CHINESE, BETTER EDUCATED NOW
CHINESE, BETTER EDUCATED NOW
BY NORMAN MADRID
For nation-building, my personal preference is to focus not on education but on making exports zoom. Then the resulting higher incomes of Filipinos along with the higher tax revenues of the government would provide the impetus for the rise of a stronger school system.
I don't think that education outside of an actual factory is helpful to the economic development of a poor country such as the Philippines. Our country needs factories where unskillled workers can become skilled in just one one week or one month of actual work also known as on the the job training. These workers would earn the income to afford a good education for their kids. But, even the best of these kids won't be productive for years. We can't wait for them. We need instant workers, instant factories, instant education, instant dollar earnings.
The New York Times article below speaks of good education in China today. But, education has been good in China for 500 years. They just could not translate it into good competitiveness until 27 years ago, when China opened up to multinational investments.
Instead of donations for accelerated computer education, we should pool money together to find muultinational companies that will be our partners in the Philippines for immediate success at exports and job creation and on the job training--also known as immediate success at nation-building.
Thus, PACE would stand for Philippine Accelerated Corporate Exports. With the riches generated from this program, we could build a better educational system.
Plea: Where is everyone's money? Where is that $35,000 investment capital from Ernie (as he sells his Lexus?). Where are the investment funds from Sister Tessie, Dido, Chalie, Hazzel Veee, Isagani, Leonor, Fernando, etc. Yep, let's pool our funds together. Batas and Manule shall be our treasurers holding the funds dispensing money to find multinational partners?
Norman
--- In EPIC25@yahoogroups.com, ROGELIO AGBAYANI <roy7707@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Norman & All,
>
> IF you are interested in improving education in the Philippines, I have a "short
> cut proposal" to this.
> I call it PHILIPPINES ACCELERATED COMPUTER EDUCATION (PACE), maybe, we can call
> it
> PRESIDENT AQUINO'S COMPUTER EDUCATION (PACE). However, we don't want this ACTION
> PLAN to be politicized.
>
> ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION:
> Out side of Metro Manila & Urban Centers, computers are sadly lacking in the
> countryside, mostly rural.
> Elementary and/or High Schools lack computer hardware; much less, the Educators
> lack the know-how on theconstant & fast track upgrading of ICT (Information Communications
> Technology).
>
> ANYONE WHO HAS GOOD ACCESS TO FOUNDATIONS WHO CAN DONATE FUNDS AND SUPPLY
> COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND START THE BALL ROLLING???
>
> We shall TRAIN school children, out-of-school youth, Barangay & Municipal
> Officials to be COMPUTER LITERATE -FAST TRACK.
> This can be done inside and/or outside school premises. Lots of vacant spaces
> for this activity.
>
> I have the PROPOSAL for this project. It needs a little updating.
>
> Thanks n regards.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Norman M normanmadrid@...
> To: EPIC25@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tue, January 18, 2011 2:10:14 AM
> Subject: [EPIC25] Education in China and America Good and Bad
>
>
> Stronger Philippine economic success is needed to build better schools. But,
> which comes first--the chicken of progress or the egg of schools? The clear
> answer is chicken. Without good schools, we can make the Philippines boom by
> bringing in export-oriented foreign investors. The resulting progress would
> raise the funding to build better schools. -
> Norman
> Op-Ed Columnist, New York Times
> China's Winning Schools?
> By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
> NY Times, January 15, 2011
>
> BEIJING
>
> An international study published last month looked at how students in 65
> countries performed in math, science and reading. The winner was: Confucianism!
>
> At the very top of the charts, in all three fields and by a wide margin, was
> Shanghai. Three of the next top four performers were also societies with a
> Confucian legacy of reverence for education: Hong Kong, Singapore and South
> Korea. The only non-Confucian country in the mix was Finland.
>
> The United States? We came in 15th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math.
>
> I've been visiting schools in China and Asia for more than 20 years (and we sent
> our own kids briefly to schools in Japan, which also bears a Confucian imprint),
> and I've spent much of that time either envious or dumbfounded. I'll never
> forget pulling our 2-year-old son out of his Tokyo nursery school so we could
> visit the States and being handed a form in which we had to list: "reason for
> proposed vacation."
>
> Education thrives in China and the rest of Asia because it is a top priority —
> and we've plenty to learn from that.
>
> Granted, Shanghai's rise to the top of the global charts is not representative
> of all China, for Shanghai has the country's best schools. Yet it's also true
> that China has made remarkable improvements in the once-awful schools in peasant
> areas.
>
> Just 20 years ago, children often dropped out of elementary school in rural
> areas. Teachers sometimes could barely speak standard Mandarin, which, in
> theory, is the language of instruction.
>
> These days, even in backward rural areas, most girls and boys alike attend high
> school. College isn't unusual. And the teachers are vastly improved. In my
> Chinese-American wife's ancestral village — a poor community in southern China —
> the peasant children are a grade ahead in math compared with my children at an
> excellent public school in the New York area. That seems broadly true of math
> around the country.
>
> For a socialist system that hesitates to fire people, China has also been
> surprisingly adept — more so than America — at dealing with ineffective
> teachers. Chinese principals can't easily dismiss teachers, but they can get
> extra training for less effective teachers, or if that doesn't work, push them
> into other jobs.
>
> "Bad teachers can always be made gym teachers," a principal in the city of Xian
> explained to me as she showed me around her kindergarten. In China, school
> sports and gym just don't matter.
>
> (That kindergarten exemplified another of China's strengths: excellent early
> childhood education, typically beginning at age 2. Indeed, the only element of
> China's education system that really falters badly is the university system.
> Colleges are third-rate and should be a national disgrace.)
>
> But this is the paradox: Chinese themselves are far less impressed by their
> school system. Almost every time I try to interview a Chinese about the system
> here, I hear grousing rather than praise. Many Chinese complain scathingly that
> their system kills independent thought and creativity, and they envy the
> American system for nurturing self-reliance — and for trying to make learning
> exciting and not just a chore.
>
> In Xian, I visited Gaoxin Yizhong, perhaps the city's best high school, and the
> students and teachers spoke wistfully of the American emphasis on clubs, arts
> and independent thought. "We need to encourage more creativity," explained Hua
> Guohong, a chemistry teacher. "We should learn from American schools."
>
> One friend in Guangdong Province says he will send his children to the United
> States to study because the local schools are a "creativity-killer." Another
> sent his son to an international school to escape what he likens to "programs
> for trained seals." Private schools are sprouting everywhere, and many boast of
> a focus on creativity.
>
> For my part, I think the self-criticisms are exactly right, but I also deeply
> admire the passion for education and the commitment to making the system better.
> And while William Butler Yeats was right that "education is not filling a bucket
> but lighting a fire," it's also true that it's easier to ignite a bonfire if
> there's fuel in the bucket.
>
> The larger issue is that the greatest strength of the Chinese system is the
> Confucian reverence for education that is steeped into the culture. In Chinese
> schools, teachers are much respected, and the most admired kid is often the
> brain rather than the jock or class clown.
>
> Americans think of China's strategic challenge in terms of, say, the new Chinese
> stealth fighter aircraft. But the real challenge is the rise of China's
> education system and the passion for learning that underlies it. We're not going
> to become Confucians, but we can elevate education on our list of priorities
> without relinquishing creativity and independent thought.
>
> That's what we did in 1957 after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. These latest
> test results should be our 21st-century Sputnik.
>
> I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the Ground. Please also
> join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.
(Disclamer)
Bene Nota: The views and opinions expressed here by the author are personal to him, and do not reflect the views and opinions of the website owners and administrators. Any issue or complaint about the article must be addressed solely to the author, who is solely responsible for the article.
For nation-building, my personal preference is to focus not on education but on making exports zoom. Then the resulting higher incomes of Filipinos along with the higher tax revenues of the government would provide the impetus for the rise of a stronger school system.
I don't think that education outside of an actual factory is helpful to the economic development of a poor country such as the Philippines. Our country needs factories where unskillled workers can become skilled in just one one week or one month of actual work also known as on the the job training. These workers would earn the income to afford a good education for their kids. But, even the best of these kids won't be productive for years. We can't wait for them. We need instant workers, instant factories, instant education, instant dollar earnings.
The New York Times article below speaks of good education in China today. But, education has been good in China for 500 years. They just could not translate it into good competitiveness until 27 years ago, when China opened up to multinational investments.
Instead of donations for accelerated computer education, we should pool money together to find muultinational companies that will be our partners in the Philippines for immediate success at exports and job creation and on the job training--also known as immediate success at nation-building.
Thus, PACE would stand for Philippine Accelerated Corporate Exports. With the riches generated from this program, we could build a better educational system.
Plea: Where is everyone's money? Where is that $35,000 investment capital from Ernie (as he sells his Lexus?). Where are the investment funds from Sister Tessie, Dido, Chalie, Hazzel Veee, Isagani, Leonor, Fernando, etc. Yep, let's pool our funds together. Batas and Manule shall be our treasurers holding the funds dispensing money to find multinational partners?
Norman
--- In EPIC25@yahoogroups.com, ROGELIO AGBAYANI <roy7707@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Norman & All,
>
> IF you are interested in improving education in the Philippines, I have a "short
> cut proposal" to this.
> I call it PHILIPPINES ACCELERATED COMPUTER EDUCATION (PACE), maybe, we can call
> it
> PRESIDENT AQUINO'S COMPUTER EDUCATION (PACE). However, we don't want this ACTION
> PLAN to be politicized.
>
> ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION:
> Out side of Metro Manila & Urban Centers, computers are sadly lacking in the
> countryside, mostly rural.
> Elementary and/or High Schools lack computer hardware; much less, the Educators
> lack the know-how on theconstant & fast track upgrading of ICT (Information Communications
> Technology).
>
> ANYONE WHO HAS GOOD ACCESS TO FOUNDATIONS WHO CAN DONATE FUNDS AND SUPPLY
> COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND START THE BALL ROLLING???
>
> We shall TRAIN school children, out-of-school youth, Barangay & Municipal
> Officials to be COMPUTER LITERATE -FAST TRACK.
> This can be done inside and/or outside school premises. Lots of vacant spaces
> for this activity.
>
> I have the PROPOSAL for this project. It needs a little updating.
>
> Thanks n regards.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Norman M normanmadrid@...
> To: EPIC25@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tue, January 18, 2011 2:10:14 AM
> Subject: [EPIC25] Education in China and America Good and Bad
>
>
> Stronger Philippine economic success is needed to build better schools. But,
> which comes first--the chicken of progress or the egg of schools? The clear
> answer is chicken. Without good schools, we can make the Philippines boom by
> bringing in export-oriented foreign investors. The resulting progress would
> raise the funding to build better schools. -
> Norman
> Op-Ed Columnist, New York Times
> China's Winning Schools?
> By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
> NY Times, January 15, 2011
>
> BEIJING
>
> An international study published last month looked at how students in 65
> countries performed in math, science and reading. The winner was: Confucianism!
>
> At the very top of the charts, in all three fields and by a wide margin, was
> Shanghai. Three of the next top four performers were also societies with a
> Confucian legacy of reverence for education: Hong Kong, Singapore and South
> Korea. The only non-Confucian country in the mix was Finland.
>
> The United States? We came in 15th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math.
>
> I've been visiting schools in China and Asia for more than 20 years (and we sent
> our own kids briefly to schools in Japan, which also bears a Confucian imprint),
> and I've spent much of that time either envious or dumbfounded. I'll never
> forget pulling our 2-year-old son out of his Tokyo nursery school so we could
> visit the States and being handed a form in which we had to list: "reason for
> proposed vacation."
>
> Education thrives in China and the rest of Asia because it is a top priority —
> and we've plenty to learn from that.
>
> Granted, Shanghai's rise to the top of the global charts is not representative
> of all China, for Shanghai has the country's best schools. Yet it's also true
> that China has made remarkable improvements in the once-awful schools in peasant
> areas.
>
> Just 20 years ago, children often dropped out of elementary school in rural
> areas. Teachers sometimes could barely speak standard Mandarin, which, in
> theory, is the language of instruction.
>
> These days, even in backward rural areas, most girls and boys alike attend high
> school. College isn't unusual. And the teachers are vastly improved. In my
> Chinese-American wife's ancestral village — a poor community in southern China —
> the peasant children are a grade ahead in math compared with my children at an
> excellent public school in the New York area. That seems broadly true of math
> around the country.
>
> For a socialist system that hesitates to fire people, China has also been
> surprisingly adept — more so than America — at dealing with ineffective
> teachers. Chinese principals can't easily dismiss teachers, but they can get
> extra training for less effective teachers, or if that doesn't work, push them
> into other jobs.
>
> "Bad teachers can always be made gym teachers," a principal in the city of Xian
> explained to me as she showed me around her kindergarten. In China, school
> sports and gym just don't matter.
>
> (That kindergarten exemplified another of China's strengths: excellent early
> childhood education, typically beginning at age 2. Indeed, the only element of
> China's education system that really falters badly is the university system.
> Colleges are third-rate and should be a national disgrace.)
>
> But this is the paradox: Chinese themselves are far less impressed by their
> school system. Almost every time I try to interview a Chinese about the system
> here, I hear grousing rather than praise. Many Chinese complain scathingly that
> their system kills independent thought and creativity, and they envy the
> American system for nurturing self-reliance — and for trying to make learning
> exciting and not just a chore.
>
> In Xian, I visited Gaoxin Yizhong, perhaps the city's best high school, and the
> students and teachers spoke wistfully of the American emphasis on clubs, arts
> and independent thought. "We need to encourage more creativity," explained Hua
> Guohong, a chemistry teacher. "We should learn from American schools."
>
> One friend in Guangdong Province says he will send his children to the United
> States to study because the local schools are a "creativity-killer." Another
> sent his son to an international school to escape what he likens to "programs
> for trained seals." Private schools are sprouting everywhere, and many boast of
> a focus on creativity.
>
> For my part, I think the self-criticisms are exactly right, but I also deeply
> admire the passion for education and the commitment to making the system better.
> And while William Butler Yeats was right that "education is not filling a bucket
> but lighting a fire," it's also true that it's easier to ignite a bonfire if
> there's fuel in the bucket.
>
> The larger issue is that the greatest strength of the Chinese system is the
> Confucian reverence for education that is steeped into the culture. In Chinese
> schools, teachers are much respected, and the most admired kid is often the
> brain rather than the jock or class clown.
>
> Americans think of China's strategic challenge in terms of, say, the new Chinese
> stealth fighter aircraft. But the real challenge is the rise of China's
> education system and the passion for learning that underlies it. We're not going
> to become Confucians, but we can elevate education on our list of priorities
> without relinquishing creativity and independent thought.
>
> That's what we did in 1957 after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. These latest
> test results should be our 21st-century Sputnik.
>
> I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the Ground. Please also
> join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.
(Disclamer)
Bene Nota: The views and opinions expressed here by the author are personal to him, and do not reflect the views and opinions of the website owners and administrators. Any issue or complaint about the article must be addressed solely to the author, who is solely responsible for the article.
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