AS WE GRACIOUSLY accept our diplomas and gaze upon our proud and hopeful colleagues with whom we shared years of toil, is there not an irony to be found when the line of fact and opinion remain a puzzle, when all those years of hard work have nothing to show except for grades that do not honor themselves?
It would be easy to prove this assertion by citing the subpar education rankings of our country. But while there is indeed merit to be found in mentioning these details, they are mere data, they do not solve the problem nor provide any substantial truth.
Even more catastrophically, some would accept this knowledge as gospel and believe that the Philippines is impotent, that it shall be so until the end of time, never gazing upon the prospects of a wiser future.
“For a country that prides itself on democratic rule, it is paradoxical to have citizens who are easily dissuaded from debate and disagreement, with the ensuing rhetoric being shut down as they are deemed nakakabastos and nakakahiya. What consequence manifests itself in a culture of conformity, what then is the point of free speech?”
And this is the tragedy of education, a system found not on being perceptive nor creative, but one that all too often commits the cardinal sin of teaching students what to think, instead of how.
If setting our gaze upon these brutish statistics is a venture doomed to fail, then perhaps the next step would be to look towards ourselves.
As we’ll soon find out, however, the reality we’re faced with is far more bleak
For a country that prides itself on democratic rule, it is paradoxical to have citizens who are easily dissuaded from debate and disagreement, with the ensuing rhetoric being shut down as they are deemed nakakabastos and nakakahiya. What consequence manifests itself in a culture of conformity, what then is the point of free speech?
The depressing aftermath of this worldview finds itself in the rabid fanaticism for a political stance we do not understand, and social media being a grand echo chamber, with those holding opposite views confined to their own bubbles. At this point, we may well have bequeathed our mental faculties.
We have been dubbed a “poor country” followed by yet another slew of data, but in reality, we are far more deprived of ideas than money.
But there still exists hope for those who would dare look, and it rests upon the very people we have so criticized. Naturally, one can conclude that this task is up to all of us, but special renown must be granted to our unsung heroes, the educators.
Overworked and underappreciated, but nevertheless passionate and patient. It is within our teachers and professors that the sacred task of counteracting ignorance resides, as they are the most willing to plant seeds in a garden they may never see blossom.
And so it is a disheartening thought to observe the occurring exodus of teachers, educators leaving in droves because they do not see a future in our country. We demand so much from them but what compensation they are reciprocated is but a drop in the bucket compared to their silent but immeasurable sacrifices.
Their mass departure is not just mere data and numbers, it spells the loss of guidance and wisdom that we can not afford. The fate of our nation is not merely shaped by the hands of its leaders, but those who shape the minds of who will one day lead.