KAT's Darkroom!!! |
KAT's Darkroom!!! |
| I HOME I | I ABOUT ME I | I ARTICLES I | I SITE MAP I | I GUESTBOOK I | I PHOTO GALLERY I | I LINKS I |
In an interview with the University Student Council Chair, Nova Navo, she said that the RGEP is basically a change of the current General Education Program. From structured courses to semi-structured ones. This means that a student will have the freedom to choose which particular courses he would take provided that those courses would make up 15 units of Arts and Humanitites, 15 units of Social Sciences, and 15 units of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Opposition to the RGEP though, is questioning this. They argue that although the RGEP shall require students to take 6 units of Philippine Studies from any of the clusters in the 45 units of the proposed RGEP, this does not actually require History, Filipino or Philippine Literature. The UP General Education Movement (UP GEM) calls this a situation of "false equivalencies", where one subject like Kasaysayan 1 will be matched against other General Education (GE) courses that the RGEP will offer. In effect, the "tatak UP" is threatened by RGEP because it fails to promote a nationalism that upholds the interests of the marginalized sectors of society. "Tatak UP" is what, in many aspects, the UP students, and even faculty, are famous for. In the case where the RGEP is involved, "tatak UP" refers to the Current General Education Program of the academe, which is specifically designed make every student a well-rounded person, as it equips him with the basic knowledge of the hard sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. Having a background in all these areas of learning, the Iskolar ng Bayan is given the basics of looking at things, forming opinions and actions from different perspectives. The present GE program also places priority on the use of Filipino as a medium of teaching. On the other hand, RGEP does not give a guarantee of that it would sustain the use of Filipino in the classroom. It is a must in the current UP curriculum to inculcate nationalism, among other values to the students. Navo said that with the impairment of the "Tatak UP' from the RGEP, the value of nationalism becomes optional. Aside from these basic arguments against RGEP, Navo mentioned three other concerns that the RGEP, as far as its information campaign and consultation have gone, fails to address even up to now. The first concern regards the security of tenure of the UP faculty, particularly, the lecturers. Navo says that with the additional courses that will be offered in the RGEP, the probability of of equal distribution of students in all courses is reduced. It may be possible that one subject will only have two or three enrolled students, and under the univeristy policy, course with less than six enrollees will be dissolved. This could risk a teacher's income, even worse, their employment. Together with the RGEP, a Summer Bridge Program (SBP) will also be implemented. Under the SBP, UP College Admissions Test (UPCAT) qualifiers whoscore low in Math and English are required to attend the summer remedial classes for them to reach a certain proficiency level in the areas of learning concerned. The goal of this program, according to UP President Francisco Nemenzo, is to make low grades passers cope with UP's education standards. Altough the goal is very ideal, Navo says that even if the summer remedial classes will be administered for free, it will still burden the UPCAT passers financially., considering their transportation and borad and lodging expenses throughout the entire program. Attending the SBP aill also be problematic for UPCAAT passers who come from remote provinces in the country. Another concern that the RGEP fails to address id the question of where to get the funds for implementing the program. Critiques of the RGEP see the possibility of of private corporations coming in to fund additional RGEP courses. This could possibly pave the way for commercialized and market-driven GE courses, and maybe eveen the interventions of these private corporations on the university's curriculum, which directly collides with the academic freedom that UP is known for. |