A student from the University of the Philippines recently committed suicide due to her inability to pay the tuition fee on time. I empathize with the parents’ loss of their child. However, I don’t advise any student, for that matter to commit suicide if they are not able to pay the tuition fee because Philippine education is NOT WORTH DYING FOR.
Here are some reasons why YOU shouldn’t take your life if you can’t afford the tuition in a taxpayer-funded school:
1. There are other good schools you can go to – which don’t cost as much.
2. There’s more to life than graduating from a taxpayer-funded school.
3. The goal of education is to acquire knowledge that stimulates your critical thinking – not your feelings of entitlement to a state university.
4. There are more reasons to LIVE FOR than there are reasons to die for – if you can’t figure that out, I wonder how you got into UP in the first place. Perhaps it is an indicator of the devaluation of Philippine education.
Misguided Outrage
The suicide sparked a fresh round of student protests organized by leftist filipino student groups. Scenes of chairs being burned in school campuses were flashed on the TV screens. Students waving red flags and chanting protests against commercialized education and calling for nationalized education were back in vogue.
These students burned chairs and what not. Those burned chairs have to be replaced. Guess who is going to pay for those chairs? Well, it’s not going to be the students – but the students’ parents!
The Usual Suspect: Commercialized Education
The usual culprit has been “commercialized” education. The left’s solution to “commercialized education” is nationalized education.
I used to believe that yarn a long time, in a galaxy far away (snicker). Today, anyone who dishes out the same spiel to me, is begging for a smack down. Here’s why:
1. Nationalizing education means that parents like me will have to shell out more taxes to pay for the education of someone else’s child – not mine.
It means parents like me will have less money to spend on other stuff for MY children. So if, I have less money to spend for my child, I will expect another parent to pay for MY child’s needs? That doesn’t sound right – it encourages a freeloading mentality where other parents don’t step up to their responsibilities because they will rely on tax subsidies from other parents.
2. Good private education is expensive in the Philippines because there are only a few suppliers/providers of education content in the face of huge demand.
Instead of creating policies which encourage the opening of more schools to be able to serve the huge demand, our policies have opted to encourage the existing schools to expand capacity.
It is not enough to encourage the expansion of existing schools – but it is also important to have new school operators, new schools, new courses, new service channels – all of which entail capital outlays – investments.
Learn from the best practices world wide in the provision of low cost, good quality private schools that are run and operated by parents and their international partners.
It’s quite amusing how Philippine schools send their professors to foreign schools to learn the latest content. The content is then passed on, re-echoed, regurgitated to students upon the return of the professor. Why don’t we just allow the foreign schools which these professors attended to operate in the Philippines and spare the students of having to learn the regurgitated content which may have been lost in translation?
If these foreign schools are good enough for the best professors of the Philippine schools – shouldn’t these foreign schools also be good enough for Philippine students?
3. Nationalizing education moves “commercialization” upstream: The government does not have the money to invest in education. The only way for the government to spend on more schools is to raise taxes.
When taxes are raised – the funds will be allocated and disbursed for school buildings and school supplies – all of which are purchased from the government’s “friends” in the private sector – aka “cronies”. The “commercialization” of education is hidden from the student. Hiding the cost does not eliminate the cost – it just shifted the burden from the parent to the taxpayers. There will be a few parents paying lower education cost – but the gap between the tuition and the actual cost is shouldered by a wider number of parents who don’t send their children to state funded schools.
4. More public spending on education is not a guarantee of quality education – or jobs for that matter.
Public education seeks to mould students into a one-size-fits all product. Real life however comes in different varieties.
The generalized content may not be appropriate or relevant to the student’s needs – and therefore the money spent on providing an unwanted service is a WASTE of time and money.
To be more blunt, putting more money into antiquated curriculum where the students of thse public schools, colleges and universities who end up jobless or underemployed- and needing conditional cash transfers after graduation – is a WASTE.
Philippine Education Needs More Commercialization Not Less
The Philippine educational system is like a mosquito-infested stagnant pond which is replenished by rainwater from time to time. Ownership of schools is limited to Filipinos only.
The resistance against opening the education sector boils down to the fear of Filipino school operators against competition. Math, science, and knowledge knows no national boundaries. Keep knowledge out and we wind up protecting ignorance. Though, for some – it’s good to have lots of ignorant people, they are easier to rip off! 
At the same time, the Philippine left has succeed in giving “commercialization” a bad reputation. It’s time to take it back. “Free education” aka freeloading is not a virtue. “Iskolar ng bayan” is not a source of pride. To me “Iskolar ng bayan” sounds like “palamunin ng bayan, proud to be a parasite”.
Commercialization means that Filipino students are PAYING CUSTOMERS who deserve to get their moneys worth.
Commercialization means schools can be held accountable for the services they render.
Commercialization means students have more options of schools which can provide more bang for the tuition paid.
Commercialization means schools have to compete in providing quality education for the tuition paid by students.
Commercialization means students and parents will have more say than public officials in the educational system. It means students, parents, and teachers can drive the direction of education towards more relevant content – instead of government bureaucrats who are totally detached from the realities of a liberating education.
It’s high time that individual Filipinos learn to put their money where their mouth is. If you value education then be prepared to step up, work some more, sacrifice some of your guilty pleasures, suck it up, grin and bear it – and pay for it. If you can’t afford it, you either find a way to afford it – or find something else that you can afford. Whatever you do – don’t commit suicide because you are not able to pay the tuition.
Don’t get mad or angry at the University of the Philippines, don’t get mad or angry at the presence of “commercialized education” – get mad or angry due to the lack of it.
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