EDUCATIONAL

PROBLEM IN THE
PHILIPPINES
A CRITICAL PAPER IN HLOGETH

Kaye Cee Martinez

PRE151

Joseph Delos Santos

Professor

PART I:
INTRODUCTION

PART I: INTRODUCTION

Issues concerning the Philippines continue to emerge as they converge and form into a
societal catastrophe and diverge its parts along the path of social progress. Our country having
a democratic government has been faced with many dilemmas testing how it can stand the
playful game of time, one of which is the educational problem of the Filipinos.

A book says, The foundation and the key to prosperity in todays global economy is
education. And a philosopher said, Education is the only thing that cant be taken away from
you.

These lines are indeed true. But how would Filipinos know the real essence and the true
concept of these lines if there are many factors preventing them to know?

The aim of this critical paper is to understand the educational problem in the Philippines.
Educational problem is one of the prevalent issues that contributed how the Philippine economy
is still not satisfying the citizens of the country. In this paper, an attempt is made to approach
educational problem by explaining the following:

What is the educational system in the Philippines

What are the thoughts of students about schooling?

PART II:
INTERPRETATION

PART II: INTERPRETATION

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

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, unstructured,
and lacking of method from pre-Spanish periods. As time passed by, our Philippine education is
continuing its development and progress until such time where the government come up with an
organized educational system spearheaded by the Department of Education (DepEd) that aims
of providing functional literacy and producing globally competitive graduates of the society.

Some implications to the present educational system of the country are the following:
o

Practice such as initiation, observation and participation, dictation, memorization,,

debate and disputation, trial and error, and question and answer are still being done;
Friedrich Froebel, known as the father of Kindergarten, impressed upon the people that

o
o

the aim of education should be focused on the development of the child.

All learning is based on student activities through his senses.
The stages of Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget are recognized as one of the best

contributions to the educational system.

Edward Thorndike made outstanding contribution through his three laws: readiness,
exercise, and effect.

I learned that we have an excellent educational system in the Philippines which makes us
very competitive in international academic competitions. Did you know that Philippines is the
country which is the best speaking in English language in 2014-2015? We even manage to
defeat Canada, United States and England whose national language is English. In 2014-2015,

Philippines got a 7.3 rating while the country next to us got a 3.4 rating. Imagine the gap!
Philippine educational system is very excellent, indeed, but what makes the education really
deteriorating is the support of the government. Why? This is because of accommodating many
students in a sub-standard classroom, having 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. We can imagine how unsuitable that atmosphere is, not conducive for
learning anymore.

Did you know that for every 100 Filipinos who entered grade one, only 66 will finish grade
six, 60 will go to high school, 40 will graduate, 25 will go to college, 13 will complete a degree
and only 1 or 2 will get a stable job?

I realized that education is forever developing. One should not be deprived of learning new
things and the knowledge he could acquires in school. Yes, the Philippine educational system is
seriously deteriorating, a sad truth. Ideal educational system should not only be in a reflected
paper nor a mere vision but it should be something realistic, attainable and worthwhile.

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 trends and
implement innovations. Furthermore, 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.
THOUGHTS OF STUDENTS ABOUT SCHOOLING
I used to hear this from the students, I didnt do very well on the exam. Maybe Ill have a low
grade or worse, Ill be failed. Is there any extra credit I can do to pass? Or I almost passed!
How can I earn more points to not totally fail?

Education today had trained student and teachers to focus more on passing rather than
learning. Unfortunately, grades are account of points earned through various activities that are
influenced by deadlines, extra credit and subjectivity. Its time for us to change the students
mindset currently focused on reaching a particular percentage and instead empower them to
take charge of their learning and measure their own success.

"I give up. What I always get is failure! Its so difficult!

Some students are like that. Just by receiving failures, they give up already. Just by failing,
they dont want to stand up again. Little did they know that its just a challenge for them to
understand more the essence of education?

Whatever the result is, I dont know. Maybe I cant do anything anymore.

Thats the mindset of some students. They easily give up. Just by receiving rejections and
bad lucks, they wont finish what they had started and miss the things that they could have been
learned. Thats why they always come in this kind of situation, they are not open-minded enough
to the things that God can do. Because they dont always pray! They need to thank and always
prioritize Him to attain success. Yes, it is effective.

I lost so Ill just make it up next time.

A failure is not an acceptable reason to give up but consider it as a sign of a bigger success
coming. Always note that failure is given to people for them to be more resilient in facing bigger
problems and to understand the meaning of life and the things that comes after.

Always remember that all people have their own brains. Some just dont know how to use it
properly. Also, no one is a stupid or dumb, just lazy ones.

Somehow, maybe you are enlightened with the lines mentioned above, especially those who
are not blessed of intelligence, those who are ignored by almost everyone, those who dont feel
valued, those who havent received a distinction because of their ability. And because of not
receiving any distinction and what they only have is failures, they are losing hope to stand again
and they are so close to giving up. They keep on closing their minds on the things that they can
possibly do.

According to a blog that I read in a forum site, all people were born brilliant. Their intelligence
depends on how they use it. When we were still younger, our grannies would tell us to eat
peanuts in exams for us to pass. Some believes that when you were still on your mothers
womb and you are receiving a super tender loving care, you will be born intelligent.
Some believes that intelligence is in your family genes. But are these beliefs real?

From what I learned, no one is dumb or stupid, we have our own intelligence. Even it is from
the genes or from the food you eat or even from any beliefs you have that make us have our
own intelligence, you are still the one whos going to say if you can do something or not. Its on
you if you continue on pretending to be blind on things or wake up in reality that you can do it.

PART III:
CONCLUSION

PART III: CONCLUSION

As to the educational system of the Philippines, there are factors
involved in the educational system we have today and the solution lies
primarily in our government such as the insufficient supply of modules and

learning materials. The government should do something about this issue.

DepEd has the highest fund from the government so this should be solved
easily. 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
coming for the next six years. 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 students of a universities or colleges, how can we 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. I strongly believed that its an avenue for us to grow
professionally and to become good and effective professionals of the
country.

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

www.scribd.com

Sarimarus blog
Educational System in the Philippines
www.trinitysem.edu
www.ascd.org
Social Issues in the Philippines (by sihmdean)
Philippine Educational System (Legal Foundation and Professional Code

of Ethics)
Philippine Issues (by sir jj)
Focus on Learning, Not Grades
Current Issues and Trends in Education