This painting of David with the head of Goliath the Philistine was painted on a leather shield by Andrea del Castagno in Florence, Italy around 1450. Today it hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Any boy or girl from Dumaguete could walk by this painting in the gallery, and would know who and what it was about– without being told. 
“Then David said to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel….“And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.”
It’s David and Goliath, a Bible story every child in the Philippines knows. They learned it in grade school, or even before.
They would also know, and could identify without thought, pictures of God creating Adam, Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, the Last Supper, and many could identify all the apostles in that picture.
On the other hand, many American children, and even young adults, could pass by this painting without knowing who David and Goliath were, or what the painting is about. “That’s a great picture! Who’s that kid? Whose head is that at the bottom?” Gross.
They know all the media’s junkfood myths of Spider Man, Superman, rap stars, rock stars, movie stars, but the basic stories in the Bible are often unknown to them. They are not taught in schools, they are not points of standard reference or normal conversation.
Religious references are officially frowned upon in America. Any story involving God or any specific religion — much less the “God of the armies of Israel” — cannot be taught, or even mentioned, in any official institution because it might “offend” someone from another religion. Or atheists.
But these stories of David and Goliath, Noah and the flood, and others, are not only about religion; they are about good and evil, right and wrong.
More than that, they are part of the basic narrative of Western civilization. Not to know them is simply to be ignorant.
In that sense, Filipino children are often better educated than their counterparts in the other side of the world.
_______________________________________
Author’s email: john.stevenson299@gmail.com
