Outcomes-based education, OBE. A lovely idea. I am glad that I am part of its contextualized execution in the Philippines. But this is not about that. This is about the business side of it.
And it starts with a Filipino icon - the jeepney.
The jeepney is part of the Philippine cultural heritage. Riding in it is part of being a Filipino and the Philippine experience. Just ask the recent visitor we had - Vin Diesel :- )
But if one is to judge it in terms of efficiency and carbon footprint, I think we would feel differently about it.
The idea that a driver has to reach a certain amount, boundary, before he earns his keep drives the one behind the wheel to behave according to his local optima, yung kita niya, rather than system optima, yung bilis ng paghatid ng pasahero. And one can't blame him too for all this fracas, the Philippine transport system is built around a franchise model. Meaning, it is a business opportunity that serves a society's needs. Though it serves society, it is still a business, thus profit-driven.
This also help in explaining why jeepney operators does not feel "motivated" to properly maintain (or simply meet the minimum requirement) his cash cow, the jeepney itself . Why would he if the price for the service is controlled? His only option, is to keep operations cost low so that he squeaks some profit. Thus the prevalence of poorly maintained jeepney abound. Have you seen Manong driver pump the brakes a few times before one feels the jeep decelerate?
To further aggravate the situation is the fact that there's two polar opposite systems that try to exists as one. From the operator's perspective, it is a low cost business. But from the man behind the wheel it must be customer driven. Customer driven? Yes. Because the jeep has to stop where one wants to alight and it will stop where one wants to be picked up. This dynamic drives the need for traffic management. Two ideas being forced to co-exist will result to an enforcement challenge, actually - a nightmare . Just ask the MMDA and the respective cities' local traffic enforcement units. Of which by the way, also drives a lot of vile things to happen :- )
Now, imagine that this same concept was also used in our nation's education system. How many of the current schools that operate are profit driven even if their respective charters do stipulate non-profit? And if we compare the number of public schools vis-a-vis the private schools, what ratio are we going to come up with?
Privatizing education makes (made) sense and it has solve a problem much like the jeepney system or the franchise model of transportation system. The jeepney was a brillian solution after World War II. It solved the problem of transportation infrastructure by recycling surplus US jeeps and gave immediate employment to Filipinos after the war. Now that the situation has changed, the once brilliant solution that was massively embraced is turning out to be the reason why we now have this massively huge mess.
What happens now if we get the same result from further privatizing, a brilliant solution to the state's limited resources, our education system relentlessly? Would it look like and feel like our jeepney transportation system in a decade? Do our government bureaucrats in MMDA have the same headaches in DepEd or CHED when it comes to enforcement or regulatory functions?
Would OBE be simply a shiny new jeepney in this situation? Though shiny and new, a jeepney still?
I wonder.
But, let me do my part and do that report :- )
"... why think like mere men?"
