Millions of young and not so young will continue or try to finish their education. For a developing country, mobility depends so much in the acquisition of knowledge. Education practically is almost a religion.
Sadly however, meager resources of our country cannot assure our seekers of knowledge of adequate support. It is the duty of and older generation to hand down the knowledge of how to make most of life. However, life is fast changing. Lessons acquired in the placid past are sometimes not applicable to the turbulent present. New sciences have evolved. What may be true yesterday may not be applicable now. Information technology, genetic engineering, molecular biology and celestial physics threaten old beliefs. Cybernetics and robotics threaten to replace human in the factories and farms.
The greatest asset our country has is trained manpower. Exported manpower, the Overseas Filipino Worker is one of our biggest dollar earners. The OFWs fill a niche in the Middle East semiskilled and skilled manpower needs. Our proficiency in English gives us an advantage. Our adaptability and willingness to adapt to allied job, in short our versatility, makes us a prime catch. However, only few of us make it to the specialty department.
Recently, there had been a move to legislate out our valuable asset. There had been a move to add another year to the grade school but was turned down. Objections had been raised pointing out that such move would make an acquisition of a degree more expensive. The reason may be valid but it might not be considering it from another angle, which is from the angle of employability.
The Philippine job market is educational degree conscious. Most employers require completion of a four year college course before considering acceptance of an applicant. In highly industrialized countries, they are more concerned with performance. Am applicant may be asked for a work experience but it may not be absolutely necessary. Then a newly accepted employee has to pass a probationary period of a month or more before being considered a regular. Should he not able to perform within that period he is laid off without chances of recall. An ephemeral term for dismissed.
While we are making our education shorter, other countries are upgrading theirs. In the United States, aside from a preschool training, the grade school reach up to seven or eight years. Secondary or high school education requires four years while a Bachelors degree needs another four years. A Masters degree needs a year of graduate work plus a passing of general examination plus a writing of a brief thesis. Ph D needs another three more years of study plus an extended examination and writing of a dissertation based on individual research.
Now U. S. pedagogues are devising lessons, which teach kindergartners rudiments of engineering through play. The course hopes to promote critical thinking and creativity at the same time teaching them not to be afraid of taking intellectual risks. Perhaps we cannot hope to match them but we have hopes on the adaptability of our children if taught well. Expatriate Filipino children had made a name for themselves as over achievers. It is high time to allocate more of our limited resources to education and to upgrade our curricula so we can keep our edge in the international job market.
Sadly however, meager resources of our country cannot assure our seekers of knowledge of adequate support. It is the duty of and older generation to hand down the knowledge of how to make most of life. However, life is fast changing. Lessons acquired in the placid past are sometimes not applicable to the turbulent present. New sciences have evolved. What may be true yesterday may not be applicable now. Information technology, genetic engineering, molecular biology and celestial physics threaten old beliefs. Cybernetics and robotics threaten to replace human in the factories and farms.
The greatest asset our country has is trained manpower. Exported manpower, the Overseas Filipino Worker is one of our biggest dollar earners. The OFWs fill a niche in the Middle East semiskilled and skilled manpower needs. Our proficiency in English gives us an advantage. Our adaptability and willingness to adapt to allied job, in short our versatility, makes us a prime catch. However, only few of us make it to the specialty department.
Recently, there had been a move to legislate out our valuable asset. There had been a move to add another year to the grade school but was turned down. Objections had been raised pointing out that such move would make an acquisition of a degree more expensive. The reason may be valid but it might not be considering it from another angle, which is from the angle of employability.
The Philippine job market is educational degree conscious. Most employers require completion of a four year college course before considering acceptance of an applicant. In highly industrialized countries, they are more concerned with performance. Am applicant may be asked for a work experience but it may not be absolutely necessary. Then a newly accepted employee has to pass a probationary period of a month or more before being considered a regular. Should he not able to perform within that period he is laid off without chances of recall. An ephemeral term for dismissed.
While we are making our education shorter, other countries are upgrading theirs. In the United States, aside from a preschool training, the grade school reach up to seven or eight years. Secondary or high school education requires four years while a Bachelors degree needs another four years. A Masters degree needs a year of graduate work plus a passing of general examination plus a writing of a brief thesis. Ph D needs another three more years of study plus an extended examination and writing of a dissertation based on individual research.
Now U. S. pedagogues are devising lessons, which teach kindergartners rudiments of engineering through play. The course hopes to promote critical thinking and creativity at the same time teaching them not to be afraid of taking intellectual risks. Perhaps we cannot hope to match them but we have hopes on the adaptability of our children if taught well. Expatriate Filipino children had made a name for themselves as over achievers. It is high time to allocate more of our limited resources to education and to upgrade our curricula so we can keep our edge in the international job market.
An avid reader of travel business news, Joe always finds time to research new educational materials in the internet.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Espiritu
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