College of the Immaculate Conception
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
In
Current Issues and Trends in Education
A
Reaction Paper
in
PHILIPPINE EDUCATION
ARNULFO V. SANTIAGO, JR.
MAEd in GEN. SCIENCE
College of the Immaculate Conception
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively
and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is
the goal of true education.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
The educational system of the Philippines had suffered
several phases of development wherein there are lots of
revisions
and
changes
that
have
been
made
in
order
to
withstand the needs of each individual and to the society as
well.
Ive
learned
that
our
Philippine
education
system
started from unpolished education, which means started from
informal,
Spanish
unstructured,
period.
Philippine
progress
society
As
come
is
such
up
lacking
generation
education
until
and
an
where
method
races
continuing
time
with
and
of
the
organized
its
from
passed
pre-
by,
our
development
and
government
educational
and
the
system
spearheaded by the Department of Education (DepEd) and is
connected
providing
to
the
declaration
functional
of
literacy
EFA
and
2015
that
producing
aims
of
globally
competitive graduates of the society.
Hence, upon looking with the status of education in the
Philippines we can hardly speak to it without suggesting at
once
the
education.
school,
To
for
most
the
school
Filipino
is
the
educators,
center
the
of
our
educational
process and the school process are one. It is in the school
where
we
have
sure
manifestation
of
the
educational
process.
College of the Immaculate Conception
A student in school is expected to
grow,
to
improve, and to advance in his studies, and is regarded by
some as the whole education.
I learned that we have an excellent educational system
in
the
Philippines.
What
makes
the
education
really
deteriorating is the support of the government. Why? It is
deteriorating to a certain degree especially in the rural
public schools. This is due to accommodating fifty students
or more in a sub-standard classroom, sub-standard books,
lack
of
speech
rooms,
lack
of
science
apparatus
and
laboratory, and learning materials that greatly affect the
learning condition of the students. In addition, teachers
are
sometime
stressed
with
the
condition
of
jam-packed
classrooms and handling six to seven classes a day. We can
imagine how unsuitable that atmosphere is, not conducive for
learning anymore.
Furthermore, Broken-down and sub-standard classrooms,
lack of teaching and learning materials have been a longtime problem in the Philippine education. Though, as of
today due to K to 12 programs, we are not using those substandard textbooks and obsolete books due to the use of
teachers
department
and
of
learners
education.
module
But
being
still,
supplied
its
supply
by
is
the
not
sufficient
College of the Immaculate Conception
to cover the number of students enrolled
in
public schools. In addition, some subjects do not even have
the prescribed textbooks that will meet the competencies
needed by the learners.
As a public high school teacher, one of the examples
why
personally
say
that
education
should
be
taken
seriously by some implementers is the existing problems of
slow readers and even students who could hardly read a twosyllable or more words. Moreover, students have a hard time
in
solving
simple
arithmetic
problems
which
is
very
alarming. In line with this, it has been already expected
that an elementary graduate can already read and comprehend,
but there are some who were tagged as slow readers and a few
considered to be non-readers and non-numerates in public
high schools, especially in the grade 7 level. High school
teachers are not tasked of teaching them the very basic of
reading and solving, yet the problem is there. Why do we
allow students in elementary that could hardly read, write,
and solve to be promoted in high school? They will only have
a hard time coping with a more challenging task in learning.
I
realized
that
education
is
forever
developing,
changing, growing, and alive. It is a continuous process.
One should not terminate finding opportunities for learning
new
College of the Immaculate Conception
things; the knowledge that a person acquires
for
himself/ herself is his/her treasure in life. Yes, it is
slowly
deteriorating,
sad
but
true,
with
the
different
factors involved. Idealistic curriculum should not only be
reflected in a paper as a mere vision, but it should be
something realistic and attainable. Try to take note of the
newly implemented Curriculum, yet, insufficient supply of
textbooks or learning materials remained a problem. It is
really sad and depressing when we look at our public school
system nowadays. Teachers in the far-flung areas or in rural
public
schools
will
have
hard
time
reproducing
the
learning materials and students also will have a hard time
doing
follow-up
activity
for
the
suggested
topic.
It
should also take into consideration that not all public
schools have the Internet connection, and not all teachers
and students are computer literate. Thus, teachers will have
a
hard
time
modifying
the
activities
to
be
given
and
students are the one who is affected by this. With this,
there
is
no
assurance
that
the
ultimate
goal
of
our
educational system will be achieved.
We may assume that education standard will be more
improved
if
the
government
and
implementers
of
our
educational system will work hand-in-hand to move with its
College of the Immaculate Conception
and implement innovations. Furthermore,
trends
learning
competencies should be designed to enable one to learn the
skills and positive human values that will help one grow
into
an
articulate,
socially
committed,
and
productive
Filipino citizen. Moreover, it should not only tend to rely
on the theories, rather than on practical things which will
be useful once a student leaves the school.
There are factors involved in the educational system we
have
today
and
the
solution
lies
primarily
in
our
government. The government should do something about this
issue.
Education
is
very
important
if
we
want
to
have
progressive country. Improvement of curriculum should be
done because it is really necessary and not because we have
a new set of political leaders in our country. It should be
a
long-time
information
productive
and
program
technological
age
geared
and
towards
not
just
the
for
experimentation. Filipinos are really talented and smart.
All we need is good education to unearth the talents and to
learn more so we can be more competitive out there.
As a teacher being enrolled in the graduate school, how
can I contribute help in upgrading the educational system of
our country? I believe that one of the ways of upgrading and
enhancing our education is by letting ourselves be educated
College of the Immaculate Conception
in higher studies. I strongly believed that its an avenue
for us to grow professionally and to become a good and
effective
mentor,
not
only
to
our
students
but
to
the
community as well. Being the torch bearer, I believed that
teachers must have enough knowledge, skills, and values in
order to do our roles and responsibilities well toward the
betterment
of
the
students,
community,
and
our
country
indeed. Being a catalyst of change, it must emanate within
us so that this concern in our educational system in the
Philippines will be resolved in the future.
