The great Filipino dream

Walk inside the home of the quintessential Filipino working-class family – perhaps like the blue-collar workers or the minimum wage earners – and in these homes, it’s very likely that you will find vignettes of the great Filipino dream. 

Whether the home is a makeshift living quarter built from a hodgepodge of materials in maze-like shantytowns or a small concrete house in a government resettlement site or a one-room apartment in a dingy walk-up mid-rise building, there’s a space reserved for the fulfillment of this dream.

You won’t miss it of course, because it’s displayed there for every visitor to see and for every family member to be proud of – either hanging on a wall or displayed on a corner table.

These are the diplomas and graduation photos of the children in the family – from the eldest to the youngest – a product of the parents’ blood, sweat and tears. 

Whether the graduate just finished pre-school or has now completed tertiary education, that photograph or piece of paper certifying the son or the daughter’s great achievement is there on the wall or somewhere in the house. Such fixtures in the typical Filipino households have been immortalized in movies and teleseryes, too. Look closer and you’ll see these diplomas and grad photos splattered on walls in those scenes depicting Filipino homes.

In some homes, some of the diplomas have faded through time; while some show water marks, perhaps due to leaks on the roof or molds; some are in cheap and chipped wooden frames while some are bordered by intricate and stylish designs of brown, dark blue or what-have-you. 

The photographs – of young and old graduates, sometimes in overdone make-up – are portraits that show the children’s deep sense of accomplishment and their parents’ great Filipino dream.

A good education

That Filipino dream is actually a simple one – a good education. For one believes that with it, one can leave something behind for one’s children to build on; with it, one can find a better job; with it, one can reach one’s full potential; with it, one will not only survive but thrive. In short, with it, one can dream and live those dreams. 

It’s not a lot to ask for. In fact, in some countries, they would even pay families to send their children to school. 

Time and again, Filipinos have proven their willingness to achieve that dream – millions sacrifice for many lonely years abroad, even under the most difficult conditions, just to send their children to school. 

Our family helper was teary eyed when her son finally graduated from college this year, the first in their family to ever finish tertiary education and the only one so far in their impoverished village in southern Visayas. 

Giddy with excitement and pride, our helper sent me photographs of her son’s graduation in the province as soon as he received that much coveted diploma. 

Perhaps, there is no greater joy for a parent than to see his or her children finish schooling and get a shot at life.

Addressing the education crisis

Against this backdrop, I welcome the appointment of Senator Sonny Angara as our new Secretary of Education. 

I hope he will do good because our education system is in crisis. 

There is so much work to do, including closing the teacher-student gap, addressing the classroom gap and raising the competence of teachers. 

I met Sen. Sonny, then a law student, during my college days in UP. He was always known as an achiever even back then. 

As senator, he served as Commissioner of EDCOM 2 or the Second Congressional Commission on Education, which released its Year One Report earlier this year.

Under Angara’s leadership, the Commission studied reforms on improving coordination across the three education agencies following the EDCOM 1 trifocalization; complementarity between public and private education; efficiency and equity in education financing and decentralization, according to a Senate statement on EDCOM 2.

The EDCOM report titled, “Miseducation: The Failed System of Philippine Education,” highlighted its findings in 12 out of its 28 priority areas, ranging from early childhood to higher education.

System failure in Philippine education

EDCOM also noted that the Philippine education system struggles to meet the criteria of a system, defined as “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole,” falling short of establishing “a complete, adequate and integrated system of education” as mandated by the Constitution. 

Instead, EDCOM said, “agencies, bureaus and offices have focused on their respective mandates and targets, often independent of one another,” which “has led to the miseducation – or plainly, poorly delivered education – of Filipino learners.”

There are so many things that need to be done with so little time.

I hope that Sen. Sonny will be a man in a hurry and I hope that with him at the helm, we will finally see much needed reforms in our education system.

Otherwise, the Filipino youth will be left with nothing, not even the chance to dream and live that great Filipino dream.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.