When Education Becomes a Business Venture

In most developed countries, educational development is positively related to national development. This means that the more a government invests on education, the higher its national income will be.

However, we can see clearly that this has not happened to the Philippines, despite years of having an educational system that is at par with most developed countries.

This is because the establishment of our educational system was founded not on the social and economic realities of the Philippine society, but rather on the "purpose of satisfying the individual demands of education."

I had a hard time answering this forum as I have been a private school student my entire life. Personal experiences of having to share books and scrimping on a classroom never occurred to me. However, with the growing commercialization of schools nowadays, I was awakened that this is actually the "corruption experience" I have been looking for.

Josefina Cortes (1993) suggested that in educational planning, the social and economic needs of the community should be addressed. And in doing so, there should be a reorientation in the view of education and a synergy of different educational sectors and national planning groups.

Education should be a means to influence behavior that will result into economic growth (as evidenced by infrastructure and other support structures such as transportation and telecommunication), modernization (or a break from dysfunctional traditions), and change in attitude (or having a high need for achievement).

Education should turn a people into resources as they have become "educated and trained people, capable of using and developing their abilities for their individual growth and committed to sharing the benefits they derive therefrom with their fellowmen."

However, it turned out that most educational institutions nowadays are more focused in "projecting enrollment, determining the number of classrooms, estimating the number of teachers, building schools, and other related activities." An increase in these factors is considered a success, unmindful if it is contributing to the human resources of the country. It has become nearsighted of the original and correct form of education, thus corrupting the very source of income they are milking from.



*All quoted texts are from Cortes, Josefina R. (1993). Explorations in the Theory and Practice of Philippine Education 1965-1993, pp.80-87