Opinion: On the Real Causes of Our Educational Dysfunction

There was a recent audit, backed by a 600-page report, that examined the quality and competence of our educational system. As always, the findings are no longer shocking. From a 30 percent proficiency rate at Grade 3, performance plummets to less than 19 percent by Grade 12.  

The toleration of mass promotion, or the practice of advancing students to the next grade level despite not meeting required competencies, often to protect teachers’ careers, has exacerbated this dilution. Tying one’s professional fortunes to this clear oversight is akin to America’s No Child Left Behind, where teacher evaluations were tied to standardized test scores; it can only end in disaster. 

The most obvious question is how to arrest this nightmare. The whispered rumination, however, tells a different story: is this merely a symptom of a wider civilizational malaise taking root across the nation? What we see as a crisis of a dumbed-down education is, in fact, a manifestation of a deeper misalignment of priorities on one hand, and sheer neglect on the other. What am I implying? 

For one, since the establishment of formal public education in this country in the 1860s, and its expansion under the Americans and postwar administrations, much of the curriculum has remained the same. While additions have been made, one can even doubt whether these improvements optimize anything at all; instead, they function as patchworks meant to delay the eventual sinking of a ship that is rusting and in dire need of replacement. 

This educational pedagogy has always prioritized theory over concrete practice. In layman’s terms, our system focuses on keeping children in classrooms for hours rather than letting them engage directly with the world. While Japanese education has its own caveats, its teachers and administrators are correct to place practice above theory. In fact, much of Japan’s primary schooling emphasizes practical skills over academics. Children learn to cross the street safely, perform basic maintenance, water the plants and scrub the floors, before they tackle mathematics. 

It is only after a basic skillset has been endowed that the shift to academic learning can occur. This is where the caveats of Japan’s pedagogy expose itself, since the academics appear as a crash course to many. The Philippines can avoid this pitfall by providing clear boundaries and rubrics that define where theory and practice will intersect. 

For instance, it would be better for students, from nursery to fourth grade, to focus on basic academic skills such as reading and writing, while placing intensive priority on helping them become self-sufficient as early as possible. From fifth to tenth grade, formal academics, structured in tiers, can be introduced gradually so as not to overwhelm the students. Clear standards for passing and failure should be established. By the time they reach 11th and 12th grade, they should be able to perform long division manually, read the works of Nick Joaquin and William Shakespeare, sew their own clothes, water plants, and scrub floors.

There will be exemptions to the norm, such as for the disabled or those in need of additional care. Yet the exception must never become the norm. The purpose of education is not merely to train people to get jobs, fulfill their dreams, or serve their communities. Education’s greatest inheritance should be the cultivation of unity of action and thought in service to the country. From the outset, it must equip students to take command and act decisively when necessity arises, while instilling punctuality and precision in fulfilling their responsibilities. 

Exceptional individuals should be given opportunities to study abroad. But this is not a golden ticket. They will bear more burdens than their counterparts—or noblesse oblige, as we call it. Of course, no plan survives first contact, yet having a strategy is better than having none at all. 

Thus, the educational system in this country is not simply a problem of money, wages, or budgets. In fact, we have seen that despite increases in DepEd’s allocations, the results remain meager at best. While paying employees well is essential and should be integral, this addresses only a fraction of the challenges. In this context, an audit of the Department is necessary if educational reform is to be taken seriously. 

The question of disobedience and unruly children is more a symptom of this evident decay. To this, one can only respond that the school must serve as a bastion for fostering individual excellence and collective discipline simultaneously. As students ascend the educational ladder, the pedagogy must reflect and adapt. From pattern recognition, the focus should shift to a comparative approach. This is where interdisciplinary rigor can enter, teaching students to learn broadly, bow to no one, and test all ideals and materials against reality, come wind or rain. 

The loss of belief in this equation refers to the fact that we must not kid ourselves: we know democracy is a waning ritual. Nor can a return to strongman rule provide any answers, for any yearning for it is merely a sign of helplessness. As such, both panic and nostalgia stem from the same pathology, which is an inability to face the future, warts and all, just as a person must be exposed to the elements to become less vulnerable to disease. The historical record is but our guide in this matter. 

Akin to contemporary America and our own country today, the marker of a ticking clock, with belief thrown asunder, has its own rhythm—whether it is Japan during the Bakumatsu period (when the Ee ja nai ka festivals, resembling mass hysteria, predominated before the Meiji Restoration) or the late Soviet Union (as portrayed in the series A Hoodlum’s Promise: Blood on the Asphalt, which captivated Russians with its unvarnished depiction of the declining Soviet years in the city of Kazan). In this regard, people not only took their civilization for granted, they also viewed anyone earnest in learning the official ideology of their nation, which in our case are democratic ideals, either as a creep or a pervert.

So, what is to be done? Any rehash of the old is always a hollow bargain. Instead, a total overhaul is the less costly, and more likely path, if there can be any hope of squaring the circle. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the recommendations above is irrelevant. The purpose of this piece, like all others, is to provoke a response. It is only through opposition and contradiction, the engine of the dialectic, can things move forward. 

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