“Classrooms are saturated with devices, yet students increasingly struggle with literacy and numeracy. Curriculums are crowded with ideological experiments, while the bedrock skills that form the foundation of learning are neglected. This is not innovation; it’s erosion.” – Sen. Leah Blyth (South Australia — Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate)
ALLOW me to share this speech of Senator Blyth addressing the pressing concerns in the education system of Australia. The relevance — and urgency — of her message is also applicable in the Philippines’ overall dismal state of education.
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“There is a crisis in our nation’s schools. For all the investment, reform packages, and rhetoric, Australia’s education system is underperforming. The evidence is undeniable. International rankings show our students slipping year after year in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Employers lament the lack of basic skills in school leavers. Parents complain that their children are distracted, disengaged, and disheartened. Teachers themselves are exhausted by the churn of new fads and initiatives that never deliver what they promise.
We were once a country proud of its education system. Today we are in decline. In the name of progress, we have traded rigor for irrelevance and depth for distraction. Classrooms are saturated with devices, yet students increasingly struggle with literacy and numeracy. Curriculums are crowded with ideological experiments, while the bedrock skills that form the foundation of learning are neglected. This is not innovation; it’s erosion.
And yet there are seeds of hope. Across Australia, parents, educators, and communities are rediscovering what truly works in education—an approach which is disciplined, rounded, and comprehensive. It is an approach that values knowledge, builds character, and forms the whole person.
One striking example is St John of Kronstadt Academy, recently profiled in the national press. This school has embraced screen-free learning and returned to the basics of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These students read great books, engage in sustained thinking, and learn without the constant harm of digital distraction. It is a reminder that education is not about keeping up with the trends; it is about passing on truth.
‘We are not reinventing education; we are simply remembering it.’ – Fernando Farrugia, Founding Principal, St Benedict School, South Australia.
Fernando Farrugia described that their goal as a school is not driven by fads but by formation, and not chasing the culture but shaping it. This is not a theory; it is practice. St Benedict students study Latin, read Aristotle, learn mathematics, and begin each day with calm reflection. Their classrooms are filled not with screens but with conversation, reading and genuine human interaction. Their education is not about producing test scores but about cultivating wisdom and discernment—an approach which has proven to develop great thinkers throughout the ages.
This raises important questions for us all. What kinds of citizens are we raising? Are we forming minds capable of reasoned debate, hearts attuned to justice and young people grounded in knowledge and wisdom, or are we producing graduates with credentials but no character and with skills but no discernment?
The answer lies in what we choose to value. If we continue to pursue fashionable theories, digital gimmicks and ideological agendas, the decline will deepen — all the more so if we continue to lower standards in an attempt to be inclusive. But if we champion schools that teach children to think deeply, speak clearly and act justly, there is every reason for hope.
The soul of society is passed on through its schools. If we neglect that inheritance, we risk losing it. But if we nurture it, we can once again build a generation equipped with knowledge, character, and the capacity to shape the world for the better. Let’s reclaim our inheritance.”
“The first year of our work was a critical reckoning. We confirmed what many have long felt and experienced: The Philippine education system is in crisis. But as we have consistently stated, recognizing the crisis was not the end; rather, it was the starting point of a determined and systemic response to dismantle barriers that have long impeded progress and innovation.” – 2024 Report by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), a national commission tasked to undertake a comprehensive national assessment and evaluation of the performance of the Philippine education sector, by virtue of Republic Act No. 11899./PN
