College education an essay by jorge bocobo

Dean Bocobo took up law at Indiana University and returned to the Philippines after completing his studies. He began working as a law clerk in the executive bureau of the government. Later, he was drafted into the newly founded College of Law where he taught Civil Law He is the principal author of the Civil Code of the Philippines.

It is thus that many of our students surrender their individuality to the textbook and lose their birthright—which is to think for themselves. And when they attempt to form their own judgment, they become pedantic. Unless a student develops the habit of independent and sound reasoning, his college education is a solemn sham.

He contemptuously refers to the learned sophists, thus: ”Lumabis ang karunungan mo,” which means, “Your learning is too much.” The second manner of college uneducation that I want to speak of is this: most students make professional efficiency the be-all and end-all of college education.

Dr. Jorge Bocobo was born in Gerona, Tarlac in 1896. He studied in the private and public schools of his town during the Spanish regime, and he resumed his education during the early part of the America occupation. In 1903, he was among the first group of government pensionados sent to the United States on a scholarship.