Humanities for Humans

HUMSS ka lang!

 Wala kang makukuhang pera diyan! HUMSS? 

Ang dali lang naman nun eh!

The new K-12 curriculum was implemented in the Philippines by former President Benigno Aquino III. With this new curriculum, they divided it into strands and tracks. The academic track is the most popular one since many students wants to take this track. It is divided into 4 different tracks namely Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM); Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS); and General Academic Strand (GAS). Among these 4 tracks, the HUMSS track was said to be the easiest to take up, but as a HUMSS student, I beg to disagree. Try creating 3 different poems in 1 and a half hour! It’s not just your ordinary poem, everything is controlled, from the pattern, stress of the words, the type of poem, the rhyme, rhyme scheme, and the topic as well.

 Let me tell you 

8 things 

that makes 

HUMSS  difficult 

yet fun 

at the same time!

1) YOU HAVE TO BE UPDATED WITH THE CURRENT EVENTS.

Reading newspapers and articles to some may seem boring, but being a HUMSS student, you need to be updated in order for you to share your insights in class. 

Isn't it exciting to be updated?!  😀

2) YOU HAVE TO READ, READ & READ!

Along with being updated with the news, you have to read a lot from newspaper, articles, books, to biographies. These reading materials may sound boring, but they are actually pretty interesting since a) it's practical, b) it's relate-able most of the time, and c) it's a learning experience! Yay, words!

3) Endless writing!

Papers, poems, essays, reflections, you name it. Entering HUMSS is like entering a world full of words and vocabulary. It is a must to have your writing skills on fleek to get that A on your paper! Warning, hands are prone to callouses, so you better watch out.

4) BE C R E A T I V E AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND WANT!

Go outside the box and get your imagination flowing and go all crazy. Your creativity is very much welcome in your papers, poems and essays, but make sure its goes along with the subject. 

 

5) YOU CAN SAY WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND.

Being updated with the current events, you probably have a reaction or a say about it. In class, you can actually voice out your opinions and state your concerns. Your voice can now be heard! 

6) DEBATES CAN BE ANYWHERE!

Now that you have a say and opinion about your topic, it's time to stick by it and support your side with arguments. All of us have our opinions and say to some matters, but not all of us have the same mind meaning that some may go against your say, but all you have to do is prove your point. 

Just a warning, don't let this ruin your friendship okay?

7) You would understand the government more!

Since a lot of people are blaming almost everything to the government, I think its also because we don't understand them. Maybe this time we can understand them by learning how things work.

8) Watch movies!

Even though most of the time the movies you want to watch is not being played, the movie that is being played is also a great yet sometimes it's old. It's not your typical romance cliche movie, but more on inspirational & essay worthy type of movie. Remember not to fall asleep while watching.

9) Say what you want to say!

Voice out your opinion and just talk and talk. It's not a crime to voice out your thoughts. You will not die if you just talk. You have a voice!

Now that you know how we roll in HUMSS, I think it’s about time to show you what HUMSS can do and what we can become.

Here are the

 9 branches 

of Social Science 

That would totally 

Be helpful to our society.

1)       Anthropology

   This is the study of ancient societies and cultural traditions. Anthropologists study how people change over the years. Under this branch is Archaeology. Archaeology rebuilds the olden time and goes back to the past to see how they lived before. It's a dream come true to live back to the ancient world! 

              2)           Economics

     Economics is the efficient allocation of resources to humans. This is needed to provide goods and services to the people to satisfy their needs and wants. Being an economist can really help a lot of people. Thinking about helping the economy of your own country is already a big help!

 

3)           Geography

     Geography tackles the matter of interaction of the environment and people. This analyzes how people use their available resources for their needs. This branch not only tackles the people, but as well as the land they live in. This branch is divided into two, physical: the earth, and human: the population. 

 

4)           History

     History is about the past. Who, what, when, where, why, and how before were recorded in history. Now historians’ jobs are to study and analyze them. This is helpful too so that whatever bad things happened before may be avoided in the present and the future. 

5)           Linguistics

Linguistics is the study of language, from letter to word to sentence to speech. Not only does this tackle the pronunciation of the words and letters, but as well as the history, sound, category, and meaning of it. There are so much more than just the words itself! With this branch, you can now learn how to languages you most certainly desire. You can now watch Korean dramas and Animes without subs! Exciting!

6)           Political Science

Political science is all about politics and government. With this branch you can now thoroughly understand how politics and government work. Maybe someday you can be a politician, or even the President of this country! Be a good and wise leader to us!

7)           Psychology

Psychology is all about the human mind, how it works, how people think and behave. There are 3 major fields in Psychology. Clinical: psychological disorders; Developmental: intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development; & Experimental: cognition, perception, memory, and learning. Do not expect after taking this branch up that you could already read minds.

8)           Sociology

Sociology is about the society. Not only does it deal with the people individually in the society, but also as a whole. With this branch, you can improve the society by understanding how it works. As technology is advancing in this generation, mobile-centric computing model can be a huge help in collecting sociological profiles (Guillen, Miranda, Berrocal, Garcia-Alonso, Murillo & Canal, 2013) Even though it would be easier, it'll be difficult as well because of its accessibility. But the model can let the device owners be aware and be in control of their own information. These information will be a lot since there are billions of people around the globe. Let’s go team people!

9)           Demography

Demography is all about the population. It also tackles migration, mortality, fertility, and other vital statistics. With this branch, detailed numbering is quite applicable here. They know everything, even your real age! 

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According to President Dalia Grybauskaitė (2013), ” social sciences and humanities deliver knowledge and experience to address conflicts and achieve peace through negotiations, collaborative work and communication - not by force or arms.” They are good with people, making them very much important since the world is full of people. Humanities have the competence to do such marvelous things through communication and collaboration in a humanistic approach for the world. President Dalia Grybauskaitė opened an event called "Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities", in honor to those people who work under social sciences and humanities. 

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Why did I choose HUMSS?

I chose HUMSS because: 

1) I am really not a big fan of math, and since HUMSS is only offering basic math, so I go for it. 

2) I like talking. Even though it’s nonsense most of the time, I still want to talk (especially motivational ones). 

3) I read. To be honest, I have a tendency to be a selective reader, but once you got my interest, then I will definitely read you. 

4) I am surrounded by people so it kind of spikes up my curiosity about them. 

5) I can’t envision myself with the other strands like STEM, ABM, GAS & etc. 

6) The subjects are interesting. Creative fiction, politics, discipline in social science, & creative non-fiction are pretty interesting for me (even though there are a lot of jargons in there).

 And lastly, 

7) I like to make a change in this world. The kind of change I want is that everyone can remember it. I also want people to change for the better, and I think I can achieve that with Humanities and Social Science since

Humanities is 4 Humans.

Sources:

• Guillen, J., Miranda, J.,  Berrocal, J., Garcia-Alonso, J., Murillo, J., & Canal, C. (2013) People as a Service: A Mobile-Centric Model for Providing Collective Sociological Profiles  IEEE Computer Society, Vol 31 (2), 48-53 DOI:  10.1109/MS.2013.140 
• Barysaitė, D. J (2011, September 24) Contribution by social sciences and humanities – important for Europe’s well-being Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.eu2013.lt/en/news/contribution-by-social-sciences-and-humanitiesimportant-for-europes-well-being 
• Mendoza, D.,  de la Cruz, A., & Fadrigon, C. (2016) Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences, Quezon City: Phoenix publishing House Inc.
• google images for gifs and images