Billions for Philippine education

Title

Creator

[Sinco, Vicente G.]

Language

English

Source

Volume XX (Issue No. 4) April 1968

Year

1968

Subject

Philippine education

Educational programs

School budgets

Educational finance

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

BILLIONS FOR PHILIPPINE EDUCATION It is needless to say that the leaders of our country, the leading men in our so ciety, and all those who are concerned with the present development and the future improvement of our nation have been concentrating their attention and labor on the physical and visible as pects of our economic and social life: the production of the food we have to eat, the clothes we need to wear, and the transportation faci lities our farms and facto ries require. Consequently, the great pride of the pre sent government administra tion of this country lies in the claim ,of having increased the production of rice and corn and of having cons tructed more roads, bridges, port-works, airports, and other material factors that come under the impressive term infra-structure. To the extent that this achievement has been shown in a con crete, visible, and finished or partially-finished form, the present government leaders could fairly claim some measure of success in the management of public functions. To close one’s eyes to the reality of this record is to deny deliberate ly and foolishly the facts of actual performance. Beyond this enumeration of accomplishments, how ever, there is very little, if anything at all, that may be claimed with genuine pride. Those who disagree with this statement are likely to tell us that we seem to forget the hundreds, nay thousands, of new schoolrooms and schoolhouses that have been built during the last few years. They would. tell us that over a million more children have been accom modated in our public schools. They would remind us that two or three cultural structures and lovely parks have been or are being erected in the metropolitan 18 Panorama center of the country. Let us grant that these features of social growth, these out ward signs of educational and cultural activities ap pear to give a certain com pleteness and outward coun terbalance to the infra structural development and grain production brought about in several parts of our country. Having made these admis sions, however, a thoughtful and serious observer of the overall scene cannot help but agree with the critics that these gains and benefits claimed by our political leaders as the fruit of their labor and their dedication to the public weal are out weighed and outbalanced by the losses suffered and the liabilities incurred by the country on account of their shortcomings, their selfish decisions, and their socially nearsighted acts. Collective ly, these capital deficiencies have depressed the mood and the spirit of the individual citizen, have placed in jeo pardy the safety of his body and the security of his hardearned possessions, have deeply disturbed the peace of his mind, and have un dermined his faith in the ob servance of equal justice in his dealings with his fellows and his government. Funda mentally, they are traceable to a general moral anemia caused by inadequate and meager educational program. In the field of culture and education, it is no , exaggera tion to assert that very little may be pointed out as real accomplishments achieved by our Government through sound planning and effec tive execution on the part of our leaders during the last 25 years. Of course, they are primarily political leaders; but unfortunately they do make decisions in areas which are beyond their competence in which they should iiot therefore interfere but leave them to those qualified by proper expertise and experience. The mere fact that they, as political figures, have suc ceeded in winning elections, in placing their friends in public positions for which many are not sufficiently qualified, and in raising the salaries of government em ployees through wasteful use of public funds, does not make them experts in all April 1968 19 other human activities or in all public affairs. In the lexicon of men who value the work of the mind and appreciate the higher things of life, nothing of concrete excellence, solid 'worth, and lasting importance has been satisfactorily achieved so far by any of our political leaders. It is not easy to find exceptions among them if by important and lasting achievement we mean acts that raise the moral atmos phere of our country and the educational qualifications of the great majority of our people. For our present purpose, it is quite enough to point to certain unfortunate con ditions which may be safe ly stated as evidence of the failure of leadership in this country. Among them the following are well known: The incidence of crime is extremely high in a nation that claims to have been ci vilized and christianized over three conturies; the rate of illiteracy among the in habitants is close to 40 per cent; out of a population of almost 34 million inhabitants barely one million could be counted as intelligent voters in public elections; public offices are often held by their occupants not as pub lic trust but as opportunities for enriching themselves di rectly or indirectly; the term graft and corruption has .be come a popular byword in relation to the conduct and management of government work. Why are these things hap pening among a people who are supposed to be adequately provided with schools and teachers? With this state of things existing as background, we cannot conscientiously declare that this country is largely led by active and thoughtful guides; that it is under the influence of able and high-minded citizens; and that it enjoys the inspiration of morally res ponsible and conscientious leaders. Yes, we cannot sin cerely proclaim that our people have been choosing clean intelligent, and un selfish leaders. Under these circumstances several questions then meet us face to face: Is there something inherently wrong in the mental and moral up bringing of the Filipino peo ple? Is there something 20 Panorama missing in the total prepara tion of our country for an independent national life? Is there something in our na tional Constitution that has caused the rampant cases of misery, disorder, and tragedy that beset the Filipino peo ple? Is there a serious gap or a defective principle in the educational philosophy of our institutions of learn ing. These are questions that should challenge every think ing and responsible Filipino, particularly every college and university graduate. Scholars in the field of his tory, sociology, and psycho logy may well give us a con vincing or at least a plausible explanation of this plethora of national illnesses. One thing, however, seems cer tain • in the opinion of care ful and responsible observers; and it is this: There is nothing radically wrong with our national Constitution al though some of its provi sions are alien to our cul tural and social conditions. The trouble is that the Constitution has not been religiously or faithfully ob served by leading citizens of the nation; and that these individuals as a group have lost much of their sense of values in their frenzied ef forts to acquire power and prestige and to possess money in abundance. Not contented with violating the terms of the national Char ter, a select group of them have gone to the extreme of proposing, amendments to certain parts of that docu ment to enlarge their power and influence further and to remain longer in the seats of authority. Our innocent and unenlightened voters who form the bulk of our electorate are oftentimes misled by clever and un scrupulous politicians into choosing not the men with high intellectual and moral qualifications but the mental ly and morally mediocre who make opportunism and greed their ruling norm of personal political behavior. It is bad enough that they form an influential part of our governing class but as constituting a visible sector of the Establishment they are taken and followed by young and older people as living models of practical behavior. The most effective and lasting remedy of these ills April 1968 21 may not be found in a strong police force inasmuch as policemen may themselves become active authors of crime and disorder. Neither does it necessarily lie in the supply of food or in the com pleteness of the so-called national infra-structure. It lies primarily in sound and nationally total education. Hence, for a healthy national growth, our people must in sist that the nation’s educa tion be undertaken by the government with vigor and intelligence and promptness. Similar statements have been repeatedly expressed by many Filipinos in different walks of life. Indeed, we seem to have a legion of experts on the subject. But it is not difficult to discover that the ideas that most of us have ^bout education are generally, superficial and va gue. They are oftentimes confusing and even idiotic. In fact not a" few of us who are known as educators in this country think of edu cation in terms of the pre Sputnik educational ideas of many Americans. But while most American educationists have already modified their obsolete notions and have adjusted their methods, tech niques, and aims to the changes of modern science and scientific discoveries, most of us in this country, including those in education work itself, are still firm in our conviction that what we had learned and had known in the days before the Sec ond World War are still good enough for all of us. If we really desire to give the highest priority’/tojeducation in our national prog ram of work, it is incunibent upon every responsible Fi lipino leader or official to grasp the meaning of edu cation as an idea, a concept, a principle, an accomplish ment, or a quality in the light of modern science and scholarship. We should un derstand that education does not result from being merely physically present in the classroom of a college or university, and neither does it necessarily result from the receipt of a diploma and from the acquisition of a de gree. It does not even re sult from our ability to re tain in our memory an ac cumulation of facts and in formation of different kinds. Education, above all, should 22 Panorama not be treated as an epheme ral phenomenon, a passing event in the life of man. It is not an object to be pur sued and prized today and then abandoned and forgot ten tomorrow. In a word, we should un derstand that education is a life-long process. It should serve as a running stream in every person’s life, changing and receiving fresh water as it flows, otherwise we will find ourselves drink ing, as it were, from a stag nant pool, filthy, unhealthy, and even poisonous. Com mencement in the high school, college, or universi ty does not mark the termi nation of the process of edu cation. An individual and a nation may rightly claim as being educated only to the extent that they continue their efforts to learn and to improve t^eir educational competence throughout their life-time. Education is endless as long as inventions, discove ries, and the search for new and better processes, new and better ideas continue to excite human interest and curiosity; it is endless as long as the freedom of man’s spirit is unshackled; it is endless as long as man’s thirst for truth and beauty and nobility remains un quenched. Graduation day may only be rightly under stood when considered as a forward step towards indivi dual fulfillment. To regard it in any other manner is to court educational disaster and intellectual death. This is the only conception of education that can make a country great. This is the conception of education that should have the highest priority in the schedule of activities for any good ad ministration of this country. This is the conception of education that deserves a budget of billions, a budget equal to the total expendi ture of the national govern ment for all of its other activities. This is the con ception of education that should transform our present near-sighted philosophy of education and our wasteful school system into a life giving process of individual and national growth. This is the conception of educa tion which when carried out leads us to greatness. Quantitatively, this new April 1968 philosophy of education in volves an activity and ser vice for all the elements of the entire Filipino people — the children, the youth, and the adults in both middle and old age. To be faith fully and properly carried out, the educational opera tion involved is not to be limited as it is now to pri mary and elementary schools, to high schools and voca tional schools, and to col leges and universities. It includes the training of all citizens who are out of school or who are through with formal schooling. To produce the best over all results, the successive stages and parts of the edu cational plan based on this philosophy, from childhood to old age, should be coordi nated and integrated in or der that a unified and strong educational structure may be formed, a better utiliza tion of available resources may be secured, and a re duction of wastage in money and effort may be effected. Pertinent to this subject are the words of an important UNESCO Committee report in December, 1965, which reads as follows: In a new context — one where education takes its place in every sector of existence and throughout the whole period of the personal ity’s development — many of Whe walls by which the different types and phases of education al activity are sealed off, often hermetically from one another must disap pear, giving way to ac tive and lively commu nication. Henceforward, education may be con ceived as a coherent structure in which each part is dependent upon the others and has no meaning except in rela tion to the others. If one part of the structure is lacking, the remainder is out of balance and none of the parts is equipped to provide the specific services for which it was devised. What is needed, then, is a series of harmoniza tions with respect to theory no less than to practical work. Qualitatively, it calls for a program of studies that fit our needs and conditions 24 Panorama and direct our efforts to wards our social, economic, and cultural goals. For the fact is that our education al system, organization of courses, and ways of evaluat ing educational growth have been almost mete carbon copies of American ideas and techniques. . We adore that system and follow it thought lessly without considering that such an imitative pro cedure is basically undesir able for several reasons: one is that the American system is based on conditions, so cial, historical, cultural, and economic, very different from ours; two is that we often overlook its changing character right in its own native environment and we consider it largely unchang ing from decade to decade; and three is that we are not keeping ourselves aware of its particular purpose and we assume that what is good for Americans is good enough for Filipinos also. All these defects proceed from our uncritical attitude that as America is strong and rich and healthy, her educational institutions, me thods, practices, and aims are worthy of being imitated and adopted in the Philip pines and by the Filipinos. We do not even try to un derstand and remember that Americans have had their educational shortcom ings, cultural failures, eco nomic disasters, moral delin quencies, and unsolved so cial problems. We do not even try to understand and remember that what is dis tinctly an American civiliza tion is relatively new and fresh and as yet untested in the crucible of long centu ries of struggle, strifes, dif ficulties, and sufferings; and so the American experiment in education is hardly de serving as an ideal pattern for us to follow completely in our educational program for national development. This is not to say, how ever, that certain American influences have not brought improvements on certain aspects of our national life. But they have also brought much confusion in our sense of values. They have im pressed upon us the great benefits of individual free dom. But they have not suf ficiently emphasized the vir tue of self-restraint and selfeffacement. They have given April 1968 25 us an exaggerated apprecia tion of money and material values. A plan based on this new philosophy of education should be of vital concern to us for the growth of our social order, for the deve lopment of our national po tentialities and inherent qua lities, for a widespreading moral and cultural develop ment, and for a fruitful exertion of efforts at build ing a virile nation possessed of its own distinctive genius. No thinking Filipino would want to see his country de veloped as a mere replica of any other nation. Fortunately for us under the provisions of our own Constitution we may adopt a system based on a new educational philosophy such as <vhat we are at present discussing. Any decision to take full advantage of it depends upon a wise and farsighted educational states manship and upon some boldness of planning and execution by enlightened leaders. These constitution al provisions read as follows: “The government shall establish and maintain a complete and adequate system of public educa tion and shall provide at least free primary ins truction, and citizenship training to adult citi zens.” All these many years our system of education has been neither complete in its scope nor adequate in its nature and purpose. Its co verage has been extremely limited and its performance undeniably inadequate. The terms of the provisions of the Constitution contemplate a comprehensive educational work which should specifi cally include children and adults. To put this into ef fect our educational program should be promoted with imagination, boldness, and creative thinking. It has to take into account the realities of the vital changes that have been taking place in the ideas and the new knowledge acquired during the last 20 or 30 years. Our present system has been wasting much money and time in its failure to dis card the non-essential and the unimportant from pres cribed courses and studies. 26 Panorama It has been largely limited to the training of children in elementary schools; and any further instruction has not gone beyond the educa tion of groups of adolescents in secondary schools and of young men in higher insti tutions. But citizenship training which the Consti tution expressly enjoins the government to give to adult citizens is almost entirely neglected. Continuing edu cation for past college gra-; duates and older people who have failed to keep up with the advances of learning has never been thought of. What our Constitution contemplates in providing for a complete and adequate system of education is a program of sound, useful, and up-to-date educational training for all Filipinos of every age, sex, and social station throughout life. In telligently interpreted in the light of this age of science and learning, the Constitu tion has to be understood as embracing the new phi losophy of education. This is an idea that takes into account the need for constant educational growth of all the people of the coun try from the early years of infancy to the last minutes of the active life of every Filipino citizen. Any other system, particularly what we still hold and fol low, will make it impossible for us to meet the demands of a modern community and to respond to the require ments of a democratic gov ernment. To carry out this new edu cational philosophy the ma jor fraction of the financial resources of our govern ment should be devoted ex clusively to the work of edu cation for all the elements of the population. To push the plan into reality and to make it the basis of a new educational system, the lead ing citizens of the nation should support in word and deed the democratic princi ple of free private enter prise. By its strict observ ance we shall put an end to the proliferation of govern mental functions by doing away with those activities which the government itself should not and cannot pro perly and effectively per form and so has regularly wasted vast amounts of pub lic funds in addition to the April 1968 27 mounting corruption and op pressive taxation it has caused. These ideas should be broadcast among our en lightened and responsible citizens for them to consi der so they may, if con vinced of their validity, de mand that they be carried out by those in charge of the administration of our government. We should face this chal lenge and meet it with hope and determination; for it is by its prompt and effective fulfillment that the roots of progress will grow deep and strong to support a happy people and a vigorous socie ty. — V. G. Sinco, THE VERMIN OF STATE And so I fear, my country, not the hand That shall hurl might and whirlwind on the land. I fear not titan traitors that shall rise To stride like broken shadows on our skies; I feai; the vermin that shall undermine Senate and school and citadel and shrine; The worm of fraud, the fatted worm of ease And all the crawling progeny of these. I fear the vermin that shall honeycomb the towers And walls of state in unsuspecting hours. —Edwin Markham from The Bell Tower of Venice. 28 Panorama

pages

18-28

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