing and organizing themselves to get elected and be represented at the house of representatives.  Marginalized sectors are the fisher folks, farmers, laborers, ethnic minorities, the urban poor and others.

Actually, congressmen from different legislative districts should have been enough if only voters are able to elect the one who will rightfully represent their interests.  The sad fact is they don’t.  So they are now fallen victim not only of the trapos of their legislative districts but of the party list system.

Considering the current situation, many are aware that except those affiliated with ideological parties from the right, center and left, we don’t have a nationally organized party list group that really represents what they claim to represent as such, voices and stand on varying issues are divided.  For example, the farmers have a divided stand on agrarian issues, the workers on labor issues, and youth and teachers on education, etc.  Teachers alone are said to be represented by different party lists all are saying that they are speaking in their behalf.  The intentions however are very obvious for its more on money and ideological preferences rather than establishing a common ground.

There are actually non-ideological organizations or liberal mass organizations that had been organized in the early and late 90’s nation wide in scale just before the party list system came into being.  However, they slowly dissipated.

Organizing and the organized movement were strong during the repressive regime of the Marcos era.  But when democracy returns, even when it is oligarchic, it slowly weakened and was just concentrated on politically and ideologically oriented movements of which even themselves are experiencing relative decrease in membership just before the party list system.

There was such an identified resurgence but it is for the purpose of getting elected as a party list representative.  For example, security guards are said to be organized for this purpose but it is doubtful if they really are or the security agencies owners.  Electric Cooperatives under National Electrification Administration-NEA (this author doubt if they could really be considered cooperatives for other than distributing expensive electricity to their members, its members receive and benefit nothing from it except its employees particularly the members of the board of directors), LPG Distributors and lots more which undoubtedly don’t fall to the classification of being marginalized.

What good have the public gained from them.  What have they done that benefitted the sectors they allegedly represent?  Where all the billions of pesos as CDF go?

The party list system has become the biggest source of livelihood and quick source of money for the rich wannabes together with their cohorts.  This also has become the easy route to congress for undesirables, for strengthening political dynasties of the privilege few or for those lost from previous elections and has wanted to return—a blatant mockery of the fundamental tenets of democracy.

Any individual who is powerful, popular, and rich enough could invest in organizing party list organization and get a chance to be elected.  In effect, it has become a lucrative investment.

Indeed, this is a warning for every voter when selecting for a party list group.  Better not vote any if one isn’t sure or doesn’t know much about his/her choice particularly its track record.

You may also like reading:  Economic Development Through Good Governance and Active Social Involvement

(Apart from working in the government as an educator.  The writer has been active in the social movement working and helping for social transformation as a former student leader and member of Alyansa ng mga Kristiyanong Mag-aaral.  He holds a Bachelor and MA in Educational Management (CAR) from the Philippine Normal University)

Towards the Universal Primary Education, Why languages is important?

(Excerpts from Why Language Matters for the Millennium Development Goals, published by UNESCO, Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building 920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong, Klongtoey Bangkok 10110, Thailand)

Education is one of the most important ways for people to move out of poverty, and a strong basic education is the first step. Children who receive a good educational foundation at pre-primary and primaryschool levels are in a much better position when they go on to navigatelife’s challenges as adults.

Children are not alienated, eager to participate and learn
more when taught in their mother tongue.

Significant progress is being made on MDG 2. Yet data indicates that an estimated 67 million of the world’s children are still not enrolled in primary education. Many children who do enrol in school later drop out. Children from ethnolinguistic minorities—and especially girls—are disproportionately represented among those who are not receiving any, or adequate, education.

Why language is important?

Many children struggle at school when they are forced to learn in languages that are not their mother tongue. School systems that do not use learners’ own languages or respect their cultures make it extremely difficult for children to stay in school and learn. For individuals, communities and even whole ethnic minority groups, this contributes to perpetuating cycles of marginalization and discrimination. For countries, excluding large portions of the population from their right to good quality education can delay economic growth and perpetuate conflict and political instability.

A growing body of research worldwide demonstrates that instruction in the mother tongue, beginning in the first years of school and continuing for as long as possible, helps girls and boys in numerous ways. Teaching children for a recommended six to eight years in their mother tongue – as well as gradually introducing national or other dominant languages (sometimes called Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) – has the following outcomes:

• Children receive a good foundation: When taught first in their own languages, children learn better, are more self-confident and are well equipped to transfer their literacy and numeracy skills to additional languages.
• Children perform better: Evidence from linguistically diverse countries worldwide shows that children taught first in their most familiar language are more likely to thrive and excel in school.
• Fewer children repeat grades: Studies have found that children who start formal education in a second or foreign language are more likely to repeat school years.
• Fewer children drop out of school: Children who start formal education in a second or foreign language are much more likely to experience frustration and failure, resulting in higher dropout rates for these children. Worldwide, some 50 percent of out-of-school children use a language at home that is not the language used in school.
• Children have more family support: When children learn in their mother tongue, parents and families can be involved and support their education. When children are learning in a second or foreign language, families are often excluded from the process.
• Cycles of exclusion are broken: By including families and drawing on local cultural heritage, mother tongue-based education contributes to communities’ social and cultural well-being and fosters inclusiveness within the wider society.

Policy and practice
Policy
National education policies that prioritize learning in the mother tongue within a strategy to improve educational quality and access are in the political and economic interests of countries with high levels of linguistic diversity.

Sometimes governments fear that mother tongue-based education may have negative socio-political effects. And sometimes parents fear that mother tongue-based education may exclude their child from learning the dominant languages in their country, which are often pathways to jobs and wider opportunities.

A wide body of research suggests that in both cases the opposite is true. Fostering mother tongue-based education helps to reduce alienation and conflict. It better equips children to learn national and international languages, and improves overall performance. Finland, for example, is a leader in mother tongue-based education and also in academic excellence of secondary school children.

In the Asia-Pacific region, in 2009 the Philippines adopted a policy to institutionalize mother tongue-based multilingual education in all public and private schools, from pre-school to high school.

Announcing the new policy, the Department of Education stated, “The lessons and findings of various local initiatives and international studies in basic education have validated the superiority of the use of the learner’s mother tongue or first language in improving learning outcomes and promoting Education for All.

Development partners can support governments by promoting the use of appropriate languages as a central pillar in achieving education quality and inclusion. They can, for example, allocate a percentage of pooled education funds and basic education budgets to the development of mother tongue-based multilingual teaching and learning systems. In addition, they can work to ensure that coverage of primary education in the mother tongue is highlighted as an indicator of education quality.

Practice
There are many examples of successful mother tongue-based multilingual education programmes being implemented around the world. In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, programmes have been implemented or are being planned in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Thailand and Viet Nam, to name a few.

Many mother tongue-based education initiatives in developing and middle-income countries are, as yet, on a small scale. “Scaling up” such initiatives will be vital as countries strive to achieve MDG 2.  Below are some of the examples of regional projects showing success.


Southern Thailand: Local language education fosters communityempowerment and supports conflict reduction
Language and identity are key issues in three provinces of Thailand’s deep south, where there has been ongoing political unrest. The local language and mother tongue of 83 percent of the million-plus population is Pattani Malay. However, the language has not been officially accepted or used in the education system. Ethnic language and culture are thus declining, and local communities have low self-confidence. There is chronic underachievement at school. A pilot programme introducing bilingual education is showing early success. Children in mother tongue-based programmes scored 35 percent higher on Thai language exams than children in traditional Thai-only classrooms.

Bangladesh: Children benefit from mother tongue education
Bangladesh has some 45 indigenous groups, 12 of which live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The official language of school instruction in Bangladesh is the national language, Bangla. Statistics indicate that around 60 percent of children from indigenous groups drop out of primary education. Working closely with local communities, and in a context of debate about appropriate approaches to education, language choices, writing systems and other matters, Save the Children started a culturally sensitive education programme for primary school children in three ethnic languages: Chakma, Tippera and Marma. The project confirmed that learning in the mother tongue supported the children in their education.

There was enthusiastic involvement from the local community. Lessons learned within the initiative indicated that six months is too short a “bridging period” between using the child’s first language and Bangla as a medium of instruction. A longer time span is necessary for children to feel confident in both languages.

In another initiative focusing on pre-school children, Save the Children and partner Zabayang Kalyan Samity found that children learning in the mother tongue significantly outperformed counterparts who were not taught in the mother tongue, in communications, language and literacy.

Nepal: Reading in the local language boosts child literacy
When Save the Children conducted literacy assessments in Nepal in 2008, it found that 42 percent of Grade 3 children in partner schools in Kailili could not read a single word. Most of those who were struggling to read were children whose mother tongue was not the language of instruction. This prompted intensive efforts to boost local language reading interventions through the development of a Literacy Boost programme. Begun in 2009, Literacy Boost’s design included local language materials development and provision, reading-focused instruction for classroom teachers, and community level reading activities run by local volunteers who could speak Tharu, the local mother tongue. Later testing showed that children in schools running the Literacy Boost programme performed much better in terms of fluency and accuracy than children in comparison schools. Save the Children has since expanded Literacy Boost to more parts of Nepal, including Bajura in the Far Western Region and Kapilvastu in the Western Region.

You may also like reading:

 Rationale of Mother Tongue-Based Multi-lingual Education
Economic Development Through Good Governance and Active Social Involvement

Economic Development Through Good Governance and Active Social Involvement

By Gilbert M. Forbes

Through the years, many parts of the country particularly the rural areas are and have remained poor.  Though, could not fully blamed on the national government but still, it has something to do with bias and unequal economic policy which give less and less focus on agriculture beneath the fact that it is the life-blood of the majority of the poor—at least 70% of them.

Considering that Agriculture is a least economic priority, it is not
surprising that most of the poorest of the poor are coconut farmers.
 (Photo sourced out from www.filamnation.com)

Experts are saying that in order for the current economic policy to have an impact on the poor, economic growth should at least post a record of 7.5% in a continuing basis for more than a decade like that of our neighboring countries.  China and Vietnam are the best example.

But it’s not the case for the country.  Its growth is erratic.  Furthermore, growth is concentrated in the service sector, government or public spending and consumer increase purchases made alive by OFW remittances which has reached more than $20 Billion!  Agriculture roughly reaches more than 2% which is just the population growth equivalent.  If only, growth in this sector could the country’s average, or let say, growth is inclusive, the impact would really be great.  Because of the slow growth in Agriculture, production isn’t that much thus, food is quite high in the country compared to other ASEAN countries like Thailand who’s Agriculture has known to have been in full swing in the 90’s and has continued since then.

In a broader perspective, aside from individual biases, beliefs, and treatment towards gainful living and occupation, local governance has something to do also with economic development.  Economic planning and implementation is top to bottom.  And even with such set-up, still, many of the good programs that the national government intends to implement end up a failure once it reach the community level units after sometime due to lack of sustainability.  There simply is no meeting of great minds from the national down to the local government particularly at the barangay level.  It is not surprising because majority of the leadership at the barangay level lack the necessary leadership and transformational management skills and capabilities that will encourage popular sustainable public support that will steer economic development in their respective areas.

Although many local government units at the municipal level are bent on training barangay chief executives, as observed and experienced in some quite a number of meetings, level of commitment is too weak.  This is very evident particularly in the implementation of priority programs like for instance on the protection of women and children, basic clean and green projects, and livelihoods programs.  For instance swine raising and pig dispersal as a livelihood program most commonly end up to nothingness.  The same with credit facility being offered to start a cooperative.

This could be attributed to lack or very low level of accountability on these elected officials and man forms of dependence on their municipal leaders up to the national level and vice versa .  As one municipal employee once quoted, “ang hirap-hirap namang pasunurin ng mga kapitan, kapag may pamiting ka, hindi lahat nakiki-cooperate.”  It is not surprising, because why are they into these positions in the first place?  There could still be many whose intentions are pure but their incapacity have put them at a loss.  Some on the other hand are just after the position as a source of livelihood, additional source of income for others and connection to further their business interests.  Failon Ngayon, of ABS-CBN Channel 2 has validated this assumption continuously through a series of segments tackling our leaders inefficiency.

At the outset, aside from the national government reviewing its economic policies to make it more effective, local government should also be doing the best thing they could do to improve the living condition of their people.  Individual citizens too must work hard particularly those who already have the means to move out of poverty.  The rich and the middle class however, should extend their hands to their lowly brethren.  They must help invest in their education and in agriculture even when little returns or no returns at all are expected instead of getting drowned in materialism, craze and fads which characterize many of the middle class and rich urban dwellers.

In this time, that our country is being bullied by rich and powerful countries just because we are poor and weak, the challenge and need to get out of poverty, and be wealthy is timely.  Its only when every citizens of our country progress and become financially independent that our country becomes economically and militarily strong because we already have the money and resources.  But until majority of our people are poor so our country is.

Getting out of poverty is not only a challenge for everybody who is poor. Achieving good governance by learning to have better choices among decent. righteous and God-loving political candidates.  Most importantly the topmost social, moral and spiritual responsibility of the bourgeois and elite groups is invest their money wisely and to help others get out of poverty.

Indeed for economic development to occur, active social involvement of every body in achieving good governance is important for only good governance could level the playing field.

(Apart from working in the government as an educator.  The writer has been active in the social movement working for social transformation as a former member of Alyansa ng mga Kristiyanong Mag-aaral.  He holds a Bachelor and MA in Educational Management (CAR) at the Philippine Normal University)

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The Philippines, Our Only Home 
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