Education crisis: Out with mediocrity, in with excellence

In the Inquirer news article, “PH education woes not teachers’ fault, says VP Duterte” (News, 1/31/23), we can read about what it calls the Philippine educational system’s “most pressing issue.”

It cited the Department of Education’s latest inventory that only 104,536 out of 327,851 school buildings nationwide were in “good condition.” Later in the article, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said the department also wanted to “improve English proficiency while recognizing linguistic diversity.”

It is true that the education of our citizens will be enhanced if our students come to school in buildings and classrooms that function well and are conducive to learning. The good working conditions of our learning facilities are also very educational. It teaches our students to do things well. And so I come to the conclusion that there is something cultural about us that can explain why so few of our school buildings are in good condition. People will always blame the lack of money. But I tend to think it is due to the lack of a culture of excellence, of doing things well.

When a new facility is set up, little things get out of order with time: a light bulb gets busted, a door knob gets loose, a glass pane gets cracked, a school chair loses a screw, the faucet leaks, the roof leaks. When these things happen, we tend to ignore them, and so the things that don’t work accumulate until the whole facility is in bad condition.

A bulb might cost about a hundred pesos and perhaps there is a budget for that. A screw might cost a few pesos and there might be a budget for that. The rubber gasket for the faucet might cost some pesos and that is affordable. If repairs are done soon, the good condition of the building is maintained without having to spend millions. We need to acquire a new culture, that of keeping our facilities well and in good condition. It is part of doing things well. A culture of excellence.

The same culture is needed to improve our language skills. It is sad to see that our ordinary people are not proficient either in English or in their native language. When I listen to people speaking their language (I have heard Spaniards, Italians, French, German, and Portuguese), they speak at ease, clearly, and fluently. But when I listen to our people speak, I notice many ambiguities, “’Yung ano, ’yung kwan, parang ganito, medyo ganun…” which shows they cannot find the right exact word to express their thoughts. I need not mention the state of our knowledge of English. Again, we can note a cultural defect here; we are used to speaking in a mediocre way.

Perhaps the first concern of our educators should be to lift the culture of our people so that they might want to do anything well—that we acquire a culture of excellence.

Fr. Cecilio L. Magsino,cesmagsino@gmail.com