NEWS FLASH FROM THE PHILIPPINES: NOVELS NOT EDUCATIONAL
Posted by Robin Hemley on May 17, 2009 9:26 AM
It's been recently reported that Undersecretary Estela Sales of the Philippine Department of Finance believes that "novels are not educational." This leads me to believe that she must be suffering from a lack of education, or else, I and hundreds of thousands of educators around the globe who teach novels to millions of high school and college students must be horribly deluded and/or misinformed. As Ms. Sales has already told bookstore owners that she is the sole correct interpreter of an international treaty in force for over fifty years in the Philippines, I can guess that she would simply answer to stunned legions of educators around the world, "Yes. You are misinformed."
However, I cling to my silly notion that novels (indeed, books in general) are educational even if Undersecretary Sales says they are not. I think perhaps the solution to this Book Blockade is to offer some literature courses to Undersecretary Sales free of charge. Let me be the first person to step up and offer this freebie. Next time I'm in Manila, we can start our lessons. The Course will be titled "The Literature of Corruption," and it will teach novels that deal explicitly or implicitly with an entrenched culture of corruption. Maybe we'll start with Rizal's classic NOLI ME TANGERE. I'd also like to include a Graham Greene novel, perhaps THE HEART OF THE MATTER and definitely Aravinda Adiga's THE WHITE TIGER. That's just a start. I'm open to suggestions. I might even be able to get her some University of Iowa credit. I think it would be a great course and I'd even extend the offer to Rene Agulan, the Customs official who held up the first shipment of books in January as well as any other Customs officials who might like to learn what exactly is educational about novels.
Somehow I suspect I won't have any takers. So let me suggest that the universities in the Metro Manila area offer such a course, starting next semester. UP, Ateneo, DLS, UST, etc should offer such courses and invite Secretary Sales, Rene Agulan, and others. And if they don't show up, then the course could still be taught to students who know the meaning of the word "Educational."
By the way any academics in the Metro Manila area who might like to help educate Undersecretary Sales can reach her at: esales@dof.gov.ph One further suggestion: it's probably best not to ask her questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no."
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