N.B.-This is a media advisory for tomorrow’s press conference of UP Sagip GE on the proposed reduction of General Education subjects at UP Diliman. Please feel free to share. Thank you!

MEDIA ADVISORY
March 16, 2017

Concerned UP profs, students denounce “murder” of General Education subjects at press con tomorrow (Friday)

The general education program should be strengthened, not “killed.”

UP Sagip GE holds a press conference tomorrow (Friday, March 17), 10 a.m. at the Vinzons Hall lobby in UP Diliman to denounce moves to reform the GE program which would result in a drastic reduction of subjects to be taken by undergraduate students.

The UP Diliman General Catalogue 2014 states that GE subjects aim to “give students knowledge and competencies that will better prepare them for the basic understanding of various ways of knowing.” Adopted in 1958, the GE program underwent what was described as a major revamp in 2001 with the introduction of the Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP) which was “premised on freedom of choice and no prerequisites.” Another revision called “hybrid” RGEP was done in 2012 “such that certain courses were prescribed under each domain” of arts and humanities; social sciences and philosophy; and math, science and technology.

There are proposals from some academic sectors at UP Diliman to reduce the number of GE units from the current 45 units to a minimum of 21. This means that colleges are being given the option to include only 7 GE subjects (from the current 15 subjects) in their undergraduate degree programs.

In a statement, UP Sagip GE said that when the University Council votes on the issue on March 20 (Monday), “there is a clear and present danger that the shortest and most abbreviated University-level GEP in the whole country” may be implemented in UP Diliman.

UP Sagip GE also argued that the drastic reduction reflects “a lack of concern for evidence and argument and a deep disregard for the values of liberal education so essential to this university.”

For its part, the Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) called for the rejection of the “looming economistic reform of our general education,” stressing the need “to defend our academic fortresses against the barbarization of learning by streamlining it to the demands of the labor market.”

In a joint statement written in Filipino, the Alyansa ng Mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika), Alyansa para sa Makabayang Edukasyon and the Alyansa ng Mga Tagapagtanggol ng Kasaysayan (Tanggol Kasaysayan) said that the proposed reduction of GE courses to a minimum of 21 units at UP Diliman is worse than the 24-unit required GE courses stipulated in CHED Memorandum No. 20 (series of 2013) that attempted to kill various GE courses like Filipino, Literature and Philippine Government and Constitution. The three alliances stressed that reducing the number of units may create robot-like workers and professionals who may have the skills but most likely lacking in social consciousness and critical thinking.

UP Sagip GE is an alliance of concerned faculty, students and staff who want a critical, nationalist, holistic and service-oriented GE program at UP.

Media coverage is requested. Interviews and photo opportunities are available.

For verification and more information, please call Associate Professor Danilo A. Arao (0908-866-2726).