Problems and Issues in Philippine Education Essay

1. Colonial historiography. Most of the past and present teachers, book authors, and Social Studies consultants give heavier premium to the history of the colonizers in the Philippines, and not to the history of Filipinos. Mostly, this has been the case in the teaching of History subjects from the elementary to tertiary levels and will most likely perpetuate in the next generations to come. The history of the Filipino people and the colonial history of the Philippines are two different topics altogether. 2. Internationalization of the division of labor. To a certain extent, the Philippine educational system conditions its students to be skillful in arithmetic and computer literacy, fluent in foreign languages (specifically English and Nihonggo), and docile in order to serve as workers of the transnational businesses of the advanced, capitalist countries. Take the case of the call center phenomenon in the Philippines, India and other developing states. see more:k-12 advantages and disadvantages 3. Emasculation and demoralization of teachers. Teachers, more often than not, are victimized by the over-worked and under-paid policy of the system of the past and present dispensations. This leads to the emasculation and demoralization of their ranks. This probably explains why the teaching profession is not attracting the best and the brightest from the crop of students anymore. Expectedly, this will correspondingly result to the vicious cycle of mediocrity in education. 4. Fly-by-night educational institutions . By any measure, the proliferation of fly-by-night educational institutions is counter-productive. In the long run, it produces a pool of half-baked, unprepared, and incompetent graduates. Alarmingly, the country is having an over-supply already. Some would even consider them as liabilities than assets. This case is true for both undergraduate and graduate studies. 5. Culturally and gender insensitive educational system. Women, the common tao and the indigenous people are almost historically excluded from the Philippine historiography in favor of the men, heroes from Luzon and the power elite. Women are marginalized and trivialized even in language of education. Take the case of the terms female lawyer (as if lawyer as a profession is exclusive only to men) and manpower (which should have been human resources or human capital to be more politically correct). 6. State abandonment of education. In the name of imperialist globalization, the state—in an incremental fashion—is abandoning its role to subsidize public education particularly in the tertiary level. This comes in the form of matriculation, laboratory and miscellaneous fee increases in order to force state colleges and universities (SCUs) to generate their own sources of fund. Ironically, the bulk of the budget (in fact, more than one-third in the case of 2005 National Budget) goes to debt servicing. 7. Sub-standard textbooks. Some textbooks which are already circulation are both poorly written and haphazardly edited. Take the case of the Asya: Noon at Ngayon with an identified total number of more than 400 historical errors. Unfortunately, it is just one of the many other similar atrociously written textbooks which are yet to be identified and exposed. This is a classic case of profit-centeredness without regard to social accountability. 8. Widespread contractualization. In the name of profit, owners and administrators of several private schools commonly practice contractualization among their faculty members. Contractual employees unlike their regular/tenured counterparts are not entitled to fringe benefits which consequently reduces the over-all cost of their business operation. Job insecurity demeans the ranks of the faculty member 9. Undue disregard for specialization. Some colleges and universities encourage their faculty pool to be generalists (under the guise of multidisciplinary approach to learning) in order to be  able to handle various subjects all at once. But some faculty members have turned out to be objects of mockery and have lost their self-esteem since some of them were pushed to handle Technical Writing, General Psychology, Filipino, and Algebra at the same time. This is prevalent among some franchised academic institutions even if the subjects are already off-tangent their area of interest and specialization. 10. Copy-pasting culture. Over-dependence to the cyberspace has dramatically reduced the capability of students (even teachers) to undertake research. ‘Copy-pasting’ has even turned into a norm among some students whenever they are tasked to submit a research paper or even a film review. Needless to say, plagiarism has already transformed into a more sophisticated form in the context of today’s electronic age. 11. Mc Donaldized education. The system, methodology, and even content of education in the Philippines are mere haphazard transplantation from the West. It is therefore Eurocentric, culturally insensitive, and non-reflective of the local milieu. This is based on the xenocentric (foreign-centered) premise that other culture or system is far more superior than one’s own. 12.The problem of non-sustainability and non-continuity. Teachers, administrators and publishers are all left in limbo whenever the DepEd would come up with another totally different directive from what it used to have in a rather very sudden interval. Take the case of the grading system, timeframe allotted to various subjects, MAKABAYAN program, readiness test, and learning competencies. 13. Poor regard for liberal art/education. Liberal education is intended to form a holistic individual equipped with communication, critical thinking, mathematical, creative, inter-personal and intra-personal skills. This explains why we also have Philosophy, Languages, Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science, Physical Education and even Theology in our college curriculum, and not only our major subjects. The curriculum is specifically designed to produce a total person, and not only  a technical specialist. Unfortunately, the desired objective is not being met at all since liberal education is regarded only as a set of minor subjects. With the way these subjects are being handled (taking into account both content and methodology), students view the entire exercise as an unnecessary duplication of what they have already covered in high school. Equally alarming is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation exhibited by some professors to handle the subject especially if they believe that it has nothing to do with the course or area of specialization of their students (say, Art Appreciation for Accounting majors or Algebra for Creative Writing majors). 13. Education a purveyor of myth. Education has been very effective in mainstreaming and perpetuating the social myths in a subtle and indirect manner. Some of these myths are the perceived superiority of white, educated men, ‘official’ history as advanced by the western point of view, globalization as the only way to achieve economic development, and stereotypes against the minoritized and the disenfranchised. 14. Further marginalization of the undersubscribed courses. In the name of profit and as a response to the dictates of the market forces, colleges and universities prefer to offer more courses in line with the health sciences like nursing, medical transcription, and care-giving. This is done at the expense of the already undersubscribed yet relevant courses like Area Studies, Pilipinolohiya (Philippine Studies), Development Studies, Philippine Arts, Art Studies, Community Development, Social Work, Islamic Studies, Clothing Technology, and Ceramics Engineering. 15. Monolithic education. Some educators in the name of conservatism and for the sake of convenience, prefer the old-style teaching paradigm where they view themselves as the fountain of knowledge and their students as nothing but empty vessels to be filled up (banking method of education). Modern education has ushered in learner-centered approach to education (from being the sage in the stage to just a guide on the side). 16. Atrociously boring teachers. As I always underscore, there are no boring subjects, only boring teachers. But at least we should recognize them because they still serve a purpose. They serve as bad examples. 16. Brain drain Apart from the much debated political, social and psychological aspects, this ongoing mass emigration constitutes an unparalleled brain drain with serious economic implications.Arguably, the phenomenon also has an educational dimension, as the Philippine society is footing the bill for the education of millions of people, who then spend the better part of their productive years abroad. In effect, the poor Philippine educational system is indirectly subsidizing the affluent economies hosting the OFWs. With 95 per cent of all elementary students attending public schools, the educational crisis in the Philippines is basically a crisis of public education. The wealthy can easily send their offspring to private schools, many of which offer first-class education to the privileged class of pupils. Read more:  Current Issues in the Philippines Problems and Issues in K to 12 Curriculum Overview It is not that difficult to understand why, despite the additional costs the program would entail, the public generally appears to take President Benigno Aquino III’s K to 12 basic education program sitting down. That is if state-sponsored surveys are to be believed. The House Committee on Basic Education claims majority of the public surveyed during its consultations favored the K to 12 program, while separate consultations by theDepartment of Education (DepEd) showed 77 percent of the 1,417 people consulted nationwide supported Aquino’s flagship education program. For one, DepEd tried to make the lengthening of the basic education cycle palatable by saying the additional junior and senior high school levels would make students ready for the world of work when they graduate in high school. Even as public elementary and high school education continues to be free under the new system, other expenses such as transportation, allowance, food, school projects and other school expenses would still burden families and take up a significant portion of the family budget. However, what apparently makes parents willing to shoulder such costs is the empty promise of employability after their children receive their hard-earned diplomas. In  the present scheme of things, the function of education is already reduced to the individual’s mere employability. The K to 12 program reinforces this societal function of education. Society also continues to regard education as essential to social mobility, an â€Å"investment† worth undertaking as the â€Å"costs do not outweigh the benefits.† Owing to its highly commercialized character, tertiary education has also become inaccessible for many Filipinos. Dominated by the private sector, higher educational institutions charge students with sky-high tuition and miscellaneous fees that remain unregulated and unchecked. Even as college education gives the student an advantage in the vicious and highly-competitive search for job opportunities, many youths forgo college schooling simply because they cannot afford it. This makes the K to 12’s employability factor more appealing and acceptable to the parents, who are made to believe that under the new education system, college education is a path which is not for everyone to tread. Lastly, any educational reform almost always appeals to many especially since there is a general consensus that our present state of education is in disarray. The word â€Å"reform† is always easy for the public to swallow because any move to veer away from the present arrangement of things is viewed as a welcome development. Reaction/comment Government officials and other advocates who are so insistent in adding two more years in the school cycle should thus join the clamor for higher wages and the regulation of prices of basic commodities and services, push for the expansion and institutionalization of student financial support systems and scholarships, and more importantly, fight for greater state subsidy to education at all levels. Any education reform program that does not take into account economic and other social factors that affect a person’s schooling is bound to fail especially when its supposed beneficiaries cannot keep pace. The public should not take the K to 12 program as a bitter pill to swallow. It should not pass judgment on the program based solely on its glittery promise of honing the student for employability, and the additional costs that parents have to shoulder. The heavy financial burden that comes with the implementation of the program is just one of the many issues on the surface. Basic problems such as lack of teacher training and the failure of the government to address input gaps are also considerations that if left  unaddressed may imperil the full implementation of the program. But a fundamental flaw of the program that merits equal attention is its inability to address the problem of decreasing access to education. Aquino’s K to 12 is anchored on improving the competencies of in-school youths but fails to consider the situation of the growing number of out-of-school youths in the country who should enjoy the universally-acknowledged right of access to educational services. Furthermore, school survival rates are not merely influenced by the student’s mental and cognitive abilities. Poverty, the peace situation, and other societal factors all contribute to the increasing drop-out rates that cannot be remedied by mere curricular reforms and additional years of schooling. What use does a more â€Å"enjoyable† learning experience have when the student cannot even afford to go to school due to his or her financial woes? The K to 12 is marketed as a program wherein the student is given the option to pursue different paths upon graduation: employment, entrepreneurship, and higher education. This freedom of choice touted by the K to 12 proponents, however, is illusory since the student’s choice is actually limited by the reality that higher education has become a privilege and that the worsening economic conditions in the country are pushing Filipinos to seek jobs instead of pursuing higher education. The program’s objective to produce â€Å"globally competitive graduates† also run counter to the supposed freedom that the student possesses in choosing his or her career path. In reality, under the present economic set-up, the prescriptions of market dictates shape our choices and decisions, be it in the brands we purchase, the artists we subscribe to, the course we take in college, and even in the profession or occupation we wish to have. With the government systematically and aggressively promoting the export of labor and the dependence on external sources of jobs and economic growth through its economic policies, it can be expected that majority of the jobs and fields of learning that the students would be pursuing are those that are in tune with the demands of global market—call center jobs, technical-vocational jobs abroad, etc. It is contemptible, how at a young age people are told to pursue whatever dreams they have but education agencies would be coming up with a list of courses that are highly discouraged simply because they are not what the global market demands. Thus, the observation that the real motive behind the K to 12 education reform program is to further intensify  labor export by systematically targeting the country’s young labor force, and further service the demands of multinational firms is not without basis. As seen from the K to 12 curriculum, there is a noticeable focus given to technology and livelihood education (TLE) during high school, with the learner even obtaining a certificate of competency required by industries. In Grades 7 and 8, TLE subjects are exploratory, which means that the learner is given the opportunity to learn 5 basic competencies: 1) mensuration and calculation, 2) use of tools and equipment, 3) interpretation of plans/drawing 4) occupational health and safety in the workplace 5) maintenance of tools and equipment. In Grade 9, the learner chooses one course to specialize in from among the exploratory courses and in Grade 10, he/she pursues the TLE specialization that he/she has chosen in the previous grade in order for him/her to obtain at least a National Certificate Level I or Level II. There is completely nothing wrong with developing the technical and vocational skills of the citizens if these are oriented towards genuine economic development through national industrialization. However, the present economic orientation of the country shows that tech-voc courses supply either the demands abroad or the pool of skilled reserve labor servicing multinational firms which take advantage of the country’s cheap skilled labor. While the intentions seem laudable at first glance, the underlying context of the implementation of the K to 12 program could be best understood by looking at the government’s problematic general development framework that is the Philippine Development Plan, which seeks to reinforce the country’s adherence to the flawed development paradigm of neoliberal globalization. The K to 12 program’s thrust of producing â€Å"21st century graduates† is nothing but an affirmation and a reinforcement of the country’s role in the uneven world order where economies such are ours are molded according to the interests of the powers-that-be. Thus, the K to 12 education program can be considered a sine qua non for the fulfillment of the government’s agenda of trawling the path of the globalization project, which has only made the country vulnerable to the world economic crisis and has yielded the very crisis that plagues  Philippine education. Our country ha s gone through many changes and development for the past few years. The continuous process made great impacts in the lives of millions of Filipinos. Relatively, the changes have given us advantages not to mention the disadvantages it brought causing downfall to many people. There are numerous questions concerning the issues and problems existing in the Philippine Educational System as to how we can resolve it the best way we could to attain that kind of quality of education we have been searching and longing for. Where do we begin and how do we respond to such? Public schools are the building blocks of our societies. They can be considered our foundational instruments. Although these venues of learning play significant roles, they are unable to provide the best they can, due to their numerous flaws. As I’ve gone through different readings and researches, questions were arising in my mind as to what solutions are applicable in addressing the problems about the quality of education, affordability, budget, mismatch, integration of sex education in the curriculum, R.A. 9710 (Magna Carta for Women) and other concerns which are somehow related to it. I will always stand for what I believe in according to my observations that we have good guidelines and policies on education but what is lacking is the ability to implement such in accordance to the needs of every school, majority of which belong to the public education system. Generally, Philippine Education aims to provide quality and free education both for the elementary and secondary public schools but again this have not been observed and understood well causing it to be a burden most especially to the students and parents.

Analysis of Homeland Security Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Homeland Security - Assignment Example Although security experts agree that the two are the greatest security threats to the country’s homeland security, opinion is still divided as to which of the two poses the greatest security threat to the United States homeland security. However, after conducting a thorough analysis of the operations of the Americanization of terrorist groups and the home has grown terrorists over the past few years, it goes without doubt that the current greatest threat to the U.S homeland security is the home has grown/lone wolf terrorist groups. Firstly, the events that have happened in the recent past shows that the terrorist has changed their tactics to from plotting a large-scale attack on the homegrown or lone wolf attack. With the growth of the internet, homegrown extremists and sympathizers of the so-called American enemies are increasingly becoming radicalized via the internet (Olsson, 2014; Gartenstein-Ross and Grossman, 2009). Some even travel to different countries where they are trained and come back to carry out attacks on their own without any assistance. For instance, investigations have unearthed that the two brothers who carried the Boston Bomb attacks were radicalized through the internet by the Islamist propaganda. These were American citizens who had no any affiliation with the terror groups such as the Al-Qaeda (Zennie, 2014; Herrmann, 2014). The Boston Marathon attack clearly demonstrates that the biggest threat to the U.S. homeland security is the homegrown/lone wolf terror groups and not the Americanization of terror groups as some experts conjecture. The Boston Marathon resulted in the death of three people and left about 264 others wounded after detonating two grenades.  To make matters worse, ISIS has increased propaganda campaign on the social media, which has seen a huge number of Westerners move to Iraq and Syria to support them in the fight (CNN, 2014).   

Scholarly Paper - Healthcare Informatics Theories & Policies Essay

Scholarly Paper - Healthcare Informatics Theories & Policies - Essay Example ification (CCC), Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS), the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS), The Nursing Interventions Classifications (NIC), International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP), the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC). The American Nurses Association has approved thirteen, but only ten are considered particular to nursing care. NANDA-I will be the main considered terminology in this essay. NANDA-I maintains an agreed set of diagnoses, which are then used to select appropriate nursing interventions and develop desirable patient outcomes. Its taxonomy is organized into 13 domains of nursing practice, 46 classes, and 216 diagnoses. NANDA-I has been found to be used extensively both in the United States and globally (About NANDA†, n.d.). NANDA opened up the way of diagnostic taxonomy in nursing. During the first National Conference on Classification of Nursing Diagnoses, 1973, a task force was formed. It later evolved into an incorporated Association in 1982 to help nurses who were in the United States and Canada. The work on classification was begun by Kristie Gebbie and Mary Ann Lavin, faculty at St. Louis University, by calling a classification conference. They influenced the current decisions of the identification-classification process through their belief that nurses should be involved in the development process. A diagnosis is a clinical decision about an individual’s response to real or possible health problems. It is the foundation for choosing the appropriate nursing intervention to get an outcome for, which the nurse is accountable. Gordon’s observation was of diagnosis being a model that puts a meaning on a set of observations therefore triggering understanding and thinking about the set. T his phenomenon forms the basis of every diagnostic concept of today (Speksnijder et al., 2011). Subsequent to specifying the goals of a proposed system, the identification process begins. The subject phenomena are identified. NANDA

Ryle's criticisms of Cartesian Dualism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ryle's criticisms of Cartesian Dualism - Essay Example This extends to existence as having two separate planes, a material existence and a mental existence, with the two planes diametrically opposed to each other and separated profoundly, having no link of causation between the two. In the physical world, people can communicate, but the mental conscious world is completely hidden from view and unknowable by others. To the question of what kind of knowledge can be obtained by the mind's workings, the Cartesian dualist perspective asserts that consciousness is able to get a good grasp of the present workings of one's mind, which cannot be shaken as unreal, in spite of inputs by Freud with regard to some unconscious, subconscious impulses that can also govern the conscious processes. The data is presented within the immediate time frame, available to the consciousness or mind. Together with this data are the fruits of one person’s going into himself, introspectively, to examine his mind's contents as a kind of self-observation. The o ther, meanwhile, is not privy and is completely shut out of this immediate consciousness experience. Even language is said to reflect this view of consciousness as something innate and to which the external actions in the environment register and make impressions. Ryle calls this whole infrastructure of thought the ghost in the machine dogmatic formulation. He contests this dogma on several grounds and objects to its validity. Ryle testifies that the whole ghost in the machine infrastructure or theory of mind is completely false (Ryle, 1949, pp. 11-16) â€Å"I shall often speak of it, with deliberate abusiveness, as ‘the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine’. I hope to prove that it is entirely false, and false not in detail but in principle. It is not merely an assemblage of particular mistakes. It is one big mistake and mistake of a special kind. It is, namely, a category mistake (Ryle, Descartes' myth, 1949, pp. 15-16, Paragraph #2) The core of the objection is with re gard to the Cartesian view of the dualism of mind and body as a category mistake and a myth of the philosopher, meaning that in essence those mental processes are miscategorized and made to fit a category to which they do not belong. Ryle gives the example of the University tour given to someone who after being shown the facilities asks where the university is as if the university was in the same category as the buildings and the grounds, rather than constituting the entire of it. He cites another example of a first-time cricket game watcher, who mistakes team spirit as being in the same category of the different players and the positions that they occupy, rather than being constituted by the cooperation and camaraderie of the players in the team. These are examples of category mistakes, to which the philosophers subscribing to the Cartesian dualist frame of mind likewise succumb to. In the examples, Ryle notes that the problem lay with the perceivers having difficulty in grasping t he nuances of language and the limitations of their vocabulary. It is the same with an ignorant man perceiving the constitution as something magical and ethereal, or the fictitious John Doe in the same magical and ghostly terms, because that ignorant man is unable to get away from using the categories of thought that he is familiar with when dealing with physical presences concerning the idea of the constitution and of John Doe. In

Historical and political perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Historical and political perspectives - Essay Example , and it became clear that further action was necessary to ensure that the mandate to protect the rights and autonomy of disabled children was not impeding the realistic delivery of a personal understanding of their unique needs and potential. The CAF was one of several initiatives taken in response to widespread doubt regarding the efficacy of the Acts and provided a nationwide model of expectation and practice (Pithouse, 2006). Together, these two changes in national policy have turned the tide for the education of children with special educational needs. The SEN Code of Practice 2001 recommended a graduated distribution of nationwide change in the areas of assessment and inclusion in the mainstream schools. Thereafter, with the emphasis on building bridges between schools, a firm foundation was laid for the CAF 2005. Specifically, the CAF 2005 established a database of information for ascertaining with the special needs of children and standardized related expectations and recommended practices (â€Å"Behaviour and Individual Differences†, 2010). The function of CAF 2005 in addressing the shortcomings of the SEN 2001 Act was never explicitly acknowledged, but was rather a generalized reinforcement of a number of educational reforms. The official purposes focused upon children with an impaired â€Å"opportunity of achieving or maintaining a reasonable standard of health or development† (Pithouse, 2006, 201). Thus, by combining methodological recommendations for focus and economy, the CAF proposes educational change in a multi-faceted and complex manner (Pithouse, 2006). From the above discussion, it is evident that the CAF 2005 was an incremental approach over the objectives established under the 2001 SEN act. While the SEN 2001 act provides legal rights to disabled students, the CAF 2005 focuses more on an integrated approach towards assessing the needs of children and young people. Thus, the latter facilitates a wholesome strategy towards reaching a wider

Factors Affecting Operations Management Today Essay

Factors Affecting Operations Management Today - Essay Example This brings to light the notion of discussing the structural basis of the organizations themselves. For starters, these organizations might not be that easy to understand at the very beginning. These can encompass a variety of different aspects, features and traditional mindsets which make up their structures. (Llewellyn, 2002) The topic for this paper is of understanding where the field of operations management stands today and how the same has evolved over a period of time within the domains of an organization. This paper will touch issues of significance, all of which come under the realms of the operations management study. Within operations management, an organization can either be formally aligned in its ways and means of doing things and different processes or the same might just be in a way informal in quite a few of its activities and tasks. The manner in which it runs across this paradigm is something that needs to be studied in depth before we reach further consensus on their purposes and the kind of achievements that they have had. The communication within an organization can flow in one of three ways or in all the three directions. This means that these three directions pave the way for the ease of communication and there are as such no barriers to arise from the whole equation. The first communication flow is from top to bottom, which means that the communication starts from the top management and goes down towards the middle and lower management. The second form could be the one that starts from the lower or middle management and goes up towards the top management. (Axley, 1996) The third co mmunication flow could be in the kind of peer to peer communication and interaction. This means that the employees and the workers at the same level communicate within their own capacities and as such there are no hindrances arising from the whole communication matrix. Apart from this, within an

Articulate an analysis of the various physical geography Essay

Articulate an analysis of the various physical geography - Essay Example While at the background, a bare mountain with a white surface can be observed. This makes it concluded that the white pigment are snow and it is due to the probable freezing temperature that the trees cover cannot extend to the top. However, few adapted plant species can be spotted on the mountain top. Composition of the biosphere of the area is diverse. For plants, the range is from herbs, shrubs, and trees. Though it is not captured in the photo, the area is also compost of animals like the rodent, many and different birds’ species, insects, and other big and medium mammals. When it comes to vegetation, the forest of the region is constituted of natural pine tree which are adapted to the snow condition in the region during winter. Their cones like shape enable them to avoid the breaking of their branches due to snow accumulation (Strahler 14). This is because the snows easily slide down and drop on the ground. In some regions of the forest, there are a few planted pines to increase the forest cover. Other than the plants, the present of fresh water bodies in the area has provided good habiting grounds for fresh water fish species. These species are available in the river, and Lake Heart and Box. Additionally, rabbits, rats, poisonous snakes and wolf also roam the area. The background covers of vegetation provide hiding covers for predators and preys. Therefore, hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing are practice in the area. The succession of vegetation of this area is highly influenced by the climatic conditions, hydrological factors, topography, and soil factors. The same is applied to animals since they are also dependent on the plants. Further, this forest area is rich in organic matter, which makes the deep soil. Droppings of death leaves and their subsequent decomposition also supply the much-needed nutrient to tress and microorganisms. On the mountain top, the soil is shallow due to the avalanches of snows downhill that erode soil