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ROTC For Development or Another Burden To Students?

The document discusses the debate around making ROTC mandatory for senior high school students in the Philippines. While ROTC could teach leadership and discipline, it may overburden students who already have a heavy course load. Some argue ROTC has failed to promote patriotism in the past and was even linked to corruption. President Duterte exempted himself from ROTC as a student, so his push to now require it for all students lacks moral justification. Proper implementation would be needed to ensure ROTC's value and prevent students from finding ways to avoid participating.

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Kyla Mhariz
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851 views

ROTC For Development or Another Burden To Students?

The document discusses the debate around making ROTC mandatory for senior high school students in the Philippines. While ROTC could teach leadership and discipline, it may overburden students who already have a heavy course load. Some argue ROTC has failed to promote patriotism in the past and was even linked to corruption. President Duterte exempted himself from ROTC as a student, so his push to now require it for all students lacks moral justification. Proper implementation would be needed to ensure ROTC's value and prevent students from finding ways to avoid participating.

Uploaded by

Kyla Mhariz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ROTC for Development or Another Burden to Students?

Reserve Officer Training Corps, also known as ROTC, is a fulfilling


choice for many students, but joining this program is also a serious
commitment. Will this serve as effective training for the students to aim
discipline or this is just an added load to students?

A long line of students marching around and training in the quadrangle


under the sun while obeying their commander’s orders and rules, as a way for
them to acquire moral virtues- this is a proposed program by our government.
According to House Bill 8961, ROTC is required to all Senior High School
students in public and private educational institutions, for both male and
female. The purposes of this military training are producing well-prepared
reservists for military and civic service, and implanting patriotism and
discipline among the youth of the Philippines.

President Rodrigo Duterte wants ROTC to become mandatory for students,


our president who claimed in his public speeches that he did not want to do
ROTC when he was a student at the Lyceum of the Philippines, so he tried to
skip doing it. He exempted in this training by faking illness and using
other’s medical documents and submitted them to the school administrators and
military registrar. If he attempted to escape this program because he did not
want someone to scold or shout at him, then other students may feel the same
too. If he was not in favor of ROTC back in the day, why would he require
students to take it? President Duterte does not have a moral high ground to
oblige anyone to do it.

ROTC was implemented for college students, but due to cases of


corruption and abuses within the program, the government decided to remove
this program. Some students may be involved in corruption at an early age
because of this military training. One of the cases included was the death of
Mark Chua, a student at the University of Sto. Tomas, he was murdered when he
uncovered the corruption in the ROTC corps and exposed it in the famous
student newspaper of his university. It has failed its purpose, which is
promoting patriotism and nationalist consciousness, but rather it instilled
the sub-culture of fear and violence among the youth of our country.

This program will provide students with significant opportunities like


teaching the Senior High School students leadership, respect for authority,
and service to country. However, this might be not effective for some
students because not all of them are devoted and serious enough to do this
military training. For example, STEM students are forced to take an exam
about accountancy there will be a huge percent that most of them will fail.
Whatever laws the government plans and approves, as long as there are
citizens who disagree, nothing will happen, and there are still possibilities
that these will not succeed and reach their goals.

In Senior High School, students have more school works and commitments
than the average student. It is a must to take the classes for ROTC in
addition to all the classes required for their strands. Participating in
mandatory training events outside of class time may eat up a lot of time for
the students to accomplish their requirements and rest.

Before implementing, ensure the appropriateness and connectivity of the


knowledge to be taught, and the quality of teaching, if the mandatory ROTC is
re-establish. Otherwise, there will be students that may come up with reasons
and ways for them to escape out of it like what Duterte did, which causes
this House Bill a waste of effort, resources, and time.

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