Opinion

August 3, 2015 at 10:17pm

Last March 2015, a video of a salutatorian, Krisel Mallari, goes viral after it was uploaded
on Facebook. In the video,Mallari was interrupted by the school officials while delivering her
graduation speech because her speech contains a message that could blemish the school's
image. Mallari stated in her speech that the school had an alleged wrong computations in her
grades. Of course, the school denies her claim because it is a shame for a catholic school to
be accused at such case. But this is not about the issue between the school and Mallari, but
generally, it is about the miseducation of the Filipinos.
After I've read the essay of Renato Constantino's "The Miseducation of the Filipino", I've
realized that Philippine Education is a commercialized education (The essay was written by
the year of 1959, therefore our education became a commercialized education a long time
ago). When we say commercialized, it means that "to use something as an opportunity to
earn money". So when an education is commercialized, it makes us think that the higher the
tuition fee, the better the education it can give. This could display the discrimination between
public and private schools especially for primary and secondary education. It seems that in
this generation, money is necessary because if you don't have money, you can't access
many good things just like good education. Additionally, another problem of our education is
the accessibility of some schools. There are people traveling long distances just to reach
their school. Just like those kids at "Rated K" being telecast while crossing a river. There are
also people who wants to study in a specific school but they are not fortunate enough to
afford the tuition fee of the school. In short, if you have more money, more privileges will
come to you. Another problem in our education is that we study hard so that we will have a
great job in the future. We never study hard to start our own company and discover new
things. We keep our mindset just to be employees. In other terms, we study hard just to be
an employee. Why not to try to be the boss?
Mapua Institute of Technology is known as one of the best engineering schools here in
the Philippines. In my school, we have this system that makes us different from others. Our
educational system is divided into four quarters. That leaves us with only a week of vacation
after every quarter. The longest vacation we get is 3 weeks. A quarter system means a
compressed curriculum and a faster teaching process. So we, Mapuans, are fully loaded
every week. This system prepares us for stressful works in the future. But the problem here
is, graduates of this school prefer going to abroad rather than staying here in our country to
give public service. We cannot blame them for working in other countries because we all
know that the salary in the other countries is much bigger than the salary offered in our
country. Some good engineers are being exported and other countries get benefits from our
people. Not only engineers, but also OFW's. Well, labor export has an advantage in our
economy specifically in terms of money but it is better to have our people back and let them
contribute their skills in our country.

As I have said earlier, the more money you have, the more privileges will come to you. So
the question is, are we really paying for our education? What we learn at school? Or are we
paying for our future?
P.S. This is just only my opinion. Feel free to leave a comment about your insights. :)

Issey Jeorgina Silva Good point, I agree. If they really want to maintain a good standard in their
system of education money and names (at some point haha) should not be a standard bearer. "Ceteris
Paribus" smile emoticon
Edmar Panuelos Education is a right not a priviledge. In its real essence, basic education is our
preparation for the real world. But in reality not everybody has an access to education. It's a good thing
you were able to point out this idea towards education. This is something that DepEd should think about.
Alyssa Tatiana Escota Based on my opinion, as you've said. "The higher the tuition fee, the higher the
education". I believed that it's not about the school or how much money you pay. It's about the person
and how he uses his resources well. There are many successful people who didn't have much in their
past but ended up great, regardless of what school they came from.
Edward Alec Surbano Nakadepende naman siguro yung future natin kung sa pano tayo nagstrive kung
ano yung gusto natin marating smile emoticon parang Cause and Effect. Kung magsisikap tayong magaral at matuto, malaki yung chance na maganda yung magiging future natin, vice versa smile emoticon
Maria Kris Divina Paloma This way of thinking of a student like you, should be the way how our
students think. So, in the future human exportation will reduce and Filipino creations will be known
globally.
Rona Panoy In my opinion, if we pay for our education, we pay for our future. But education today is
overly commercialized that if you want a quality education you had to pay more.
Jermaine Molina I believe that money is really an issue for a person to have more privileges but it won't
stop you to experience one. Chances are given everywhere, scholarships are also offered in schools so
I believe that a success of a person does not depend on wealth but on his skills, abilities, determination
and resourcefulness. If a person really wants something he/she will do his/her best in having it,
Like Reply 1 August 3 at 11:31pm
Javi Villaflor I believe that it is better to have passion over power. Yes, graduating from one of the best
Engineering school provides intellectual students, but to what cost? Money and power? This isn't true
happiness. Happiness is when you really love what you do and not just for the buck. Then we also have
Innovation. The educational system in the Philippines must not encourage people to get just an employment
but to aim for Innovation not just for themselves but also for the country. Passion leads to Innovation
Bench Tenorio I respect your opinion. That comes from your own insight. But you have to remember always
that in such circumstance you still have to be thankful that you are one of the recipients of the good and
quality education which you call commercialized. Let me correct you it's not commercialized it is a privilege.
Pasalamat ka sa magulang mo Paul smile emoticon
Christian Ong The term paying for education has nothing to do with paying for the future. Our future is not
entirely the education that we attain. I think it is better to let the kids today learn the true value of learning
and be able to understand the beauty that the future that lies in their hands. Money cannot buy everything.
Mark Bariuan isang katotohanan ang hinding-hindi na natin maaalis sa ating isipan " ang maayos na
edukasyon ay kakambal ng masaganang pamumuhay". Maraming namang tlgang paraan upang tayo ay
matuto at maging magaling sa buhay gayundin sa paghahanap ng ikabubuhay upang kumita ng pera at
nang may pambili ng ipanglalaman sa sikmura ngunit hindi pa rin mwawala ang mataas na pagtingin ng mga
tao sa taong nkpagtapos ng pag-aaral. Hindi nmn tlga mahalga kung saan ka ngtapos subalit ito ay nagiging
pamantayan mo kung saan mo ilalagay ang iyong sarli sa lipunang mayroon tyo. Sa ksalukuyan, ndi nmn
tlga paaralan ang mgdadala sayo sa iyong patutunguhan bagkus ang sarili mong kkyahan, karansan, at

malawak na kaisipan ang syang mgddlo sa iyong mgndang hinhrap. Marahil malaki ang naitutulong ng pera
sa pagpapaunlad ng sarili ngunit hindi ito sapat. Ang may kalidad na edukasyon ay ndi para sa iilan ito ay
para sa lahat..
Kakai Mariano In my opinion, I think that money is not the key in having a good quality education. It is true
that there are a lot of privileges if you go to an expensive school but it doesnt always mean that it provides
you with the best learning experience. What you need to learn in life can somehow be acquired through your
own experiences and what you see in the real world.
Alysa Miranda For me, its not actually about the school's reputation or how much money you paid for your
education, it is on how a student strives hard to become successful. Just because you graduated from a well
known school it doesn't mean that you're going to become a successful person.
Renjamin Tagle I agree with you points. our education system right now is really commercialized. and as for
the privilege of education, we have public school like UP and PUP but still, only a selected few are able to
enroll and those selected few are either really smart, or came from of course, an educated family and to
come from an educated family means that you are from a good school from primary and secondary level and
like what you said, almost all good school on secondary and primary education are commercialized. so it
only shows that it is really hard to gain access to good education without the brain or the money.
Vincent Marron Sa panahon ngayon, kahit masakit tanggapin, pera nalang ang nagpapatakbo sa halos
lahat ng bagay sa mundo. In education, pag may pera ka, sa private school ka makakapagaral, pag wala, tiis
tiis sa public. Meron din pagkakataon na, kahit hindi deservingpumasa ang isang student ay nakukuha
nyang makakuha ng mataas na grado dahil sa pera pero hindi naman lahat ng schools ganun ang
patakaran. Para sakin ay nasa students parin kung makakapasa ba sila or hindi sa malinis or masaman
paraan man yun dahil hindi naman lahat ng bagay ay nabibili ng pera.
Mark Bariuan Tandaan! Mapa-pambubliko man o pribadong paaralan, institusyon, kolehiyo, at unibersidad
hindi nrarapat na magkulang ang kalidad ng edukasyon na maaring ibahagi sa mga mag-aaral. Ang
pagkakaroon ng isang "commercialized education" ay isang pagpili ngunit hindi dapat ito maging hadlang sa
anumang nais natin marating sa buhay.
Niki Dacalao Tayo naman kasi gumagawa ng sarili nating future. Di naman ibang tao. Yung mga guro
natin, sila lang yung naghuhusga sa mga pinapakita natin, dahil di naman talaga sila yung gumagawa ng
grado, kundi tayo. Private school man or public school, nasa magaaral na yun.
Tristan Jerome Villota I agree with your idea how money relates to privileges. It is true that wealthy people
have greater opportunities to study in known schools but in my own opinion, the name of the school
generally doesn't matter to persons success in life, because a persons success depends on the person and
how the person defines what his success is. I also disagree about your opinion regarding the idea of
preparing to be the boss in the future, because employee's are not "just employees", every part of something
is important.
Isaac Jerone Macalalad Bilang isang estudyante na pumasok sa pampublikong paaralan noong
elementarya at sekondarya, masasabi ko na maganda ang kalidad ng pagtuturo na naipamalas ng aking
mga guro. May mga nakasama na kahit pareho kami ng mga paaralang pinasukan, hindi naman maganda
ang nakuhang grado pero dahil lamang iyon ng hindi nila pagseseryoso sa kanilang pag-aaral. Hindi tulad
ng mga mas mababang baitang, kailangan na sa kolehiyo ng perang pambayad para sa mga tuition fee,
materyales na kakailanganin, at iba pang mga kailangan depende sa programang kinuha ng isang
estudyante. Depende na rin sa pipiliing paaralan. Sa elementarya at sekondarya, hindi kinakailangan ang
pera, ngunit pagtungtong sa kolehiyo, dito na niya kakailanganin ang pera para magsilbing pambayad sa
mga tuition fee at iba pang mga kakailanganin. Kung sa kalidad ng edukasyon ang pag-uusapan, hindi
kailangan ang pera. Magkakaroon nga ng mga dagdag na pribelehiyo kung sa mamahaling kolehiyo magaaral ang isang estudyante, pero hindi ibig sabihin noon na makakamit na ang magandang kalidad ng
edukasyon. Depende na rin sa estudyante kung gusto niya talaga matuto o hindi.

Joseph James Medina I think we are paying just for our education, at the end of the day, there would be
many factors that would affect our future, not only our education. In how you handle these factors, would
determine your success though, education would be crucial in setting them up
Archie Angeles Judging with what I've just read, I can say that education is indeed an essential part of the
lives of us humans. The sad thing that is happening around our country is that a lot of us is not given the
right to proper education or if given the chance to be educated, insufficient material is given. Through this
factor, the individual's future is already carved out..