The Strength Within

Stick with me if you can. This one's a ride. Ideas grow where you plant them and propagate in an organized random way.

Doing this blogging bit is a little like stuffing a plant into the fine red Philippine soil. You plant one idea and before you know it, you've got another plant poking up over there. And one over here, too.

Things propagate easily here, whether they be babies or banana trees. I once asked my agriculturally endowed sister what the definition of a "weed" is.

She said "a rose in the cornfield is a weed".

Well, we have weeds and we have roses here, and they all grow like gangbusters. I had to take out all the ferns because the spores were flying through the air like so many invisible locusts attacking the Kansas cornfields, producing hives on my wife and incessant coughing from me and junior.

I've come to the conclusion recently that Filipinos are not very introspective in a proactive way. They are introspective in a negative way.

It's that matter of face again, or thin skin. And cultural values shaped by those political Catholics in their doctrinal house of cards who would suggest psychiatry is a sin. Just turn to Jesus. Or Mary. Or God.

Anywhere but knowledge.

I like President Aquino because he is an inward guy. Reflective. Thoughtful. He allows humility to rise up in a genuine way, rather than arrogance. His arrogance is actually determination, an insistence on staying the course, no matter the criticisms that surround him.

And boy do Filipinos do criticisms well. It is all a part of the interpersonal win/lose battles taking place in any interpersonal interaction.  People here do naturally what shrinks try desperately to get people to stop doing.

Judging themselves based on how others respond.

"No no no Jose", says the shrink.  "Others respond differently because they walk in their own environmental and emotional bubbles. They are not in your bubble. They have reasons for reacting as they do. Legitimate reasons. Respect them and their bubbles. Popping them just gets messy."

But here, there seems to be a need to pop bubbles, to dominate. To win the argument. To cut down the opponent. To triumph. To demand that he walk in the same bubble.

Which of course is fruitless and fills the nation with acrimony and envy and bullets.

That's why President Aquino is an exception. He can walk away from a needless argument. He walks more like Jesus than the political priests of the CBCP for sure.

I'm guessing the Philippines is the orphan kid who was whacked upside the head too many times from his overbearing colonial parent. Filipinos took to heart the shouting and insults and demands and started figuring they don't measure up.

So, like the 8th kid among 12, one tends to over-reach to try prove one is worth something.

I'm thinking that President Aquino is injecting a healthy dose of self-esteem among Filipinos and THAT more than jailing President Arroyo will be his lasting legacy.

I praised President Aquino in a Rappler discussion thread and another commenter called me a "yellow general".

So there you go. Give the Filipino a choice of building his nation or tearing it down, way too many will choose tearing it down. Because then THEY can feel good that they won the argument by demolishing someone. 

Just like that colonial papa did to them and their self-esteem.

Living the cycle. Just like in a family.

Brutality begets brutality. Kindness begets kindness. Ignorance begets ignorance.

Except for those few who find a way out.

I rather think those who find a way out do naturally, without psychiatric intervention, that which is healthy.

They grant others the right to be themselves. They accept responsibility for their own choices. They recognize the value of knowledge and the fruitlessness of superstition. They see the importance of trust and the damage of betrayal. They know the community is important: the family, the neighborhood, the city, the province, the nation, the earth. The community is the platform for safety and health and convenience, if it is done right. From looking at the importance of community, they learn to give of themselves to others.

No where in that paragraph is there a need to prove oneself a winner, or to tear someone else down to avoid being a loser.

The look within can occur without thought, I  think.

Rather like prayer. I believe you can get right with God in a wordless burst of emotive energy.

Those who do think about it can certainly help this healthy progression.

That's the press and the bloggers and the politicians and the leaders. You notice I distinguish between a politician and a leader. Their drivers differ.

All that these opinion makers need to do is come to the honest, unspoken, soul-felt realization that the Philippines is rich with resources and potential and is a place to cherish, not condemn. It will recast their whole approach to information and leadership.

Enough digging and throwing of dirt. Up with planting and building and respecting others. Enough of the winning and losing, as if life were games rather than serious business. Up with laughter and humility and honor and the values that lift, rather than crush.

Philippine resources are the people of good will and honorable intent, intelligent people with love and generosity in their hearts, land that grows green and abundant,  seas that reflect eternity and everlasting hope in the endless patterns and poundings.

I tell, you folks, if you would just look within, yourself, privately, and forget what everyone else is shouting, you'll find a very simple truth.

It's good to be Filipino.

Face and Power as Currency in the Philippines

You don’t find much psychotherapy in the Philippines. Seeing a shrink is an admission of emotional weakness, a no-no in a society that prizes power. After all, that's what shame is, isn't it? The opposite of power? The undermining of esteem. So if we view "face" as a self-defense mechanism against shame, we are basically looking at opposite ends of the power spectrum, where power is ego-gratification.

POWER

• Power = ego gratification

• Face = protection against shame

• Shame = the failure of power

The same closet-minded attitude about psychotherapy existed in the U.S. in the 1950’s. But Americans, with television in front of them, began to see others openly talking about therapy and how they learned from it and grew stronger. And so, like the science of computers, the science of self-awareness spread wide and deep across the nation. Many Americans today want to understand why they behave as they do , "What makes me lose emotional control? Why am I depressed when I have so much? How can I gain confidence?"

Counseling is looked at, not as a weakness, but as a sign of sincerity and, indeed, the courage to understand, and perhaps even change, one's emotional behavior.

  

PESO

What do psychotherapists or full-bore psychiatrists typically try to do? They try to bridge between our emotional selves and our rational selves. The objective is to teach people to live happier, less stressful, more constructive lives, where dysfunctional behavior takes the form of excessive or inappropriate anger or fear or anxiety or sadness (depression).

I'm not qualified to offer advice that can be taken as anything but speculation and opinion. However, you may be able to use your own observations to confirm the merit of what I express here.

The Preservation of Face

How are Filipinos different from most Americans? For one thing, Filipinos seem to operate on a very different interpersonal framework. The Filipino framework is characterized by preservation of “face”, where face is the positive side of self esteem or high regard for oneself. The negative side is loss of face. Or shame.

But the character of face in the Philippines seems more self-involved than that found in, say, Japan. In Japan, face is an explicit value that incorporates taking care of others as a primary value. In the Philippines, face is an explicit value that is focused mainly on taking care of oneself.

The Japanese excel in courtesy; they are meticulously polite on the outside. Inside may be a different dialogue entirely; it may or may not correspond with the politeness shown to others.

Filipinos do not appear to be so duplicitous. Indeed, I would guess that most outsiders find Filipinos to be excessively pointed and even rude. Maybe this is more honest than the Japanese inter-personal behavior. But it is not wholly good. Filipinos prize power. Courtesy is read by many to be a weakness. Soft. Non-macho. Something to be taken advantage of. And so emerge two of the most common outsider complaints about Filipinos:  (1) rude, and (2) not trustworthy.

So it would seem that courtesy and the concern about others, even the well-being of community, do not drive personal interactions in the Philippines. Self-enhancement and power do. That's why laws are routinely ignored and little is done to improve sanitation.

What's in it for me?

If the concept of face between Japan and the Philippines is very different, Americans are even more unusual for having a very subdued sense of face. Indeed, the American arrogance that Filipinos and citizens of other countries complain about is a function of behavior without shame. Even if Americans are shown to be wrong, they don't exhibit shame. Therefore they project arrogance to those who are shame-based.

Americans operate on the principle that objectivity, acceptance of responsibility, and confidence are important. Saving or building face is not an explicit value for most Americans.  Indeed, the healthy view taught by psychotherapists is that we ought to accept responsibility for our acts rather than find excuses or blame others for problems. And we need not try too hard to impress others, for that reflects a neediness for their approval that is not healthy. That is why so many educated Americans actively manage their emotional well-being with rational introspection, rather than hang their self-worth on face that can be given or taken away by others.

Power as Currency

How else is the Philippines different? Here's one way. Whereas the Americans social fabric seems to support the accumulation of  "things" (homes, cars, electronics, furniture, clothing), the Philippine social fabric seems to support the accumulation of power.

The Philippines is comparatively poor. Most people can't spend lavishly to acquire things. But everyone can acquire something different that costs little money. They can acquire interpersonal power. And it seems to me that Filipinos seek to acquire and project power in everything they do. Indeed, as I've written elsewhere, just about all interpersonal interactions in the Philippines are binary, 1 or 0, powerful or powerless. Win or lose. Dominant or submissive.

The exercise of power is what pushes the "trade of favors" that generates small scale corruption (an LTO officer taking payment for expediting an application) to large scale corruption (kickbacks on multi-million peso construction projects). The more power a person accumulates, the more favors he can grant and receive. And the richer he becomes. Thus, power, as the means of acquiring wealth, is actually more important as a currency than the pesos themselves.

I suspect the power-dealing is not a conscious thing most of the time. It is built into the personality, the morality, the culture, of the Philippines. Filipinos are intuitive readers of power, their own and whomever they are facing.

The outsider does not grasp this right away. Indeed, outsiders  may come to the conclusion that Filipinos are rude. But they aren’t, from within the bubble of Philippine society. Filipinos are just going about their business claiming and conceding to power as the situation requires.

  

What are some instances?

One of the rules of acquiring power is to get there first. This applies to the intersection or the ATM or the line at the supermarket. Only one person has power, the one in front, and he is not afraid to use it.  He need not hurry. He need not care about the powerless behind him. He rules.

Another way to acquire power is to get a gun. There is a reason murder is a common occurrence in the Philippines during elections or business disputes or marital disputes or to get rid of an irritating journalist.

You have power if you are a bank manager or a doctor or a government office worker who has what common people need. Therefore, you need not be polite. You need not set appointments or even be particularly good at what you do. You have the power, and that is what counts.

Morality is not what counts; right and wrong are largely irrelevant and courtesy is largely irrelevant. The power is what counts. And sometimes it is wrapped up in that strong defense of face mentioned above.

Power. It is more intoxicating than drugs or alcohol.

Power is as sublime as a backbiting neighbor's catty gossip. "Oh, the wife of the American is a prostitute."

Such remarks have the wonderful ability to cut two slices at once, raising the esteem of the person making the remark and cutting down the person who is the object of the remark. It is power and it is everywhere in the Philippines, sly little digs and criticisms.

"Why did you build your house so big?"

"Why did you build your house so small?"

No matter that it is the same house. Because the question is not really about the house at all, it is about raising the power of the person asking it to the level of higher critic.

It is a small thing, really. Except it is everywhere, in every conversation, a fine patina that overlays Philippine interpersonal dynamics like butter over popcorn. This overlay is the need to project a higher mind, to win, and to avoid the shame of losing.

That's why in blog debates between commenters, you seldom see flexibility or concession. It signifies weakness. Disagreements are two bricks whacking at one another. Solution is not the goal. Preservation of face, and power, are the goals.

Implications

The "so what" factor is that the healthiest society is one that deals forthrightly rather than wages power battles sublimely or under the cover of protected face. Power battles create winners and losers. Forthright dealings create only winners.

Filipinos are actually aware of the SYMPTOMS of their power-mongering. They recognize this in the behavior of supposedly educated Senator Sotto justifying his plagiarisms, or in the rice worker blaming others for his crop failure. Face it, the Philippines is at its most dysfunctional self when problem solving and good acts are set aside in favor of blames and excuses and playing the victim.

Most Filipinos are not able to accept mistakes as a normal part of the risks of being human. Face rules. Power as currency reigns supreme. Filipinos deny the value of "trial and error" as scientific method in daily life. They instead waste energy defending, covering, ducking, running, attacking, undermining, dodging and digging at others.

I tend to see the internet, blogging and social networks as being, for the Philippines, much as television was to America. A medium for enlightenment. I read both very healthy and very unhealthy arguments in the comments that people make online. And I sense that most intelligent Filipinos are grasping this notion that forthright is best.

It is a natural progression that healthy should win out, for it is best for the survival of the community, and the species.

We would do more to ensure survival and vibrancy of the Philippines if we did what we can do to accelerate this enlightenment.

Like put it into the schools, you dig?

"My Mind is a Blob"

When I was teaching high school for one frightful term, education was moving to a "New Math" which involved set theory; unions and intersections and ways of looking at mathematical truths. I never quite got the hang of it, beyond drawing circles, nor did anyone else, for the schools quickly tap-danced away from that teaching trend as too theoretical. And I tap danced away from the blackboard and into army green.

But the set concept has good application as we try to understand one another and the East/West cultures that sometimes collide. I don't think "collision" was a New Math term . . . but it seems to fit for East/West cultural overlap. The union of our cultures - the place where values are the same -sometimes seems small. The place where they collide seems huge.

All of us, both East and West, are alike in one way. We are limited in our ability to understand that which we have never experienced. That is, we both pack our ignorance. Usually, we simply don't have enough good information. We only see what we see, which is sometimes shaded by seeing only what we WANT to see. Or what others TELL us to see.

"Uh, Joe. You're getting kinda thick here. Watchu drivin' at?"

Grossly generalized opinion: Americans are more adept at accepting their own ignorance. Filipinos deny theirs. Americans learn, adjust, grow. Filipinos resist change. (Exceptions abound.)

I think most of the writers at Get Real Post (GRP) believe in what they write, about the limitations of Philippine culture and the incompetence and vindictiveness of President Aquino. I believe the yellow hordes supporting President Aquno also believe what they say, that this is a good man doing a lot of good things for a good nation. The opposing parties are firm in their respective views. Rigid.

But JoeAm can believe what he writes, that there is a bit of "beggar soul" in the cultural habits of the Philippines. And he can believe simultaneously that the Philippines is a rich, wholesome, interesting place to live, a nation that may be on the way to its welcome place as a respected, productive economic force. He can argue either point on a different day, or even merge them as one.

Each viewpoint - one by GRP, one by the hordes, and two by JoeAm - is a true slice of the pie, but none is the whole pie.

The error is when someone insists he has the whole pie.

The question is, do we draw hard and fast lines about our ideas and opinions. Are they thick lines that can't be dented or re-drawn with new information? Are they brick walls? Or are we flexible, fluid, open minded.

Often, the need to save face or maintain reputation leads people to refuse to see or acknowledge new information. They look for information that reinforces their beliefs and skip over information that might oppose their beliefs. They defend a position long after the validity of that position has been called reasonably into question.

You look at all the good things happening in the Philippines now. The call center boom fueling high-rise construction in Manila. New casinos coming in. A strong tourism program. Debt ratings up two ticks in a year, and likely heading to investment grade next year. Corrupt people heading for jail, or like 31 DENR people, getting fired. Strong peso. Booming stock market. International reports largely positive. It is hard to sweep that under any kind of rug.

Yet GRP scribes CANNOT acknowledge the good trends at risk of losing their entire platform. So they keep flailing away, one arm whipping in the air the other whacking at a rock, throwing up arguments that get ever more bizarre or off the point. How do you spell desperation? "GRP".

I'm a believer of soft lines, myself. Indeed, mine are so soft and flexible that the label "hypocrite" or "inconsistent" thrown my way by the thugs at GRP holds up as true, in a certain light. I have no problem with changing my mind if shown new information or the errors of my ways. That is not commonly done in the Philippines. Many a Filipino would find my tappy feet and flip-flopping mind to be weak. About as un-macho as you can get.

Well, you see, I don't see what words have to do with manhood, and I see little need to ridicule someone who tells me my arguments are half baked or out to lunch or nutso. I'd only want to grasp why we look at the same object but see different colors and shapes.

A great many Filipinos pride themselves on superior knowledge. Unbending, self-certain knowledge. They are relentlessly argumentative, throwing up diversions or tangents or truths apart from the real discussion, to prove the certainly of their standing.

Losing an argument does not go down well in the Philippines.

Ridicule follows in short order. Humiliation is thrust down other people's throats with glee.

It is not exactly a forgiving society.

And yet. And yet, in a different reality, it is. It forgives Enrile, a coup master, it forgives Ms. Marcos, the wife of a failed dictator, it forgives a corrupt Estrada and lets him run for President again. But that is partially because these people are MASTERS of word wrestling, of shaping realities to their liking and benefit. And they are masters of the "Get Out Of Jail" trade of favors.

• Mr. Estrada: "Yes, Glo, I won't criticize you while you are in office, even if you try to become a dictator.

• Ms. Arroyo: "Okie dokie. Here's your get out of jail free card."

It is like listening to VP Binay defend getting P 200 million in pork for play money. There's no stated purpose for the money. Just "here, have some, because you are our Number 2 guy". These legislators and rulers act like this is just a Monopoly game and they can buy Boardwalk or all of Makati on a whim. They act like they EARNED the money, that's what bugs me about it.

It is figured that Binay will run for President. I hope he gets pulverized. He defines his realities too slickly. I don't trust him.

Well, this all seems artificial to me, the Filipino hard-headedness and slippery arguments. This need to hold onto views, even if incorrect, because one's ego is vested in the argument. The twisting of realities by tangential arguments and half-truths.  Surreal. Absurd.

So my own personal challenge is to wade through the artificial realities that are thrown up everywhere in the Philippines, from biased newspaper reports to emotional tantrums from a certain senator to GRP propaganda. I choose to find my own reality and refuse to line up to follow an ideology, or political party's view, or a given religious faith. Mine is a blob of a reality, a truth that shifts and drifts according the information available.

I don't like being cemented in place. It doesn't feel right.

I prefer to fly, and welcome it when others straighten out my occasionally crooked trajectory.

It is not a humiliation to be wrong. It is merely an unfortunate information warp in the space time continuum.

In other words, a mistake.

My bad.

Grow. Move on.

Self-Centric Behavior and Filipino Face

This is not a new topic here. I'm just going to try cutting it a different way to get some clarity on it. I'm going to be rudely blunt because tippy toeing gets us nowhere.

TO: Juan dela Cruz, the Juan with a high school degree and a couple of years of college under the belt before going off to Uncle Manuelo's vulcanizing shop to fix tires:

Good day, Juan. Here's a little story.

This is the American way

A man sees that his American wife is going to go out for a ride on her motorcycle. He leaves his computer desk and goes downstairs to open the garage and haul her heavy bike out so she can start it easily. His wife, recognizing his kindness, says "Thank you, smoochie poo!"

He smiles back, "Happy to, my sweet!"

"Oh, loverboy, I forgot the key to the outside gate? Can you get it for me?"

"Happy to, love of my life."

This is the Filipino way

A man sees that his Filipina wife is going to go out for a ride on her motorcycle. He leaves his computer desk and goes downstairs to open the garage and haul her heavy bike out so she can start it easily. His wife, recognizing his groveling servitude and her greater power, scowls at him and says nothing.

"Get the keys to the outside gate," she commands, sensing his weakness at having come downstairs.

Pregnant pause as two cultures collide . . .

"Get a life" he mutters and stomps back up to his computer.

Discussion

Perhaps you think I jest, eh, Jose? That this difference in attitude is a petty little snit?

I assure you, the difference is real and profound. I state the trivial simply to show how pervasive this "win/loss power struggle" is in normal Filipino behavior.

Most Filipinos are self-centric. Period. Full stop. End of statement. They engage in win/lose power struggles in just about every interpersonal interaction from throwing off minor ridicule about people's looks and clothes to going volcanic in big arguments that end up with guns blazing and bodies bleeding. Indeed, last week a body was dumped on a country road about a half-mile from here. It is the second murder bringing police to our small and peaceful hillside sitio this past year.

The Philippines is a brutal and murderous land. It is not a coincidence that it is also a self-centric land.

American behavioral norms are generally "community centric". That's what the Golden Rule means. Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you. So there is a much more evolved sense of compassion, courtesy and "give" in American discourse and behavior. Sometimes it is fake. Most of the time it is sincere.

Way too many Filipinos are engaged in dysfunctional games and unbridled attempts to preserve face: denial of responsibility, excuse-making, blaming, ridicule of others to reduce their standing. The difference in behavior is tangible, palpable. One is giving. The other game-playing.

Now, Jose, it is completely fair for you to say "Joe, that is our culture here. Every place has a different culture. It is the outsider's obligation to adapt to us, not our obligation to change to suit your foreign needs."

Yes, yes, I agree. Indeed, that is the richness I find in living here, the challenge of adapting to behaviors that are not common and are often downright entertaining (watching 50 vehicles from tricycles to dump trucks trying to get through a crowded intersection at the same time, whilst the traffic guy chews the fat with his buddy over there in the shade).

But if I, as a foreigner, am supposed to accept things as they are, why do Filipinos complain so much about how ineffective government is at providing jobs, or health care, or how poor the people are and how often they seem to get killed by flash floods or sunken ferries.?

Why can Filipinos yap but I cannot?

I ask, being very blunt here, Jose. Is it because you don't lose face when YOU yap? Indeed, you GAIN it by criticizing others. But you lose face when I yap because I am pointing out flaws in the Filipino community, and you are a member of that community?

Well, if you lose face, there must be something meaningful to my yapping, something true about the words. Something to hide from. Why would you get worked up if there were no truth to the yap? You'd simply laugh at my alien stupidity.

Well, the fact is most Asian cultures are very much involved in saving face and building face. Look at China's face-saving posturing on their silly nine-dash map that claims an entire ocean as theirs. It defies any kind of logic and forces them into the role of international strutting bully. Or look at the Japanese, still committing honorable suicide if they lose too much face. Love those knives up the gut.

But this notion of "face" is itself false, if you think about it. It is a lie. It is a pretense. And if enough people are dealing in "face" instead of objective, transparent, explicit information, you get the surreal kind of dysfunctional, schizoid, psychopathic (Ampatuan) place called the Philippines. People are living their perceptions and their angers instead of the kind of explicit truth that opens problems up to solution.

The FACT is that life is a flawed undertaking, full of risk and human failing and chaos. Why engage in a fantasy that our decisions or the way we do things must be perfect, or we are somehow lesser beings? Why leap to the conclusion that if we make a mistake, we are flawed as people?

The first thing any good psycho-therapist does is to make sure the client is content with who he or she is. If you are content, you don't get into face issues. You deal forthrightly, giving other people the space they need to be themselves. You don't impose your neediness on them. You don't judge yourself based on what other people do or say.

"Face" is an emotional needy space. It is actually empowering OTHERS to rule your life.

Ahhh, I'll go beyond that. The notion of preserving face is horseshit. Succumbing to it covers up the benefit that honest information and candor would bring to a discussion. Trying to preserve face is wallowing in pity and pride and hiding out. You might as well be gay and stuck forever in the closet, only you are hiding from yourself. Face is running and hiding. It is useless.

So, Jose, while you and so many of your countrymates are working hard to take care of your faces, you are not caring about all the people who are getting sick, killed and hurt through neglect and sloppy practices. You are not caring that bright, capable young people do not having the chance for a career job, right here in the Philippines. You are not caring about women trapped in abusive marriages because their marriage contract has no escape clause. You are not caring about your country . . .

Maybe, Jose, my amigo, if y'all forgot about your face and focused on problem-solving and helping the grand community of Filipinos, called the Philippines, this place would be less dysfunctional, eh?

That's it. My time's up.

Gotta go help my sweet wife get her heavy motorcycle out of the garage.

Adios, amigo. Go with God.

ps, your face looks fine to me.

Getting from A to B and B to C on Education

Last year, I got inspired about education, specifically, a way to stop the current pattern of doing things, forever building hollow-block classrooms and stuffing them with 45 kids each led by an overworked, underpaid, undertrained teacher who is happier than the kids are when the day ends. I wrote six articles about it.

The idea is to start rolling out internet classes to selected schools. Buying the kids laptops, enrolling honors students first, and letting them study at home or the coffee shop or the school cafeteria. Take some of the pressure off the brick and mortar, and the teachers. Leverage the brainpower of a few centralized teachers to do lessons for thousands of kids. Receive tests and papers on line. Grade them centrally with interns or lower-paid staff. Innovate, both on how lessons are delivered, and on the curriculum.  Teach things like leadership (small group exercises), problem solving, planning and organizing, judging risks prior to making decisions, that sort of thing. They would not be asked to memorize the table of elements, but they would have to know how to find it on line as a reference source. Local teachers would organize the program and counsel students.

These articles got a lot of circulation and a few months ago I read that a member of Congress involved on an education committee was talking up the idea about on-line education.  That's great, and I hope something happens. The current model is unsustainable.

I am perplexed about how to get from A to B and B to C, to get anything done.

Here's the Filipino condition. Problems here are generally recognized as insurmountable. People just can't get around them. They give up. Get stopped in their tracks by any objection. Don't do anything. Filipinos are very good at finding the flaws in things, the warts, the bugs, the barriers. The tolerance for risk is low. After all, who wants to be associated with problems?

They do not evidence much skill or desire to work around the barriers.

Therein lies the solution to the mystery as to why not much changes in the Philippines. Problems are seen as BEING the project. They are not seen as a challenging WRINKLE to the project, the hurdle to be overcome, the barrier to be passed, the bug to be squashed. Problems are not seen as the rewarding part of the project, once overcome.

No, problems stop it dead.

The problem BECOMES the project and no one wants to be associated with it.

The reasons? Face and ridicule. Face is the impossible demand for self-perfection. It is the defensive motivation that generates all the excuses and blames you witness. And ridicule is the vehicle by which one Filipino whips another into a lower state, thus elevating himself.

So the tolerance for risk-taking is low in the Philippines, indeed. The ability to give up is high. The desire to achieve is hammered into submission by fear of ridicule.

So I have an idea of how the Department of Education can make this very easy on themselves. There are  a number of on-line schools in the United States offering high school  classes. Like anything, I suppose, some are better than others, but here are two examples:

• Allied National High School courses: http://www.alliedhighschool.com/curric_description.shtml#physa

• Park City Independent courses: http://www.parkcityindependent.com/courses/

Knowledge of physics in the U.S. is the same as knowledge of physics in the Philippines, and English proficiency is expected among Filipino honors students. So there is no need to re-invent a bunch of new courses.

Just find the three best schools and have them bid on the Philippine core curriculum. Include with the bid requirements the need to develop a few new courses specific to the Philippines (Philippine history; tagalog), or to social programs focused on developing a competitive mindset among kids (team work, decision making). Have them bid on packages of 1,000 students, 5,000 and 10,000.

Ascertain that the rigors of the class work are appropriate to assign credentials to the program comparable to a physical high school.

You could have your program put together in a year.

I tell you what, if I were a younger man, I would not offer up this ideal in a public forum. I'd keep it quiet and develop the school privately myself in the Philippines, get it credentialed, and start selling enrollments.

I don't think this is rocket science.

I'd get rich by helping Philippine kids get smart.

Frankly, it is an idea only one entrepreneur short of a million dollar business: a private, on-line school teaching modern subjects in modern ways.

If the Department of Education REALLY wants to make it easy on themselves, they only need to assign a small portion of their bloated brick and mortar budget to funding a few start-up private/public educational programs providing internet-based education.