POLSC204

Level of education in the Philippines

Historical Narrative
Since, time immemorial, the education rate in the Philippines have been relatively low
when compared to the entire world. Likewise, in social media, I have noticed how the level of
one’s education has been weaponized to create a divide so big wherein political participation and
the quality thereof has been compromised. The comments “Bobo or walang pinagaralan” and its
relation to ones political choice has been used time and time again to invalidate one’s political
choice.
While it is apparent that access to education has a direct correlation with the right of
suffrage and thereon political participation, it is not as simple as it seems. What is less apparent
is that how people have the actual access to political participation but is unable to participate
thereon with actual quality.
Hence, what I aim to prove or disprove here is how the level of education of people
affects the quality of their political participation.
Literature
In the article written by Bong Palatino, he discussed how the Philippines has suffered a
continuous decline with regard to the levels of education nationwide.1 In the same article, it was
observed that the trend has been noticed for decades already. Hence, this article is very helpful
with regard, to establishing not just the lack of education but the steady decline in the
Philippines.
While literacy rate according to the PSA is at above 90%2, it must be noted that literacy
should not be taken akin to political participation. In such, the political participation rate could
vary strongly due to many other variables.
The view that the level of education should be directly correlated to one’s political
participation “just like that” has been challenged in the study done by Mikael Persson from the
University Gothensburg, in his paper “Does Type of Education Affect Political Participation?
Results from a Panel Survey of Swedish Adolescents”, he postulated that with regard to the said
relationship between;
“Taking these caveats into account, results do indicate that we ought to reconsider the
view that type of education has a causal effect on political participation. Rather than support for

https://philippineeducationhub.com/?p=80&fbclid=IwAR3f5A0usXcLoN5iD7rDFnZ7Nat8skLnOzFgxS0lqnLcXWgEJpj
dz2cuKmQ#:~:text=Formal%20education%20was%20introduced%20to,teachings%20of%20the%20Catholic%20Chu
rch
2
https://psa.gov.ph/content/education-women-and-men
a causal effect of education, results indicate that we might need to return to the conclusions
made already in the seminal study by Langton and Jennings (1968) over frty years ago: the
effects of civic education on political socialization are marginal at best and can be explained
with reference to factors operating even before individuals gain education”3
This reading simply suggests that somehow, its not as easy as it looks. Education is not as
easily co-relatable to political participation. Hence, the need for further looking into the said
topic.
Lastly, in the article “Vocational and Academic Education and Political Engagement: The
Importance of the Educational Institutional Structure” written by Herman G. van de Werfhorst
the author, suggest that the most important factor in political participation is one’s quality or type
of education. This finding strongly suggest, that it is not merely having education, but rather the
quality thereof is the most important factor in having a say when it comes to political
participation.4

Conceptual Data
The conceptual data I would use are ones which strongly shows a correlation with regard
to education and political participation.
The data gathered by the University of Chicago the from 1970 to 2015 with regard to the
Philippine’s education rate shows that in recent years, that in 1983, the lowest recorded
educational rate was at 81% whilst the highest was in 2013 was at 97%.5
This clearly illustrates how the Philippines has a steady incline in educational rate.
However, other studies show a steady decline in the quality of educations Filipinos
usually get. While more and more people are getting educated, people seem to have been getting
lower and lower quality of education.6
With such diminishing quality, I believe that a correlation thereof to the quality of
political participation could be seem. As again, suggested by an aforementioned article, it is not
the type of education pe se, but the quality thereof which has a direct correlation with political
participation.
Lastly, the main correlation I found was how the level of education affects one’s
participation. In the article written by Sunshine Hillygus called “The Missing Link; Exploring
the Relationship of higher education and political engagement” she postulated that;

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259674634_Does_Type_of_Education_Affect_Political_Participation_Re
sults_from_a_Panel_Survey_of_Swedish_Adolescents
4
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/689613#
5
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/689613#
6
ibid
 “Accordingly, it seems plausible that acollege education, in and of itself, may directly
affect democratic behavior.Participation in a university community may socialize individuals to
participatein political communities or may impart some of the basic associational skills necessary
to function in the political and civic realm (Galston, 2001). As To queville first recognized, the
norms and skills of community and civic involvement carry over to political involvement as
well. But even if partici-pation in an educational community—a classroom, a department, or a
uni-versity—is an important connective mechanism between higher education andparticipation,
this paper has shown that the specific content of education (bothin college and before) is also
critical. The findings suggest that an educationalsystem geared towards developing verbal and
civic skills can encourage future participation in American democracy. Thus, as universities
increasingly move away from broad liberal-arts curriculum toward a more technical
andspecialized curriculum designed to prepare students for the working world, we should be
aware of potential unintended consequences for democratic engagement”
This ends the study as it shows how such degree of education clearly affects one’s quality
of political engament.
Recommendations
Due to the literature and data I have gathered and studied, I hereby recommend how the
Philippine educational system must be looked under the light of more keen eyes. Maleducation
and political engagement are not as easily co-relatable as it seems. The quality of both, likewise,
intertwined just as much as their on set appearance are.
This I suggest that positions with regard to the said matter be further investigated and
studied, even more under more strenuous circumstances. Thus, even if the relationship may seem
more apparent, it still must be studied further.
Bibliography

https://philippineeducationhub.com/?p=80&fbclid=IwAR3f5A0usXcLoN5iD7rDFnZ7Nat8skLn
OzFgxS0lqnLcXWgEJpjdz2cuKmQ#:~:text=Formal%20education%20was%20introduced%20t
o,teachings%20of%20the%20Catholic%20Church
https://docs.iza.org/dp13954.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1xQEOL1I-
dbIT24ncOdqUMjNEq8xFrOjOSXak3TDeUj025zzQFpuIQ0Wo
https://psa.gov.ph/content/education-women-and-men