Epic Fail... Philippines Educational System

[Americano]

For those who believe Filipinos are educated when they graduate from high school, try giving a graduate a pencil and a ruler and then ask how long is the pencil? Some will not even know which end of the ruler to use. Next, ask what temperature does water freeze at and what temperature does it boil at? Most will not know. Those are simple things everyone should learn in elementary school.

[Steve & Myrlita]

For those who believe Filipinos are educated when they graduate from high school, try giving a graduate a pencil and a ruler and then ask how long is the pencil? Some will not even know which end of the ruler to use. Next, ask what temperature does water freeze at and what temperature does it boil at? Most will not know. Those are simple things everyone should learn in elementary school.

Exactly and there is a reason for it at least by my understanding. Education here is purposely dumbed down. IMHO, its purpose is to keep the masses to a barely functional level thus keeping them from getting together and overthrowing the elite powers in charge. They're afraid that if they educate them too much they will lose their hold on them. If you notice, most here can't analyze a simple problem. If you ask them why it is that way, they say it's how it's done here. They haven't got clue 1 as to why. They are taught almost from birth not to question things. They are literly trained from an early to simply do as they are told thus squashing any independant thought. How do I know this? I live with here every day. Try asking to modify your food order from the posted menu. You can't. They don't know how. They only know what they're told. Also, I taught last year. I saw 1st hand how simple analyitical skills are non existant. I don't blame them, I blame the system for purposely making them that way.

[Ashanti]

Hi Ashanti, Thank you very much for the very informative post.

Your welcome ............... glad to be of help!

[Dzighnman]

My wife and I home school my kids and am very proud of the progress they have made in the last 3 years. We use a UK based curriculum (math, science and English) and are pretty strict on the work ethic and enforce good English and such. Prior to starting home school my kids 'learned' everything by rote. Sure they knew their times tables, but ask them how much 6 kilo's of mangos would cost at P60 a kilo, duh... Since being on the UK courses they have moved to a problem solving style of education and learning their tables by rote has gone out the window.Anyhow, we had a Filipina RN at the house the other week and my kids were studying their science for their end of year exams. My 10 year old daughter started asking her questions about helpful and harmful microbes (from her course work) and the look of fear on the visitors face was sad to see. I honestly believe that not only has there got to be a complete change in the way kids are educated here but also in the way teachers are educated too...

We, like Bilten, will home school our son upon our return to Carcar. His educational experience here in the USA has opened his mother's eyes to what learning is really about. During his 1 school year in the Philippines, Sacred Heart - Carcar, I swear this is not exaggeration... they spent more time preparing for intramurals, dances and presentations/skits of one sort or another than they ever came close to spending on learning. Not to mention that a learning process that is interrupted every few days and put on hold so new costumes or dance routines can be learned is a worthless and largely ineffective effort. No continuity whatsoever. So In regards to the original post... I think that a great place to start, if improvement is to be on the agenda... would be making all these dances, skits and celebrations after school activities or optional. Then, at least those that want to learn the things that will prove more useful later in life have that option. In the system today, there is no teaching of basics AT ALL, even in a higher priced private school system. As employers in the Philippines, we too learned that a HS graduate in the Philippines generally is not even at a 3rd grade level in the key subjects. We had a few exceptions to that statement but those exceptions were still lacking in skills that one would generally associate with a HS graduate. It is another of those social dilema's in the Philippines... where to begin repairing a system that has been neglected for a couple generations or more. How to get enough people in the right places to even recognize that improvement is needed??? Sad to see so many good people....an entire race, over generations, robbed of a more productive and enjoyable future. There are many components to the problem, ranging from the lack of resources, the educational quality of the instructors, the culture that allows kids to not attend school (try not sending your kids to school in the USA for awhile and without home schooling evidence, you are in for a battle with the social worker that will be crawling up your a$$) But in the end, I do not even see desire in the parents for their children to do better than they have, or to support them in their education... for a culture that is built and depends on high levels of social interaction and strong family units... there is surprisingly little parental support when it comes to education of the children. I will jump on this dance/performance issue again... I see a broad level of support when the kids are parading down the street instead of learning to read.... or when they have a fiesta to dance at instead of learning to add and subtract.... but very rarely have I ever seen a Filipino sacrifice a night of Wowowee to sit and listen to their child read, offer advice for improvement and just show by example how important education is.... the parents are even clueless.. so reform??? (Of course, my exposure is limited and to our several immediate family units as examples) There appears to be so very few in this culture that care or recognize the negative effects that this failed education system has on the culture.On the other hand, if the ruling families and the Catholic church are truly so well aligned and on some master quest to keep the general Filipino population stupid... well then they should be able to use that vast influence to devise and implement a strategy to influence the culture in the opposite direction... there only needs to be some motivating factor that would turn their efforts from negative to positive.....not sure what that would be though....and the debate rages on..... :unsure:

[Americano]

It sounds like to me that Filipino Pride with all their Fiestas, parades, singing and dancing is more important than learning. They have it backwards, just like some other things.

[i am bob]

I guess my girlfriend is one of the lucky ones... As I mentioned previously, her father has passed away and she does not know very well the earlier side of the family. It is just her mother and one brother locally and a sister up north somewhere... Even though they live in what many would consider poverty, they are very proud and will not accept money without a battle... So now that I've told you a bit about the family, you're wondering what does this have to do with education? Simple! Mom knew that the kids were doomed to live a life of poverty without a good education! She has struggled and starved for many years to have them educated and moving into the fields of their choice. She sacrificed much to get her kids there and the kids knew and understood that sacrifice! When you have a small family that is very close and not much income, entertainment is sometimes difficult to come by... My girlfriend was entertained by learning! Books on different subjects as well as on different places in the world... Books for enjoyment and learning how others live... Books for fun and studying math and physics... Books on anything and everything! Some day soon she will have her degree in Special Education... And hopefully will continue on for her doctorate!!! It's people like my "special someone" who will help make this country change for the better...!

[sonjack2847]

It sounds to me that the Phills is very much like Russia in the respect of keeping the people entertained to control them more easily. Here you have festivals and such in school hours in Russia Ballet and Theater along with other forms of entertainment were available to the masses. But the difference was and maybe still is a good education was available to everyone in Russia.So if the people at the top in the Phills really want to help their people they should concentrate more on education to give the children the best start they can in life.

[retired]

Very informative posts on the matter of education in the Philippines . I would echo many of the same senitments regarding public education from the emphasis on performing song and dance routines to satisy parental egos to my step-children asking for money to photo-copy pages from textbooks because there weren't textbooks to go around to the teacher who said to me " no worry , it's only past history " when i sked about a history book i picked up in a classroom that was published in 1928 . ( And , yeah i know my 6th grade teacher would scold me for an opening sentence this long ) :-)Private schooling is in my opinion the best way to go if you can afford it but even then lots of research to be done before selecting a school as education in the Philippines seems to be more about making a profit than educating per say . Case in point are the various ojt programs where the parent basically pays the school to place the student into a work environment to acquire actual job experience . My step-daughter is currently going through this process as a HRM student and i will seek out some advice from this forum in the future . As of now all i know is she will go somewhere on Palawan island but it's where on Palawan island that concerns me . :-)Have heard horror stories from other American expats regarding their childrens Philippine course work transfering to other schools including Filipinos with Masters degrees in education that could only qualify to teach grade school in the US . Might try contacting some US school sytems , Universities and just see if they will respond . Also might wish to look at some of the US based Universities that offer on - line course work though don't know if available to the Philippines . Special Education is a field with lots of opportunities in the US but again would have to contact individual schools , etc.Apologize for the rambling but this subject brings up many thoughts based on my Philippine experience and unfortunately most of it is not good . :-)

[joeatmanila]

Another informative but scathing peek behind the curtain from Antipinoy. A lost opportunity considering about 35% Filipinos are under the age of 15.http://antipinoy.com...able-education/

I'm with ya Dan! By the way, the webmaster of "antipinoy" is BongV who have gathered manyof his locals both men and women, to write what is really on their minds. It's an eyeopener.Anyway, regardless of the educational system there in PI, majority of the HS and college gradswill often be frustrated because of the piss poor employment. I'm beginning to think that theOFWs are the modern day gypsies being employed throughout the world. Bachelor of sciencein computers, engineering and certified teachers -- many end up elsewhere as drivers, maids,construction workers and nannies. Most of them are severely underpaid. Jake

I see it everyday at my work, waitors with master in science, and the list can go endless. To make the irony and tragedy worst, their pinoy work mates are laughing on them since they make the same job and money without any education at all.

[retired]

Got to thinking about what were my most memorable education experiences as related by fellow expats regarding their children within the Philippine system . Two quickes that were recently shared via a local expat forum come to mind . One was about the grade schoolers that practised for weeks to put on a show about the " country " of Hawaii . Best though may be about the lady that was trying to pass a Teacher exam to teach English Literature and had failed 4 times . Thinking it might have been because she had never heard of a guy named Shakespeare :-)Feel free to share anecdotal experience . :-)