Soroka University Medical Center

Soroka University Medical Center

Soroka University Medical Center

In 1978, an article titled “Higher Education in the Philippines,” which was published in the reputable Peabody Journal of Education, provided an interesting view of the Philippines—on how the value of learning takes root in the national consciousness of Filipinos. Education then is seen against the background of political turmoil and the pursuit for economic recovery as the enduring effects World War II. But the lens,with which the academic future of the country was seen, revealed much optimism:

“Most Philippine colleges and universities will probably survive, however, and, in surmounting the challenges ahead [they] will become stronger,” the late president of the University of Chicago Daniel Perlman predicted, as he wrote the cited article.

“They enter the struggle with impressive assets. One of these assets is the strong desire of the Philippine people to obtain an education. It is said that a Philippine family would sell their last carabao so their children might attend college,” he continued.