Toward the end of 2024, it felt like it had been ages already, and still, I hadn’t lost a wee bit of my excess weight despite practically living at the gym. The suspicious status of my health got me thinking that if I don’t ditch this extra heft pronto, I’m going downhill faster than a greasy pig on a waterslide. It’s definitely not going to be pretty down there. The slip, once it gains momentum, will most likely be unstoppable. So, I made a bold move. It was a decision whose wisdom I derived from History.
In 1519, Hernando Cortes, the greatest Spanish conquistador, arrived in Mexico with 500 men to subdue Montezuma, the Aztec monarch of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). However, Cortes’s men became hesitant when they found that Montezuma commanded 100,000 battle-tested warriors. Fearing for their lives, they entertained mutinous thoughts against their leader, so they could retreat and return to their homeland. Cortes immediately sensed that his life was in danger in the company of his own men. He had to find a way to redirect his men’s minds toward the purpose of their expedition. Cortes’s adaptability in settling this seemingly unresolvable problem offers a valuable lesson for anyone in a similarly tight situation.
Cortes did the unthinkable. He ordered his trusted lieutenants to move under the cover of darkness so they could burn all their galleons. When all the ships were finally destroyed, Cortes’s men were effectively left with no other option but to psych themselves up for the looming battles and protracted war. With the prospect of being able to go back to their homeland removed from the equation, the mutinous minds of Cortes’s men inevitably adopted a do-or-die attitude!
How did I apply what I learned in this part of History in my real-life tightening pants situation?
My struggle was not with the Aztec warriors who wanted to literally flay their enemies alive and wear their hides. My struggle was with my monstrous appetite, unmoderated demand for comfort, and steadily tightening pants, nay, expanding waistline.
I had no real galleons to burn but a Rubicon to cross. ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ is a metaphor for making a decisive and irreversible decision, a concept that was central to Cortes’s strategy and my own personal journey.
My galleons were my long pants, but I didn’t burn them. Neither did I give them away nor did I destroy them. But to commit myself to my own pursuit, in the same way Cortes forced the hands of his men to do nothing but fight, I had all of my pants’ waistlines trimmed down to my desired shorter size. With that bold move executed, I crossed a Rubicon. I was left with no other option but to do everything in my power to eventually fit again into my altered pants. When I handed all my pants to the tailor, I whispered, “The die is cast.” Cortes was also known to have literally recited Julius Caesar’s words when he issued the order to destroy his galleons, a strong piece of evidence that Cortes, too, applied in his real-life problematic situation what he learned in History.
This application of learning from History — from crossing the Rubicon to burning galleons to trimming down pants’ waistlines — is an example of ‘performance-based learning.’ This term, often abbreviated as ‘PBL,’ is a modern pedagogical approach that emphasizes the application of learning in real-world experiences. It means the use of knowledge in authentic situations. It’s a concept frequently discussed in educational circles, particularly in the Philippines.
However, the process of performance-based learning (“PBL” from here on) seems to stop at the level of stage performances, project making, presentations, problem-solving in school, and such-like activities, where students are supposed to showcase some learning from teacher-student interactions, textbook studies, or both. These school activities are actually an intermediate stage of PBL, whose authenticity, based on the ideas (i.e., application, real-life situation, authentic situations) that are commonly tied to it, ultimately resides in the use of what was learned in real-life situations as opposed to the graded demonstrations of learning in teacher-prescribed or -required PBL assessment activities in school.
The central theme of PBL is applying school learning in appropriate real-life situations. Firstly, PBL requires understanding the context in which certain competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, values, thinking styles, attitudes, habits, and dispositions) were identified and studied. Learning at this stage usually happens with the teacher’s assistance, by studying assigned materials, or both. This form of learning technically falls within the category of formal education. Secondly, owing to the impracticality of following and monitoring students outside school to check if they could apply what they presumably had learned in school, the system is left with no other option but to assess learning in a controlled setting or within the school premises. Again, modes of assessment here could be stage performances, laboratory experiments, art exhibits, poster making, diorama making, etc. Finally, authentic PBL may manifest in varying degrees outside the school setting, providing students with practical opportunities to utilize the competencies learned in foundational PBL exercises in school.
Let’s go back to Tinochtilan. Despite the Spaniards’ comparatively advanced weaponry, the fear that weighed down on Cortes’s men was enough for them to contemplate mutiny, the success of which would allow them to skedaddle back to their homeland. Five hundred well-armed but scared Spaniards were no match to 100,000 indigenous warriors, who had the homecourt advantage. This was another problem that stood imposingly in Cortes’s way.
Cortes accepted his men could not submit 100,000 fierce Aztec warriors and their leader in just one great battle. So, Cortes used his diplomatic skills to gradually undermine the military strength of the Aztecs. Cortes befriended the indigenous communities outside Tenochtitlan and took advantage of the fact that they resented having to pay taxes to Montezuma. Winning disgruntled indigenous communities on his side, Cortes made them think he had released them from the oppressive grip of Montezuma’s tyranny. Consequently, Cortes’s new allies willingly fought alongside his small army, consuming a larger foe in small but increasingly injurious bites. Eventually, Montezuma was killed either by his own people or the Spaniards during the siege of Tenochtitlan.
So, how may today’s History students apply Cortes’s military strategy? What could be the real-life situations in which students could masterfully display PBL or the ability to tell whether a real-life problem is analogous to the great-enemy challenge Cortes had to overcome?
In business, for example, it is similarly unwise to compete directly with a strong market leader on all fronts. It will not tap out in a direct engagement, just like mighty Montezuma and his warriors had they been directly assaulted by the skinny army of Cortes. It is best for a small business to start providing the needs of underserved niches. It can develop innovative solutions that the market leader has overlooked. It can also build strong relationships with the market leaders’ unsatisfied customers, and try to turn non-consumers into its regular customers. This is a gradual advancement toward the higher goals of a small commercial undertaking. Even if its bites are small, the venture will continue to grow. Eventually, it could turn into a force to reckon with.
Here are other examples of competencies learned in school and their applications in real-life situations (i.e., authentic PBLs):
- The imaginative ability of a great writer to put ideas and information together is a competency that similarly applies to culinary arts. To turn out delicious and visually appealing dishes, the chef must likewise use his/her imagination to figure out what he/she must put together.
- Awareness of our biases and assumptions in academic debates, conversations, or dialogues is important to avoid unnecessary disagreement arising from not having the full picture of someone else’s circumstances. This applies to defensive driving on public roads, where drivers must be aware of their blind spots to avoid accidents.
- Discipline, hard work, grit, and other values are cultivated in Physical Education and other areas in the curriculum. These values are similarly important in real-life situations like pursuing excellence in one’s career, supporting one’s family, running a business, administering government services in underserved communities, teaching children with special needs, and conducting professional research.
