By Mark Angelo Montero | PTV Public Affairs Intern
Spiderman once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
We all know that the government serves as the foundation of a country—acting as the head and heart of the nation, responsible for making and enforcing laws, maintaining public order, providing public services, ensuring national security, managing the economy, and protecting individual rights.
With all those responsibilities in mind, a big question revolves around whether a college degree is a must for local and national government roles.
This burning issue is the core topic of Thursday’s episode of Iskoolmates, held at Holy Angel University in Pampanga.
Those representing ‘pro’ are debaters Francine, Jiarei, and Rafael. Meanwhile, Shanna, Frances, and Dominic represented the ‘cons’ of requiring a college degree for local and national government positions.
Based Sign for Competence
The discussion started with the question: “College degree for national and local government positions, dapat ba o hindi dapat?”
With this question, Francine from the ‘pro’ side firmly agreed to require college degrees for local and national government positions, pointing out that different professions also require college degrees.
“A completed college degree is a sign for competence, and we demand college degrees from every field, including teachers, lawyers and even doctors—because our lives depend on their work [in] the same way an entire nation depends on its leaders,” she said.
Shanna strongly disagreed, highlighting that public servants do not require a college degree, “You mentioned that for other professions, college degrees are required; but are you also aware that for Civil Service officers or people who work in the government, they are actually not required to have a college degree.”
As the discussion went on, Francine stressed that obtaining a college degree is necessary because even ordinary citizens are pursuing college degrees,”You mentioned that the government is elected by the people. Since the President or executive branch has the authority to govern the people, then first, they must have [a] college degree because even the ordinary citizens are pursuing college degrees.”
Shanna, however, argued that, “college degrees don’t necessarily equate to competence, and they also do not equate to integrity.”
Education as Criteria for Competence
The debate intensified when the host continued to asked the question: “Kung gagawin nating uniform ang qualifications ng mga national and local government position, do you think magiging solusyon ito sa problema at suliranin ng ating bansa?”
Frances emphasized that instead of having a policy that requires a college degree, we should be focusing on a strong accountability system.
Jiarei however objected to Frances’ remarks, citing that “Society has already spoken; according to Van Noord et al. of 2019, they have seen that voters, [whether] educated or not, both preferred educated candidates because they see education as a criteria for competence.”
Legal Profession vs. Political Experience
The discussion eventually led to a comparison of higher education, with knowledge most likely to achieve good governance, while political based experience [is claimed to] obtain the same outcome.
Rafael pointed out that if an individual will run for a political position, it is a must to be educated because they have proper knowledge in the government. Rafael noted that “According to Chent, 2016, those who are educated enough to graduate in higher education have known the true meaning of governance.”
“Na-mention mo na dapat may alam sila, kaya nga may SK tayo para matuto sila from the start. Ngayon, bata pa lang sila, natututo sila kung panong sistema natin para alam nila ginagawa nila—hindi porket may college degree ka, alam mo na.”
Rafael added that he’s referring to the national level, not local level of requirements to qualify as a candidate for government position.
“Pero appointed officials are being appointed by those who are elected. Nasaan ang karapatan ng elected officials, kung mismo sila walang degree? Nasaan ang batayan ng pagiging isang college graduate na may karunungan at dunong at talino, kung wala ka mismong college [degree] na nagpapatunay na meron kang talino para magbasa at magsulat ng batas?”
Education System
With that being said, the discussion transitioned to the heated question: “Sa inyong obserbasyon, gaano ba ka-efficient and effective ang serbisyo ng isang government official na may [hawak na] bachelor’s degree compared sa mga walang college degree?”
Shanna explained that all government officials can propose bills, “It’s not necessarily that [if] you don’t have a college degree, you’re not competent or you automatically are not intelligent enough to actually author bills. There’s other ways like honorary degrees, there’s other ways to further your education even without tertiary education.”
Francine pointed out however, “Are you aware that even late former Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago also advocated na dapat magkaroon ng college degree ang mga tatakbong politicians natin; and also yung expert na si Francisco Magno, he also advocated na dapat silang magkaroon ng degree.”
In the end, this episode widened the scope of the citizenry’s knowledge towards obtaining a college degree to qualify in local and national government positions. The college degree qualification for local and national government positions should be seen as necessary to achieve quality governance.
The debate highlighted the benefits of adding the college degree for local and national government positions as a qualification, while stating the current situation of the government system without college-degree holder politicians.
