Thursday, March 29, 2012

BE#13: Reality Check (Feb 20)


Salut!!

     As of February 2011, there are 195 official countries in the world. One of which is The Republic of the Philippines which is comprised of 7,107 islands is located in Southeast Asia. And like any other country, the Philippines also experience some problems in their country.

     One of the problems in the Philippines is the lack of quality education or even worse, education itself.

     Education and academic quality can mean different things to different people, depending on their role in the society.

     Lack of education, most often than not, leads to unemployment. Compared to someone who has a good academic background, companies will surely disregard people who apply without proper education.

     People work in order to provide their basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. It is not unbeknownst to us that education has a really big role on our future. For most of us, it is the factor that decides our fate. Because of this, I find education as equally as important as food and shelter. Food is considered necessary for our health while education is food for our brain/mind.

     Working hard for your education somehow means that you’ll make more money for yourself. Aside from learning a lot, it is also scientifically proven to make you live longer, and live a happier life and studies also show that it increases the number of interesting people you will meet.

     A passive attitude or procrastinating can be a factor of not having quality education. You may be in a prestigious school but if you don’t listen, what is the use of going to school? Nothing.

     The Philippines is over populated. As of 2010, the Philippines ranked 12th as the most populous country in the world. It doesn’t really seem that much of a problem upon hearing this but if this problem is not handled correctly; it may actually be the biggest problem our country will ever face.

     Overpopulation is like a thief with a mask. You know it’s a thief but you’re never sure who it is. This problem needs to be taken seriously because our natural resources are limited. No matter what we do, it will someday not be enough for all of us. There is no such thing as unlimited in this world.

     In our world today, people often take a lot of things for granted. They don’t really analyze the long-term consequences of our actions and they just do what they want to do. Doing things before thinking is if not the worst, it is one of the least peculiarities that you would want to have.

     Aside from the factors that we have no control of like decline in the death rate and migration, lack of control, lack of education and lack of guidance are also some of the causes of overpopulation.

     Lack of control simply because of the alarming reality that financially unstable families are actually bigger in number that the families that belong to the middle and upper class.

     Lack of education with regards to family planning is a big factor too because up to now, it is a fact that many people especially the ones living in rural areas are not aware on how to use contraceptives.

     “Kapag mas marami, mas masaya!” – This is one of the most common lines you will hear whenever Filipinos have gatherings. A typical Filipino is naturally friendly. They have this thing in them that wants company. This makes them conclude that the bigger your family is, the happier you will be. One more thing is that they believe that if they have more children, more luck and more blessings come their way. They also think that more children is equal to more work force and because of this, they think that they have more chances of having a better life.

     Our environmental problems are also one of the worst problems in the Philippines. Pollution is a good example of this.

     According to the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), only about 10% of sewage in the Philippines is treated or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. The rest goes back to nature – usually the sea.

     Given this observation, poor waste treatment, laziness of people to dispose their garbage properly and underestimating the blow of population is the cause of water pollution.

     Water pollution can kill life that inhabits water-based ecosystems such as fishes, dolphins, birds, and many other animals. Water pollution disrupts the natural food chain as well. The chemicals, when eaten by animals, may poison them and if this goes on, a part of the food chain may actually vanish and stop the food chain.

     The Ideology that would best address and solve the problems I’ve mentioned namely: lack of quality education, overpopulation and environmental problems is liberalism.

     All the problems that I have mentioned are actually connected with each other. The lack of education can cause unemployment which may eventually lead to poverty. An environmental problem such as pollution has a lot of bad effects to our health. Pollution may also be a cause of the diminishing natural resources that we have. And if there comes a time wherein these resources are not sufficient anymore, poverty comes in. Another cause of poverty is overpopulation.

     This ideology believes that freedom is important in all areas of life. We should have the right to decide for our own but along with this freedom, we should also have access to opportunities like all the others.

     I feel that it is just right that the government will still be guiding the citizens to maintain order but they should be cautious not to go beyond their role. It will also be better if they will have a definite line between the right and the wrong not only to avoid chaos but because it is the right thing to do and it will also be the best for everyone.

     Having equal opportunities most especially when it comes to quality education may help the Filipinos live a better life.

References:
Rosenberg, Matt. “The Number of Countries in the World”. Geography. March 2011. 6 July 2011.  http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/numbercountries.htm
“Saving Precious Remains”. Environmental Problems. 6 July 2011. http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/philippines/environmental_problems__in_philippines/


That's all for now!

Merci beaucoup, Au revoir,


Carl               `


No comments:

Post a Comment