Con artiste

Why would the Department of Education need confidential funds?

This is the burning question as Education Secretary and concurrent Vice President Sara Duterte asks Congress for ?150 million in confi funds. The public asks: Why would her potential expenditures necessitate secrecy? What does Sara intend to do with the moolah?

In response, Vice President Duterte says that her department must have confidential funds “because education is intertwined with national security”. To elaborate further, she says it is important that this country molds children that are patriotic, “who will love our country and defend our country.” Cue: Crickets.

As Albay Representative Edcel Lagman observes so aptly, confidential funds breed corruption, and the greater the funds, the greater the possibility of graft. Let me add something else: The greater the amount kept hidden from the public, the greater the suspicions the public has. Perhaps it is better to just divulge how the funds were used, and to whom they will be disbursed?

Leaving out these vital pieces of information leads to speculation. And derision. Like what is coming in the next few paragraphs. What is being planned? A major investment in spies? DepEd will hire lurkers and informers amidst our schoolchildren? Check which chubby-cheeked teener is spreading anti-country messages amongst their classmates?

Or, on a less facetious note, is DepEd planning to spy on schoolteachers, and figure out who are the more intelligent ones, the critical thinkers, who can discern the bull that’s being fed in government textbooks and quickly point out the errors to the kids (those teachers will quickly get the boot)? Or which teacher has read the Communist Manifesto or subscribes to Marxist thinking?

Communism. Perhaps, that is the only national security issue the red-scare government would be concerned about, given how prevalent the fear-mongering is as regards Communism. Talk about priorities. Perhaps a better use for our funds can be found?

For example, it would be great to just hire consultants to correct all those errors in mandatory textbooks issued to our school pupils. All those history lessons about how our leaders have served this country well, about how leaders did not abuse the trust reposed in them by gullible voters, and how a leader may or may not have stolen billions, should be thoroughly reviewed for accuracy.

How about developing a course on critical thinking? I would love to see a module where children are fed campaign television ads by politicians, and then asked the simple question on whether that politician was able to deliver on their promise. Simple stuff like: “I will solve the traffic problem on EDSA in three years” or “I will drive China out from the West Philippine Sea”.

Once children are able to wrap their heads around the concept on how disappointing those politicians are, the next step could be to ask them why those politicians keep getting elected. Who is responsible for electing them? Answer: Their parents, their relatives, their neighbors. Then they learn the life lesson of finger-pointing, and blaming, and naming and shaming. Core lessons for their transition to adulthood.

Of course, the teacher should ask the kids why these parents and relatives and neighbors think that way. How could they come to their conclusions? How could they keep on voting for actors or newscasters or boxers? Here at this critical juncture, the children will come to grips with the fact that all these older people they love and respect are gullible, or have been fed the wrong information, or have been misled by social media trolls, or are simply products of the same educational system where they are currently in.

All the above might hasten the child’s disillusionment and cynicism with the power structures that surround him. Then it could backfire splendidly, with none of the children ending up loving our country and wanting to defend it. They might end up migrating to the Middle East and North America pronto, like what’s already happening now.

Remind me not to lobby to be the next secretary of Education. I might just make global citizenry, responsibility and stewardship for the planet, and volunteerism mandatory.