Andrew Gonzales, F.S.C.

1. We have too many people in college creating the educated un-employed. Cited Situations: a. In the United States, there are eleven million tertiary level students in a population of over 200 million, or 20:1.

b. Japan has a population of over 100 million and has 2 million University students, or a proportion of over 50:1.

2. We should not overspecialize but attempt to keep the ideal of a liberal education alive.

a. If you examine the basic or core curriculum of our colleges and universities, based on minimum requirements’ prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), more particular, these days recommended by the Bureau of Higher Education, you will find that the requirement on basic English (18 units), Pilipino (6), Philosophy and Social Science (6), Spanish (12), Science (with lab. 15), and required courses such as Rizal, Current Issues (including the new constitution, taxation and land reform, population Education), Philippine History and Government, are really what we call general education or basic education in the arts sciences or the liberal arts.

1. Improvement of the teaching and content of the required subjects 2. More Specializations.

1. To open new majors, 2. To improve existing ones,

3. We have too many students in Commerce and Business Administration, Education, Liberal Arts and not enough in Technical and Vocational Education.

Number of EnrolleesRank Commerce and Business294,0491 Engineering and Technology 168,1552 Liberal Arts and Sciences105,9653 Medical Sciences103, 7924 Agriculture54, 6515 Teacher Education48, 8846 Graduate Education25, 6307 Law and Foreign Service17, 7238

4. We shall improve Philippine higher Education by strengthening our undergraduate programs and not opening any more new graduate programs; otherwise we shall overtrain people.

 What will the country do with all these MA’s and Ph.D.’s?

 If these MA’s and Ph.D.’s were MA’s and Ph.D.’s comparable to those in developed countries. In most cases, they are not. The title does not really matter.

5. Those who are not fit for college work should be channeled into vocational and technical education.

 Given the urgent need we have for skilled craftsmen and industrial technicians and engineering technologists, this downgrading of vocational and technical education, often expressed even by some of the highest authorities of our Ministry of Education and Culture, is truly discouraging.

 To meet such necessities, we need development. And for development, we need excellent schools. And excellent schools will be bought forth, educed, only if our objectives are clear, our givens realistically assessed, and our plans and strategies examined with our own eyes and not those of the outside.