Fast-tracking intelligence in the Philippines
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
The Philippines is structurally opposed to intelligence. Schools are strapped for classrooms, quality teachers, quality courses, computers, and motivated students. Parents are stressed and not very helpful. Reading is a dying skill. Math is arithmetic. And even young adults cannot look see vote for quality leaders.
Intelligence in the Philippines is a mess. This cannot be corrected quickly. Intelligence is nurtured, not injected. But here is how the Philippines can fast-track its way to being an intelligent nation.
Goal 1. Instill excitement about learning in grades one through three. Do not worry about kids’ grades. Don’t even track them. Simply get kids jazzed about the process of learning. This works. I was on the Board of a lab school in Los Angeles attached to a local university. They proved the point. Get a kid to love learning from the getgo and you have a person who soaks up knowledge for a lifetime.
Goal 2. Get grades 9 through 12 onto computers now. Invest big time. Use Starlink or in other ways connect them to teaching hubs. Put lessons on computers. Get rid of paper, trim classroom use with at-home study days driven by the completion of at-home assignments. This will be the spearhead, the driver, the learning lab for full computerization of education. Put big money into it. Teach typing and composition by dictation.
Goal 3. Dedicate grades 4 and 5 to reading. Teach other subjects “lightly” so kids understand the basics. But read read read. In five years you will have a nation of kids who love learning and can read and comprehend anything you put before them. They will be the nation in 15 to 20 years. Really, really smart.
Goal 4. Get grades 1 through 8 onto computers. Get rid of paper, stop buying hollowblocks, and leverage high-skill teachers. Invest in top quality lessons. Pay fewer teachers more money.
Goal 5: Starting in Grade 6, feature group educational experiences. Older kids mentoring younger kids. Group debates and study projects. Teach interpersonal skills, the ability to listen, the ability to not get angry or flustered, the art of the pause, organization of the spoken word. Develop leaders.
Goal 6. Give intelligence a place to go. Require companies with more than 50 employees to develop career path promotions that shift personnel choices away from entitlement. Hire and promote strictly on merit. Intelligence will flood the Philippines like water rising.
You notice there is little emphasis on WHAT is taught. That is secondary. If you build the vessel correctly, you can pour anything into it.
Okay.
Now your work is done. Do warn the “olds” to get out of the way. Have the State build retirement homes for them on the beach.
_________________________
Cover Photo produced by Word Press image generator using the article as a prompt.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Somtimes I wonder if you truly are in the Philippines. Perhaps there is a magical province there I have not heard of where such magical thinking is possible.
“Simply get kids jazzed about the process of learning. “
Everything above is totally doable. and easy to do.
I would just add inject stuff kids can get jazzed about, like gravity. or like the Conclave next week. for example, talk about the process (ala the movie of the same title). but inject the Prophecy of the Popes. then count the 112th descriptors, then add the oral tradition of Caput Negrum (which they thought was Pope Francis), vis a vis the other favorite cardinal from the Congo. who’s a Cappuchin.
My point, you get the kids jazzed up at the intersection of knowledge and magic. that’s how you capture their attention. and keep it. re gravity, professors Chiara Marletto and Vlatko Vedral’s work. but it has to be at the intersection of knowledge and magic. otherwise its back to memorizing and falling into the doldrums, factory work. BPO, VA etc.
Good to be on the same page with you, LCX. I agree, jazz up the subjects.
feed kids first, then ensure they have good footwear. I was always conscious of my footwear when at school, my shoes well past their dying days and begging to be buried.
ensure also that classrooms are comfortable, the temperature inside not so hot that kids cannot concentrate on learning and would rather be outside under the cool shade of narra trees.
I think, schools are jazz up enough already. and there is song each time there is change of subject matter so kids wont be sleepy. subjects are also jazz up enough already too, think lapulapu and his almighty bahag, those bulging biceps could put pacman to shame! dr jose rizal has the calm demeanor of a serial killer and does not speak tagalog well, and his hair must be pasted to his scalp. math is terrible, get the solution wrong, and it’s homework. get it right and no homework. reading in front of the class, duh, who got voice good enough to be heard! kaya many mumbles. and it is always teachers correcting this and that diction, and students internalised shame. made them feel worthless. so many eyes trained on them, judging them. good teachers can lessened the hurt, if only they go the extra mile.
I think, history is everybody’s fave subject, so many happenings in the past, so many stupid people killing and misunderstanding one another. king henry the eight has eight wives! and killed some of them instead of divorcing them. really, school is exciting. but under the new education sec angara’s new curriculum, things will change and subject matters will been slashed. made trim, taught and terrible!
Great suggestions, k. I always hated history because it was memorization of dates rather than framing a context I could be interested in. My son on the other hand got fed a context when he met President Aquino and he’s been soaking up history on his free time you tube work. You are right, today is history unfolding real time, and that is plenty jazzy.
How is the article magical thinking? I’m not understanding that.
Expat: There is a magical province there: Biliran!
I “visited” it on youTube. What a great place to spend time at, especially if you are healthy.
I believe JoeAm lives there.
On the subject of intelligence in the Philippines, I have heard that malnutrition is a serious problem (of course not in Biliran, but in the Philippines). Poorly developed brains caused by malnutrition do not respond well to great educational programs. They respond as well as they possibly can, but fall short of normal potential for human brains.
Biliran is a single multi-venting volcano that last belched in 1939 or somesuch. The rocks are so hot they melted the pipes of the thermal energy project and killed a worker or two with poisonous gasses. The mountains are tall and capture enough water for year-round runoff. It has the biggest bats and biggest moths that I’ve ever seen and a baby cobra killed my german shepherd dog. The main town of Naval has an upper middle class of seamen, and the University teaches a whole lot of kids how to work on boats. We have our own airport but no planes. There is a ferry direct to Cebu and a paintball course up on the side of the mountain. The shoreline is mostly rocky but there are a few sandy resorts, and neighboring islands to explore. It’s cool. There are a lot of poor people, mostly fisherfolk, coconut tree climbers, and construction workers.
No comment on the malnutrition problem? That to me is the more serious topic as it relates directly to the introductory essay.
In another discussion group that I participate in, a retired Fil-Am doctor who vacations frequently in the Philippines commented that she saw no evidence of malnutrition in the Philippines. One of the notable members, active in business in the Philippines AND in the international scene through the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation corrected her saying that malnutrition among children is definitely a serious problem in the Philippines. I imagine one does not see it in the usual “tourist” spots.
I’ve not studied malnutrition so have nothing to give you that you couldn’t find yourself. I agree it is detrimental to learning.
Google says:
“Malnutrition is a significant issue in the Philippines, particularly affecting children. One-third of Filipino children under five are stunted, meaning they are short for their age, and about 600,000 suffer from wasting (being too thin for their height). Additionally, micronutrient deficiencies are prevalent, with 38% of infants and 26% of children experiencing them.”
kaming mga pulubi, rate poverty as grievous, malnutrition not so. a lot of rich kids are malnourished too, sobrang taba! unfit and eating the wrong food.
undernourishment among us poor is hidden below the surface and can be dressed up externally. give us shoes so we dont stand out for ridicule going to school barefooted. give us clothes so we dont go to school in swathes of rags.
some of my ilk, malnourished kids succeeded in their studies. they dont need to be healthiest, in top physical form and top their classes, each time, all the time. they just need to pass exams, not necessarily topnochers. the hungrier they are the more determined. they save all their energy, all their efforts, for that one burst, one stretch, that is all they worked for.
and god provides! so we go to school hungry, and surprise! our richer classmates have so much food, they share. somehow, food is always available. nearby bakeries give their day old bread to schools so poorer kids can eat. and because kids have pride, they dont make it look like charity. parents are asked to contribute, and if they cannot, it does not matter. walang naniningil.
I was too young to remember “nutribun” , CV please refresh my memory.
Small victories of the conditional cash transfer program of the DSWD. some families were able to level-up.
But even the affluent eat the wrong stuff like sugary,fatty, salty stuff.
There is a trend there in the US of burger joints closing shop for having healthy options, so people choose to eat unhealthy.
Karl,
I only remember “nutribun” by name, not who developed it and why. I had a fairly privileged middleclass childhood in the Philippines and people did not talk about matters that did not directly affect us. That is what we learned from the adults, including my parents. Sure we gave it lip service at church sermons, and in school during the Christmas season where we were asked to donate clothes and stuff we no longer used. We were made to see that there were poor folk, but we weren’t made to understand how it was the duty of the upper classes to help lift them out of their poverty.
But for the most part we were like that pharisee in the New Testament who prayed “Thank you God that I am not like that poor sinner over there.”
Thanks CV
Unless a student is enrolled in a good private school Joeam, some of your suggestions are hard yo come by. Nowadays, kids are focused on apps that don’t help them much in learning. My 12-year-old grandson learned to read early. We bought him picture books at first then at 9, he was reading Harry Potter. He has been active in Taekwondo for more than a year now earning medals in various competitions.
Yes public schools are holding back the river, too many kids, poor resources. Excellent work with your grandson.
This is also a problem in some private schools. little or no emphasis on reading.
That astounds me. If a kid can read, he or she can learn anything. What do the schools think think their jobs are, babysitting?
it is probly psychological, kids kasi need approval, a pat on the back, and encouragement to push on. else, they shrink inside, became timid and reluctant to engage, heads down with no eye contact. many can read, but may not understand implied meaning.
we always think teachers can handle all, they have the training, but with such number of kids in their care, 41kids instead of 25, with some classes in composites, a different mixture of grade levels and ages of kids all together in one class under one teacher, plus the ensuing chaos that goes with it, some kids easily slipped tru the cracks and failed to thrive. and teaches become suicidal, some burned out.
Definitely psychological. Rote instruction is a great way to keep order but a lousy way to motivate.
students have accepted rote as important part of learning. formulas to memorize that they become automatic, their application done without much straining and effort. sort of preparing student for life ahead. as adults, we learned to memorize street names and their routes better than gps. singers memorize their songs and hopes to give flawless performance each time, have committed words and lyrics of songs to memory and not forgetting them halfway.
also by rote, airlines pilots learned to memories the names of at lest 200 instruments in the cockpit before they can fly airplanes, overriding autopilots in times of emergencies. doctors too, memorize the parts of the human body, the landmarks and locations of the different organs, etc. also memorize volumes of medicines needed to treat illnesses, though they are guided by medical publications online. often, they undertook refresher courses just to get them abreast with new discoveries, breakthroughs and modern technologies.
rote is quite important in our daily life, the schedules we have to keep, the anniversaries we have to remember, etc. when rote is gone problems arise. those that think rote is useless exercise, wait when people have dementia and forget all.
Yes, but it isn’t thinking, it is recording. And playback. The thinking part is what is missing hereabouts.
well from my own experience, the school is more concerned with uniforms (especially “school logo shoes” which ironically they sell) and endless cheering practices rather than lessons
public schools I went did not have uniforms, so long as you didnt go to school nude, you are okay. some kids have no footwear and out of shame, dropped off and never came back.
the private high school I went to have uniforms but no logo, the shirts can be bought off the shops.
girls might compete about who gets the pleat in their skirt stay wrinkle free all day, or whose socks stay lily white with no blemish and stays in place without rolling down no matter how much they skipped ropes, the main concern is passing the grade level and on to the next level with both teachers and pupils putting in as much efforts. so much peer pressure to succeed, be top of the class and get offered a scholarship.
this does not sound very nice.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/05/02/2440002/1-5-high-school-graduates-functionally-illiterate
I do think covid took a heavy hammer to an already broken system and smashed it.
Here’s the referenced study by the World Bank with collaboration by various major NGOs (relevant table starts page 66):
Click to access Learning-poverty-report-2022-06-21-final-V7-0-conferenceEdition.pdf
Out of SEA, Philippines is comparable to basket case Cambodia which had been devastated by the Khmer Rouge and been in a proxy struggle between pro-PRC radicals and pro-Vietnam moderates since 1978. Of note is that if we look at the African countries many of the Filipinos I associate with love to deride, the Philippines is about at the same level in learning poverty as Somalia, a country that teeters back and forth on civil war and doesn’t have a functioning government. Numerous other African countries are far ahead of the Philippines in these metrics.
Seems like time for the government, and the people, to take a hard self-reflexive look inward, acknowledge what’s wrong in the Philippines education system, and make concrete steps to fix it. How much longer can the Philippines coast off of what the US and then the Third Republic built decades ago? Privatization is not the answer. There needs to be a recognition that the public good needs to be cared for by the public trust. Man things like this may be an explosive proposition for politicians who are unafraid to challenge the Philippines to achieve more.
What is perplexing is that so much has been invested in buildings and so little in teaching methods and content. Empty buildings, a magician’s masterstroke, making knowledge disappear.
The answer is simple: politicians can boast and take credit for the physical buildings in their re-election campaigns; teachers and resources have no political benefit for the typical Filipino politician. It’s the same reason why politician’s banners hang on school buildings and their names are scorched into the backs of students’ desk chairs because the politician is “only a sponsor,” not trading political favors, getting around electioneering laws.
One possible solution: It is (nearly) every Filipino parents’ dream to send their child to a private school to access perceived status and educational quality. Campaign on improving educational quality and access in public schools to match or exceed private schools. It won’t be a heavy lift because most private schools are actually quite terrible.
Excellent campaign priority.
I wanted to put thus in the earlier or previous article, but here would do.
In India wastepreneneurs are shunned because discrimination is a way of life India but somehow they are learning to shrug it off. We must too.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/bengaluru-garbage-control-wastepreneur-krishna-journey-9980567/
ps
to expat
Why the disdain for this site?
if you do not like what you see then don’t look.
That article is way to simplistic and misses some huge points ( also contradicts itself a little)
My daughter is about to finish her first half of her medicine studies BSc med tech @ Lyceum). She reads a lot and always has done so…so their is a point in reading REAL BOOKS. I had quiet a few arguments with the missus about the cost of the kids education…..but thankfully ( and due to cultural leverage given to me here) my decision prevailed
School system is not great but infinite better then Europes. It is too expensive and public school/Uni places are limited and very often substandard. I do not attend school events anymore for fear to speak up and subsequent blowing the grade of the kid, something common in the Philippines and especially on private schools. Ever increasing cost me means many students have to drop out.
Biggest issue actually is the “brain drain” as the really good students and most on the private schools leave the nation…. As long as politics and people think a nation that exists almost entirely on remittance is OK and no problem, this nation is doomed.
Starlink…….dish and modern cost 18k and monthly is 2.7k…..how are families in say Leyte, Romblon and all other rural areas and islands going to afford this?? Also they then need a device to use said network and even a cheap tablet ( that won’t last long) with a keyboard etc and a few memory cards will cost another 10k+…….ohh and of course we need functioning elec and…. .a space where all those kids can actually learn. 10 people sharing 2bed acom…will make this almost impossible….
If the state pays for it……well multiply above cost by ..what 15 million kids?? ( The one that can’t afford it themselves)…and nope Elon will not give it for free go ask Ukraine….
Lastly kids need to see a reason to study. Being good in school need emotional intelligence. You need kids high on GRIT score and willing to huge sacrifice. My daughter studies 100h a week or so. It’s truly amazing what’s she puts into this ( continuous achieves 95% or more). In the Philippines this doesn’t lead to good employment and high pay….connections and corruption does..
.so why bother if not to get out??
Lastly…if all kids go online then they will not read books. Furthermore with AI they will cheat like there’s no tomorrow…. Group work etc all are good ideas but mean school and classes…..
My think is that the system needs to change and then kids will be only too happy to step in. I know my daughter was willing while still young….now it’s more like ….let’s go outa here ASAP
“Starlink…….dish and modern cost 18k and monthly is 2.7k…..how are families in say Leyte, Romblon and all other rural areas and islands going to afford this?? “
Chris, read this we’ve covered it (every angle):
https://joeam.com/2024/12/19/starlink-for-all-in-the-philippines-by-2028/
But to recap Dept ED (which VP Sara got rolling) is key. then I also go to talking about church and civic groups pitching in, i dunno if theres military vet groups there, but for example American Legion posts (VFWs, etc. etc.) get into scholarships & programs, meaning they make funds available for stuff like this. we’ve broken down the costs, and looks doable, with the added benefit of opening up recruitment for these church and civic groups. who can foot the bill initially. barangays too especially ones with a lot of OFWs (theres towns in Luzon that especialized in sending folks to the US Navy, now those folks have come back to roost).
“so why bother if not to get out??”
if getting out is the whole point, she honestly should have gone nursing or even med tech route lost of small town clinics in USA hiring for this, then just get married to an American. go to a field with less competition or where more folks are getting hired (eg. demand).
But Joe’s point isn’t for those already in good schools. and he can go further himself. but TSOH has always tried to scale up to include DE students. not just ABC. so the question is how to get DE students and give ’em a leg up. for me, its gotta involve magic. Isaac Newton (until Einstein then quantum stuff) changed the world cuz he dabbled in the occult specifically the Green Tablet and Hermetics. the Philippines already has a leg up on magic, so why not use this to its advantage re learning and education?
“Lastly…if all kids go online then they will not read books.”
this is the wrong assumption. we can relitigate this instead of Starlink.
if kids go online, they play games! games are so engrossing and addictive that kids sometimes forget to eat, or drink water to hydrate, and collapsed. those that became hardy, developed game cheats and compete with other gamers, for a prize. and they have their own linggo understandable only by their ilks.
that’s a really good point, kb. totally agree, games are good. learning and play have to be intertwined.
this was a really good documentary:
“Demis Hassabis has always been thinking about thinking. It started during his childhood career as a chess champion, continued to Bullfrog Games where he helped develop one of the most successful games in history at just 17 years old, and then followed him through his PhD in cognitive neuroscience at University College London. All this led him to co-founding DeepMind, an artificial general intelligence company with one simple mission: to solve intelligence. Like they’re running out of time, The Thinking Game chronicles DeepMind’s sprint toward creating the smartest machine in the world in the AI space race.
With extraordinary archival footage from Hassabis’ life and career, we follow every step that contributed to DeepMind’s monumental achievements. Hassabis leads the film — and his company — with the utmost optimism and ambition, forging a path where artificial intelligence can be used to solve any problem you can think of — and the ones that you can’t. Balancing the weight of the massive responsibility this kind of technology requires, The Thinking Game illuminates the real positive impacts AI can have, from a simple chess game to curing cancer.”
https://tribecafilm.com/films/thinking-game-2024
Thanks for the documentary reference.
That’s true as a social trend but schools can teach within it, as I witness my son gaming and learning whilst still playing basketball, guitar, and other activities. Gaming slides into slow moments and is not all consuming. Rather like I’d go down to the creek to scoop up minnows or put firecracker in ant hills to blow them up. He whips up minecraft tools or raids opposing armies.
serious gamers have their own online magazine and newsletters and will pay cheats for games. they live in their own virtual world, with competitions and big prizes. winners get to compete with other winners in other regions, and then the games get bigger and the prizes enormous, money, cars, houses, overseas trips, etc. sometimes gamers make a living out of gaming, sampling new games and giving reviews. and if they can point out weaknesses of new games and how they can be improved, then all the more they become online celebrities and consultants.
Yes, there certainly is a gaming industry, and modern ways to make money, versus mindlessly running a manufacturing machine. I suspect not a lot make a living by gaming, but many have converted You Tube into a voyeurs medium, for profit. I don’t see it as bad, like stealing or fraud, just a reflection of computers as mainstream devices, and ingenuity, and talent.
My tracking the world of YT reactors to Filipino pop has led me to some US gamers or former gamers and even part of their lingo.
W for win and L for lose, for instance. Some gamers play on YT live.
Interestin post and read…
Starlink– Technically you can connect 128 devices to their router. Speed is around 200Mbits but can be as low as 50Mbits. So if you divide 120 times that speed thene you’re left with 0.41Mbits/410kbits (~100MB file 2 min and you need 10X that speed for video streaming/zoom etc) Secondly you connect to the router via wifi so you need repeaters to allow usage in the houses/villages or dedicated areas for them to use it. It is also worth noting that Starlink is slower then REAL 5G. I get 350Mbits+ and 10ms ping times on my 5G in Europe (needs an outdoor ariel if used indoors for full speed or it will be 50Mbits or so). Might be easier to utilize that. Especially as Huawei has plenty of equipment they now cant use in the USA/EU anymore for “fear of spying” nonsense
Getting out point — I miss your point here as I am a “kano” (German with residence in Ireland and Laguna)…. So this isn’t relevant. Also when I met my now wife I worked for VOR campaign and the misus wanted me to stay here for ever….. This changed when she went for a trip to Ireland with me….and she has some real realistic points….and nope non have to do with money. In fact she finds the cost of things in Europe totally crazy and understands well that that means you are still just as poor in Ireland just with more money in your pocket 😀
The kid did a BSc in med Tech as a first part of her becoming a M.D. Seeing she never scores less then 94% in the last 10 years it was a no brainer to me to get her the education she wanted as I feel one ows it to society to support highly inteligent and hard working kids.
The issue with OFW’s is that many of the high earners stay away for good, THey might come home for holidays but feel more and more estranged. It becomes increasingly hard to accept corruption and missmanagement when you live in a somewhat functioning system like Europe, Canada etc etc. Also national schools do not really get much of the wealth that comes in as everyone that can afford it sends their kids private and as mentioned in my original post those kids often leave if thy have a chance when finished school.
On your last point… Well stranger things have happened and who knows …Magic as thy say can move mountains. 🙂
LCX re Starlink
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/starlink-southeast-asia-scam-industry-elon-musk-5113581
karl, its like Bitcoin with Micha. how she always says its for criminals. but realistically and especially in closed societies, criminals will be the first to experiment (if their gov’t aren’t already), its just the way the cookie crumbles. if anything this is really great advertising for Starlink. but its efficacy i think has been proven in Ukraine where they had to taper down bandwidth cuz Starlink was tipping the scales too much into Ukraine’s favor early on. but thats another issue, re global politics and corporations. the tech has proven itself.
and that’s what is important.
.
I would change simplistic to simple. This is preferred than a complicated and tangled web of undoable proposals.
Read a laundry list of those and you will stop in the middle of number one proposal.
Your proposal is leave and add to the brain drain, correct?
Ohh God no!! Many years ago when I came to this beautiful place first I was gobsmacked by all the posibillities that I could see. I was amazed that nothing really happened. My (now) asawa always had that strange look on her face when I spoke about those things and how “easy” these things could be changed, improved upon and money made (or saved) by doing so.
Took me a while to understand that the underlaying problems (corruptions, dynasties, attitude and some cultural issues) are what causes the lack of development….
The misus real REALLY wants to be in Europe and who can blame her…She was a saint to put up with my reqquest to allow the kid to finish most of her education here as I was too worried that the culture shock/language change would mess with her 95%+ grades. As she wanted to become a doctor those grades are somewhat important….
I have no idea if the kid want’s to go back later and build up the nation, but my experience with Filipinos abroad is that they seldom move back at least not if they have well paid jobs. I would be thrilled if things change and I would always be happy to help improve things. So far I had to limit this to small scale (local,, family etc) as bigger projects are just …well frought with issues.
Thanks for sharing. We have Irineo here who is a Filipino-German pinoy dad and German mom . Belated welcome to the blog. Chris Colberz. It is hard enough to solve the problems at home, solving the world’s problems is easier hehe because you don’t have to do it.
the above is NotebookLM by Google.
you add the links to websites or youtube videos or pdfs or your own documents, and lists and Gemini (i think its still Gemini) does its thing, but you can also generate a podcast from said links (i dunno if thats still Gemini). takes about 6 minutes to generate the podcast. but I can tell you its nothing like the summary i’ve shared. its an actual podcast with a male voice then a female voice, the female’s even said “Filipinos on Mars, wow… i did not see that one coming. But we’re gonna talk a lot about …. ” its really a great back and forth, i wish i can record the conversation i’m listening to right now.
But my point is theres no need to stress over illiteracy in the Philippines. theres more than 1 way to skin a cat. and reading and writing aren’t as important as we think they are. i mean, 2028, it’ll be generation Alpha voting soon. this is the TikTok generation everyones so scared about. TL;DR… you can learn by listening and speaking probably more optimal in learning stuff too. watching too. So maybe reading and writing is obsolete and or the thing thats holding us back. Judy Fan has a lot of videos on this. here’s a bit about her:
“I direct the Cognitive Tools Lab at Stanford University. Our lab aims to reverse engineer the human cognitive toolkit — in particular, how people use physical representations of thought to learn, communicate, and solve problems. Towards this end, we use a combination of approaches from cognitive science, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.”
lesser animals (human bias here) use smell and taste a lot. maybe we can go that route too but add semiotics/symbols. hell, focus science research in the Philippines specifically into consciousness and telepathy— that sure probably is a better mode of communication. gets information across. though there’ll be privacy issues i’m sure this reading minds stuff. but communication without language games seems optimal too. like Three Body Problem.
“I have no idea if the kid want’s to go back later and build up the nation, but my experience with Filipinos abroad is that they seldom move back at least not if they have well paid jobs.”
Chris,
that’s fine too. i think Joe’s son still going to Spain, maybe live in Europe all his life.
as to my med tech advice, i thought you were Filipino. so scratch that as she has EU citizenship awaiting her (unless EU or German citizenship don’t work that way). cuz am pretty sure Joe’s son is automatic US citizen.
“The brain is a sort of muscles and one needs to lay the foundation to be able to grasp multilayered problems.”
This i totally disagree with. you gotta inspire them first. thus magic. and that’s whats missing in any school system (over here , USA and there Philippines, also other areas) because its a factory format. i mean just grouping kids alone by age is already wrong. then 1:40 teacher/students.
the teacher to student ratio plays a big factor. but with AI or this NotebookLM (which i need to play around with now) but am thinking this is the most superior user approach AI i’ve come across thats free aside from Grok. then its just student to AI, personalized. like peer to peer learning but with a smart peer/friend. cuz i hate reading and writing, i learn more by doing or talking to people, but the next best thing are podcasts and videos IMHO. now if they can evolve this NotebookLM to making videos ala what Judy Fan talks about eg. communicating mechanistic knowledge and abstract models. that’s it. we don’t need reading and writing no more. mic drop. <<<<<<< yup, that’s a mic drop.
I sublimated myself to your point that reading is not essential because you can craft a few lines of prompt and, poof, magical, you have two people talking about what Peoria is really like. Or any topic. Books are history, Kindle ancient, we are conductors of an automated orchestra cranking out rock and roll on computers. Yes, yes, I can see now that this is exactly what we are bridging to. Ps, the few prompt lines will be dictated because we cannot write or spell. Words will merely be sounds we articulate, rather like monkeys grunting. We are deep into the transition now so we might even live long enough to be pioneers of the movement, rather like slipping up to shore on the Mayflower in hopes of having dinner, not being dinner. Thanks for the enlightenment. This blog is deader than a doornail.
Are you being facetious, Joe? (i can’t tell). Cuz i think the folks who like to read and write will still have a leg up on the folks who prefer listening, speaking and watching. but these latter folks will just have more avenues of approach towards status and money now, thanks to AI. which has always been the American way (eg. pipe fitters make good money here etc. etc.), but for Philippines it evens the playing field. instead of hammering square peg into round hole, ie., current educational model. thus should be good news. but look into Judy Fan, real smart. good ideas. connects perfect with Pippa Malmgren‘s talk.
Both cynical and comprehending that knowledge and the tools to acquire it are swiftly moving to new realms. JoeJr some time ago pointed out that a video I was watching had an AI generated narrator. Now it seems about 25% do. And the content is chopped up to make several different videos, each with a click bait sensationalized header that is wholly misleading. Each generating revenue. It’s like a crappy Wiki video spam set. So I can be a realist and see what is happening, while also seeing a lot of anti-knowledge in the dirtstreams.
I would just add a Goal 0. focus on that magic 1 to 5 years old window. this i think is the key. if you can catch them here, you got them for the rest of their lives. and you have to blow theirs minds at this age. I saw Matt Franco (magic show in Vegas) and its a really cool show cuz he talks about himself a lot and how he got there. personalizes it. anyways he recounts how he got into magic with his grandma, and how they use to go to magic shows then try to reverse engineer the acts with his grandma as advisor. and grandpa was audience who was always in awe (even when nont warranted). now not every 1-5 year old in the Philippines will have grandparents that dedicated (although his grandma was really into magic wasn’t faking the interest). but unlike the USA
children at this age tend to play in groups especially in the providence. there use to be moro-moro theatre acts that travelled around to do said acts. Bruce Lee was part of this group, turned out theres this deep history in China of these groups playing a role in anti- establishment stuff (against monarchy then against communism etc. etc.) which kinda makes sense. so am not suggesting an NPA type operation, but if you can get travelling entertainment a thing again… for example Cirque de Soleil is now one big corporation, playing in Vegas , touring, but also providing shows to cruise lines. so why not replicate it in the Philippines at the behest of Dept ED. and blow kids minds. with magic , acrobatics, stories, etc.
Over here, Pres. Obama made TK (pre-K) available to all pushing the timeline for formalize learning farther back.
but its just more of the same curriculum letters, numbers, shapes and colours (plus socialization). herd learning.
3-4 years old is the most wonderous age, and you wanna bore them with that? boring… the Montessori model i really like (i’ve just seen videos though). essentially you’re leveraging the kids imagination by just simply placing all the items that’ll fire up said imagination. which reminds me of an interview of this really successful Hollywood screenwriter/producer and why he’s always coming up with these creative stories. and says when he was a kid, his mom was a single parent and didn’t have money for day care during summers, and didn’t wanna leave the siblings at their apartment (bad neighborhood) alone, so she’d drive them to a county park with interpretive center museum and just drop ’em off.
And that he said was the best education he got.
Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying there are only two ways to live life: one is as though nothing is a miracle, and the other is as though everything is a miracle.
So if you can just convince the 1-5 year olds of that, then that sense that everything around us is magic will stick. will pervade everything going forward in their lives. i’d even go as far as to say, will factor in with what Chris was saying re GRIT. cuz at the end of the day you’re extending and youre expanding. your neurons act the same, like roots or even better youtube slime molds video to see in real time. or like lightning. first there is extension, feelers. sometimes its a dead end. but many times the feelers find something interesting (usually nutritious) then from there, expansion in that direction.
You gotta allow for that extending and expanding process. many times this doesn’t happen thru books. sometimes can happen online.
at the opposite end of 1-5 year olds is at the college level, you’d want to encourage using the scientific method on subjects you think the scientific method won’t work, then pursue said studies anyway using science. go against the grain. cuz this is where scientific revolutions occur, but even if you don’t end up there… just the act of extension and expansion. is in and of itself worth it. cuz its either that , or factories and BPO/VA. where’s the sense of wonder in that?
I agree that boring young students is the exact opposite of what is needed, and rote instruction is boring. I also agree that upper levels need to be bridged into work, and computers are the best way to do that in the mid 21st century. Thus the crash investment in arming kids up with basic computer skills. Thanks for providing the Starlinks reference in your other comment. DepEd is actually working on a Starlinks program today to bring remote schools into the internet.
Good point on education. However it is worth noting that “formal” education is just as important as “magic of learning and questioning things.
The brain is a sort of muscles and one needs to lay the foundation to be able to grasp multilayered problems.
Einsteins statement is based on the awe science heads/academics have when they observe something and try to find asnwers …..
Montesory and other school types have yet to show that their pupils are any better of in a balanced asessment of skills.
I do agree tho that the hard grind used in schools all over Asia is not really helping to create an open mind and to think outside the box. The pressure with exam after exam is trully eyewatering (about 60% or so higher stress then in EU schools)…Still interesting to see that it is mostly eastern students that win competitions nowadays and that is not only i STEM subjects (Some Filipino won philosophy not too long ago)
Kids need to learn how to forgo instant gratification. When they have learned this basic discipline, they can be freer to explore. Even Edison said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
BUT Philippine rote learning is often brainless. The old example I often mention of having to memorize the names of native Filipino musical instruments without even an explanation of what the hell they were, much less pictures. Just to be able to quiz about it later.
we know how a guitar looks like, or a mandolin, an accordion, cymbals, snare drums, base drums, banjo, oboe, clarinet, saxofone, xylophone, metronome. my fave is cello, it so look like a giant horned bettle, haha. I dont like bongo drums because it reminds me bong go. I dont know if mace is musical instrument but I like seeing it in military parades and tattoo wielded by a pretty drum majorette, twirling it. in kulintangan, there are base drums there that look like inverted cooking pots, the drum sticks, fat and short and unlike the drum sticks used by rock musicians.
my neighbor can play a mean harmonica. and I must be brainless too, I learned by rote and can recall most of them and act automatically without much ado. like applying chest compression the knowledge comes by rote step by step.
I was mortified when teenage boys asked whether they need to ask permission to remove the bra of a female before they can apply chest compression. no! unless they want a slap on face! you dont apply chest compression to a female who collapsed on the ground, unconscious but breathing.
accidents can happen at home, like mum collapsing on the floor unconscious and not breathing. kids are often the 1st on the scene and must apply 1st aid immediately. but I wont go into details for they may distress.
p.s. first aid is now being taught at schools, but some schools are slow to respond.
Hey, there was no Internet yet when I went to school, so where could I have looked up how a kudyapi looked like? I remember because I went to Prof. Maceda, now a deceased National Artist, whose wife gave me piano lessons.
He even showed me the nose flutes of the Cordillera, I found them quite funny to play. I also had rote in piano, playing the scales up and down. In singing, I had solfeggio, which is also scales, ha ha ha ha ha, when I was in a children’s musical theater group. It is a pity that the mestiza they teased me with in that group didn’t go to the same high school as me. We would have made a great Kapamilya love team. She helped implement K12 as USec instead.
My kid is still not a chatgpt and the like believer. Good thing he googles or he may not be able to get in synch with the times. I told him to go with the flow and he just frowned and meh.
He survived the first and second term and was able to retain his scholarship but if he still thinks that chatgpt is cheating then everybody is a cheater.
Google changed its search format to start with an AI summary. People complained at first but maybe are now starting to appreciate it. I certainly do. AI will become everpresent. Cheating under old values perhaps, an extension of our brain in the new social environment unfolding now.
Reminds me of how in the Philippines we weren’t allowed to use calculators during math exams. The teachers said we might forget how to compute in our heads. “Wat if der is a brownout, or you are in da jungle?”
In German SHS, only basic calculators were allowed in exams, not the scientific calculators with sin, lim and tan, the ones that made me think “math really is a Chinoy thing” back then. We evolve with our tools. That’s just the way it has been since the Stone Age.
in high school, they are using scientific calculator that calculates like an engineer and still kids got the answers wrong! math problems are getting more complicated these days. and attention to details is paramount.
teachers are after accuracy now, and students are encourage to use and familiarize themselves with modern technology. now if I have to land the problem, I say, the engineers that oversaw the installation of the bollards at naia got their calculations wrong. the bollards can withstand the impact of bicycle but not the velocity of a suv that weights a ton and accelerating at 60k/hr. but no worriers, insurance can pick up the slack. but if insurance send their forensic team to inspect the downed bollard and found out it was wrongly installed, insurance wont pay. so now, there is finger pointing, the default of human failed system.
Oh, knowing the Philippines, politicians might sue the airport if the bollards damage their Fortuner, so maybe they made them yield?
OT: Ireneo, i just caught on youtube theres two Filipino swiss guards?!! one from Davao full blooded and the other half-swiss parentage. so cool.
(cross fingers its gonna be the Capuchin cardinal from the Congo to be Pope, praying this)
as this will trigger the Prophecy of the Popes (eg. Caput Negrum as the last Pope prior to 2027).
Sorry to say that sir…..but your kid has a point. AI is deeplearning what is already there…..We call it machine learning and while it can exceed the intelect already given to it it will never fully replace the human mind/brain. It is a tool for lazy people and while it wil be everpresent …it will also lead to ….well more dumb humans.
Point in case “The local tech influencer in Ireland stated publically how great AI is and that she used it recently to decide how to pack boxes when she moved house……….” One needs to sit for a moment and think about this statement…… and maybe then go and watch “Idiocracy 2006” and then reflect some more.
Yes AI has a place for example in medicine looking at CT scans…still needs a human to make the final call. I know coz in my recent health issues the 3 monthly ct scans often showed stuff that the radiologist found troublesome…..the oncologist just nodded and ignored it. In the end…the oncologist was right, where the radiologist advice would have meant a string of more sugeries and more chemo et…. Same when you look at say autonome driving algorithms….. THey will kil people for the sake of others and ….will get it wrong uiet regulary. Humans have developed a very special type of intelect that is not so easy to copy onto a machine.
The kid can stay ahead in grades without AI or at least with ery little of it.
I appreciate your inputs and do keep them coming.
Exactly
This changes things (not)
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/05/06/2440884/deped-clarifies-results-psa-literacy-survey
Change the facts after the fact so that the original problem studied can be avoided. Gotta love it. I, like many of us, will go with the World Bank study.
Pandemic stats.
In the Philippines, a significant number of private school students transferred to public schools, especially during the pandemic. Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) indicates that over 200,000 students transferred from private to public schools in 2020 and 2021, with some reports estimating nearly a million transfers since the start of the pandemic.
Factors Contributing to the Transfers:
Financial Constraints:The pandemic led to many families facing financial difficulties, making it harder to afford private school tuition.
School Closures:Some private schools faced closure or financial hardship, forcing students to seek enrollment in public schools.
Demand for Public School Education:The increased demand for public school enrollment due to these transfers has put a strain on the public school system.
Specific Figures and Examples:
DepEd Data:DepEd’s data reported that over 250,000 students transferred to public schools in 2020 and 2021.
Private School Closure:Philstar.com reported that up to 425 private schools have closed since 2020.
Private School Association Estimates:Some private school groups estimate that nearly a million private school students have transferred to public schools since the pandemic began.
Relocating the problem is still a problem.
Relocation in the Philippines can create significant educational challenges, particularly for families struggling to adapt to new environments and livelihoods. These challenges often include financial strain, lack of access to resources and infrastructure, and disruptions to schooling due to poverty and economic hardship.
Here’s a more detailed look at the problems:
1. Financial Strain and Poverty:
Loss of Scholarships:Families may lose scholarships intended for specific districts when they relocate.
Cost of Schooling:Even with no registration fees, families still face expenses for uniforms, shoes, notebooks, and food, which can be a burden.
Economic Difficulties:Finding new livelihoods after relocation can be challenging, and some families may prioritize putting food on the table over sending children to school.
Child Labor:In some cases, older children may be forced to work instead of attending school to support their families.
2. Lack of Resources and Infrastructure:
Inadequate Facilities: Schools may lack basic amenities like electricity, water, and classrooms.
Shortage of Supplies: Textbooks, equipment, and even chairs and tables can be scarce, hindering the quality of education.
Limited Access to Education: Children in rural areas may face significant challenges accessing quality education due to limited resources and infrastructure.
3. Disrupted Schooling:
Reduced Attendance:Hunger and lack of resources can lead to lower attendance rates, as families may prioritize basic needs over schooling.
Dropout Rates:The economic strain of relocation can contribute to increased dropout rates among students.
Impact on Education Quality:The overall quality of education can be affected by inadequate facilities, teacher shortages, and lack of resources.
4. Other Challenges:
Lack of Support:Families may not have adequate support networks in their new communities, making it harder to adapt to the new environment.
Cultural Differences:Relocation can create cultural differences and challenges for students and families.
Teacher Salaries and Overwork:Low teacher salaries and overworked teaching staff can also contribute to problems in education.
Pandora’s can of worms.
Relocation sites in the Philippines, especially for informal settlers, are often criticized for lacking essential facilities and utilities like electricity and water, and for failing to provide adequate employment opportunities. These shortcomings disproportionately burden resettled families, hindering their ability to build a stable and secure life. The government’s resettlement programs, while intended to address housing issues, can sometimes exacerbate existing problems and create new ones.
Here’s a more detailed look at the issues:
Lack of Basic Services:Many relocation sites struggle to provide basic necessities like electricity, water, and sanitation, leading to significant hardships for residents.
Limited Livelihood Opportunities:Relocation to agricultural areas can be particularly challenging for urban dwellers who may not have skills or experience in farming or other rural industries.
Disrupted Social and Economic Ties:Relocation can sever ties with family, friends, and work, making it difficult for resettled families to adapt to their new surroundings.
Insecurity and Land Rights:The lack of secure land titles and the potential for displacement due to development projects can create a sense of insecurity for residents.
Infrastructure Deficiencies:Relocation sites often lack proper infrastructure like roads, schools, and healthcare facilities, further isolating residents and hindering their development.
Unstable Electricity and Water Supplies:Even after years of resettlement, many communities continue to struggle with unreliable electricity and water supplies, impacting their daily lives and safety.
Lack of Consultation and Participation:Informal settlers are often not adequately consulted or involved in the planning and implementation of resettlement projects, leading to dissatisfaction and resentment.
Government’s Role:The National Housing Authority (NHA) is responsible for implementing resettlement programs, but their efforts have been criticized for failing to address the needs and aspirations of resettled families.
Legal Issues:The Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (RA 7279) aims to regulate urbanization and housing, but it can also lead to evictions and displacement, particularly for informal settlers.
Focus on Housing vs. Sustainable Development:Resettlement programs often prioritize providing housing without adequately addressing the broader issues of social and economic development, leading to unsustainable solutions.
Need for Holistic Approach:A more comprehensive approach is needed that considers the needs of resettled families, provides access to livelihood opportunities, ensures secure land tenure, and promotes social and economic development.
okay. i’m really impressed with NotebookLM. i told it to watch the above video. 40 plus minutes (watch it urself , its very good). then told it to create a transcript. that’s the above. then told it to do the podcast, am listening to it now and the two people are talking about the video perfectly.
so, NotebookLM actually “watched” the video!!!
its nuts. which means it — in time — will be able to go the opposite way, from text to making a video (and an interesting one at that!).
=======================
(conclusion, transcript from video)
The message that I have to all these folks who are involved in this subject is, if we are talking about true abundance and the possibility that there is life or physics beyond what we have understood, then what are we going to do with all that abundance? One choice is you take what I call the Gollum approach, which is it’s mine, all mine, nobody else’s. Or we can do what George C. Marshall did at the end of World War II, which is to say the way you end geopolitical conflict is to share. You build a Marshall Plan, you rebuild Europe, and right now we’re on the brink of having to potentially rebuild not just Ukraine but frankly we’re going to have to bring Russia back into the world economy somehow or another or we’ll continue to have a problem.
So the question is not only how do you recognize that we have this possibility, but what are we going to do with it? And is there a way to share the abundance with all of humanity? Share the new discoveries in physics, share the recognition if there is one to be had about what is life beyond us? And that is the point I’d like to leave all of you on. We’ve spent our entire lives being driven by scarcity. It’s a way of thinking, it’s an assumption set. Everything I’ve described tells us there is a possibility of abundance that will require a whole new way of thinking. And so that’s why I wanted to do a talk for you on the space race and the quest for ultraterrestrial life, because we’re not talking necessarily about life like us that just isn’t on this planet. We’re talking about a whole spectrum of scientific possibility and that is what we have to open our minds up to. And so I leave you just finished by saying, all of this is an incredible invitation to our curiosity. Thank you very much.
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there’s grammatical and spelling errors, but on whole its pretty high fidelity transcript. my question now is how the hell did the AI watch the video?
AI is everywhere. When you open your refrigerator door, it’s there peering back at you.
This is our near future.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2679552/
Mike Regan has everything he could ever want, a beautiful family and a top of the line smart house. The company he owns is on the verge of changing flight leasing forever. That is, until the relationship with his I.T. advisor turns nasty, to the point where his teenage daughter is being stalked and his family is under attack through every technological facet of their live
Scary.
In the States they lack STEM field jobs now they want Fish and chips I mean Ships and Chips act to be enforced.
On to the next problem, what to do with Luddites?
Retraining and reskilling can partially address artificial redundancies — but by themselves, they are not enough to fully eliminate the deeper structural problem. Here’s why: Where retraining helps:
Real redeployment: If the organization has genuine new areas of work (e.g., data analytics, cybersecurity, customer experience roles), reskilling can shift redundant workers into productive roles.
Adaptation to hybrid models: In cases where human oversight is still needed alongside automation (e.g., AI + human reviewers), retrained staff can take on these more value-adding, judgment-based tasks.
Workforce morale: Proactive reskilling can prevent morale problems that come with job insecurity, making staff more adaptable and willing to embrace tech changes.
Where retraining falls short:
No real demand: If tech upgrades have permanently reduced the need for certain roles, there may simply not be enough internal demand for all redundant staff, no matter how well retrained they are.
Political and bureaucratic blockages: In government and some large corporations, retraining doesn’t fix the underlying turf wars, institutional inertia, or job protectionism that sustain artificial roles.
Mismatch of skills and aptitude: Not every worker can easily transition to new tech-heavy or cognitively demanding roles, especially in cases where the new jobs require a very different skill set (e.g., coding, data analysis).
Delayed restructuring: Often, retraining programs are used as a band-aid to avoid politically difficult downsizing, leading to staff being “trained” but still occupying marginal or symbolic roles.
The deeper fix:
Reskilling works best when combined with organizational redesign — meaning:
Flattening management layers.
Re-engineering workflows to align with new tech capabilities.
Creating genuinely new functions or business lines that can absorb displaced workers.
Addressing governance and policy obstacles that lock in artificial redundancy.
In short: retraining is necessary but not sufficient. Without deeper structural change, you risk just moving people around in different titles without solving the redundancy issue.
Would you like me to go further and propose a practical model or framework (e.g., for a corporation or government agency) that ties together tech upgrades, reskilling, and structural reform? It could be useful if you’re building an argument or a paper.
The reduction in STEM majors is not a uniquely US phenomenon; it’s a problem across the West. In the US, there’s a combination of the following factors:
1.) Stagnant STEM salaries combined with downward pressure from companies gaming the H1B visa program to recruit foreign STEM workers who accept 60% or less or a fair salary.
2.) Lack of stable careers as one can’t expect to work one’s way up from an assistant technician or junior engineer to the top levels of company management like previous generations. This is the toxic effects of the Jack Welch school of management that does both value human and intellectual capital, only profits for shareholders.
3.) Since Reagan, stock buybacks were made legal so corporate boards focus on short term profit rather than long term research and development. Biggest example is the engineering collapse of Boeing, a formerly engineer-first company, after being reverse-taken over by McDonnell Douglas executives who are of the Jack Welch school. Same thing happened to Intel. Opposite example is AMD which was a profits first company for a while, before becoming an engineer first company again.
4.) College becoming “more accessible” due to easy student loans, then greedy universities focusing aspiring students in humanities which do not earn high salaries or able to get a job at all outside of academia. Coincided with the far-left turn of humanities departments and pushing identity theory, intersectionality for everything (white people misappropriating and misunderstanding African American political theory).
Some college course are cyclical as well. For a while there was an excess of nurses and doctors, then excess of dentists and pharmacists, then excess of lawyers, now excess of humanities majors. These trends are a lagging indicator.
Policy is hard. It’s easier to do nothing and blame others… Biden started the reversal of the negative trends with good policy, but as fixing the situation would take a decade, Trump is already destroying the plans.
Could not agree more.
Steve Jobs cited lack of talent and supply chain prevents an iPhone to be manufactured in the US. After 14 years, he is still correct
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/steve-jobs-quote-on-american-manufacturing-still-applies-today/91181530
Somewhat, though the main issue is most Americans don’t want to do labor intensive factory work, though plenty of Americans want to do more technical factory work (making cars for example). Not many people want to be “an army screwing tiny little screws,” as the current US Commerce Secretary fantasizes. Though high tech manufacturing is coming back to the US. Biden invested a lot into semiconductor factories and shipyards, and a good percentage of current iPhones and iPads use American made A-series chips. Chip final assembly (package assembly) is still manual labor intensive though and is done overseas in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. As for talent, arguably most tech is invented in the US. The US workforce’s strength is in information and high tech processes… we can outsource the labor elsewhere.