Papano naman ang average student?
“Edukasyon lang ang tanging maipapamana ko sa yo.” (Education is the only thing I can pass on to you.) These are words often spoken by Filipino parents, regardless of their socio-economic standing. We Filipinos pride ourselves in valuing education, so much so that those of poor means will sell their land or whatever property they have to be able to support their children’s higher education. Some support themselves by being working students, but in this economy, even college graduates have a difficult time getting a job, how much more for non-college graduates.
I think we have very little support from our government in helping students go to college. And large corporations & wealthy families haven’t stepped up to the plate either, or at least, none that I know of. I’d love to be proven wrong.
I’m a believer that education is a great equalizer. But I am wondering, is there like a scholarship on a grander scale in the Philippines that you know of? I’m aware that there are some scholarships that exist in the Philippines, but they are for honor graduates, i.e. the valedictorian, salutatorian of the graduating class or those within the top ten of the graduating class. The average student deserves to go to college, too.
Here in the States, anyone, regardless of one’s age or academic standing, can go to college by taking advantage of government & private entity provided grants, loans & scholarships. We don’t have anything on a scale like this in the Philippines that I know of, so an average student from a poor family who has no benefactor & wants to go to college most likely will not be able to.
What do you think needs to be done so that people who want to get higher education will get help in doing so?
©Copyright 2011, Definitely Filipino™ Blog Network. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise stated, all articles in this blog are opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily of Definitely Filipino and its staff.
DF Community 
NoBenta 
ragubalane 
abq 
Anna 
Lui B. 
Thadie MD 
Mga-sulat-kamay 
Ms.J 
a_dauz 
Mommyjoyce 
ejaybasaliso 
bobbyw59 
Den Dominguez 
Caloy 
totoo yan.. nakakainggit nga na dito sa Cambodia, isang mahirap na bansa pero napakaraming opportunities para sa mga studyante. Masasabi mo na less average pa nga ang marami sa kanila pero nagkakaroon sila ng chances na makapag aral ng libre at makapunta sa ibang bansa. Maraming NGO na tumutulong at mga foreigners na nagsusuporta.
Sana sa atin ganon din. Hindi naman porke average ang student sa school di na sila mage excell.. minsan nga pagdating ng college yong average student nong highschool ang syang nagiging magaling dahil mas porsigido sila.
education is free…but expensive.
education is impossible…but possible.
education is taboo…but clear.
education is useless…but useful.
education is for all…but nothing.
educated person is not measured for what they achieved, but for their humbleness.
On a grander scale, I guess one way to give students / prospective students a chance to study is to provide financial aid. I like the concept of financial aid as the students can choose the school, the course and possibly the opportunities. Sometimes, everything fall into place (not all the time).
But that depends on how the student would be able to pay the finances paid for them, when they graduate and have landed a great job or have made some innovations and established themselves as industry leaders.
Problems also with financial aid is it incur interests. If we are to get financial aid, we have to understand that debt is debt and it has to be paid. Running from it won’t take us anywhere.
It all depends now on how responsible the students / graduates will be. If everything is handed to them, there are also consequences. I hope there’s balance.
I agree with you Dianne Mae. That really is one of the problems in the Philippine’s type of education. The students are trained to be a good employee but not as leaders. They are trained to land a good job and get the salary, but they are not trained on how to let money work for them.
Wouldn’t it be great if they would have a shift in focus?
It’s going to generate more jobs if we really nurture the innovative nature in students and teach them to lead, to create businesses that generate revenue and ultimately give back to the Philippines.
Unfortunately, I think it will take a long time for that, so the best thing we can do is educate our own kids or relatives, or reach out to other kids through volunteer work with non-profit orgs that share the same passion and belief as we do.
I agree… but it has to start somewhere. It may take a long time but the earlier we start, the better. who knows? you might bump into someone influential and could possibly encouraged / convinced everyone to get into that thinking. we’ll never know until we try (at least for ourselves).
You’re right! It has to start somewhere and what better place to start than ourselves, our families and hopefully these changes will create a ripple effect.
There are non-profit organizations in the Philippines that offer financial aid, schools offer loans and scholarship grants, too. If those options fail, the best option would really be to get a job to support their education.
Based on my experience in the recruitment industry, the main reason why college graduates don’t have jobs is because they don’t have good communication skills and although I hate to say this, it’s also because they don’t have (applicant) etiquette or professionalism. Their answers during interviews just don’t hit the mark and their behaviour can be appalling at times.
I have found that the undergraduates are actually more hungry and passionate when it comes to work. (I am quite biased on this because I’m still an undergrad, but there is a truth to it).
The government has invested $400 Million to TESDA’s curriculum or skills training programs that those who want higher education should also try out, but the classes there are not really very interesting or would help you climb the corporate ladder.
I actually applaud the US Administration on their current initiative wherein universities are being asked what their plans are on how they can nurture innovation and tech transfer. They believe that universities are a great source for innovations, research and ultimately lead to more jobs and they want to fully utilize that. I really wish that they do that in the Philippines.
Unfortunately, education here is focused on teaching you to be a good employee rather than using your head and being a leader. This is different for each student, I know, but that really depends on the values that you were/are grounded with.
Hope this makes sense!