The Education System

So, I was invited to give a short talk via Zoom about the education system. First of all, I don’t think I am the right person to give a talk about the said topic since I am not an educator myself. Secondly, I learned that my audience will be at least 18 Doctors of Education from Ilocos Sur, and some of them are Principals of schools and perhaps colleges. Lastly, seriously, why me? I was really adamant about accepting the invitation, but then I realized that I had never been given this kind of opportunity before. I never had the opportunity to waste a Doctor of Education’s time, let alone 18 of them. So that humorous perspective made me decide to say yes to the invitation. I decided to be a facilitator instead of being a speaker to them. So, I asked two important questions: What makes a good education system? And what makes a bad education system? Sobrang eye opening ang mga sagot nila and hearing their answers about what makes a bad education system made me wish that I hope their sentiments are really being heard by the authorities, I hope sana ina-aksyonan ang mga concerns nila. In my 16 years of work experience giving consultations to organizations, and developing strategies to help departments or teams perform well in terms of productivity and efficiency, the best way to solve a problem is to ask the questions to the people who are closest to the problem. Kadalasan kasi these so-called managers or superiors tend to know everything and assume that they know the real cause of problems without even consulting the individuals involved. Meanwhile, I also admire their openness to hearing other people’s perspectives from outsiders like me to help their college improve their objective of providing a better and more quality education to their students. This is called humility, fellows. This college really listens. Most organizations don’t do this kind of practice. I ended my talk by hoping I met my objective of wasting their time. Nevertheless, I also left them something I learned when I studied at Harvard Business School Online about how to foster an effective team in an organization, which I believe is also applicable to a college community. During the Q&A, one of the questions raised to me was, what do the Ivy League universities abroad and in the Philippines have in common? I answered by positing perhaps a better question: What makes them different? I believe, based on what I have learned and studied, that they have a great culture and foster community values. They really breathe and live their vision and mission. Every day, every aspect of their activities—every educator, every faculty member, and every student are thematically aligned to the School’s or University’s vision and mission. I believe it is true for every community and every organization. Each member's personal core values must be aligned with the school’s values.