Removal of Filipino Literature (Panitikan) as a Core Subject in College

          In the removal of Filipino or more specifically “Panitikan” as a core subject and some units in the said subject in college, sparked a huge controversy, sparking a lot of back and forth discussions. But with this news, comes to question if it may or may not be a great decision and yet unknown to most people, there is a lot of advantages with the next step CHED is going to take. Mostly this next step is for practicality’s sake, a transition to a more practical Philippines.

          Filipino Literature, no offense to the great works of our fellowmen and heroes, is practically useless in many fields of work. Filipino Literature is not worthless by any means but it clearly has no use in the working world. Having read works like “Noli me Tangere” or “El Filibusterismo” does not earn you a medical degree nor a job, satire aside, with Filipino Literature now being taught from elementary up to senior high school there is no need for it to be required as such in college. College students can now focus on taking the necessary units they need for the job they dream of.

          Panitikan is a subject that deals with writing directly or indirectly in a poetic way that connects to someone or something. It also focuses on Philippine history about various types of literature. One of the downsides of excluding Filipino, Panitikan from the college curriculum is that students might slowly neglect our history in panitikan throughout the decades and care more about others’ traditions and carrying it out to our future generations. Having such a subject could be influential to the people who want to be one of those historic persons who dedicated themselves on making Philippine literature what it is right now. Some students discover their passion in literature only when they reach college, but this action (excluding of Filipino, Panitikan in college curriculum) might be the reason why some students would not be able to discover their passion on literature. The said subject teaches us our other traditions with different literature of the Philippines, if we were to exclude it in our system, it’s just the same as excluding teaching coming generations our traditions causing them to like and focus more on others’ traditions; Western, Korean, Japanese, etc.

          We believe that this transition is a very bad idea. This change is a disgrace with what our heroes fought for. Their sacrifices have been rendered worthless, with works from authors like Francisco Balagtas, Nick Joaquin, and especially our National Hero, Jose Rizal, lessened into nothing but a integrated subject equalizer. College is where a person’s passion and dreams start to bloom, removing this shall also remove a future of a Philippines with a prosperous literature, a possible era where passion for our own works, our own culture, our own stories fills every Filipino across the nation.

          

          5 out of 7 people do not agree in the removal of Filipino (Panitikan) as a core subject in college curriculum.