PH educational system should produce a Jensen Huang

WE all thought that the globally embarrassing Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study evaluations on the math, science, and reading and comprehension skills of our 10- and 15-year-olds, plus the World Bank's findings on our learning poverty level, would be the last of the international indictments of our mediocre educational system. The thinking was that this trifecta of bad news was enough, especially for a nation that was once a leading light in Asia's educational sphere. We fervently hoped that after this trifecta, no further indictment, no follow-through report, would come.

Then came another downer. PISA — the same one that reported that our 15-year-olds have been consistently among the global laggards in math, science and reading skills — has conducted another global test, this time on the creative thinking skills of our 15-year-olds. The results, which covered 64 countries, were beyond depressing.