By By Joseph M. Ocol
Is there a Code of Ethics among schools?
posted 7-Aug-2012  ·  
4,469 views  ·   0 comments  ·  

Sometime ago, I mentioned in my column about the alarming trend of more schools cropping up in such a low population as Virac.  I mentioned that there will come a time when there is a school in every street corner of Virac.

The question is:  Will all these benefit the country, its economy and its people?   Of course, not. 

Any economics expert can tell you that oversupply of anything is bad for the economy. 

Let’s take a look at the industrialized countries in the world.  These countries even have a master plan where they allocate areas for industries, housing, schools, hospitals, malls, streets, and other sectors based on economic factors and projections for urban planning.  Do we have a master plan?  I doubt it.    

So what happens when there is an oversupply of schools in a low population area?  Surely there is an oversupply of graduates—bringing with them false hopes on landing jobs.  When jobs are scarce, surely people go hungry; the economy continues to stagnate as crime rate increases.  In the end, there will be a continuous cycle of despair, crimes, slow growth, and corruption.

And worst, cut-throat competition goes unabated.

When there is cut-throat competition, it’s all systems go for dirty tricks, sabotage, rumor-mongering, mudslinging and corruption among competitors.  School owners who depend on profits to survive will desperately look for every nook in the book to put down a competing school in order to take an enrollee and the corresponding tuition fee.  Never mind ethics; it’s survival of the fittest.

Students will then be in the receiving end for all these.  They end up not only having to deal with false hopes but also having to face the sad, dire consequences of stunted learning because their schools, instead of spending more on training equipment for their students, find the need to spend more and utilize more of its resources to counter its competitors who play dirty. 

Thus, the country will not only be seeing an oversupply of frustrated and ill-equipped graduates but it will also be suffering the pangs and pain of a continuing cycle of despair, crimes, slow growth, and corruption. 

So how do we put a stop to this trend?

A lot can be done.  Perhaps every government agency should review its role and reflect how on this rotten culture of gaya-gaya puto maya can be stopped.  A school in every street corner of Virac is not the answer to our economy; it is the answer to a rotten cultural trend of gaya-gaya puto maya.

Meantime, let’s start it by having a Code of Ethics among schools. 

If a Code of Ethics fails, how about a Code of Survival Against Gaya-Gaya Puto Maya?

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