THE MOVE to expand our basic education to 12 years from the present 10 is not about quantity versus quality. It is about quality, period; or, more accurately, it is about the low quality of our education system. Philippine education is plagued by two major ills—the high attrition rate of our students and their low achievement rates. Simply put, too many of students leave school early, around a third before graduating elementary school, the largest chunk dropping out before Grade 4. (http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100828-289168/12-year-basic-education-a-quality-imperative)
For me, the 12-year education is a plus year to all the students and parents. That means, plus year=plus expenses. If you were to think about it, there are children who don’t have the chance to go to school because of the lack of jobs for the adults/parents in our country. If we were to add another year to our studies, some may not be able to graduate because of financial problems. Not only that. Nowadays, students in our generation, honestly speaking, are showing fast or progressive maturity. We want to end something that we are not, sometimes, interested in because we are too lazy or something like that… This is proved by the statement, “Simply put, too many of students leave school early, around a third before graduating elementary school, the largest chunk dropping out before Grade 4.“ So, adding another year may affect the thinking of some that education is just a waste of time, money, and effort. Yes it could improve the quality of education. But there are thousand more ways on how to improve it. Sometimes, it is the teacher who needs to improve more on their performances and skills:) Besides, what the teacher teaches is the ONLY thing we learn. No more, no less. But somehow, it is true that no matter how good the teacher is, if he/she can’t handle a big or crowded class he/she would not be able to teach properly. This proves that another factor of poor education is the teaching facilities needed. This leads to expansion of classrooms, additional books and more trained teachers. This project may not affect everyone, but it would surely affect someone. Think about it. Ü
