The Center for Excellence (CENTEX) Batangas; An Assessment of Its Effect on the Learning of its Students

Abstract

Education has been considered as the best equalizing agent. It is no wonder why different peoples around the world consider it as a vital factor for them to gain economic and social development. However there are instances that education does not work for the betterment of a nation because it becomes an instrument of oppression and exploitation. The different roles of education in bringing about development or even underdevelopment can be seen through the experiences of different countries. Historically, countries in the Southeast Asian region like Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, with the exception of Thailand, were former colonies of foreign powers. The result was the incorporation of foreign elements to the already diverse culture found in the region. One societal aspect that was largely affected by this incorporation was education. Apparently, Singapore and to some extent, Malaysia were successful in utilizing the remnants of colonial education on their educational system. Thailand, which as mentioned earlier was never colonized and thus has relatively minimal foreign influence, is already on its way of attaining economic and social development comparable to what Malaysia and Singapore achieved. On the other hand, the Philippines seems to be adamant in undoing the remnants of colonial education which resulted to the backwardness of the system. However, based on reports by the Department of Education, the status of the Philippine educational system still complies with the set national goals of education. One possible explanation offered by Renato Constantino as the one responsible for the backwardness of the Philippines was its educational system, which he described as a "miseducation." The same concept was used in the assessment of the main focus of this study, the Center for Excellence (CENTEX) school in Batangas, CENTEX is an educational institution established through the initiative of a non governmental organization with the help of the government. This particular school was examined through a theoretical framework of "Miseducation" for the reason that it has several aspects that qualifies as a "miseducation" as it was conceptualized by Constantino To put this theory to a test, the necessary information were gathered through library research, key informant interviews and surveys. The results that transpired, however, were not able to satisfy the theory of miseducation. It is due to the fact that miseducation is very difficult to assess especially with a very small sample like that of CENTEX. Furthermore, based on the results of the survey regarding stakeholders' perception of CENTEX, there were almost no perceived error in the way CENTEX administers the educational services to its students. As a conclusion, the "miseducation" framework may not be the best framework for the said study. Perhaps a more small-scale framework should be used for future studies on the same institution. In addition, CENTEX really has the potential of creating critical thinkers, however, it is still possible without the aid of certain elements such as foreign language and teaching materials that may possibly become the reason why miseducation" will occur. Hence, the researcher recommends the utilization of Filipino language and “Filipino" teaching materials.