Troubles, issues, and higher education

Going back to teaching was the best decision I made last year. The slow administrative processes notwithstanding, I enjoy being back at University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. I am lucky to have the chance to converse weekly with my favorite conversation partners—young people.

A few Saturdays ago, our topic was sociological imagination, which my mother, a sociologist, insisted I include in the syllabus. I saw that this concept was already in a core senior high school subject, but I allowed myself to be swayed by my mother.

While C. Wright Mills wrote his book on the sociological imagination in 1959, his insistence that citizens consider contexts bigger than their immediate social environments remains relevant today. Mills made an essential distinction between “personal troubles” and “public/social issues” to explain his concept of sociological imagination. Personal troubles involve an individual’s private problems, whereas social issues, such as poverty and sexism, are pervasive in society. The point is that by connecting what the individual is experiencing with the collective turmoil, we get a better sense of our society’s specific anxieties and crises.

Based on the group activity we did in my two classes, my students’ top troubles are poor quality of life (i.e., traffic jams and difficulties in budgeting their allowance), physical insecurities and low self-esteem related to social standards and gender expectations, and navigating political differences, especially with family members.

While the poor quality of life should not be surprising given the record-high inflation rates since last year, I was still somehow taken aback by how much my students, especially the working ones, are impacted by the price increases.

Regarding insecurities related to hard-to-achieve beauty and body standards, I can’t help but blame social media. Social media platforms often feature images of people with seemingly perfect faces and bodies, partly because people post only their best photos; these photos are further enhanced using filters and photo editing tools. This is incredibly challenging for adolescents and young adults who feel emotions more intensely and are discovering and developing their identities.

As for navigating political differences, the Philippines has become increasingly polarized due to social media algorithms and social media being made into a tool for misinformation, malinformation, or disinformation.

Amidst their troubles (and the social issues causing them), my students are growing up the way I (and perhaps many of my colleagues at UP) would want them to. Due to the pandemic and their extensive online experience, some are already strong mental health advocates. Their familiarity with heteronormativity and comfort in discussing sexual orientation and gender identity and expression is refreshing, just as their assertion that wokeness is not a sin but a step toward safer and more inclusive spaces and conversations.In addition, I am thrilled to share that many of them attribute the desire to serve fellow Filipinos, especially the marginalized and voiceless, to being students at UP. They value critical thinking, open-mindedness, and transformative engagement because, as one student succinctly said, “UP encourages its students to speak up their minds and be involved with whatever is happening in the country.”

After reading their reflections on sociological imagination, I feel more optimistic. True, they have to confront the harsh realities of life earlier than most. Still, in the end, I am confident that they are learning to examine texts critically; build upon other people’s ideas; care for and create with others, accept disagreements and loose ends, and are inspired to live ethically and to effect change. And, apart from promoting the exchange of knowledge, research, and innovation in a specialized field, aren’t these the goals of higher education—to broaden intellectual horizons and develop citizenship?

Ultimately, the lesson was a good chance for me to reflect on higher education learning outcomes. We have been discussing at EdCom II the learning outcomes of the different key stages (pre-K, K-3, 4-6, 7-12), young adult learning (higher education and TVET), and the more encompassing lifelong learning. The Second Congressional Commission on Education Act mentions the promotion of the “development of 21st century skills, including creativity, communication, collaboration, leadership, social skills, and initiative,” as well as the “reduction of the gap between the learning outcomes of higher education and the required competencies of the world of work.”

For a teacher like me, it is easy to articulate the learning outcomes for a particular class and see whether these learning outcomes are being met; as a nation, we have the necessary task of defining more specifically what kind of Filipinos we want our daycare centers, schools, universities, training centers, organizations, and communities to create.

The students themselves should be part of that national conversation on learning outcomes; after all, it is their education, and they have the most significant stake in it.

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Krupskaya Añonuevo is the chief technical specialist of EdCom II. She is also a senior lecturer at UP Diliman.