014 Eye Opener
We were in Baguio for several reasons. On top of the agenda was an event at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) where then education secretary Butch Abad was requested to meet with the PMA faculty composed of some of the best academic minds the Philippine military has to offer. I suppose. They did look impressive in their uniforms, for sure.
So after all the equally impressive rituals—from us being picked up by a convoy of military vehicles at the secretary’s cottage in Teachers Camp to the parade in honor of Abad as guest of the Academy—we all went to this conference room for what turned out to be a briefing from these esteemed military educators.
Their message was relayed by the head of the Corps faculty and it was delivered in a very direct yet friendly tone. In a nutshell, this is what he said—
- Mr. Secretary, we have a problem here at the Academy.
- We’re having a difficult time finding good candidates for our annual plebe (freshman) class.
- The main problem lies in the applicants’ poor academic abilities.
- We’re hoping you can do something about “your” high schools.
Well, he didn’t really say “your” schools (he was extremely polite, gracious even). But that’s what he meant (and I remember that Abad even made a light joke about it as in fact being “his” fault).
But what’s clear to me then—as it is clear to me now—is that this education crisis we were all trying to solve has dire consequences, including this one, the quality of the future leaders in our nation’s armed forces.
It’s easy to assume that the education these future military officers get come from the Academy. Of course, it does. But it also comes from “our” high schools (and elementary schools before that).
It must be noted that the Academy gets majority of its cadets from public schools, which are of course under direct control of the education department. Thus, they really need better academic outcomes from our public schools—throughout the country!
And so, as the Academy is left to struggle with their mediocre applicants (Why would we even think they improved?), we can only wonder how this impacts on our medical schools, engineering schools, and most especially, our normal schools (Teachers matter most!).
By this time, most of the young cadets we’ve met and ate lunch with that day would be in the service of the armed forces. We can only hope that they’ve educated these junior military officers well at the Academy, that despite the shortcomings of basic education, they’d have been imbibed with the Courage, Loyalty and Integrity that the Academy is known for, and that they’ve been given a strong academic foundation as well.
Education, ladies and gentlemen, is a serious matter with serious consequences. It must be of high quality—from day one.