There’s the Rub
Making the grade
By Conrado de QuirosQuacquarelli Symonds, a British organization specializing in education, confirms what most of us pretty much know or suspect. The quality of our education is falling.
Quacquarelli Symonds, a British organization specializing in education, confirms what most of us pretty much know or suspect. The quality of our education is falling.
The University of the Philippines has renamed its business school after Cesar Emilio Aguinaldo Virata, finance secretary and later prime minister under the Marcos dictatorship. Critics, and they are many, ask: Is it legal to start with, there being a law that prohibits the “naming of public places … and institutions after living persons”? Had the university authorities been truthfully briefed about naming practices in elite universities abroad? Was the honoree truly worthy of the honor, apparently unprecedented in UP, of having an entire academic program named after him?
The idea that much of what a college graduate learned in school will turn out to be quite irrelevant at work is a prevalent one. Certainly, there may be a lot of anecdotal evidence to support this notion. However, the fact remains that a strong academic foundation is critical to one’s success and continuing upward mobility in the workplace.
It now appears that the Aquino administration is indeed neglecting the victims of Typhoon “Pablo.” The spotlight is now on the young students among these victims: They are starting the new school year in tents provided by Unicef, using school materials that reportedly have been “scavenged.”
A parent whose biggest goal in life is to see all her children graduate from the University of the Philippines wrote me the other day to ask what advice to give her son who had taken a leave of absence from his studies in UP in order to work in their town’s local government.
I marched onto the stage, head held high and grinning proudly, thinking of how much nearer I was to achieving my dreams. Like the silver medal I was about to receive, I thought, I’d have the world in my hands, if not at my feet.
Learning new things is something I never thought I would enjoy. In the past, I didn’t like trying something new or changing a routine; I did so only when I was forced to, and I focused on improving what I already knew. But after more than a year of sitting in my comfort zone, I am now determined to change so I can develop myself as a person and as an Atenean.
As expected, the opening of classes has brought the Department of Education back in the glare of publicity once again. The usual shortages of teachers, classrooms, and books are highlighted, the K to 12 program is under critical scrutiny, as well as liberal and nonrestrictive class sizes that accommodate all students, students overage for the classes they belong to, students not yet reading in Grade 3… And the list goes on.
On April 18, 2013, I was awakened by my cell phone. The message came from a bank: “Buy now pay later this Back to School season! Enjoy absolutely 0% installment and special offers at over 300 stores nationwide until July 15…”
It’s schooltime again. For the few who have no problems with tuition and school supplies, life is a bliss. But for the many others who have to search for ways and the where to get money for schooling, life is a trial.
I myself am not a great fan of K to 12. I know it’s now law and is on its second year. The Department of Education says the implementation is getting better, as schools get to iron out the kinks of last year. But whether it is or not, I don’t know that the program will really make a huge dent in the huge problem of education.
