as for the South Koreans concentrating on LCD development instead of rice – believe it or not, South Korea focused on that “core competency” of rice production – they are now self-sufficient in rice! Though having less than 50 million population certainly helped.

in addition, the South Korenas have shown they have more than one “core competency” – aside from rice production, they have their own technology.

rather than impress Americans with English, the South Koreans opted to wow them with their technology. their English improvement can follow later.

the South Koreans realized that they don’t need a call center quality English skills to learn and appropriate technology written in English

Pinoys have placed so much premium on English speaking.

my point in saying that is this – the guardians of Philippine English seem to have the notion that our country’s no. 1 core competency is speaking English (instead of excellence in mathematics, science, engineering, biotech, software, etc).

Which led Dr. Isagani Cruz, one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court, to observe that the underlying reason for this return to English as medium of instruction is to make telephone operators out of our graduates.

I was not referring to a fact, I was referring to a perception by the defenders of English for Pinoys that our “core competency” – what makes the Filipino worker stand out in the global workforce – is he/she speaks English!

Deficiency in English is easier to remedy, than deficiency in math, science, etc.

…and the importance of english to maximize those competencies in the international market.

…and learning english along the way. – jumper

…which goes to show what should be the priority competencies to work on.

…and learning english along the way.

and you know what? i was actually referring to intestines back then as isaw and not as the digestive system. that might have contributed to her confusion.

@upn student
power dynamics? could be. but as i’ve mentioned, i’m all for practicality and expediency. whether or not it is caused by power dynamics, i really have no interest getting into that.