The Removal of Ethics from Higher Education: A Critical Threat to the Philippine Educational System

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the policy recommendation by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to remove ethics courses from the higher education curriculum in the Philippine education system poses a serious threat. This policy proposal will only worsen existing problems; it will neither resolve them nor advance the true goals of education, whose fundamental task is to liberate, not to enslave.  Using a qualitative approach through content analysis, this paper puts forward two main arguments. First, the policy recommendation to remove ethics courses by CHED, DepEd, and other educational bodies is policy-defective; it fails to address the country’s existing educational problems and may even worsen them, such as by further weakening critical thinking. Second, removing ethics courses will reduce education in the country to a purely commercial pursuit, stripping it of its formative and humanistic functions. As part of the general education curriculum in higher education, ethics is the only subject that explicitly teaches students to engage with complex social issues through informed moral decision-making. In support of this view, the paper echoes Aristotle’s assertion: “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”