Skip to main content

Statement of the SES expressing its opposition to the proposal to remove Ethics in the GE Curriculum

 

We, members of the Board of Directors of the Social Ethics Society, express our strong opposition to the proposal to remove ethics in college. Such move is bereft of merit and is ignorant as to the value and purpose of the teaching of the course, which is thoroughly rooted in the integral and critical function of higher education. The proposal to transfer it to Senior High School deprives college students of the teaching of ethics as a professional course, which is crucial in their civic engagements and the pursuit of a democratic society that can only be grounded in responsible citizenship and critical thinking. 

The direction of Edcom and its advisers from the technical panels of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) reduces our whole education system into a mode of creating docile workers who will constitute the labor force that will serve the whims and interests of a capital intensive and consumer driven globalized neoliberal economic order. It only breeds our subservience to a colonial past that has denied our people their basic sense of dignity and authentic freedom. Education is meant to make us better humans, not tools in a material world controlled by the rich and powerful. 

Ethics requires maturity. Our Senior High School students are not predisposed into learning the ethical theories and their application. The technical panel only sees ethics from the vantage point of a Manila based academic but ignores the context and content of the course which is framed based on the experiences of our communities, taking into consideration our attachments to local history, culture, and religion. The technical panel reduces the meaning of the good life into something mechanical and economic. 

Indeed, this act of Edcom violates our democratic rights since no Mindanao based ethics teacher or philosophical association has been consulted on the matter. If any, consultations are a mere formality intended to legitimize their dubious motives. Edcom relies on the advice of some 'elite' academics or so called experts who do not have an idea as to the actual relevance of the teaching of ethics in college across a broad spectrum. Such an actuation on their part is simply demeaning and disregards the contribution of the esteemed ethics scholars in the country who have helped shape its moral and philosophical traditions. 

At this very crucial time of overt corruption in the government offices, the value and relevance of the Ethics subject do not need much explanation to be understood. The motion to remove the Ethics subject from the College curriculum is nothing short of capricious. In the case of the Bangsamoro region, ethics empower students to aspire for a strong moral compass that will guide future leaders to the right direction. Good governance requires ethical competence and a basic understanding of the ground and norms of morality, one that the late Ramon C. Reyes no less emphasized. 

The proposal to remove ethics in college is in danger of risking the future of this country based on the biased opinions of a few individuals whose experiences are nothing compared to the issues and realities that ethics teachers in Mindanao have dealt with. The teaching of ethics is not a burden. It actually enhances what we offer to our students in terms of how they are supposed to value their human freedom and that they must not be dictated by the delusions of a select few who wrongly believe that they exclusively know and can decide what is good for this country. 

Dr. Godiva Eviota-Rivera 

Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc

Dr. Ian Clark Parcon 

Prof. Menelito Mansueto

Dr. Rogelio Bayod 

(Board of Directors, Social Ethics Society) 

Popular posts from this blog

Christopher Ryan Maboloc: An Intellectual Biography

By Menelito Mansueto (MSU-IIT)  Christopher Ryan Maboloc is a Davao-based Filipino scholar known for his work in Social and Political Philosophy, Bioethics, Philippine Democracy, and the Philosophy of Technology. He is an Associate Professor at Ateneo de Davao University and a Visiting Professor at Silliman University. His body of work often engages with topics of social justice, structural inequality, and political ethics, particularly in the context of the Philippines. An Erasmus Mundus scholar, the author was trained in political party building and democratic governance at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Bonn and Berlin, Germany.  Dr. Maboloc is the author of two books, Radical Democracy in the Time of Duterte and The Question of Justice in Contemporary Liberal Theory. He is the editor of the two-volume Ethics in Contemporary Philippine Society, a collection of essays by Filipino scholars and academics, notably from Mindanao. He also authored several textbooks, including Et...
Read more

Program, Philosophy of Science Webinar (Theory, Science and Religion)

The Theology Department of Ateneo de Davao University invites you to this Philosophy of Science Webinar navigating the intersections between theory, science, and religion this coming November 16, 2024 from 8am to 11am via Zoom.  PROGRAM 8:00 Opening Remarks - Dr. Roawie Quimba, Chair Theology Department, Ateneo de Davao University 8:10 - Introduction of Speakers  8:15 First Lecture - Dr. Juichiro Tanabe (Waseda University, Japan) - The Role of Science in Peace and Conflict Studies 8:45 Second Lecture - Dr. Rogelio Bayod (North Valley College) - Ethics of Technology: Contributions from Indigenous Wisdom 9:15 Third Lecture - Dr. Layne Hartsell (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok) - Sandra Mitchell's Integrative Pluralism 9:45 Fourth Lecture - Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc (Ateneo de Davao University) - Cloning the First Human: The Strange Case of Dr. Hwang 10:15 Open Forum 11:00 End of Program Host - Prof. Menelito Mansueto, MSU-IIT This online event is sponsored by the Theology D...
Read more