Category: Education

How to stop Philippine Media’s systematic dumbing down of an entire nation

August 22, 2014May 19, 2022 benign0 51 Comments

It is pretty much a no-brainer. The idea that the Philippines’ entertainment industry is a massive contributor to accelerating erosion of the collective intellect of Filipinos has long been a widely-accepted fact in Philippine society. As far back as 2006, Isagani Cruz wrote about this in an Inquirer article. I cited the key excerpt in…

Civics, Culture, Development, Education, Government, Media, Society

Study confirms need to establish English as medium of instruction also at elementary school levels

August 20, 2014April 1, 2023 benign0 36 Comments

A study jointly conducted by the University of the Philippines’ Assessment Curriculum Technology Research Center-College of Education (ACTRC) and the University of Melbourne on the effectiveness of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines has confirmed something many Filipinos have known for some time — that English remains a highly-prized skill that most…

Culture, Development, Education

Filipinos need a radically NEW kind of nationalism

July 31, 2014 benign0 14 Comments

The epic failure that was the 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) of Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III this week highlights a pressing need for Filipinos to come up with a new — more modern — form of nationalistic drive. What President BS Aquino essentially did this week was break the proverbial…

Civics, Culture, Development, Education, Government, Media, Society

Arbitrary Tyranny in the Guise of Faith

July 25, 2014July 25, 2014 Virtual Vigilante 11 Comments

On July 14, 2014, the Church of England voted to allow women to become bishops. “Today is the completion of what was begun over 20 years ago with the ordination of women as priests. I am delighted with today’s result,” said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans. (Reuters)…

Culture, Development, Education, Lifestyle, Religion, Society

PNoy’s friends with benefits: Good thing the Iglesia ni Cristo does not suffer from erectile dysfunction

July 23, 2014 benign0 25 Comments

Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III is now on the run — from his own propaganda machine. No less than erstwhile Aquino apologist Conrado de Quiros laments the growing lameness of the ‘Edsa story’ in the eyes of the Filipino youth in his Inquirer column today, Storytelling. Echoing what I wrote earlier, de Quiros…

Culture, Education, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

The failure of the Philippines is now a legacy of the Aquinos and no longer of the Marcoses

July 21, 2014July 23, 2014 benign0 50 Comments

Almost 54 percent of Filipinos are under the age of 24. They were all born after 1990 and some of them became voters after 1996. By 2016 a big chunk of this group (5-10 million of them) will turn 18 and be eligible to vote as well. This is a new generation calling the political…

Development, Education, Government, Politics, Society

Philippine society grew dumber while #DAP funds channeled to Congressmen’s pet ‘projects’

July 21, 2014July 21, 2014 benign0 3 Comments

Public outrage is escalating to fever pitches over revelations that the administration of Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III (1) baldly refuses to recognise the ruling of the Philippine Supreme Court that the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is unconstitutional, (2) refuses to release coherent details around the manner with which DAP funds were appropriated…

Civics, Crime, Development, Education, Media, Society

The Extended ‘So What?’ Test and why this is very important today

July 9, 2014 benign0 3 Comments

The call out “Where are the results?” is a rhetorical question. It is a qualifier to any assertions we make about certain things and can be used as a polite way of saying So what? or, better yet, to further qualify a response to the “So What?” question. When, for example, we make an assertion,…

Education, Society