Date of Article: Dec 7, 2023

Newspaper: Manila Bulletin

Title: 2022 PISA results a 'clear indication' that PH education system is in ‘worst state’ --- PBEd
Country: Philippines

1. What do you already know about that topic?

You don’t need the PISA to know that there’s something deeply anemic in how education
is handled in the Philippines. While I am a technically gifted language student when
compared to my peers, this is not because of what the country’s system of education
provided me. Despite the various reforms over the years, what I was given in schools are
painfully rudimentary bites of info I only ever really need to remember up to the point it
becomes relevant in a test paper.

It’s hard for students to attain some sort of academic competence when what is built
around them is centuries old, cracked, and is held together by barely compensated
teachers.

These PISA results are as alarming as an early alarm clock ring after a long night of
restless sleep; makes you wish you had a better sleep, but what can you do but battle
whatever the day will bring you with some bad coffee, while dreading that the following
day will be the same.

2. Comprehensiveness of Information

A. 5 Ws and 1 H of the story:

● Who: PBEd (Philippine Business Education Association), an advocacy

group for education reform.

● What: PBEd calls the 2022 PISA results a "clear indication" of the Philippine
education system's "worst state" and urges action.
● Where: Philippines

● When: December 6, 2023, following the release of the 2022 PISA results.

● Why: PBEd believes the dismal PISA ranking demonstrates the urgent
need for education reform to improve the workforce and national
competitiveness.

● How: PBEd calls for collective action from government, business, and
academia to improve the education system through data-driven
decision-making, leveraging insights from PISA and other assessments.

B. Most important W (or H)

The “What”. This story is of a concern on the worsening educational landscape of

the country. The PBEd and PISA can be cut out, just change the framing, and
actors, and you can come up with a slightly different but very much the same story.
3. Magnitude of event in the story

A. It is a story of national magnitude, with international implications as apart from the

fact that the country’s leading export is manpower, and the rankings are from the
OECD, an intergovernmental association concerned in the global market
economy.

B. This matter doesn’t just require the direct attention of the educational sector, but
of everyone requiring the expertise of workers that need education.

4. Culture and Citizenship

A. The Philippines is built on colonialism. While each colonizer left their own unique
indelible scars, the American regime essentially primed the Philippines to be
essentially a factory of workers they can export for cheap.

This is accomplished by building an education system that is in its very DNA, is

about helping students to be ready and well-equipped for labor, not for life. If you
want workers you can exploit, schools should be about obedience, not critical
thinking, where following instructions is king and critical thinking is never the
concern. As the world grows more complicated, the problems of such systemic
anemia are now more obvious than ever.

B. The PBEd shows their just patriotism through shedding light on the inability of the
current and recent government regimes to make meaningful changes. It is often
criminally mistaken that nationalism is allegiance to one’s government, but the
government is far from the nation itself. Criticism like this shows how one actually
cares for their fellow citizens, as blind allegiance only really allows the sickness to
spread and worsen.

5. Personal Reaction

A. None of this is hardly shocking. As mentioned earlier, it is easy to see the

problems as a student. The teachers too, are hardly the ones to be blamed, as
they are often spread thin, with their working environment barely funded, and
working hours that are often unjustly compensated.

B. I am a middle class, mildly gifted student. My family gives me access to materials

my peers often don’t have, and so far, I’m always in the lead of classes I belong to.

There are times, I’m much more well equipped to talk about the lesson than the
actual teacher. I don’t feel any sort of pride from this, as more often than not my
time spent in school is wasted. I could’ve spent more time on my own studying for
things I can readily take advantage of, rather than studying for a disposable test
I’m already ahead of.

I feel a sense of dread from all this, that even though I am intellectually ahead
relative to my peers, I might not be ready to actually compete in the real world, as I
never truly faced any real hurdles. In a system as anemic as this, my current
 privilege allows me to rise above, but I find myself alone, with no one to rely on to
ready me for whatever it is I’m about to face after the system finally spits me out of
its corrupted bowels.

6. The Philippines and The World

A. The Philippines is a third-world country and with things unchanged, it will stay that
way in the fore-seeable future. The country can only really enjoy minimal
economic improvement, and with no real systemic change, will continue to suffer
the same ills.

B. The Philippines should change. A lot.

The country should be reframed away from supplying labor, to actually addressing
the welfare of its citizens.

Education is only one of the problems, and as the problems with it are
interconnected with labor, each could only really be solved by the government
actually serving the needs of its citizens by designing a system with the people as
direct beneficiaries, and not through reaganomics.

C. (BONUS) The government likes to act like it’s making improvements but things
somehow feel the same. What now?
While we can wait for a leader with enough foresight to address the problems
miraculously, I propose the following:

● School Protest - with the current state of education, being out of the classroom
isn’t that much different from not going to school. That much is enough justification
to stop whatever this is and demand for real change.

● Gradual but meaningful changes in curriculum - this could only really be a

band-aid to a gaping wound but with changes on how we can structure education
and continue a semblance of function, some improvement could be gleaned.