Two Studies Show the Philippines' Education System Stinks

On June 21, 2021 the World Bank released a report assessing the state of education in the Philippines. Overall the report was bleak and concluded that 80% of Filipino students in grades 4-9  did not meet basic skills levels for their grade. Naturally the Department of Education was furious saying that the report shamed the nation by using old data to paint an inaccurate picture and that the World Bank broke protocol by not notifying the DepEd before the report was released. An apology was demanded and the World Bank acquiesced.

President Duterte welcomed the apology.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1458818/duterte-welcomes-world-banks-apology-expects-more-accurate-report

President Rodrigo Duterte has welcomed the World Bank’s apology over the early publication of its assessment on the sorry state of Philippine education, expressing hope the financial institution would soon publish a “more accurate” report.

“I would not want to begrudge the World Bank. These international bodies working on the problems of the world should be very careful about their statistics. It is not good to commit a wrong internationally. But we welcome their apology,” Duterte said in his taped weekly briefing that aired Monday night.

The president said the Department of Education (DepEd) would do what it could to correct misconceptions about Filipino students’ performance.

“I commend [DepEd] Secretary Leonor Briones for calling out the World Bank on this issue. I hope a more accurate report based on the latest data will be made,” Duterte said.

It's not clear how much more accurate a report can be made than one which was made from the latest data. In fact the World Bank did not apologize over the data they used but over the technicality of not informing the DepEd before it was released.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2021/07/08/world-bank-philippines-on-education-report-july-8-2021

We deeply regret that the report on education was inadvertently published earlier than scheduled and before the Department of Education had enough chance to provide inputs. This was an oversight on our part, and we conveyed our personal apologies in our communication with the government. Recognizing the inadvertent release of the report, we have taken steps to temporarily remove it from the website. We are aware of the Department’s various efforts and programs to address the challenge of education quality. We agree with the Department that the issue of quality has a long historical context, and support its demonstrated commitment to resolve it decisively. We have reached out to Secretary Briones on this matter and look forward to continuing our dialogue with the Department of Education on the opportunities and challenges in the education sector.

There is nothing in this apology "deeply regretting" the statistics used to compile the report or the report's conclusions. Since the report has now been scrubbed from the internet we can only rely on what others have written about it.

The World Bank report, dated June 21, is available on the World Bank Philippines web page, both in its 86-page complete form and in a user-friendly, presentation format. The report clearly states, in the first two paragraphs of its introduction, what its basis and objective is: It is a synthesis of results from the most recent (2018 and 2019) rounds of three international education assessments in which the Philippines has participated. These are the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which the Philippines took part in for the first time in 2018; the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) in 2019, which the Philippines hasn't participated in since 2003; and the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) in 2019, which was the first and so far, only time that assessment has been conducted. Far from being "old data," the data specified by the report is the newest data available, and its synthesis of the results of those three assessments "represent the pre-Covid baseline," the report explains.

The picture it paints of the state of Philippine education is shockingly dark. Overall, about 80 percent of Filipino students in Grades 4 through 9 "are unable to meet learning standards expected for their grade."

This is not the opinion of the World Bank researchers but the unalloyed scores of the three assessments. In reading, 90 percent of Grade 5 students in the SEA-PLM and 81 percent of Grade 9 students in the PISA were "below minimum proficiency." In mathematics, the "below minimum proficiency" levels were 81 percent for Grade 4 students in the Timss, 83 percent for Grade 5 students in the SEA-PLM, and 81 percent for Grade 9 students in the PISA. In science, 87 percent of Grade 4 students in the Timss assessment were below the minimum standard, as were 78 percent of Grade 9 students in the PISA.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/07/08/opinion/columns/briones-is-an-embarrassment/1806126

DepEd Secretary Briones complianed that the data from 2019 was old and therefore outdated but the World Bank says it is the latest available information. Briones completely misrepresents the World Bank when she writes:

The use of 2019 old PISA data was admitted by the Senior Economist of the World Bank in a note to an Undersecretary of Education, thus: “Please know that the full report contents are derived from published PISA scores and I hope this can be useful in your response to those asking questions, these are not new findings but data that have been previously published when PISA was published.” 

The World Bank admits to one error: the release of old data based on 2019 PISA scores to the public without informing DepEd. Thus, DepEd and the Philippine government were subjected to public censure and criticism. Even if done inadvertently, the World Bank has inflicted harm on DepEd and the government.

https://www.deped.gov.ph/2021/07/05/world-bank-uses-old-data-in-report-on-education-in-the-philippines-new-initiatives-and-up-to-date-data-not-included/

The use of this data was not an error nor did the World Bank admit it was such but rather they only admitted they erred in not informing the DepEd of the report before its publication. Perhaps Briones should apologize to the World Bank for her blatant mischaracterization of both the report and the apology. She also laments that the World Bank neglected the historical context of education in the Philippines.

The report also lacked historical context. The quality of education, at all levels, is a product of a long historical process. The World Bank itself is a party to this historical evolution, being a lender for major reform programs, such as the USD100 million Program for Decentralized Educational Development (PRODED) from 1981 to 1986, the USD113 million Third Elementary Education Project (TEEDP) from 1997 to 2006, the USD200 million National Program Support for Basic Education (NPSBE) from 2006 to 2011, and more recently, the USD300 million Learning Equity and Accountability Program Support (LEAPS) from 2014 to 2018. Giving a snapshot of the current situation without its historical context can easily give the impression that it is the present administration that is to blame, and not mentioning current initiatives can further give the impression that we are not doing anything about it.

If we must look at the broad picture as viewed across time rather than particular measurements to gain a proper assessment of the Philippines' education system then the question we must ask is, "Why hasn't Philippine education improved over time?" Where has all that money gone? What does the Philippines have to show for it? According to the most recent assessment tests, nothing. And it is not just the World Bank that is reporting that fact.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1457973/wb-apologizes-for-ph-education-report-adbi-echoes-findings

Acquiescing to the demand of two senior members of President Duterte’s Cabinet, the World Bank (WB) has publicly apologized for the publication of its report highlighting the sorry state of Philippine education.

But the Washington-based multilateral lender did not retract its findings that indicated “a crisis in education” and that are based on the latest global assessments in which the Philippines took part before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, a report of the Tokyo-based think tank Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) also lamented the “low” amount of learning—especially in mathematics when taught in local dialects—in the Philippines, despite gains from the K-12 basic education program since 2012, which narrowed the reading skills gap between students in rich and poor households.

ADBI said that “considering the Philippines’ status as a low-middle-income country, improving the quality of the education system must remain a matter of national priority.”

ADBI cited the same problems in the Philippines’ education sector.

It based its working paper titled “Foundational Mathematics and Reading Skills of Filipino Students Over a Generation” on the results of the Functional Literacy, Education, Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), a national household survey that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had been conducting nationwide every five years since 1998.

The FLEMMS microdata collected by the PSA in 2003, 2013 and 2019 and that were used by the ADBI paper showed that “the share of students with foundational skills increases between grades, indicating that schooling improves learning,” specifically referring to math and reading skills.

“However, we find that a substantial share of Grade 10 students still do not have foundational mathematics or reading skills. This shows that like many countries, the amount of learning produced for each year of schooling in the Philippines is very low,” ADBI said.

It said the FLEMMS-based math learning profile showed a decline of 5 percentage points in 2019 from 2013 levels. “Among Grade 10 students, 93 percent of students in the 2013 cohort answered the mathematics questions correctly. In 2019, the share was 88 percent,” ADBI noted.

It said the decline “corroborated the TIMSS results.” But “different from TIMSS, … we determined that the decline between 2013 and 2019 was four times as severe compared to the decline between 2003 and 2013,” ADBI said, referring to the math results.

This paper from the Asian Development Bank Institute was based on the PSA's own data which it has been collecting every five years since 1998. The results show that "the amount of learning produced for each year of schooling in the Philippines is very low." This paper appears to have been scrubbed from the web but a web cache shows the abstract which is as follows:

Children around the world largely rely on the formal educational system to teach them foundational mathematics and reading skills. The inability of an educational system to do so may indicate it has structural constraints. In this paper, we take advantage of three rounds of a nationally representative household survey on education and functional literacy implemented by the Philippine Statistics Authority to examine mastery of foundational mathematics and reading skills among students in grades 4–10 students. The three rounds enable us to examine trends in these skills from the turn of the millennium to 2019. We find that a significant proportion of higher-grade students have not yet mastered these foundational skills. We also find that the difference in foundational skills between grade 10 and grade 4 students is small. Based on a comparison between cohorts, we find that foundational mathematics skills continued to decline between the 2003 and 2019 cohorts. Foundational reading skills, however, trended up between 2013 and 2019 after stagnating between 2003 and 2013. The latter is suggestive evidence that major educational reforms implemented by the Philippine government since 2012 may have successfully improved reading skills but not mathematics skills. Overall, the Philippine basic education system, building on its success in increasing access to education for virtually all children, still has ample room to significantly improve its effectiveness.

Math skills have decreased while reading skills have slightly increased. But overall there is ample room for improvement. After all, there is not much difference between the foundational skills of a 10th grader and a 4th grader. 

This paper takes into account the historical context of which Briones says is necessary to understand the Philippine education system. Over two decades the Philippines has not seen much improvement in the education system. Filipino students remain behind their peers. One has to ask why. Why, after all the programs implemented and money spent on improving the education system, do Filipinos lag behind the rest of the world? That is not a question I am going to answer but it is a problem the DepEd must solve. Otherwise the DepEd will only continue to inflict harm on Filipino children by giving them a worthless education. Too bad the government prefers to huff and puff in a vain effort to save face before the international community. Everyone can see the egg on this country's face.

The Royal Institution Singapore Is A Scam

The Royal Institution Singapore is a scam...of sorts. It's not a diploma mill but it sure looks like one. At its core RIS is really a networking organization disguised in the most outrageous and gaudy fashion imaginable as a Royal Institution. The RIS came to my attention after reading in the news that Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia had been conferred with three honorary degrees from the RIS.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1091550

Mayor Evelio Leonardia on Tuesday said he is inspired by the honorary titles conferred to him by Royal Institution (RI) of Singapore in rites held on Monday. 

“This award will be a source of inspiration for me and will be our standard by now, and we hope that we will be guided with this henceforth,” the mayor said. 

Leonardia was the top honoree among the 45 professionals, who were bestowed various titles during the Royal Institution’s 29th International Conference and Conferment Ceremony, led by founding chairman FDr. Prof. Dr. ATS Ang and chancellor FDr. Prof. Dr. Samuel Salvador in the L’ Fisher Hotel here. 

“I am so happy that I am now part of this institution,” he said. 

Leonardia was granted the title “Doctor Fellow” in recognition of his “meritorious professional experience and academic achievements,” and is hereby authorized to use the designation “FDr.” before his name. 

He also received the title “Honorary Fellow” in recognition of his “exemplary achievements, distinguished expertise, remarkable services, and contributions to society as a brilliant lawyer, outstanding legislator, illustrious public administrator, and transformational leader.” 

He was bestowed as well the title “Doctor Fellow of Royal Institute of Public Administrators” of Singapore for “having successfully fulfilled the requirements for membership” and in recognition of his “meritorious professional experiences and academic achievements” and is hereby authorized to use the designation of “DFRIPAr” after his name. 

Royal Institution is a global professional, multidisciplinary, membership and accrediting institution that serves as a premier platform for smarter and more effective and efficient international networking and collaboration. 

Previously, the Royal Institution had also honored former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Senator Richard Gordon, former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, and renowned urban planner Arch. Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr.

According to their own website the mission of the Royal Institution Singapore is

To recognise the contribution, experience, academic and professional achievements, qualifications, talents and skills of all those who deserve recognition and who want to be distinguished and to continuously provide opportunities to enhance skills, competitive advantages, academic, professional and entrepreneurial status and profiles of RI members.

And their vision is

To be a world class global multidisciplinary professional membership and accrediting institution to level the playing field by recognising people and organisations who deserve to be recognised and be the premier platform for smarter and more effective global networking, connecting education, businesses, commerce, industries and facilitating collaboration, innovation and perpetual learning for more opportunities, benefits, privileges, excellence, global recognition and status.

https://www.ri2020.com/about-us/overview

That is a lot of mumbo-jumbo. Let's cut to the chase. The RIS is not a school. They do not confer degrees. There are no classes or professors. School's out forever! Instead you join as a member and pay them to confer an honorary degree upon you depending on your background. But it's not as simple as that either. Much like Skull and Bones you have to be tapped. Except you can also tap yourself by sending in an application.  Here is the membership flowchart:

https://www.ri2020.com/individual-membership/membership-process

On the membership application you have to choose your preferred Royal Institute.  You can choose from such wildly disparate classes as Royal Institute of Event Management, Royal Institute of Appraisers, Royal Institute of Doctorates, Royal Institute of Body Care, and Royal Institute of Air Conditioning and Heating Engineers. The list is very long so surely you will find a place for yourself.

Now that you have been accepted for membership you need to pay your fee which is based on the Professional Title for which you have qualified.

https://www.ri2020.com/individual-membership/membership-fees

All the qualifications for the titles listed above can be found here. Along with the membership title you also have to choose the appropriate robe and accoutrements. Each title has a different style of robe.

https://www.ri2020.com/individual-membership/ri-robe

And that's it. Nothing to it. You pay your money. You get your robe and your title and if you want to stay a member you pay the annual fee. It's hogwash, malarky, poppycock! You are paying big bucks to wear a fancy robe, get a silly title, and network with other people. Networking is the most important thing RIS offers. Nobody cares about the frivolous titles the RIS bestows upon people. Just take a look at these clowns.

No, not those clowns. These clowns!

What is the point of what they are doing? They are not graduating from a school. They are not receiving a degree. They are parading around in colorful robes and patting themselves on the back.  Even former President Gloria Arroyo is a member of RIS.

https://www.ri2020.com/about-us/governing-council/patrons

GMA actually does have a PhD in economics which is why the economy was so robust during her term as President. Everything after the BA is an alphabet soup related solely to the RIS. HonFRI means Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institution. Honestly no one cares. Royal Institution Singapore sounds very much like The Royal Institution which is a much hallowed scientific society in Britain and has been around since 1799.  The RIS is a pay for play show and has only been around since 2003.

Another thing RIS does is have monthly international conferences. Most of these seem to be located in the Philippines.

https://www.ri2020.com/upcoming-events

It's a money making scheme. They have to have conferences to accept new member's fees and confer upon them silly titles which mean nothing in the real world. Why do Filipinos eat up this tripe like it's the greatest thing in the world? I think the Augustinian friar Gaspar de San Augustin can shed some light on the matter.

49. They are very vain, and they spend their money never more willingly than in functions of vanity; for they consider themselves highly; and wish to be esteemed without doing anything worthy of esteem. The men especially, even though they do not have anything to eat, must not for that reason fail to have a shirt and a hat, and to dress in style. They give banquets very frequently, for very slight causes; and everything resolves itself into eating, drinking, and great noise. Their vanity is the only thing that causes them to lessen their laziness, in order to get the wherewithal to keep up this esteem, and applause from their compatriots. 

http://www.philippinehistory.net/views/1720sanagustinb.htm

You would think a man who used to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines wouldn't fall for this nonsense but you'd be wrong.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/129339/honorary-titles-conferred-former-cj-davide-lawyer-go

“I have had received 14 honorary doctoral degrees, mostly doctor of laws honoris causa, but they were conferred on me months or years apart from each other during my tenure as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,” Davide said in his acceptance speech. 

“I thank the Royal Institution for placing me in the honored ranks of its many awardees,” he said. 

Davide was conferred Honorary Fellow and Doctor Fellow of RIS, and Doctor Fellow of the Royal Institute of Lawyers, Singapore. 

“This is the first time in my life that on the same occasion, I got conferred with three awards,” the 20th chief justice said.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide thanks the RIS for placing him in the honored ranks of its many awardees. Is he saying that tongue in cheek? Notice that he mentions his other honorary degrees are "honoris causa" which means they are real honest to goodness honorary degrees granted by legitimate universities. 

An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, a dissertation, and the passing of comprehensive examinations. It is also known by the Latin phrases honoris causa ("for the sake of the honour") or ad honorem ("to the honour"). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_degree

This means that RIS does not bestow honorary degrees upon anyone! They only confer titles of rank within their organization. And you must pay a fee for those meaningless and worthless titles.

President Duterte sent the RIS a congratulatory letter last year in celebration of their 15th Global Conference.

https://www.facebook.com/ri2020/photos/a.2434303239980725/2434304059980643/?type=3&theater

Manny Pacquiao, DND Sec Lorenzana, Senate President Sotto, Sen. Lacson, and a few other politicians also sent congratulatory letters. Are they all members of this group?

The Royal Institution of Singapore is pretty ridiculous. The fees, the titles, the regalia....it's all so comical.  But if you think it can't get any more insane, well hold onto your chair.

https://www.apolloquiboloy.com/news/pastor-apollo-crowned-patron-by-royal-institution-singapore/

Reverend Executive Pastor Doctor Fellow Apollo C. Quiboloy was conferred Patron status in a Special Global Convocation and Investiture Ceremony and Crowning by the Royal Institution Singapore (RI), September 3, 2019. 

RI Singapore is a prestigious international accrediting body that recognizes exemplary professional, social and civic achievements by individuals around the world. 

The special event was held at the KJC Hall, Jose Maria College Compound, in Davao City, Philippines, with the theme “Global Citizenship as a Platform for Universal Peace.”
To witness the special investiture ceremony, gracing the event was 14th President of the Republic of the Philippines, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and 4th Conferred Patron of RI Singapore, Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. 

During the event, Pastor Apollo’s 11 Honorary Doctoral Fellow titles were recognized in the fields of Education, Environment, Human Resource, Humanities International Relations, Management, Mass Communication, Philanthropy, Social Work, and one special citation as Ambassador for Peace. 

The title of Patron is the highest appointed titles that Royal Institution Singapore can confer to any person. It is awarded to individuals who possess, among others, exceptional ethical leadership skills, is at the epitome of success in their field, and thus worthy of emulation by humanity. Awardees must also be concerned with the quality of life of the masses, and must support programs for the protection and the preservation of nature and the environment, all of which Pastor Apollo checks all boxes and more. 

Anyone who takes the Royal Institution Singapore seriously is a grade A idiot.

What Good is a Filipino College Education? Part 2

In a previous look at the benefits of a Filipino college education I showed all the great jobs one can get with a diploma in the Philippines such as gas station attendant and Dunkin' Donuts delivery truck driver. Now it is time to look past those wonderful jobs. It's time to look outside the country because that sheepskin certifying you have a bona fide Filipino college education is a magic ticket out of this joint.

If you study hard and ace all the exams to earn a degree in any sort of hospitality course the door is open for you to work as a waiter in Dubai.  Serving rich Arabs in a hot desert country thousands of miles away from your family and friends, what's not to like? According to the this source the average  monthlysalary for a waiter in Dubai is approximately 1,500 AED which is equivalent to 20,700 Pesos. 

If you want to know what being a waiter in Dubai entails you can read a job description here. It sure isn't a walk in the park. But if you studied for a degree in hospitality then learning the ins-and-outs of a restaurant is not so far out of your league. Be thankful you didn't end up like Randy De Ocampo.

In his report, Dicang cited the case of one Randy de Ocampo who had requested POLO assistance about his situation. 

Ocampo complained that on June 30, 2012, he sent a copy of his passport via e-mail to a friend in Kuwait and after just three days, or on July 4, 2012, he received his commercial visa by courier under the sponsorship of Al-Wazan United Company for Trading and Contracting. On July 27, 2012, De Ocampo arrived in Kuwait on a one-month commercial visa. 

Dicang said De Ocampo did not report to his sponsor because he could not make up his mind about working with the company as a masseur under its branch Philippine Spa. 

“He said he realized that this was not the kind of employment he wanted for himself, he being a forestry graduate from the University of the Philippines. Soon, we received a report that De Ocampo’s visa had expired,” Dicang said.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/52930/filipinos-warned-against-working-in-kuwait-on-commercial-visas

What a crisis of conscience for Randy! Should he waste his degree in forestry to work at a salon in Kuwait? But it was too late as he was already in country before he decided he did not want to work as a masseur. How did he end up in the position of choosing to become a masseur in Kuwait anyway? Must be one heck of a story.

On the other hand you could get a job in the field you studied like Gulliver Banares.

Gulliver Banares, 35, took the 14th place prize and flew in the day before from Selangor, Malaysia where he works with BGMC Corp. Gulliver, who earned a Mechanical Engineering degree at Adamson, has been an OFW for six years and comes home twice a year for a maximum of 10 days each vacation. He and wife Esmeralda have two daughters, 16 and 11. It was perfect timing that Gulliver was in town for a home leave.

https://www.philstar.com/sports/2019/12/24/1979470/worth-all-hard-work

Gulliver has been an OFW for six years and only comes home to see his family 20 days each year.  That means in six years he has only seen his family 120 out of 2,190 days. It is true that a man has to do what he has to do to take care of his family but spending only 20 days a year with them is rather awful. That is hardly any time to spend with one's family. Dad is basically an absentee father. He better be careful he has not been made a cuckold.

Finally let's not forget the nurses. A nursing degree will open doors that would otherwise remain sealed shut for eternity.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1088631

"They need 30,000 nurses, hospital workers, medical workers. That's a big number," Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III in an interview Wednesday. 

He, however, clarified that the 30,000 job offers are not solely for Filipino health workers. 

"They want us Filipinos. In their order of preference, number one is the Philippines," the DOLE chief said.

30,000 foreign workers is bad for Germany but great for Filipinos who are the German's first round draft pick. This is no place to lament the fall of Germany and the rest of Europe. Why not take every advantage you can if someone is willing to give it to you? But how easy can it be to be a Filipino in Germany? Many Filipinos do not speak English as good as they claim. Nose bleeding, anyone? Navigating German accented English, not mention actually learning German, will be an extra task on top of all the regular nursing duties.

But I hear it's worth it. From what I am told most freshly graduated nurses work a year-long internship with no pay! That is slave labor. No wonder there is a shortage of nurses in the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1072188

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is planning to decrease the deployment of nurses to other countries, Secretary Silvestre Bello said on Wednesday. 

Bello said they are looking at the possibility of lessening the number of medical professionals, including nurses, being sent overseas. 

"All the while, I thought there is an oversupply of nurses. But I just learned that those graduating with nursing degrees and have passed the Board only train for two years and will go (abroad)," he added. 

Bello said the government should do something by increasing the salaries of nurses for them to stay in the country. 

"In order for them to not want to work abroad and just stay here, we should also consider increasing their salaries. And the President appears amenable to giving them that," he said.

Having been to several hospitals I can guarantee it's not only the pay that is pushing nurses to seek work abroad.  It is also the horrendously unsanitary working conditions.

If you are a college student remember just slug on through it. Don't give up. Get your sheepskin and get out of here!

What Good Is A Filipino College Education?

What good is a Filipino college education? It's plenty good. In fact without a college education you are going to be hard up finding a job in the Philippines. Lawyer, doctor, nurse, architect, teacher, you simply cannot land a job if you have not sloughed your way through a proper four year course. Don't believe me? Take a look at these Now Hiring posters. Each job requires a college education.

You want to pump gas for a living? Then you need to be college educated.

Time to make the donuts!  But only with at least 2nd year college. High school graduate can be considered but you better have a pleasing personality and look cute in that uniform.

A cashier or a salesclerk at Kmart! This would be the bootleg Kmart and not a genuine Philippine branch of this American tradition. This picture is a little old. I wonder if they ever found 12 female college graduates between 18-25 years old and at least 5ft tall to hire as cashiers and salesclerks. What do you think?

A visual merchandiser.

Time to deliver the donuts! But only if you have at least 2nd year college.

The market is obviously flooded with tourism graduates so why not put that degree to use and be a Lady Sales Assistant/Cashier at the local vet! Men need not apply.

Finally you can be a Robinson's Supermarket Associate. They have many available job opportunities. However if you just want to be a cashier you only need a 2 year associate degree instead of a 4 year course What a relief, eh? Receiver/Receiving Clerk still requires four years of study. Can't have stupid and uneducated people running the backroom.

So you see having a college education is very important in the Philippines. Everyone you see working at a job has a four or two year degree. Filipino employers demand intelligent and hardworking employees. That is why this country runs so smoothly. You really can't be employed without possessing a 4 year degree. I mean you can but then you'd be like a freelance pedicurist looking for toes to pick clean at the park. Or a washerwoman looking for laundry to scrub. Is that the kind of life you want to live? Stay in school!

The Average Pinoy IQ

There is nothing more rancorous and despicable than partisan politics. Especially so in the Philippines. Philippine social media is a wasteland of invective and vitriol where every one you disagree with is some species of "-tard." One of the most prominent and influential Tweeters in the Philippines is RJ Nieto aka ThinkingPinoy.  It should be no surprise to anyone that his blog made it to Wikipedia's list of Fake News Sites in the Philippines.

Just a Regular (average) Pinoy according to his Twitter bio.

The big news recently is Supreme Court Justice Sereno and the release of her psychiatric evaluation. This evaluation also includes her IQ score.

Tria also took note of Sereno's IQ of around 109, which she considered to be "average." 

The psychologist added that Sereno's IQ was relatively low compared to those of the other chief justice candidates. 

Tria said that an applicant with an average IQ should not really be considered for a high position "because it requires more responsibility, decision-making."

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/644871/expert-won-t-recommend-sereno-for-cj-post-for-having-grade-of-4-in-psychological-exam/story/

RJ latched onto this salacious bit of info to mock Justice Sereno.

Are ThinkingPinoy and Dr. Tria right? Is 109 an average, painfully average, IQ? 

Of course not!

https://iq-research.info/en/page/average-iq-by-country

If Sereno really does have an IQ of 109 then hers is above the average of the highest worldwide average which is 108 and it is miles above the average Filipino IQ which is 86. And if the other candidates had IQs so high that they made Sereno's 109 appear relatively low.....well it's possible but then who would ever believe there are so many geniuses clamouring to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines?

http://jbc.judiciary.gov.ph/announcements/2012/announcement_07092012.pdf

These statistics suggest that either Dr. Tria is a liar or there is a very small contingent of 21 geniuses in this country and Leila De Lima is among them! It could be very true since God gave Pinoys the brains.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/146729/duterte-us-un-eu-not-brighter-than-me-ill-shame-them

“We are a small nation. Maybe God gave you the money, but we have the brains,” he said.

If Pinoys have the brains then why do they have the lowest IQ in the ASEAN?

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/science/361729/do-pinoys-really-have-the-lowest-iqs-in-the-asean/story/

Is IQ measurement accurate? Are Pinoys really dumb as rocks? Do we need an IQ test to figure that out? If you tell Pinoys they have the lowest IQ in the ASEAN they will respond that IQ isn't scientific or it's racist or it's just arbitrary.  But then there are extradordinary deviations within the population and its all OH YEAH PINOYS ARE SO SMART!!!!

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/news/610201/pinay-with-iq-higher-than-einstein-s-rejected-from-uk-school/story/

It's best to take all these extremely deviant IQ scores of children with a grain of salt. There are deviations within every population, some above and others below the mean. But there is nothing wrong with average. Even painfully average.

"No Filipino Consciousness"

Here is a story that fulfils every stereotype about Filipinos you can think of. Many of them anyway. 

http://usa.inquirer.net/10419/first-fil-federal-judge-lorna-schofield-no-filipino-consciousness-growing

Born in Indiana, Schofield traced her roots to New Haven’s blue collar community. Her father left the family when she was 3. Her mother, Priscilla Tiangco, a pharmacist from Batangas who graduated from UP, raised her as a single parent. 

“I didn’t have much of an Asian identity,” she said. “The people of Indiana overlooked the fact that I was different…that my mother spoke with an accent.” 

Schofield conceded being raised an all-American girl. No speaking Tagalog at home, and eating potatoes while her mother ate rice. Hence, she acknowledged no real Filipino consciousness developed as she was growing up. She did not feel like a minority. 

“I have a theory,” she said on why her mother raised her the way she did. “She was in college during the war. I read her transcript, and one of her years in college was interrupted. When the Americans came, she saw them as liberators and heroes. Since then, she wanted to become American, marry an American and have American children.” Her mother died when Schofield was 20.

Here we have a second generation Filipino-American who grew up far from the culture of the Philippines. She is not even a Fil-Am. She is an American. That is where she was born and that is the land she knows.  

Her mother purposefully raised her in a way that she would have no "Filipino consciousness" because she recognised the superiority of Americans and American culture. They were heroes and liberators. As a result of this upbringing we see that Schofield is now a very successful woman. 

But here is the rest of the story.

As it was in Indiana, many in the profession were not aware she was Asian. She recalled a conversation with a colleague right after she became a partner, when she said the firm had another minority partner. The colleague asked, “Who?” That anecdote elicited soft laughter. 

When Senator Charles Schumer recommended her, and later President Obama nominated her, to the position of Article III Judge of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, Schofield reached out to the Filipino community for support. Diversity was important to the process; it was to Senator Schumer and to President Obama, she said.

She didn’t know any Filipino organizations, but the community, such as lawyers’ groups, also reached out to her and welcomed her warmly. In the past year and a half, she has become visible, speaking at clubs and marching in the June 2 Philippine Independence Day Parade on Madison Avenue. 

“After my mother died I had no contact with Filipinos,” she said, her contact limited to her mother’s sister in Manila, until she too died a few years later. 

On December 14, 2012, her historic confirmation as the first Filipino American federal judge in American history was announced. In congratulating her, the Asian American Bar Association of New York described Schofield as “a highly qualified jurist” whose life story is the “epitome of the American Dream.” 

Schofield is now discovering, perhaps for the first time, her Filipino identity. After receiving the support of Filipino organizations in the confirmation process, she pledged to try to give back to the Filipino community whenever asked, of course within the considerable ethical constraints placed on federal judges. 

This lady was fully immersed and adrift in American society and culture. Her own colleagues did not even know she was Filipino. It took Obama and Schumer to reduce her to her Filipino heritage as "diversity was important to the process" of promoting her through the federal justice system. Is that really all they saw in her? A triple threat of: woman, minority, and qualified?

She says she reached out to the Filipino community for support after she was nominated but after her mother died she had no contact with Filipinos and so she knew no Filipino organisations. However the Filipino community found out about her and reached out to her. The Asian American Bar Association of New York congratulated Schofield, a woman who says she never had much of an Asian identity, for being a great Asian American who epitomises the American Dream.

In the last paragraph we read the most interesting piece of all. 

she pledged to try to give back to the Filipino community whenever asked, of course within the considerable ethical constraints placed on federal judges. 

What has happened here is the Filipino community has latched onto this woman like barnacles on a whale and are likely attempting to culturally blackmail and shame her into give theming legal assistance. And her response is she will give back so long as it is within the bounds of the ethical constrains on her position!

If this lady had been born and raised in the Philippines, been baptised in Filipino culture, she would have tasted and eaten the corrupt fruits of Philippine politics and would be as corrupt and unethical as anyone else. It would be second nature to her because that is the legal and political culture in this country.

What this story showcases and confirms is that it is Filipino culture which is the problem and not Filipinos themselves. With Filipino blood coursing through her veins this lady grew up unaware of and not indulging in that identity and not even caring about it. It also shows us the nasty side of identity politics and hyphenated Americans. Why should she try to help them simply because of her genetics?

She is an American. She belongs to America. But the Asians and the Filipinos want to bask in her glory even though they had no part in her making. There is nothing for her to give back because she never took anything from the Filipino community or Philippine culture except for her genetics. 

Yet the headline blares that she is a "Fil-Am" when she is no such thing at all. It's Fake news!

Celebrating Failure

Who has not heard of the "Tiger Mom?"  The mother who hovers over her children and beats them real good if they step out of line.  She makes sure they practice piano 3 hours a day, homework for 4 hours, and woe betide any child who would make a fuss. And heaven forbid their child receive anything less than straight A's or the number one position in any competition.

Apparently, and despite its proximity to China, this trend has not caught on in the Philippines. There are no "Tiger Moms" here.  But there are parents who will bribe officials so their children get ahead. And their are teachers who accept bribes in order to give passing grades. Anecdotally anyway.  I have heard many such stories though I have never experienced the education system in the Philippines.

What is the result of the absence of "Tiger Moms" to push their children to scholastic heights?  It is a celebration of failure.

In what rational society would anyone celebrate 9th place!!  To God be the Glory I got 9th place!  What a way to blame shift. This guy is 100% responsible for coming in 9th place. And there is nothing glorious about it. Don't blame it on God.

Nor is there anything wonderful or glorious about 6th or 7th place.  Nobody even cares about who made 2nd or 3rd.  We all know who Michael Phelps is but who is the 2nd greatest swimmer of all time?  See?  No one cares.

And no one cares about this student making 9th place in a photo competition.  Will employers consider this guy as a win?  Who wants to hire Mr. 9th Place?  His photos probably suck. They certainly weren't good enough to get past 9th place.

Now take a closer look at the categories in the first picture and the third picture.  The first category is Filipino Photojournalism and the second is English Photojournalism.  What is the difference?  Photojournalism is just that, photos!  There is no such thing as English, Filipino, Chinese, or Slovenian Photojournalism because pictures do not speak with words. These categories are meaningless. Go ahead and Google "Filipino Photojournalism" and "English Photojournalism." There is nothing. (I'm not even going to delve into discovering what "Filipino Science-Technology Writing" is though I would guess it's just writing about science and technology in Tagalog.)

So not only is this a celebration of failure it is a celebration of meaninglessness. And such is the educational system of the Philippines which as I understand works this way:

1. Finish primary and secondary school
2. Get worthless college degree in tourism
3. Become OFW and support your whole extended family

This horrible system in the Philippines where failure is celebrated and where education is most decidedly not is one of the many problems facing the Philippines and it is another fundamental issue that the Duterte administration has failed to address.  Duterte has boasted that he wants to bring the Philippines up to a midlevel economy by 2022.  It won't happen with uneducated people who do not strive for excellence but instead celebrate failure.