SABBATICAL NOTES. 4 FEB 2014 N4

SABBATICAL NOTES. 4 FEB 2014 N4 

WITH OTHER PARENTS and talking our Philippine possibilities, you can only speculate how else to survive in this country of our previous dreams. 

A sad republic, someone once sad of the country. 

It is an indictment of our lot as well. 

With more than 10% of the population away earning a living abroad and going through the difficulties of figuring out where to get the placement fee of PhP 300,000 which is the going rate for those going to Israel caregiver, you only can think of farm lots leased, the titles of homes in the hand of other people.

Under these conditions, how on earth can parents even send their children to college?

One parent talks of a hundrefold to send her daughter to a Catholic university where there she would be trained in international relations; another one talks of a son going to an engineering school, and we hear the same nightmarish talks of tuition that has gone unchecked, with tertiary education now in the hands of college owners and the private sector.

As a country committed to educating its citizens for citizenship and life-long learning, when did we ever stop reneging on that part of the social contract?

There are two options open for this country: 1. To go the route of the United States where college tuition is as high as the heavens, 2. To produce cowherd for citizens: the unthinking masses, the masses who never know what to do during elections and the masses who pay more attention to the deeds of cheats, to singers whose face has swollen because some bodies had used it as punching bag.

PHL/4 Feb 2014