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Thursday, February 13, 2003
Ng: More schooling to help Pinoys in knowledge economy
By Wilson Ng
WIRED DESKTOP
TODAY’S WORLD. For this article, I would like to take a break from my usual computer talk and go to something I believe is fundamentally important. We are now in the knowledge economy. While a lot of lip service has gone to making sure that we have enough quality IT graduates to take advantage of the information revolution, this is by no means the only requisite.
We have to be at the forefront and move forward in most sciences and disciplines as well, as a knowledge economy fuels itself by the expertise of the masses not only in computers, but also in all aspects of engineering, accounting, management, mathematics, economics, languages, and almost all other disciplines and sciences.
Other than the scores of comparable tests which show concern about the quality of our high school and college graduates, we should be concerned about another fact—compared to other Southeast Asian countries, the percentage of people going on to get master’s or doctorate degrees in the Philippines is low.
According to data from the National Science Foundation and quoted by Businessweek, for the year 1999, China graduated 322,000 BAs (bachelor of arts students) and 41,000 MAs and PhDs. India graduates 251,000 BAs, and 63,000 MAs (about 25 percent). Figures from the United States point to 220,000 and 77,000 (about 35 percent). For the Philippines, it was 66,000 BAs, while only 937 MAs and PhDs (less than two percent).
An astonishingly high percentage of people with such degrees are also working in the schools where it is a requisite. The essential question to ask is whether industry appreciates whether such advanced studies really enable a person to gain a competitive edge, or whether the person or his employer is only giving token recognition to getting it because it is required, and not really for any perceptible skills advancement it can give.
I have been looking at employment ads for the last 15 years, and it is still rare (other than for school hires) for a person to be required to have a master’s degree. Why? Is it because it does not help, or it is so hard to find someone who has one?
THINGS TO FIX. There are probably a number of things we need to fix. First, government should increasingly focus on providing quality postgraduate opportunities. I know they have their hands full just trying to push the standards of preparatory school and college, but postgraduate work should not be neglected.
In the case of postgraduate studies, quality should come first, but that will only come when there is also the proper appreciation and quantity. After all, many schools have less than a dozen or so enrolled in such advanced courses, and there is really no way you can invest to have a quality course with so few students, which in turn generates only so few trainers to train the next generation of students.
Second, we need to appeal to the parents. Filipino parents have been noteworthy in their ability to sacrifice whatever they can to give their children the best education they can get. But maybe now, getting a college degree should be only the first step. If they can afford it, maybe they should push also for a master’s degree.
After all, some smart politicians years ago decided to chop off two years so we could graduate from high school in four years instead of six, which is common in most other countries. So our college graduates, while brandishing bachelor’s degrees, are really just equivalent to vocational degree graduates from other countries in years of schooling.
The purpose is laudable, since it means that it chops off two years from the parents’ burden, and the student can be working and earning two years early, but I believe this went a long way to lessening the competitiveness and skills of our workers, especially in this globalization age. An additional two years of master’s learning really just puts you on enough footing in terms of the number of years of education of the other countries’ bachelor’s degree graduates.
REALITY BITES. Maybe we can continue to be inspired by stories of the poor boy who could not finish school, but through dint of hard work went on to become successful and became a tycoon. But increasingly these kinds of stories, while inspiring, are going to become less in number, as the requisites of success turn from hard work and entrepreneurial guts to real expertise garnered by advanced studies and analysis.
This kind of recognition has encouraged Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and other countries to increasingly try to lure universities in United States to set up campuses in their countries even by offering grants or free land, so they will be ahead in the development game.
But the Philippines continues to cling to the nationalistic thinking that it is the business and privilege of Filipinos to educate or mis-educate the Filipinos. I think the privilege of getting the best possible education in their home country should be the right that every Filipino should strive for.
E-LEARNING. One of the equalizers to solve this issue is not only the proper appreciation of its importance, but also e-learning. I believe one of the most important things the Internet can do is lessen the divide between those who know and those who know not. In subsequent articles, I will share my experiences about trying to get an MBA degree through broadband Internet as well as other e-learning notes.
(Wilson welcomes comments at Wilson@esprint.com.)
(February 13, 2003 issue)
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