LOGOS Educational Resource Center

dive deeper into those profound interpretations. Rather, we focus on the more prosaic meanings of ‘logos’ and its etymological root, ‘logo.’ Our hope is that our readers, by engaging with us in this page, will be able to transcend the human experience and pierce through the Divine Mind. Our Cover Photo and Profile Picture

If you haven’t done so yet, please read our brief commentary about our Cover Photo in order to put the remainder of our discussion here in its proper context. Here’s an invitation to engage with us in a meaningful and fruitful conversation.

‘Logos’ as Thought

One of the literal meanings of ‘logos’ is ‘thought.’ As already mentioned earlier, thought leads to action. Moreover, every single action is by itself an act of creation. A series of purposive actions, whether performed by an individual or a group of individuals acting in unison, creates a product or a service. All together, those products and services either upgrade or degrade our environment and ultimately shape the world in which we live. LOGOS Educational Resource Center puts much emphasis on Personal Development and Study Methods. Together with our readers, we aim to explore the brain and the mind, the thinking process, and the resultant thoughts and actions so that we can become responsible creators of the world, as individuals, and of ‘our’ world, as a species.

‘Logos’ as Word

A second literal meaning of ‘logos’ is ‘word.’ Man is a social being (homo socius), and as such, needs to share his thoughts with other men. Thoughts are communicated through words, which can either be acted (sign language, body language, etc.), spoken (conversation, oration, debate, etc.), or written (letter, essay, poem, short story, novel, etc.). Carefully selected words (semantics/vocabulary) put together in the proper sequence according to established rules (syntax/grammar) constitute the basic fabric of any language. LOGOS Educational Resource Center showcases the two official Philippine languages—English (Welcome to our page!) and Filipino (Masayang Pagbati!)—and introduces the fundamentals of Latin (Salvete Omnes!). However, we do not discount the possibility of expanding our language content in the future to include other Philippine languages (we have more than 100) and a few foreign languages. Etymology of ‘Logos’

The Greek word ‘logos’ comes from the verb ‘logo,’ which means ‘I speak’ or ‘I count,’ among other translations. From its etymological origin, it should be clear why the noun ‘logos’ has come to mean ‘word,’ which figures prominently in our page. But how does the other meaning of ‘logo’ fit in?

‘Logos’ as Number

Early man instinctively knew how to count, at least up to 5 (there are 5 fingers in one hand!). Later, he learned how to tally and could then count to yet bigger numbers. But Mathematics as such didn’t formally develop until man reached the Agricultural Age, when the need arose to measure plots of land, to trade produce, to tax individuals, to make a census, etc. The progress from finger-counting to cloud-computing had been excruciatingly slow at the start, but is now proceeding at a dizzying speed. LOGOS Educational Resource Center highlights Math as another focal point of our engagement with readers. We begin with Arithmetic (the art of counting), followed by Algebra (the art of calculating by restoring and balancing) and then Geometry (the art of measuring). From there, we graduate into Statistics (the art of gathering and processing data), Calculus (the art of calculating infinitessimal changes) and Accounting (the art of recording business transactions). In the realm of Mathematics, numbers perform the same function as words do for Language.

‘Logos’ as Science

A third literal meaning of ‘logos’ is ‘science.’ Man has always been inquisitive, eager to learn about the nature and origin of the universe and everything in it—the sun, the moon, the stars, and the space around them; the earth, the oceans, and the atmosphere; plants, animals, and other organisms; matter and energy and their changes. The history of science has not always been linear and is certainly not wanting in controversies. Here are a few: the Heliocentric Theory of Copernicus and Galileo, Lavoisier’s Oxygen Theory of Combustion, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, Quantum Theory by Max Planck and company, Einstein’s Theories of Relativity. The last gave us the oft-quoted but little understood E = mc². LOGOS Educational Resource Center includes the basic sciences in the Philippine Junior and Senior High school curriculum as talking points in this page. So here we discuss Earth and Space Science (the study of geology, meteorology, and astronomy), Biology (the study of life), Chemistry (the study of matter and changes it undergoes), and Physics (the study of interactions between matter and energy).

‘Logos’ as Symbol

Try to Google-search the word ‘logos,’ and what you’ll get is a collage of graphic images. Logo (pl., logos) is the clipped form of logogram, which literally means "symbol or character representing a word.” Yes, logos constitute another form of communication; they serve as the language of businesses and institutions. A business or institutional logo goes beyond disclosing the identity of the establishment and its brand. It communicates an entire set of values—excellence, craftsmanship, reliability, convenience, accessibility, affordability, and other desirable traits. The history of logos goes back to antiquity. Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Chinese and Japanese versions of calligraphy were not just forms of writing, where images represented words. Some of those images actually conveyed a symbolic meaning. Today’s Digital Age has catapulted logos into unprecedented heights in terms of style, visual impact, versatility, and endurance. LOGOS Educational Resource Center engages its readers in discussions revolving around businesses and institutions, particularly as they relate to education. We firmly believe that education must be a lifelong pursuit of knowledge in order to ‘lead out’ (Latin: e + duco = lead out) the ‘homo creator’ that’s coded in our divine DNA.

‘Logos’ in Our Mind

While this page was conceptualized and published during the 2020 pandemic, we intend to maintain our online presence far beyond the denouement of the triggering event. Every summer each year since 2000, we have been conducting College Entrance Test (CET) Review (UPCAT, ACET, DCAT, USTET, UAPCET, etc.) The last batch was Logos Batch 2020. Because of the pandemic, the CET review classes that we traditionally held in classrooms or students’ houses were moved to an online platform, Google Classroom. For Logos Batch 2020, the entire review was ‘asynchronous;’ but otherwise, it had all the trappings of live classroom sessions. We are often asked: Why asynchronous when there are so many video-conferencing apps in the Internet? We cite two reasons: first, we didn’t have a reliable Internet connection at the start of the review season (April); and second, we weren’t as tech-savvy then as we are now. The learning curve that we faced was quite steep initially, but throughout the summer, we were able to clear many of the hurdles that go hand in hand with online teaching. Recently, too, we were able to upgrade our Internet connection (from erratic to stable), which allowed us to conduct a few CET Math Webinars toward the tail end of the review season (August). Our plan for Logos Batch 2021 and subsequent batches is to make the CET review not just a crash course, but a truly comprehensive one, covering the core competencies needed to perform competitively in the CETs. The idea is to extend the CET review from one month, as it is now, to one year. To achieve this goal, the CET review will be divided into two phases—an ‘asynchronous’ phase and a ‘synchronous’ phase (or face-to-face sessions, if conditions permit). We will release more details about the program in our Facebook posts. Let’s begin our conversation. Please check our SERVICES and OFFERS in the corresponding tabs below our Cover Photo.