March 2008

February 2008

"With education being our sector, kailangang sinusuri natin ang mga issues sa edukasyon," Alvin Peters, national president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines, urged the audience in a student-initiated forum last January 24.

The forum, which was held at the College of Mass Communication auditorium, was an Alternative Classroom Learning Experience organized by the League of Filipino Students-CMC and the Union of Journalists in the Philippines-UP with Peters and Student Regent James Mark Terry Ridon as speakers.

Entitled "UP for Grabs", discussed in the ACLE were the state of the Philippine educational system and more specifically, the state of UP education.

Peters first discussed the history of Philipine education, starting with the pre-Spanish era. According to him education was a collective responsibility of the community. He also added that back then, education was based on the experiences of the community and was oriented towards its needs.

He then went on to the education in the Spanish period and described it as elitist because it was only the illustrados, those with money, who were able to study. Then he discussed the use of education by the Americans and the Japanese as a conditioning tool for us Filipinos to readily accept their colonial rule.