Saturday, September 23, 2006
34th Anniversary of Martial Law
May nagbago ba?
September 21- The day that shook every Filipino when the late Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Rule. The worst nightmare that even in my dreams i could not dare to take. After 34 years...has any thing really changed for good? Partly YES, democracy may be one thing that differentiates it all. But, The big part is NO! Why?
"HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF"
Before:
Marcos have stolen votes during the Snap Election.
Declaration of Martial Law
Series of political killings
Human Rights Violations
Now:
Arroyo allegedly chtaed durin the 2004 election.
Declaration of 1017, an almost similar law to martial law
We are one of the TOP RANKING CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD.
We are in the TOP 10 JOURNALIST KILLERS in ASIA.
750 and increasing numbers of POLITICAL KILLINGS in GMA's REGIME
Neverending Political and economic Turmoil
Let us not just be deaf and silent. Let us be aware! When we repeat history, we should repeat those worthy to be proud as Filipinos!
Posted by alfred ::
12:21 AM ::
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Sunday, September 17, 2006
INSIDE MY WINDOW.OUTSIDE MY CLASSROOM
The book of a real student is the society, his teacher is the people, and his test is his contribution in the struggle of the masses.
-Lean Alejandro-
During my first year in high school, I was shocked when the school administration suspends classes to send students in Rizal Park to rally for Erap’s resignation. At that time, I just can’t comprehend why we need to participate in such activities and why not just learn lesson inside the classroom. My preferred manong mango vendor outside Assumption College even asked me once how come I am not like the other students who are radical in thinking. That time again, I believe I am having culture shock.
One day, I just woke up to the culture of not being afraid of the authorities, instead, I was pressured to act independently from them and be very keen on seeing unscrupulous actions and dealings to government officials. I was honed in a school they brand as the little UP where true education is not learned inside the four corners of the room but outside. I was immersed to a society where tolerance is power, and submission is cowardice. Screaming slogans and waiving banners are my only weapon to conquer in the battlefield.
When I reached college in and still carrying with me the principles and idealisms that are taught to me, I taught I would be with the same environment I used to with the real and sensible student I met in high school, but I was totally wrong. Atenean culture, not assuming all, is purely apathy and nothing but elitism.
What frightens me most is that there are few students who thought of fighting for something else. But of course, I knew for myself, that they actually don’t know the whole story, yet willing to shed tears and contest their opinions.
It was a sad realization, indeed.
But what saddened me more was that, I saw I wasn’t alone with my predicament. Many had died fighting for their beliefs. Yet among them were in doubt.
Then why they bother for something they do not fully comprehend? Why waste time and effort to something they thought as futile? Why do they stand for something doomed for ruin?
This has been in my mind for quite some time now. I was thinking, Are they that susceptible to follow what is common rather than chose their own path? Do they tend to equate majority with what is right? Are they just who follows, and not leads?
Spending years in Ateneo corrupts any personality into begetting unjust economic structures, a disposition that finds fertile ground to a passive studentry.
College should not be strictly academics; a real scholastic honor knows liberal education. Awards do have their merits. But if achievement of these results to a insensitivity and indifference to the plight of the masses, education has failed.
Posted by alfred ::
4:33 PM ::
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EDUCATION FOR SALE!
Buy it at the most expensive school near you.
“The state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.”
Article 14 Sec. 1 1987 Constitution
There is a worsening crisis in the educational system. Year after year, tuition fees across the nation are jacked up to provide quality education.
This blatant display of commercialization signals the entry of education into the market forces as provided in the myopic education plan of the present regime.
Thus, the commercial, colonial, and repressive characteristics of our educational system are maintained.
The educational system is commercialized because high tuition and miscellaneous fees determine the parameters in getting quality education. As profit-oriented educators run the show, education becomes more and more a privilege for a few.
The educational system is colonial because it caters to the need for a cheap, skilled and obedient manpower for the multinational and transnational corporations. As students drop out, more vocational schools are built to absorb them and to churn out a labor force for these corporations. Textbooks often conform to Western setting and despite findings that students learn faster in the native tongue, English is still used as a medium of instruction.
The educational system is repressive because the regime suppresses students who struggle for their welfare and rights inside and outside the school. Non-recognition of mass orgs, clamping down student publications, controlling student councils and the contractualization and retrenchment of faculty members are indications that the regime is intent on molding passive students to anti-people policies.
With these situations, it is evident that the present government has failed to perform its purpose of uplifting the sate of the education in the country. Instead, it has been one with the educator-capitalist of stealing hard-earned money from our parents and has never upheld student’s rights and welfares. With this continuing degradation of the country’s educational system, primarily because of the lack of utmost support from the government itself, no wonder, years from now, our country will be a pool of drug addicts, pushers, and prostitutes.
The present regime provides a hopeless future for the students and youth. The only way is to militantly struggle for genuine freedom and democracy, for a nationalist, scientific, and mass oriented education.
A nationalist education upholds the dignity and independence of the Filipino people from imperialist rule. It is geared toward propagating national consciousness, an awareness of the interest of the majority and a genuine desire to serve the majority.
A scientific education pursues the development of science and technology in service of national interest. It seeks national industrialization and agrarian reform to achieve economic emancipation and self reliance.
A mass-oriented education that is based on the needs of the majority. It is expressive of the struggle and aspirations of the Filipino majority and is democratic, participatory, free and accessible regardless of socio-economic class.
Now, more than ever, the students should actively fight to expose the decadent nature of the system and to fight militantly against it.
PS: This is one my favorite articles characterizing Philippine Educational Sysytem in the country.
Posted by alfred ::
4:15 PM ::
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
---------------------------------------
EDUCATION FOR SALE!
Buy it at the most expensive school near you.
“The state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.”
Article 14 Sec. 1 1987 Constitution
There is a worsening crisis in the educational system. Year after year, tuition fees across the nation are jacked up to provide quality education.
This blatant display of commercialization signals the entry of education into the market forces as provided in the myopic education plan of the present regime.
Thus, the commercial, colonial, and repressive characteristics of our educational system are maintained.
The educational system is commercialized because high tuition and miscellaneous fees determine the parameters in getting quality education. As profit-oriented educators run the show, education becomes more and more a privilege for a few.
The educational system is colonial because it caters to the need for a cheap, skilled and obedient manpower for the multinational and transnational corporations. As students drop out, more vocational schools are built to absorb them and to churn out a labor force for these corporations. Textbooks often conform to Western setting and despite findings that students learn faster in the native tongue, English is still used as a medium of instruction.
The educational system is repressive because the regime suppresses students who struggle for their welfare and rights inside and outside the school. Non-recognition of mass orgs, clamping down student publications, controlling student councils and the contractualization and retrenchment of faculty members are indications that the regime is intent on molding passive students to anti-people policies.
With these situations, it is evident that the present government has failed to perform its purpose of uplifting the sate of the education in the country. Instead, it has been one with the educator-capitalist of stealing hard-earned money from our parents and has never upheld student’s rights and welfares. With this continuing degradation of the country’s educational system, primarily because of the lack of utmost support from the government itself, no wonder, years from now, our country will be a pool of drug addicts, pushers, and prostitutes.
The present regime provides a hopeless future for the students and youth. The only way is to militantly struggle for genuine freedom and democracy, for a nationalist, scientific, and mass oriented education.
A nationalist education upholds the dignity and independence of the Filipino people from imperialist rule. It is geared toward propagating national consciousness, an awareness of the interest of the majority and a genuine desire to serve the majority.
A scientific education pursues the development of science and technology in service of national interest. It seeks national industrialization and agrarian reform to achieve economic emancipation and self reliance.
A mass-oriented education that is based on the needs of the majority. It is expressive of the struggle and aspirations of the Filipino majority and is democratic, participatory, free and accessible regardless of socio-economic class.
Now, more than ever, the students should actively fight to expose the decadent nature of the system and to fight militantly against it.
PS: This is one my favorite articles characterizing Philippine Educational Sysytem in the country.
Posted by alfred ::
4:15 PM ::
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
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