The great equalizer
Every underprivileged Filipino family's aspiration is to have at least one member finish education. And when we say formal education this means college education as this is by and large the ticket for employment. And so follows the future financial or economic independence.
On a bigger and wider spectrum, ever since education has been and will always be a great equalizer. It has been proven since immemorial as a vehicle for social transformation. It lifts a generation of families up from low social status to higher stratum. A family that values education can certainly break the cycle of poverty.
With the recent development, a new law that allows students to study in state universities and colleges, one would not anymore make poverty as an excuse since starting next school year college education would be accessible for deserving Filipino students. In a country where a big percentage of tertiary schools are run by private individuals or organizations, cost is a stumbling block and so it would only for those who can afford. And if such inaccessibility to college education would continue, it would make finding job difficult because generally the labor market would favor those with college diploma.
The Global Partnership for Education cites that "inequality is spiraling out of control: this is the evidence from researchers and thought leaders from around the world, and it is what Oxfam sees on the ground in the more than 90 countries where we work. Opportunities, power and money are concentrated in the hands of the few, at the expense of the majority. The number of billionaires in the world has doubled since the financial crisis." There is still the widespread divide between the rich and poor.
Through education, schools can truly become gateways to opportunities. Academic institutions would never espouse nor encourage class strengthening but rather social class mobility. And although inequalities exist in many forms from various sources but at least an earned education empowers one to explore the many opportunities. And from here, the battle would take another sphere.
Long before the opportunity to study in college is generally for those who can hurdle examinations for scholarships which limit the average majority and since college education would be free in SUCs, the bright prospect of social mobility in the long run can be exponentially experienced.
For most young people, going to college is one of the most important steps they can take to become financially independent adults. As it would follow that college graduates have significantly higher lifetime earnings compared with those who have no education beyond high school.
Studies would point to this very possible scenario: College graduates are much less likely to be unemployed and they enjoy a wide range of other social, economic, and health benefits. Parents who have completed college are also much more likely to have children who go to college, so the benefits of education are transferred from one generation to the next. Increasing college completion rates also boosts potential innovation, economic output, and productivity.
A son or daughter, whose parents rely on a small farm and a sari-sari store, would soon get a college education, is expected to contribute significantly to the advancement of the social status of the family and can ultimately take part in the country's economic development.