The Portrait of a Call Center Agent (Artist) as a Young Child

After three hours of sleep plus a delayed sugar rush…

Last Saturday, in one of our healthy (if not almost insane) discussions while passing time in Intramuros Walls, we talked the decline of the quality of education in the country. Well, it wasn’t really that but that’s the general idea. Anyway, there was me, a Comm Arts student, a BSEd student majoring in English and an out-of-school freelance graphic artist. One of the points we have touched is the decline of proper English speaking students. It is frustrating to discover and realize that even those about to graduate and teach English in our elementary or high schools aren’t really capable of fluently carrying a full conversation in English. And those who do and could are probably employed in the numerous call centers all through out the country.

This got me thinking… I have never really had any trouble in English or at least not as much as most. And though I don’t even think I’m better or more fluent in using English than the next person, it’s astounding to realize that I’m actually better off than most.

We talked about it and about how language should be taught at a young age when children are still more receptive and are just developing his/her language skills. We think part of the problem is the indecision or instability of the department of education on which language should be the used for teaching most subjects: English or Filipino. And now that the call center industry is a booming enterprise they’re suddenly rushing and having crash courses in proper English usage to take advantage of the market. But then that touches only a part of the problem.

What was my advantage? Was it that I actually started my education in an English school outside the country? Does a year of kinder in English you can’t even remember enough to mark you and change you for life? Maybe it was my being a loner and hiding in the corner of the school library until I grew addicted to stories and books that is my biggest advantage? Or maybe it is the influence of movies and TV shows and cartoons I grew up and still prefer watching most of the time (Will & Grace or telenovelas? Come on!).

I still retain the theory that it was just the fear of being teased about not being able to pronounce the strong Filipino accent on the letter ‘R’ that did the trick. I would always be teased about it (and occasional neighbors would scare me saying they’d iron my tongue out so that I could speak better) until I learned to revert into the softer and almost silent ‘R’ of the English language. I remembered trying and copying BBC newscasters who speak with a silent ‘R’ just so I’d get out of being ridiculed. It also taught me to widen my vocabulary so I could use a synonym (English or Filipino) for I word I could hardly pronounce. Looking back on all those playmates that made fun of me, thank you for forcing me to learn another way to speak… I guess I had the last laugh (haha – how melodramatic).