RECENT PROPOSALS surrounding the Philippine education system have reignited conversations about General Education (GE) at the undergraduate level.

Last May, the Department of Education (DepEd) proposed to transfer three GE courses—Art Appreciation, Contemporary World, and Ethics–from the higher education curriculum to the high school program. Two months later, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian filed the Three-year College Education (3CE) Act, intending to shorten college education and prioritize specialized subjects.

However, in the Ateneo, its core curriculum is the heart of its holistic education, as it combines academic excellence and service to others. Thus, amid discussions on the structural changes in the national college curriculum, questions arise about the role of the core curriculum in the University.

An ethical topic

In 2018, the University revised its core curriculum to follow DepEd’s K-12 reforms and the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) mandated changes to GE courses. Amid these changes, Vice President for Mission Integration Benjamin Gerardo Tolosa Jr., PhD, states that the current Ateneo curriculum sustains the University’s identity as a Jesuit institution.

“[W]e’re forming a particular kind of professional, with intellectual depth and spiritual maturity,” Tolosa expounds.

However, with the aforementioned DepEd proposal and 3CE Act aiming to streamline college education, discourse arises on its possible impact on undergraduate programs nationwide.

For one, the Ateneo Philosophy Department released a position statement last May 31 advocating for the importance of Ethics and their strong opposition against its removal from the college curriculum.

In the statement, the Department draws attention to the necessity of Ethics amidst various crises in the Philippines, underscoring the need for Filipinos to start challenging established systems instead of simply surviving them. With this, the statement also emphasizes that Ethics’ invitation to challenge rather than follow norms is what sets the subject apart from basic education courses like Good Manners and Right Conduct and Values Education.

These points are further echoed by Philosophy Department Chair Wilhelm Patrick Joseph Strebel, PhD, who shares that Ethics brings a broader moral perspective for students—one that goes beyond the confines of religion or culture. “[Ethics] is not imposed, but discovered by way of reason and inquiry,” he explains.

Building on this, Strebel underscores the importance of taking Ethics at the higher education level, where students can further exercise and gain awareness of their autonomy as they mature into adults. Similarly, Tolosa finds that preserving this course is significant in deepening college students’ identities within society and vocational discernment.

Ultimately, Strebel and Tolosa agree that the Ateneo’s approach toward learning—as present in the integration of the core curriculum—is central to shaping skilled Ateneans who are morally grounded.

Professionally speaking

In balancing the core curriculum with specialization, differing student experiences and opinions arise.

For instance, Kyle Darisan (2 AB POS) notes that his core subjects allow him to further connect with the goal of Dr. Rosita G Leong School of Social Sciences to be grounded in humanistic work. He shares that these have particularly helped him develop his perception of the world and his ability to navigate it.

On the other hand, Anne Bacud (3 BS ME) mentions that, for fellow students in the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM), it could sometimes be difficult to grasp the importance of core subjects given the demands of their courses.

Nevertheless, learning GE subjects in the context of JGSOM taught Bacud to humanize the profit-driven nature of her discipline. “[Core subjects] remind me [that] these are real people that we’re serving, […] and there’s an actual world that we have to live in,” she expressed.

Without these core subjects, Strebel expresses that it is less certain if these values of self-awareness can be maintained. Should they be removed, he worries about how Ateneans can continue to influence better governments and workplaces.

Aside from this, Strebel is also wary of the heavy emphasis on professional specialization to the point of neglecting formative courses. He stresses that deeper formation is necessary to complement job-specific skills, especially for students to adjust to the future job market.

Furthermore, Tolosa cautions that current jobs may be replaced by Artificial Intelligence, and that many students will have jobs that do not yet exist today. Specific skill sets, he argues, may not be useful if they are not adaptable, creating a need for “transdisciplinary creativity” through holistic student formation.

As such, Strebel points out that core subjects teach Ateneans—as future members of the workforce—to have greater obligations to the country beyond the success of their careers.

“[Core] subjects provide the humanistic background for [students] to be good human beings before good professionals,” Strebel asserts. Similarly, Darisan concurs that the humanistic purpose of the core curriculum motivates him to strive for beyond excellence, and also for societal change.

Thus, as the University continues to grapple with the changing dynamics in the job market and the values of self-awareness taught in core subjects, it faces the ongoing task of balancing professional training with transformative education for its students.

Core changes

To further the University’s goal of holistic formation, Bacud and Darisan highlight the need to draw connections between their academics and real-world contexts.

For Bacud, this means maintaining the current integration of core subjects across all four years in the Ateneo. Meanwhile, Darisan suggests moving some core subjects into the intersession term or allowing students to flexibly customize the arrangement of core subjects in their Individual Program of Study.

Aside from this, Darisan also emphasizes that the purpose of core subjects should be articulated through informational campaigns to students, especially to those who view them as “burdensome or irrelevant.”

To address these concerns from students, Tolosa stresses the importance of continuous curriculum review and quality assurance. He also believes in enhancing teacher formation so they can manage diverse classrooms of students with different specializations and make core subjects seem more relevant to their lives.

Nonetheless, Strebel notes that reforms from individual institutions cannot exist in isolation. Hence, he further emphasizes the need for proper coordination between higher education institutions and basic education units.

“We can only do so much in making higher education better, but we have to admit that it always builds on the fundamental learnings in basic education. These institutions need to talk and not just [blame] one another,” Strebel states. With DepEd’s proposals to streamline education towards specialization, he urges DepEd and CHED to better collaborate with educational institutions.

In the midst of debates around what quality education looks like in the Philippines, the Ateneo’s continued reassessment of its core curriculum underscores the significance of holistic education. Ultimately, the value of core subjects for students and their futures lies in instilling practical knowledge and humanizing their specialized fields.