poor quality of education in RP cited

In yesterday's issue of the Inquirer, a lengthy news feature on the deterioration of the quality of education in the Philippines caught the attention of many.  Am I surprised? Uh--uh.  With 27 years teaching experience I know and I've known that sad fact that the quality of education in this country is really going down the drain.  Ask the students.  Let them speak if they can.  I mean, how many of our thousands of college graduates can truly communicate in good English?  Two out of two thousand?  That's what most call centers are saying, that is why they have no other recourse but to hire those with very poor communication skills in the hope that these guys can be trained.  But they are wrong again because everything should start from the bottom.  If we want to have quality graduates in this country, then we have to strengthen the system from the bottom, pre-school, going up.  Have a very good foundation in the the grade school, then a very strong follow-up in the high school, and a robust training in college.  I mean, it should be collaborative.