Community service and initiation rites as means of educational acculturation in John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University-Molo
List of Authors
  • Moniq M. Muyargas , Roland John Cyril F. Emague

Keyword
  • educational acculturation, rites of passage, initiation rites

Abstract
  • This research is an exploratory qualitative study examining the process of educational acculturation in John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University-Molo. It described the; 1.) nature of the community service and initiation rites as means of acculturation, 2.) the meanings and values derived from the various rituals and practices, as well as 3.) the comparison of the perceptions and learnings of new students and graduating marine students towards the practice. This study in a form of a narrative inquiry approach collected the data through key-informant interviews with the organizers of the school’s annual practice and focus-group discussions (FGD) composed of new and graduating marine students of JBLFMU-Molo. Using Krueger’s Systematic Analysis Process, the results revealed that the school’s community service and initiation rites are conducted to reflect the goals of the school and serves as an avenue of inculcating the school culture to the students. It was also revealed that the various rituals and practices included in the said annual school event reflect certain meanings and values that are highly essential in molding the students to become competent seafarers. Furthermore, it exhibited the school’s core and other values, which are considered important in attaining the goals of the university. In view of their learnings, both new and graduating students revealed comparable responses. However, the profoundness of their learnings and realizations varies in a way that most of the new students simply relate their learnings to their studies unlike most of the graduating students whose learnings are implied to their future work on board. The result also proved that the school’s community service and initiation rites vividly act as a process of educational acculturation by which the school culture is successfully transmitted to the students by learning and imbibing it following the pattern and concept of the derived acculturation model.

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