A needful policy direction in education

I had a share of unpredictably animated reactions to my article last Thursday, when I wrote about a kind of bigotry that might be good for America. My brief and seemingly innocent discourse somehow touched an emotional powder keg of the adversarial nature. There was a furious disagreement coming from the supporters of Sen. Barack Obama. They perceived my column as "racist" and they were frank in labeling it so. To my succor, however, the "racist" tag was matched by the intense endorsements of the Sen. John McCain followers who thought that my off-tangent article created some sense. Honestly, I was not, in any manner, disturbed. Coming less from Fil-Ams, and more from Filipino citizens, the diverging sentiments served only to further strengthen my belief that we are so affected by what is going on in the US. In fact, all of those diverse views had the effect of renewing my initial, albeit hesistant, observation that we are still as good as "little brown Americans." My hesitation was founded on the observation that we do not hear anymore such boisterous branding which we received about half a century ago.

A good number of Filipinos love Americans and most of the things they represent. This is understandable because almost everyone hereabouts has a friend or relative working in the "States." In the late 60's, there was a movie entitled "The Ugly American" which tried to synthesize the evolving image of an undesirable Uncle Sam. Despite it though, we still tend to treat our Caucasian brothers with profound affection and prefer to tread where they lead.

This seeming preference does not,however,find support in the way we treat our education. The last debate between presidential aspirants, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, maybe used to stress this point. While both asserted that education continues to receive the highest American budgetary allocation, they offered, as part of their contrasting campaign strategems, different methodology of improving their education systems. Each of them, prospective American presidents, took great effort to explain their positions when elected.

Sen. Obama appeared to me like ready to invest more in the education of their youth. While acknowledging the huge funds being already put into their system, he announced that in the event of his presidency, he would, despite the present financial crisis, allocate more money where needed. Education, it would thus appear to the presidential hopeful, should be expensive but nevertheless it had to be appropriated for.

Sen. McCain, for his part, admitting, like his political opponent, the serious effects of tight money, considered reviewing and reassessing what funds to transfer where necessary. He would therefore operate within the current tight limits but would not make the issue second class.

In comparison, while our charter points to similar primacy in terms of mandated monetary outlay, we are less informed on the way such funds may be used for. Our leaders have not made great efforts to explain to us what policy is being formulated and pursued.

I hunger for announced specific governmental policies on education because I believe that the current products of our educational system no longer reach the high level of achievement of their predecessors. It may not be an empirical basis, but my humble experience as a teacher tells me so. My students of say, 25 years ago, seemed to perform better generally than those belonging to my later year classes. Yes, we are experiencing a form of deterioration in our education.

It is more like how our youth are being guided (read it as educated) that, I think, is the cause. Yes, the low achievement of our students is only the effect of a failing system. This is where the work of our leaders is being cut. They may be Obama copycats or McCain pretenders, but they should tell us what policies in our educational system are being shaped to address a perceived problem. It is important for us to know and understand government direction so that we may be able to react accordingly. In knowing what to do, we shall be able to discern the kind of participation we have to give. Absent such information, the malaise is only to get out of hand.

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