For a country like the Philippines where basic education is supposedly "free" but where, in reality, a distressing number of children still do not get to finish basic schooling, education -- good education, more so -- remains a relatively elusive goal for so many young Filipinos.
This is as heartbreaking as it is worrying. After all, today's children are tomorrow's leaders, right? So, what kind of leaders can we expect to come out from an inadequate, inconsistent and patently un-creative education system such as what we have today?
Will the government's "K-12" proposal solve this issue? Your guess is as good as mine. Will it take better training for our teachers? Definitely. Do we need more classrooms? Of course.
But what correct mix of "solutions" must we implement? I don't know. Honestly.
But what I do know is this. A lot depends on how the students themselves value their education -- as a tool for learning, as a catalyst for development, as a primer for change.
How can we accurately gauge that valuing? Some swear by technical methods (
surveys, interviews, questionnaires, etc.) when determining numeric equivalents for "valuing."
Me? Simple lang yan...
look at the students themselves. How do they act vis-a-vis school? Do they brave floods and rains just to go to school, or do they choose to skip classes at the merest hint of rain? Do they trek miles over hills and across rivers just to attend classes, or would they rather hang-out at the mall?
Simplistic and idealistic, I know.
But extremely accurate, IMHO.
