THE NEW PECKING ORDER IN EDUCATION

I went to a university in Cavite today to accompany a cousin in getting entrance exam results. In the queue leading to the enrollment fees counters, I saw at least two Koreans (from what I've overheard in their conversations, yes they are Koreans), one is a teenage boy and his mom, the other a teenage girl with a her mom and a Filipina interpreter. Seeing them forced flashbacks into four months ago last year, when I was still teaching at an international school in Manila. Two-thirds of the school is composed of foreign nationals, half of which are Koreans.

That flashback soon moved fast-forward to last week when I was in a prestigious college in Manila known for its specialization in technological education. On a poster on the wall of the security office, the repackaged goals of the college are spelled out in acrostics. One of the new goals is to attract foreign students in the school.

No doubt, these schools are a few of the best in this country. They have the best programs in the fields of disciplines they are offering, coupled with good educational infrastructure and technology, as well as a formidable academe of brains and talent. These are but a few testaments to how good the quality of education is in the country. Or at least in the private sector.

WHO SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY IN OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM? THE LEFT OR THE RIGHT?

I am beginning to worry though what will be left for ordinary Filipinos. Yes, we have the best brains in education here in the Philippines but who are they serving? They are serving a foreign clientele. Before I use to worry of the exodus of Filipino teachers to work abroad and teach a foreign clientele. Now, its the other way around. It's the clientele who is arriving here to reap our fresh, tender, and quality education.

Think of mangoes. Before mangoes are being exported to be eaten by foreign mouths. Now, as mangoes ripe attached to its tree, foreign invaders attack and eat it before it's picked. This is the new pecking order in education in the 21st century.

And so, even though these brains have yet drain abroad, they are already being drained here in our own land, leaving none to a young generation of Filipinos hungry for knowledge, skills and values their motherland should be giving them.

I pity these teachers. How could they allow their fruits to be devoured by foreigners first? I am aghast at these private schools. How could they condone such practice? I hope they realize we are at the losing end here. I am disgusted by our immigration officials for allowing this influx of foreigners to go on without much of a screening. I am disgusted at our government for prioritizing servitude to invaders instead of service to fellow Filipinos.

I am not the only disgusted by this. I am sure, out there, there are more. But they are not just disgusted; they could be even worse. Who knows? One day, these disgruntled, disenfranchised youths could be going inside these schools, going on a killing spree of these foreign invaders. I pray and hope we don't get to that worst-case scenario.

And so before worse comes to worst, I sure hope the country's educational planners could give time to rethink the direction of the educational development of schools in the country, both public and private. Our goals should be directed inwards, not outwards; towards our own development and not of others. I hope there would be a control as well in the traffic of foreigners going to our country. The less of them we have here, the more we can focus on strengthening ourselves.