We beg to differ.
Everywhere you look — physically or conceptually — in the Philippines and you find systems and solutions that cannot scale. The most famous of these is the jeepney. The jeepney “system” (if you can even call it a system) is a public transport solution that requires more labour input with every unit of capacity expansion….
The idea that substandard education is the reason why Filipinos are not progressing as a people is starting to wear thin. Granted, of course, there is a massive investment gap that keeps the Philippines’ public education system (within which the vast majority of Filipinos are educated) decrepit and practically ineffective at churning out smarter people….
It is the 21st Century. Yet the most iconic symbol of the Philippines remains the jeepney. Once hailed a triumph of “Filipino ingenuity”, it now persists as a stark reminder of a failure to develop engineering excellence at a time when engineering excellence is an even more important foundation upon which global competitiveness could be…
It’s not a question of ability. The Philippines produces a staggering figure in terms of brain power for engineering, science, IT, and mathematics. It’s really a question of why: why aren’t Filipinos building their own rockets? Well the simple answer is also the lazy rhetorical one: “Why make when you can buy?” And there again…
Why did the Philippines grow a car culture to begin with? Filipinos can neither make cars nor fuel them using their own domestic resources. They neither have the roads on which to drive them comfortably nor the discipline and precision of design to keep traffic flowing smoothly. Indeed, what the supposed “car culture” Filipinos take…
Indeed, one’s gotta agree that “everything is political” as far as students of the University of the Philippines’ (UP) College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP) are concerned. So political, in fact, that they’d politicise everything — including the Lantern Parade. As expected, mainstream media picked up their float (above all else) which merited a…
In the United States, at least, bridging the gender gap within sectors and industries is a big issue. Simply put, American society is currently concerned with getting more young girls and women to go into fields of study/interest that are perceived to be traditionally male-dominated. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field happens to…
Read More “Thinking beyond just “getting more young girls into STEM”” »
On 17 December, 2015, Philstar.com reported that presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte said if he will be elected president, he will have Calculus and Trigonometry removed in the education system and that Algebra be replaced with Business Mathematics. According to the report, Mr. Duterte said, Yung Calculus alisin ko talaga yan. Dumaan kayo ng high school,…
Read More “Removing Calculus and Trigonometry in the Philippine Education System?” »