People Power Advice #6: Enlightenment
Frank A. Hilario
June 13, 2009
Revised 13 June 2009. The original short essay Advice #1 of 09 June has expanded into 7 different short essays uploaded separately – after suddenly yesterday I wanted to dramatize the phenomenon called People Power in distinct contrast with what Imperial Manila is now trying to raise to the nth power. The series is really my way of saying, 'Good luck! For People Power, you need more than good luck.'
People Power Advice #1: Charismatic Leader
People Power Advice #2: Martyr
People Power Advice #3: Challenger
People Power Advice #4: Love
People Power Advice #5: Systems
People Power Advice #6: Enlightenment
People Power Advice #7: Theory & Practice
IT WAS THE HISTORICAL, first-ever People Power, or EDSA Revolution, when President Ferdinand E Marcos was made to flee to Hawaii, in 1986. Then it was People Power 2, or EDSA Revolution 2, when President Joseph 'Erap' Estrada was made to resign, in 2001. Now they want People Power 3, or EDSA Revolution 3, as they want President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down from Malacañang Palace into a lowly place in history. 23 years later, we Filipinos have not learned the People Power lesson on political power, have we?
We have always equated political power with the power of the President. Something wrong happens to the economy, and we blame it on corruption, and we point to high up the ladder of power as the cause, this time GMA.
We have never stopped to think that the power of politicians is a limited kind of political power. The real power comes in the form of People Power, and that comes from the people exercising their individual wills and not their individual will-nots.
Fay Chung, Director of the Unesco International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, says schools play a critical role in political conflicts (tc.columbia.edu):
Fundamentalists, no matter their denomination, value education as the key to power, and the victory of the Taliban who were educated in fundamentalist institutions is a symbol of the power of education. Thus schools are often the battlegrounds for the hearts and minds of the next generation.
I don't think the perennial parliamentarians of the streets, the list of which includes teachers, realize that education is the key to political power. Otherwise, they would be in the classrooms teaching and not out in the streets protesting. A low salary is a poor excuse for endlessly protesting, for endlessly teaching poorly.
I'm a writer by avocation, a teacher by vocation; I passed the 1st Teacher's Exam in the Philippines in 1965 with a grade of 80.6%. I have taught in high school and college, in public and private schools. I have also been editor of technical papers for the last 34 years at least. So I should know when I say that the 2 magic words in teaching are materials and methods – as they are in scientific studies; and, in my opinion, the methods are more important than the materials. You don't learn from materials unless your methods help you learn; the 1000 books we have in our library does not make Frank A Hilario a walking encyclopedia unless I learn how to use them first.
So then I will have to say, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a pen.' (See also my 'Tony's Will,' americanchronicle.com, where I point out that 'political power grows out of the banging of a gavel' – law.)
Now then, if education is for political power, what kind: intellectual or economic? The answer is: either or both.
Having said that, let me remind you that political power is not the power of politicians – see my 'People Power Advice #1: Charismatic Leader,' americanchronicle.com. Rather, it is political will, yours and mine. It's the individual's; you exercise it or you don't. In matters of community, political will does not reside in institutions – it resides in individuals. 'Lack of political will' means people refuse to exercise their political power; they prefer to simply be beggars, parasites or sycophants.
Where education is for intellectual power, knowledge management becomes the crucial factor in transactions of all kinds. Where education is for economic power, business management becomes the crucial factor in transactions of all kinds. Where education is for politicians to learn something, policy studies becomes the crucial factor in transactions of all kinds. I am assuming that politicians have the desire to learn something better.
Therefore, the most potent form of People Power is education. If you rally, it must be to educate. Therefore, if you are a consultant, guru or teacher and you are out to protest in the streets, you have chosen the lesser form of People Power. Well, this is a free country; you and I are free to make fools of ourselves.
People Power Advice #1: Charismatic Leader
People Power Advice #2: Martyr
People Power Advice #3: Challenger
People Power Advice #4: Love
People Power Advice #5: Systems
People Power Advice #6: Enlightenment
People Power Advice #7: Theory & Practice
IT WAS THE HISTORICAL, first-ever People Power, or EDSA Revolution, when President Ferdinand E Marcos was made to flee to Hawaii, in 1986. Then it was People Power 2, or EDSA Revolution 2, when President Joseph 'Erap' Estrada was made to resign, in 2001. Now they want People Power 3, or EDSA Revolution 3, as they want President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down from Malacañang Palace into a lowly place in history. 23 years later, we Filipinos have not learned the People Power lesson on political power, have we?
We have always equated political power with the power of the President. Something wrong happens to the economy, and we blame it on corruption, and we point to high up the ladder of power as the cause, this time GMA.
We have never stopped to think that the power of politicians is a limited kind of political power. The real power comes in the form of People Power, and that comes from the people exercising their individual wills and not their individual will-nots.
Fay Chung, Director of the Unesco International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, says schools play a critical role in political conflicts (tc.columbia.edu):
Fundamentalists, no matter their denomination, value education as the key to power, and the victory of the Taliban who were educated in fundamentalist institutions is a symbol of the power of education. Thus schools are often the battlegrounds for the hearts and minds of the next generation.
I don't think the perennial parliamentarians of the streets, the list of which includes teachers, realize that education is the key to political power. Otherwise, they would be in the classrooms teaching and not out in the streets protesting. A low salary is a poor excuse for endlessly protesting, for endlessly teaching poorly.
I'm a writer by avocation, a teacher by vocation; I passed the 1st Teacher's Exam in the Philippines in 1965 with a grade of 80.6%. I have taught in high school and college, in public and private schools. I have also been editor of technical papers for the last 34 years at least. So I should know when I say that the 2 magic words in teaching are materials and methods – as they are in scientific studies; and, in my opinion, the methods are more important than the materials. You don't learn from materials unless your methods help you learn; the 1000 books we have in our library does not make Frank A Hilario a walking encyclopedia unless I learn how to use them first.
So then I will have to say, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a pen.' (See also my 'Tony's Will,' americanchronicle.com, where I point out that 'political power grows out of the banging of a gavel' – law.)
Now then, if education is for political power, what kind: intellectual or economic? The answer is: either or both.
Having said that, let me remind you that political power is not the power of politicians – see my 'People Power Advice #1: Charismatic Leader,' americanchronicle.com. Rather, it is political will, yours and mine. It's the individual's; you exercise it or you don't. In matters of community, political will does not reside in institutions – it resides in individuals. 'Lack of political will' means people refuse to exercise their political power; they prefer to simply be beggars, parasites or sycophants.
Where education is for intellectual power, knowledge management becomes the crucial factor in transactions of all kinds. Where education is for economic power, business management becomes the crucial factor in transactions of all kinds. Where education is for politicians to learn something, policy studies becomes the crucial factor in transactions of all kinds. I am assuming that politicians have the desire to learn something better.
Therefore, the most potent form of People Power is education. If you rally, it must be to educate. Therefore, if you are a consultant, guru or teacher and you are out to protest in the streets, you have chosen the lesser form of People Power. Well, this is a free country; you and I are free to make fools of ourselves.
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