To quote the Phil. Daily Inquirer on their report,
"The GDP grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter, the strongest growth rate in 17 years. Officials attributed to growth to increased household consumption, export earnings, and a bullish services sector, among other factors. They also cited the strengthened peso, the slowdown in inflation, and low interest rates."
** End of quote. Lifted from http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=70362. As published on their website, dated June 9, 2007, "Net foreign direct investment up 18.5% ".
It pays to look beyond the macro perspective and to dig deeper into the news. This is not to belittle what has been done to the Philippine economy. I just wish the policy makers of our country, would just forget politics and put more effort instead to further accelerating economic growth and distributing the gains down to the poor.
I say this because I ask myself, "Why is it that amongst all these good news, some Filipinos still think that times are getting tougher? ".
This isn't something we read or see from the news. This is something the pedicab driver, the taxi driver, and the jeepney driver says year on year. Folks, if there's any growth at all, it's the growth of the poor's misery.
And it doesn't stop there. You have to look even deeper to understand what is fundamentally wrong with a majority of our society today. When one talks about a country's economy, we always look for the GDP, GNP data. Maybe it's about time we concentrated on something more important like - a Discipline and Education tracking index, as well as a poverty reduction index?
When an economy grows, I think discipline and education has to grow in tandem with it.
I live in Manila. I've lived here since I was born into this world. I've seen how a district of our nation's capital has evolved, or actually, devolved. To give you a good perspective of what I'm talking about - try traveling along CM Recto Avenue in Manila from Legarda down to Divisoria. Use the public transport, then tell me if you feel the economic growth.
After every major intersection, you will notice that the traffic goes from worse to worst as you reach CM Recto corner J. Abad Santos. This, is what I think is fundamentally wrong with our country, not just today, but as the years have gone by. It is the utter lack of discipline.
It is so basic -
Stop on a red light. No jay walking. No counter flows. No illegal loading or unloading. No traffic enforcers. Better yet, no corrupt traffic enforcers.
Yet these are so easily, and blatantly, violated. Whenever I pass by that area, I just shake my head. What will we do with an economic growth if discipline and education is deteriorating. This isn't something that happens along this busy avenue known as CM Recto, but it is something so commonplace we probably think breaking the law IS the law.
Reader, I ask of you, do you drive? Do you get irritated when you suddenly have to step on the brakes because somebody was jaywalking on a major road? There are so many facets to this problem to proffer just one solution. But I think one thing that can help discipline people is through education. Not just education Mr Juan Dela Cruz, but quality education.
I watched an episode of CNBC just this Thursday interviewing a Puerto Rican congressman talking about them being a knowledge based economy, drafting engineers and scientists every year. I was quite surprised to hear about it.They were then able to attract bio-tech companies, big names at that (Abbott, Amgen) to locate in their country. And I just got depressed thinking of what we are doing in our own country. But I am digressing.
It's something we as a country has to seriously invest in. The cost is high, but the returns are higher, and longer yielding. Our democracy touts free education, but I seriously wonder, if our jeepney drivers, our pedicab drivers, can't follow simple laws, what is being taught in the classroom? I must point out too, it is not just the public utility vehicle drivers that are out of sync with common law. Even educated people, violate them. Don't you ever wonder why university belt students also jaywalk? (Maybe it's the lack of pedestrian lanes or sky pedestrian bridges, but that's another topic already).
There're snippets of our already deteriorating education. I've read a number of times that some BPO / call centers were having difficulty hiring due to the quality of applicants. I've also read that we have fewer engineers now vs the last decade. Shouldn't we be troubled that during the last poll of universities in Asia, only three local universities made it to the 'best schools in Asia" list?
So what's in it for you? I don't have a master plan to overhaul the education system of the Philippines. I'll leave that to the experts. But what I want you to do, as an average Juan Dela Cruz, is to invest in your own education. If you have a chosen field, don't stop by just acquiring knowledge at the workplace. Attend seminars. Meet people. Learn something new. Take up short courses in aspects that you think you are weak. If you are able to do that, you can position yourself ahead of the pack. Continuous learning is something that will benefit you in your work as well as in your personal life. Learning should never stop.
In the end, our country seriously needs to build a strong educational system, this way we don't have to worry about exporting our labor because those who choose to stay in the country have the competence and skill to carry out their duties. And moreover, why would foreigners invest here if they have no one to hire?
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