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Bum Aquino Needs To Stop Over-Emphasizing Filipino Literature

This is VERY SAD indeed that lousy systems create lousy people out of promising people. I remembered writing how such a person was Bam Aquino who ended up turning into Bum Aquino under a presidential system. Would have Bam been under a parliamentary system -- he may have never had to throw his brilliant mind out of the window to survive the popularity-driven system. Now, he's really getting stuck on one thing -- bringing back Philippine literature subjects in College!

Here's what the Manila Bulletin has to say about Bum's current well bummer statement:

Aquino recalled that it was in his college years that he became more aware of the country’s needs and emphasized that Filipino literature can help deepen the youth’s love and appreciation for the struggles, revolutions, and victories of fellow Filipinos.

“Sa kolehiyo lumalim ang pagmamahal ko sa bayan. Kaya mahalaga na hanggang tertiary level, tuloy-tuloy ang pag-aaral at pagpapalalim sa ating pagiging Pilipino, at malaking bahagi dito ang literature. (It was during college when I got to deepen my love for the country. That’s why its important that we continue studying and deepening our knowledge of being a Filipino in the tertiary level and a big part of it was due to literature),” Aquino said.

The opposition senator was reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision to exclude Panitikan and Filipino as core subjects in college, a matter which did not sit well with the re-electionist senator.

According to Aquino, it is high time the authorities in the education sector strengthen the Filipino identity and appreciation of the national language.

He said they can start by teaching and reintroducing to students all renowned and significant Filipino literary writers, both past and present.

“Kilalanin at ipagmalaki natin ang mga kababayan nating makata’t manunulat na maaaring maging inspirasyon sa ating mga estudyante sa kolehiyo. (Let us recognize and be proud of our fellowmen who are poets and writers who can provide inspiration to our students in college),” said Aquino, vice chair of the Senate committee on education, arts and culture.

Well, didn't we keep studying all those subjects back in elementary and high school? Also, Bum needs to realize this one -- the new Filipino education system is now K+12. It's not the same setting anymore where most incoming college students are 17 years old. The K+12 system would probably have people enter at 18 or 19 years old assuming that they haven't been held back.

So what's the problem with his proposal? It's amazing how he went from proposing the leftovers law and now overemphasizing Filipino culture subjects. I have to really raise some of my objections. There's already middle school and high school to learn more about Filipino culture subjects so why are we still overemphasizing them? College should be a time to focus on one's career and learn more subjects you haven't learned yet such as political science, sociology, psychology, economics and statistics. Considering now that there's three years middle school and three years high school -- he should really reconsider that these subjects could be taught in those years while trying to make college years focus on career development.


I can't really understand what really happened to this guy. Looking back at this video makes me wonder what he did to himself. He could have thought of actually starting to address problems such as financial and economic illiteracy. Back then, he was a very active guy in encouraging others to invest and do business. Now, he's just stuck with nonsense. He should be returning back to whatever business programs he did rather than focus on unimportant stuff such as Filipino literature subjects considering that K+12 is already operational. 

Why not focus on how to develop college competency plans huh Bum? 

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