2. The “By 2015“the 10 ASEAN
Philippines countries will open their
borders, and by 2020, the All other
has the Philippines will join the countries in
shortest APEC Trade Regime. the world have
education Before these two events
happen, we have to 15 or 16 years
cycle in the prepare our graduates to of education
world (only 10 be globally competitive. from Grade 1
years of public There are no other to
basic education alternatives but to align
and usually only our degree programs with undergraduate
4 years of those of other graduation.
undergraduate countries.”, says
education, for a Emmanuel Y.
total of 14). Angeles, who now chairs
the CHED

3. Two models of
General Education Curriculum (GEC)
for students
majoring in the for everyone else
humanities, socia
l sciences, and
communication
has 63 units has 51 units

4. A typical undergraduate degree needs at least
60 units in addition to the GEC units, for a
total of about 120 units, just like Harvard and
NUS.
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF
SINGAPORE
• 4 and more years in college
• Spend 3 years in college
• 4 units per subject or module • 3 units per subject or module
• still teach such subjects as
• most, if not all of our GEC
Algebra, Statistics, Basic Economics, General
subjects are taken in high
Psychology, Politics and Governance, Society and
school in other
Culture, Arts Appreciation, Introduction to
countries, including
Philosophy, and Anthropology, not to mention
Singapore
English, Filipino, and all sorts of legislated
content (Taxation, Agrarian Reform, Family
Planning, Population Education, Rizal, Philippine
History, Philippine Constitution).

6. Two Lessons
According to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
First, General Education
courses (if they are at all
needed in college) should be
issue or competency-based,
not discipline-based;
Second, college
years should be
lessened not
increased.

7. Some people have suggested
that, in order to approximate
the British model, we should
have only 3 and not 4 years of
college. This means that we
have to follow the Singapore
model and give 4 units per
subject, lessening the number
of subjects students take.

8. We cannot just extend 4-year college into 5-year college or compress
4-year college into 3-year college, without doing many other things
first. Fortunately, we have a Philippine best practice to guide us in this
matter of length versus content.
The expected learning competencies per subject, and therefore the
entire curriculum, had to be revised
It is, therefore, not just a matter of saying that there should be a
Grade 7 or a Fifth or Sixth Year High School or a Pre-University Year
in college. Just as important as the decision on when to add the
missing year or years is the decision on how to change the entire
curriculum to make it rational and effective.

9. In the Philippines, we follow, though not
strictly, the American model. We should
know, therefore, the American justification for
general education. The worst thing we can do
is to have general education just because the
Americans have it
What we have in the
Philippines, then, is a mongrel:
students choose their majors when
they apply for admission to college
(the British model), but we still have
general education in college (the
American model).

10. Key to the issue of General
Education
The first two years of
college, if we are
going to have them
at all, should not
have any required
subjects, should not
have any skills
courses, and should
not include any
major courses.

11. We cannot add the missing year to High School
REASONS:

12. Where to add the extra year?
• The first thing to do is to revamp the
General Education Curriculum (GEC).
• The second thing to understand that the
extra year should focus on subjects that will
prepare the student for college work

13. The PTFE has many more
recommendations, including necessary
legislation (such as giving CHED more
teeth). It will be impossible for the present
government, with only a year to go, to
implement all of them, but there is nothing
to prevent it from starting to implement at
least a couple of them before we elect a
new President and have new heads of
DepEd, CHED, and TESDA.