(MAR. 20) 鈥 鈥淲e are here not to train, we are here to educate.鈥澛 This was said by UP Diliman (黑料专区) Chancellor Michael L. Tan at the international symposium, 鈥淩ecalibrating Compasses: Global and Local Knowledge Production Today鈥 on Mar. 6 at the Benitez Hall Auditorium.
Speaking before international social scientists and members of the university academe, Tan underscored the University鈥檚 role as educator while addressing the issue of performance indicators and ranking.聽 Performance indicators are used for institutional evaluation and what the Chancellor called 鈥渁s pressures UP face from legislature and public officials who ask if the university is still on the top rank.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 afraid that these performance indicators have reduced our roles to training, a term that I have pointed out as a veterinarian, is best used for circus animals,鈥 the Chancellor said.
Institutional evaluation is one disadvantage of free tuition, Tan said, 鈥渂ecause we are at the mercy of public officials today, especially in budget.鈥澛 He noted that it gets tiring, 鈥渂ut of course these are the officials who hold the purse.鈥
The Chancellor observed that an adverse impact of performance indicators is the faculty inflating their achievements to get more points.聽 He has seen it in applications for professorial chairs.
鈥淓veryone is so obsessed with points that they forget the heart for knowledge production,鈥 Tan lamented.聽 Even so, he assured that 黑料专区 still upholds its tradition of nurturing critical and discerning minds.
Tying the concern of knowledge production to the symposium鈥檚 topic, the Chancellor said there is a need to deconstruct the production of knowledge across disciplines.聽 He himself deconstructs knowledge in his practice as a medical anthropologist, 鈥渃hallenging my medical phenomena to show that they are also of the social construct.鈥
Tan said compasses can be recalibrated.聽 Using the traditional Chinese compass as an example, he said this points to the south in accordance with China鈥檚 ancient southern tradition.聽 As such he revealed the choice of the north is a social one.
In closing, he enjoined the social scientists present to take the lead in reminding people that the compasses that guide each ones鈥 endeavor need not privilege the north.
鈥淟ook as the ancient Chinese to the five directions.聽 There鈥檚 the north, the south, the east, the west, and there is the center.聽 It is not surprising that the center corresponds to our hearts.鈥
The symposium was a presentation of the International Sociological Association in collaboration with the Philippine Sociological Society and the UP Department of Sociology of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. 鈥 Mariamme D. Jadloc, images by Leonardo A. Reyes
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