First of all, this is not in support of any vice presidential candidate. It is merely my opinion. I am watching a show called Harapan with Ted Failon wherein the vice presidential candidates of the Philippines are asked to debate and answer questions.
A school teacher from the Eta province in the North asked what can the candidates do to help the teachers and students in the remote areas of the Philippines to provide the quality education that these Filipino children are entitled to.
Some candidates are very convincing with their answers and some were not able to express their point well enough, though if studied beyond the way it was delivered, would stand to be an insightful answer. One of these candidates was Atty. Yasay.
Attorney Yasay brought to light a very good point in my opinion, in the philippine education system, students are taught to look for employment after graduation, they are trained how to make resumes, how to answer interviews, etc. I am speaking from experience. A good portion of my 5th year as an engineering student was spent on doing just this. I remember back then, I came to a point where I was asking, why the school and our professors perceived everyone wanted to be an employee after we graduated.Why weren't we being taught how to solicit funds for a start-up business. We weren't taught which agencies would finance small businesses. There was no business administration subject. Not one.
My point here is, why aren't we being taught skills in creative thinking, entrepreneurial skills, business skills, skills that will enable us to uplift ourselves instead of giving us a subservient mentality. Here are more examples of what I mean when I say we are thinking less instead of thinking and dreaming bigger.
In our country, a course in Tourism is equated to wanting to become a future flight attendant. This is WRONG. A course in Tourism entails a career in diplomacy and ambassadorship, foreign trade, and foreign policy. NOT to become a flight attendant. Our minds are conditioned to think small. If you survey college students why they took this course, that is what they will answer. How do I know? I have interviewed many students, especially pageant candidates who are supposed to be the creme of the crop of our students with their beauty, talent, and intelligence. If our so-called intelligent students are thinking this way, dreaming this small, how much less does this entail for the majority of our students?
In our country, a course in HRM means learning to become service crews in the big hotels and restaurants in the world. How to serve. Where is the entrepreneurship and creative thinking in that? It's a course in management which means after you get a degree in this course, you should have the skills necessary to start up and manage your own hotel or restaurant, know how to get the funds and support to get it started and running, or at the very least MANAGE the big hotels and restaurants. Not simply become a service crew, earn dollars, and stop there.
In my own case, an engineer means getting a job in a factory in an economic zone to test the quality of finished products. We studied 5 years to test capacitors if they're working or not? To compare the colors and bands on these simple little devices? 1 day of training is enough for that. Of course this is not where 100% of engineers go, but a good portion of those who can only afford to study in not-so-popular schools end up doing this. To top it off, the starting salary per month is a measly $260 per month.
It's frustrating to watch the potential of our students go to waste with the small thinking of our educational institutions.
Why aren't our educational institutions thinking big for us? Why aren't we being equipped with the knowledge to uplift ourselves? Do we have to settle for less than what other people in other countries settle for? Do we always have to be the ones who serve other people? We are wasting the brain capacity, the talent, the perseverance, and the hard earned money the families of our students are striving to provide them with thinking that their kids would get good education. I know of some families who have sold all their possessions like all their cows, hogs, crops, and what little land they have just so they can provide their children with what they think is quality education.
What is the result of this poor education system? It robs our youth of hope, it robs them of the ability to think bigger, it robs them of their full potential, it robs them of a future they might otherwise have. It keeps us simple minded resulting in a monkey-see, monkey-do attitude as observed by an American-Pinoy friend of mine. And yes, I agree with him. The country becomes gullible.People stop thinking for themselves. They stop analyzing. They stop asking questions. Everything remains as shallow as it could be.
Speaking of asking questions, in Philippine schools, why is it that students do not ask questions??? This scenario was in my 5th year college days. A professor asked me to classify flash memory as either a ROM or RAM. It was part of a homework and when we got to class, there was a follow-up graded recitation where we were not allowed to look at the homework we did the previous night to test if we were really the authors of our own homework. The professor called on me. Now he didn't know it but half the class photo-copied my homework. So I answered his question and explained that the architecture of a flash drive is based on ROM architecture. He went out of the classrooom and when he came back. He said I was wrong. Since half the class had my homework in hand, they knew what was in my research. The other half who didn't copy from me also came up with the same answer. Flash is based on ROM. We all know that RAM is a processor, not a storage device so classifying a flash memory as RAM is more than stupid especially for a college professor!
He gave me a 75% on my homework. After he left, I asked all my classmates what answer they had. They ALL had the same answer as me but not one questioned the professor. Not one raised their hand to object or ask a question. These are 22-23 year old graduating students for crying out loud!
This same scenario happened to me in 5th grade. I was in the US and I raised my hand to answer a question. A fellow Pinay student who was seated beside me put my hand down and told me not to ever raise my hand because she never raised her hand.
If I was imaginative enough I would say it's mass brainwashing to keep our nation down.
My question is why do we have this behavior in our nation of thinking small? Why is nothing being done about it? Does nobody notice it? Why are our own educational system keeping us down? Why aren't we being taught to fight for what's right? Why are students afraid to ask questions? Why are students afraid to raise their hands in the first place? What sort of message is this kind of educational culture cultivating in us as a nation?
Please feel free to speak your mind if you have any comments.
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