Too many self-absorbed 'graduation' speeches

Graduation ‘campaign’ season is almost over. Our senators, congressmen, governors and city officials have been quite busy these past weeks attending graduations. This is an opportune time for them to talk about their dreams, their vision and their mission for the country. I just hope they were able to inspire the youth instead of annoy them with their narcissistic, egocentric and self-absorbed ‘valedictory’ speeches.

Anyway, now that school is over will the new graduates get jobs? In the first place do we have a good batch of college graduates this year who are qualified to work? Do they have the skills required? If I remember right, the underlying reason of why we need to extend the years of schooling from 10 to 12 years is due to the fact that our graduates are mediocre compared to their counterparts in other countries. In other words, many employers are not satisfied with the quality of college graduates we have nowadays. They do not only lack the knowledge but also the competence in doing the work.

According to the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), five million students in all levels are expected to graduate this March. The graduating batch for this school year is composed of 1.67 million kindergarten children, 1,817,549 elementary pupils and 1,153,643 high school students. Data from CHED shows that there are 517,425 higher education graduates this year.

The new graduates are set to join the 11.5 million (IBON 2011 statistics) unemployed and under-employed Filipinos. Apart from facing the challenge of getting a job, what is more disheartening is that most of our graduates do not qualify. The next thing you see are graduates of four-year degree courses working as fast food servers, sales ladies, encoders, clerks or becoming OFWs doing menial jobs because they cannot meet industry standards.

A report released in January by the International Labor Organization’s Global Employment Trends 2012 showed 40.2 million Filipinos are in a state of “vulnerable employment.” It further stated that the country is plagued with a “large number of workers who are in poor quality and low-paid jobs, with intermittent and insecure work arrangements and poor working conditions.”

Education in this country has, with notable exceptions, been imperfect and deficient. During his campaign, P-Noy expressed how crucial the role of education has in our country’s development. He said, “If we fix basic education, we fix the long-term problems of the country. And if we fix the country’s problems, we will build a truly strong society we can proudly call the Philippines.” Of course, words are easily said but what we want to see are results.

A major part of his campaign platform and also one of the most controversial initiatives of his administration is the K to 12 Basic Education Program. The K to 12 program is set to start this coming school year 2012-2013 for Grade 1 and first year high school students with a target of full implementation by SY 2018-2019.

Are we ready for K to 12? There were reports that when Kindergarten, the first level in the K to 12 program was implemented in June, there were not enough classrooms and teachers.

Indeed, the implementation of the K to 12 program is a herculean task. DepEd has made the announcement that private schools with two years of Kindergarten and Grade 7 have already complied with the 12-year requirement. Is this so? We know what the K-12 program is but to date private schools have not received a formal directive in memorandum form giving private schools the proper guidelines for its implementation. I understand DepEd has been holding workshops, orientations and discussion forums with different groups but no memorandum yet so far.

As SY 2012-2013 draws near, there is still some amount of worry and confusion in the academic community and DepEd has yet to come up with clear-cut guidelines in the implementation of the program. Will DepEd succeed? And if it does, what assurance do we have that this will be sustained even after P-Noy’s term?

The academic community needs stability in the country’s direction on educational reforms. Whenever a new president steps in, a new reform is made thus causing more havoc. DepEd, TESDA and CHED should have one direction. They should be in harmony. Presently, the three seem to be doing their own thing unmindful of the confusion they are creating to the Filipinos. A few years ago, their leaders did not see eye to eye. I wonder how they are now.

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To our graduates, ours is far from being a perfect world, and this is more true to us, whose national aspirations and need for advancement are far from being fully realized. As the struggle for a living and the routine of daily work blunt the edge of your enthusiasm, dull your fancy and deaden your ambition, unconsciously you may be led to believe that you can do nothing else but allow drudgery to plod on ceaseless, unaspiring round. But there is nothing more refreshing to your spirits, nothing more conducive to your advancement than to be ever on the hopeful, an earnest look-out for a better way, for greater service and usefulness. My grandfather always said, “There is nothing more pathetic than a young man without enthusiasm and without ambition. A man who is determined to succeed must never allow his ambition to flag.”

To be ambitious and enthusiastic is a good thing. But it is not enough. A young man who dreams of achieving great things must realize that there is no royal road to success. I remember my father telling me that we shouldn’t deceive ourselves into believing that a man has achieved success through mere good fortune or luck. Known to the world is his brilliant achievement but unknown to the world are the long, dreary years unremitting and patient labor, of obscure and wearing drudgery that preceded the dazzling and joyous day of his triumph.

Youth is ever the age of dreams and hopes. May your youthful dreams and hopes come true!

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By the way, did Chief Justice Corona really tell a lie about his academic credentials? What a guy!