Lopsided educational strengths

In one of our classes in my PhD program in Educational Management at the La Salle University, I raised the issue of the lopsided educational strengths of our educational system in the Philippines. There is an existing disparity as well as potential gaps will ensue if this will not be addressed appropriately.

One of the issues I observed which I shared to the class but unfortunately, my classmates see it differently and I think, I will have the same opposition after this article come out. I observed that many of our teachers in the Department of Education are pursuing their graduate studies which, in no way, should be construed as something unusual because these teachers deserves where they should be and that is in the halls of any graduate school. These increases in numbers of teachers are surpassing faculty in many tertiary institutions who are pursuing PhD degrees. To my dismay, many of the faculty in tertiary level institutions are still either pursuing their MA or in the process of obtaining a PhD.

With this, we put so much focus on educating our elementary and secondary teachers and arming them with PhDs but the sad observation is, many instructors in many colleges are still in their MAs and some are not even PhD degree holders. What will this portend? There are a seeming disproportionate number of highly educated teachers in basic education but we lack equally educated experts running our many colleges. This is the dilemma of many colleges and universities in the Philippines because we don’t value specialization of academic degrees. Many of our PhD holders are not even contributing to the building of a strong knowledge economy which should be their contribution. They were not able to contribute to sound academic discoveries and inventions that will benefit our economy and our nation.

The reason I say that this will be a problem later on is that too much highly educated teachers in basic education will not produce graduates who can immediately help in the formulation of a knowledge base that is necessary for a reforming economy. We don’t have enough PhD holders in the field of biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, microbiology, and other highly required in any economic turnaround. We don’t have enough engineers and architects who are holders of advanced degrees that allow them to build skyscrapers and engineers who build airplanes, gigantic ships, susbmarines, military hardware and much more, to my consternation, we don’t have enough scientists who help discover new frontiers in medicine, pharmaceutical, psychiatry, psychology, as well as inventors who build what others are experts in. I would rather that the moment a classroom teacher who obtains a PhD should seek for a lateral transfer to any tertiary education they seek and effectively contribute to the formulation of a well-functioning knowledge economy.

If we are to compare ourselves to India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore and Ireland, we are low in terms of sound educational strengths. We don’t have enough experts in any given field unless one goes to the University of the Philippines or to the premier Higher Education Institutions in the country. In India and Pakistan, they have enough scientists, engineers and experts with PhDs who helped made their country into a very powerful nation using its vital resource which is their knowledge factory. Their universities are manned by very diverse experts and academics who are avowed supporters of the knowledge economy. In our case, yes, we have many PhDs and MAs in elementary and secondary schools but what now? Will a PhD and an MA be a useful contribution to the building of academic community when the pupils and students are still going to pursue college or university. Imagine that a very effective basic education because of its highly educated pool of teachers will be put to waste because whenever the student goes to college, most of their faculty does not even have a PhD or an MA. With this, I bat for a more number of faculties in college with a PhD and an MA to sustain the learning gained by the students in our basic education.

Looking even at our maritime industry, one will ask which I’ve asked myself. Why is there no pool of captains of ships manning foreign vessels? We have so far effectively export the basic manpower for any cruise liner and cargo ships. We have enough and I believed very strong community of seamen but do we have experts in maritime industry? Do we have seamen who have exceptionally high academic pursuits that their academic researches led to more advantageous bilateral or multilateral arrangements in maritime industry? This, along with many others, explains why we export only skilled workers and settle down for it while we can build a very strong knowledge base and instead, export expatriates who are contributing to world order, progress and peace. We don’t have enough number of medical experts who are well-recognized due to their studies and researches that led to novel medical discoveries that befits a Nobel Prize. This perhaps explains why until now, no Filipino is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Physics, Economics or Mathematics. We don’t have new discoveries in teaching that is Filipino-based and Philippine-made. This I think should be addressed appropriately for us to effectively be competitive in the worldwide knowledge-based economic boom.