What's happening to DepEd leadership? Has it become so deeply secularized that it has stricken out the phrase "God-loving" from its revised vision statement? Now its new vision reads. "We dream of Filipinos who passionately love their country and whose values and competencies enable them to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation." Compare that to the old vision statement which says; "By 2030 DepEd is globally recognized for good governance and for developing functionally literate and God-loving Filipinos."
Which version is more spiritual in orientation? Without doubt the original vision is because of the phrase "God-loving." In the new statement the agency's spiritual thrust seems to be embedded in the term "values." I said "seems: because the word "value" means belief or standard and does not necessarily relate to anything spiritual. One could believe, for example, in the importance of democracy as a form of social order, but this feeling can be purely secular in nature, Or one's standard (value) of good behavior can be honesty but such standard could be based on purely practical reasons sans any relevance to faith in God.
This neutral concept of values dominates in most Western oriented educational institutions particularly in the United States where the philosophy of pragmatism as championed by John Dewey prevails to this day. This explains why values clarification, not internalization is the accepted approach insofar as this element of the curriculum is concerned. The idea is to expose the individual to the various meanings or implications of the target value to enable him to make an intelligent choice whether or not to accept it as a behavioral guide. Acceptance therefore determines the worth of any value as far as the individual is concerned and not the doctrinal or cultural concept of it.
Is value clarification an accepted strategy in values education in this country? You bet it is. And there's no way we can avoid this because our educational philosophy is a reflection of American thinking. We may be politically independent of the U.S. but in terms of educational policy and direction we are still a vassal state. And this new vision statement of DepEd is proof of this colonial thinking.
By scrapping the phrase "God-loving" from its dream of what the new generations of Filipinos will be in the 21st century, DepEd sets aside the God-oriented formation of our youth in favor of the dogged pragmatism of the West. It turned its back on its mandate as a culture transmitting agency because faith in God is a deep-seated cultural heritage among us.
Worse, DepEd disregarded the constitutional provision on belief in the Almighty as a national policy. Look at the beginning text of the preamble of the Constitution: "We, the sovereign Filipino people imploring the aid of Almighty God …." And read a part of Section 3 Article XIV: on what schools should teach: "They shall inculcate patriotism and nationalism foster love of humanity… strengthen ethical and spiritual values…."
How could our current crop of educators overlook this constitutional mandate? In fairness to them they have retained the term "Maka-diyos" as one of the core values of the agency. But this value statement is a mere after-thought of the vision statement because the latter, as pointed out by CBCP president Bishop Socrates Villegas," guides the articulation of policy" and "orientates plan of action." The bishop is right because what is not in the general concept cannot be translated into a plan of action and therefore cannot be realized.