Translate that scenario in terms of education. Assuming that we can start building the necessary classrooms… assuming that we can hire the most competent educators… assuming that we can produce and mass distribute the best textbooks… still, population growth is geometrially progressive.
Translate that in terms of parenting and child rearing. How much quality time can a parent devote to two children as against four or five or six…? How much freedom will the parents have in choosing their schools given their finite financial resources? Who would have better chances of sending their kids to better schools–the parents with two kids or the parents with six kids? Who would be in a better position to supervise their kids’ educational, emotional and social progress?
The population issue affects us not only on the macro level–society–but even in the micro level–family. A blatant reality that the stubborn Catholic church refuses to face squarely. The Catholic church which holds so much moral authority over more than ninety per cent of the Filipino population.
Where, then, does the solution lie?
The first and obvious one, of course, is to know that every individual has a choice. The second is, knowing that we have the right to choose, to stop letting religious dogma interfere with our right to make those choices.
A major factor between the two solutions is the government. The question is when will government assert its independence over the church? Or, more specifically, what kind of government will have the capacity to assert its independence from the church?
I read Doc Emer’s rating of 5/10 for Gloria Arroyo’s 10-point program and wonder at Gloria’s temerity… how can the employment and education issues be properly addressed without necessarily touching on the population issue?
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