SMART For Smart Education
Written by Major Tom
Filed under: Science & Technology, Education
September 26, 2006
SELF-EXSPRESSION is one form of capacity that must be inculcated into the individual, if one adheres to the maxim of complete education—or as our Ateneo moderators had always pointed out, a well-rounded education. Ironically, such is never a field of knowledge that is formally offered in any educational institution, as if it were a subject matter or a group of knowledge like Mathematics or Science. The closest we could get to it is perhaps through communication subjects like English and Filipino, thru extemporaneous speaking and debate.
Maybe I could be wrong but true to my heart, I do insist that the educated individual, as he or she becomes after years of knowledge and skills inculcation in classrooms, should come as a person confident in his speeches, in expression and in his outward demeanors, that in this manner, fulfillment in life-long endeavors becomes more reachable or obtainable. Like for example, in a case between two young executives working in the same institution, the one who is more comfortable and skilled in his or her communications (in undertakings like field reports, task accountings, concepts and proposals) would more often than not be more upward in mobility than the one who struggles with his or her wordings. In this light, I should adhere to the precept that self-expression is one mighty field that every student should obtained and be well-honed at.
In connection with this, it should be laudable that the phone company that many of us patronizes is suddenly not merely interested in profiting tons and tons of money from its customers as now it offers this very innovative and certainly beneficial program where interested schools and colleges could avail of free webhosting and be online with no cost at all. Considering how costly and labor-intensive this kind of undertaking partakes, this is a great boon for our educational system and certainly students benefited from this could get enhanced methods in improving their communication skills as well as be able to finally ride this amazing wave called the Internet superhighway.
Maybe, students can formally be introduced to net concepts like blogging and networking, since I do believe that these undertaking could be utilized as a very effective tool in molding the individual to become fully capacitated in this ultra-modern age, and be truly competitive as a skilled individual in the global arena.
Read Philippine Daily Inquirer’s “Smart offers free hosting, online library for school program”.
It’s a good news indeed.
Comment by melai — September 26, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
EQ (Emotional Intelligence) should count for something. Emotional stability is the key.
Comment by JR — September 26, 2006 @ 6:59 pm
magandang balita.
sana may kasamang work ethic sa itinuturo. submit scripts on time, etc. hay. angst ko iyan.
Comment by atticus — September 26, 2006 @ 8:24 pm
That is really good news for our underfunded public school system. I just hope these beneficiaries make good use of it.
Comment by snglguy — September 26, 2006 @ 8:51 pm
Time for a company like SMART to give back something to the community. I am curious as to whether this free offering is part of its tecnical infrastructure or some space it leases from an internet provider for the school to use. Is SMART an internet provider already?
Comment by bw — September 27, 2006 @ 11:13 am
Hopefully they are actually making good on their word and not just in principle. Highly beneficial for both parties.
Comment by Daphne — September 27, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
To melai: It is indeed and I hope it is not merely a passing thing.
To JR: EQ is also that something that is primordial for success in life and yet; it is something not formally introduced in our educationbal system; if at all it could be done.
To Atticus: I do hope so too atticus. When I was in college, I think that if I remember well, such things as work ethics are already slowly being teach like a formal subject, although parang part lang siya sa isang subject like Industrial Management or Management Information System. Sana it could be done formally all throughout.
To sngl: I think the public schools would stand to benefit from this the most. Most private schools I think have already a very well-developed websites, including libraries online and student accounts or files.
To BW: Yes, SMART is already an internet provider with its SMART BRO broadband offering. It is also a sister company of PLDT, the prime internet hub in the country where almost every cafe is subscribing to.
To Daphne: I’d really like to see this kind of programs or initiative progress and get fully developed but like you, I am wary that this might just be a passing thing, without that proper determination and will.
Comment by Major Tom — September 27, 2006 @ 1:22 pm
A very nice initiative! Hopefully this will be a success. Alas in the province many schools have no computers at all.
Comment by Sidney — September 27, 2006 @ 4:11 pm
This is a good project. I’ve heard about networking is Philippine schools a few years back. I’m not sure which company they were affiliated with. However, this SMART project is smart indeed.
This is better than providing extra free sms for chatting (am not against it…lol). With free web hosting, students will enjoy and learn at the same time while creating their websites, than spend time with their social networking uploading photos and wrtiting testimonials.
Comment by ipanema — September 27, 2006 @ 7:45 pm
nice project.
couldnt agree more that confidence in speaking can bring a person to places..
Comment by bing — September 27, 2006 @ 8:32 pm
That is definitely a smart project. Many of our youth will benefit from it.
Comment by niceheart — September 28, 2006 @ 9:45 am
Thanks for the info Major Tom. I have have one last comment. I’d hate to be throwing a hammer in the fire here but I don’t think this philanthropic act caused any serious
dent to SMART’s coffers. If at all, this is akin to disposing lose change, if not pennies. SMART bought PLDT and retained its name to cushion the shock effect on people. Yes, a cellular company bought a national carrier - only in the Philippines and thanks to the cell toting Pinoy consumer who got hooked on texting!
Being already an internet provider and hosting web sites for businesses and consumers alike, partitioning space in their
gigantic disk arrays for the schools does not a require a significant investment in SMART’s technical infrastructure. A 50 MEG free space
for a school isn’t overly big. If SMART was to provide 50 MEG web space to 50 schools, the disk space only transates to 2.5 GIG.
Heck the street price for a 80GIG hard disk is only $45. The access cost - dsl and modem is the larger expense but peanuts
compared to SMART’s revenue. And we all know that the tax write offs for this type of donation gives SMART back some of the money.
The SMART School concept is great and laudable. But if we think SMART created a space shuttle to launch this project,
we’ve been had. SMART is truly smart indeed!
Comment by bw — September 28, 2006 @ 9:48 am
I believe that foremost in education is the ability to THINK well. Our schools should teach/guide students how to think and analyze properly. Because if one clearly thinks, then clarity/confidence in his communication follows suit.
Comment by Abaniko — September 30, 2006 @ 11:31 am
For any form of self-expression to be taught, teachers must be encouraging, especially to the shy ones. They could be more creative and talented than the bolder ones who are not shy to show off their creative works but are easily deterred by criticism. I have heard that blogging is required in some schools in the UK. It’s a good idea to introduce it in the Philippines to enhance creativity and self-expression through technology.
Comment by Toe — October 2, 2006 @ 1:23 am
I totally agree with you, Major Tom. The ability to articulate one’s thoughts — in writing and speech — ought to be cultivated and continually developed.
Comment by eric — October 3, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
To Sidney: That could be one major hurdle…Maybe, SMART could go farther by providing necessary equipments.
To Ipanema: Well, social networking may be just for fun thing but I guess even that could actually teach the kids some computer logic, and of course being open with one’s thoughts. Like you said, it’s having fun and learning skills at the same time.
To Bing and Niceheart: It’s one project that I really like to see succeed.
To BW: Actually, I almost felt the same way as you where I’ve noticed that big business have really nothing better to do than make money, and cash out. I just felt that maybe this initiative by SMART may be a radical move towards the right direction. I like to see more and more companies becoming more socially responsible, like for example SHELL Oil Company, which such spends huge amount of money for researching more clean and environment friendly energy source like hydrogen and ethanol.
Abaniko: I think so Niko; Maybe this is one skill or capability that could be learned in Philosophy classes yet I think and believe that there should be a new subject just to tackle and hone the analytical prowess of the student; Philosophy classes are sometimes just too passe and ordinary that it lacks innovation that could make them interesting.
To Toe: Now, that’s exactly what I am thinking. Maybe in the Philippines, some schools might require students to blog and do it like a term paper.
To eric: I think that’s very important especially now that the world economy is getting m9re and more entangled in the concept now known as “The Global Economy”. We either should swim or sink.
Comment by Major Tom — October 5, 2006 @ 1:33 pm