Champions!

My picks in championship games usually end up losing. Not this time though.

Dallas Mavericks won its first NBA championship trophy by winning 105-95 in its game 6 against Miami Heat! Miami Heat may have three of the best players but Dallas Mavs definitely is the better team.

Ateneo Eagles won the FilOil-Flying V Hanes Preseason Premier Cup (75-56) against the NCAA 2010 champion, San Beda Lions.

Pilipino Funny Komiks

Pilipino Funny Komiks for Children was published by Islas Filipinas Publishing Company from 1978 to 2004.  I collected PFK starting with issue #2.  I stopped buying PFK when I was already in College (but I did remember buying a PFK issue when I was still a freshman, as a 'pasalubong' to my siblings).  My whole PFK stash was left in our old house when we moved.  I remember having several boxes of PFKs.  I wish I could have those copies back. :-)

In October 2008, PFK was revived by Infinito Publishing.  Three issues were published in 2008 (#1405, #1406, #1407) and one issue in 2009 (#1408).  It is really hard to look for a copy of these PFKs.  I was able to purchase my first copy of #1407 at the National Bookstore at SM Megamall and #1408 at Filbars at SM Megamall.   The National Bookstore at Pavillion Mall (Sta Rosa) still has a copy of #1407.   I was able to get #1405 and #1406 from a newstand at Farmer's Market, Cubao.

#1405	#1406
#1407	#1408

There are some scans of old PFKs floating in the Internet.

If there are people out there who want to part with their old PFKs (circa 1978 to 1990), I would gladly take them. :-)

The Push for K+12

The Regional Consultation on the K+12 Educational Reform is on-going.  This morning, Dr. Isagani Cruz talked about the current ideas on how to implement K+12 in the near future.  K+12 is actually kindergarten + 6 years of elementary + 4 years of high school + 2 years of career academy.  Dr. Cruz however calls the last 2 years of basic ed as senior high school and not career academy.  Career academy is the one being pushed by Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ.

The K+12 will actually start next School Year (i.e., SY 2011-2012).  This however is met by hesitations and concerns.  Participants from Elementary schools expressed concern about training their teachers to teach an appropriate preparatory curriculum (i.e., the K in K+12 proposal).

The kindergarten program (the K in K+12) is essentially the familiar prep and not the current "kindergarten" program and not the nursery program.  In the K+12 proposal, kindergarten is necessary and not optional as before.

My concern is more on the assurance that graduates of Career Academies will actually get jobs.  This will entail close partnership with employers and the industry players.  I hope that DOLE and Employers Confederation of the Philippines actively participate in the implementation of K+12.

Nowadays, some employers would insist on a college degree requirement even if that is clearly an over-qualification.  I hope that graduates of a Career Academy will be attractive to employers and will be well paid.

Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ provides an excellent coverage of the K+12 Educational Reform (see : http://taborasj.wordpress.com/).