UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS

Senior High School

English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Student: Von Eric S. Tagarino

Argumentative Paper: A college degree should be a requirement to running for

political office in the Philippines.

Instructor: Mr. Joseph B. Quinto

Date: May 22, 2019

Introduction:

Well-informed people talk about the quality of politicians as much as the quality

of their policy. This is not surprising, because the quality of politicians profoundly affects

the quality of their policy (Poutvaara & Takalo, 2007). The problem nowadays is that

majority of Filipino voters do not consider or even talk about the quality or the policies a

politician hold, Filipinos live in a culture that only wants to do what they think is

convenient and tries to get by with the bare minimum, rendering them misinformed. This

ideology stems from the fact that the Philippines’ constitutional provision only includes a

citizenship, age, literacy and residency as a requirement to running for political office,

demanding neither a college degree nor at least a high school diploma. Anyone can

run for office given that they meet such simple requirements, this gives chance for more

uneducated people to run for servitude, leaving no room for the lesser population of

more capable people who holds higher level of education, reintroducing the idea that

Filipinos settle for the bare minimum because they are presented with dire unchanging
options, rarely having a choice worth giving thought to. With the ever-increasing rate of

poverty and corruption, leaders should be well-chosen, a college degree requirement

for running officials will elevate the standards and the quality of service future

lawmakers.

Body:

Education indeed plays a big role in a person’s quality and the quality of his

policies, a study conducted by Dreher & Lein (2006) states, “Our results show that

entrepreneurs, professional scientists, and trained economists are significantly more

reform oriented” There is overwhelming evidence that education affects economic

and political outcomes, such as earnings, citizenship behavior, political involvement

and economic growth. Although it is true that one’s educational attainment is not the

only basis for one to become a successful leader, a higher educational attainment

proves that a person is truly hardworking, intelligent and determined in pursuing

betterment, just some of the qualities a leader must hold if he/she really wants to

improve the welfare of his/her nation’s citizens. However, according to Vergara (2018),

a college degree requirement for elected officials is anti-poor because this robs them

the chance of serving their fellow Filipinos just because they are unable to study due to

poverty. This is not the case because the Philippines’ Constitution provides for a system

of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies and other incentives. If this is the

case, then a truly intelligent and hardworking person will be able to find a way to finish

college, there is no excuse for a person if he/she is truly determined in rightful serving.

Some blue collar jobs already require a college degree, yet the highest position

in the land does not, According to Shrodes (1974), those who have finished college
tend to be more aware and informed whether in regards to political concepts or

politics itself in general. Being in the congress and being entitled with the job of serving

the nation and its people involves the creation of laws. The creation of laws require

higher academic standards because laws are what modulates a society, if the creation

of laws are assigned to the uneducated then a society can and will collapse because

according to Lee (1994), an unjust society will appear when a political system is run by

unqualified people. According to Plato, uneducated people are more likely to put their

self-interest first, this fact alone not only renders uneducated people unqualified but

also becomes a reason why they should not hold post; corruption may become more

prevalent when self-interest are put first and such people are elected.

According to Downs (1956), a voter will cast his or her vote for the party that is

most likely to serve the ends of the voter. As a result, if there is no one favorable then

the voter would then just give his/her vote to anyone without any considerations. This is

due to the fact that there are more incompetent candidates than there are

competent ones purely because a higher educational attainment is not needed when

running for office.

Conclusion:

Education plays a big role on how leadership takes toll on the welfare of citizens.

People have limited options in choosing their leaders because they are presented with

incompetent candidates. The non-requirement of a college degree to run for political

office not only debilitates the nation’s political output but also robs the nation a

chance to enhance its economic performance and the welfare of its citizens.
References:

Book

Poutvaara, P. & Takalo, T. (2007). International tax and public finance (Vol.14, p.7).

Springer US.

Shrodes, C. (1974). The conscious reader (3rd Edition., p.622). New York: Macmillan

Publishing Company

Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of democracy (1st Edition., p.127). Harper and

Row

Online

Dreher, Axel & Lamla, Michael & M. Lein, Sarah & Somogyi, Frank. (2006). The impact of

political leaders' profession and education on reforms. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Retrieved.from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314380855_The_Impact_of_Political_Leaders'

_Profession_and_Education_on_Reforms

Cepeda, M. (2018). College degree requirement for elected officials anti-poor –

lawmaker. Retrieved from: https://www.rappler.com/nation/217589-osanna-vergara-

statement-anti-poor-college-degree-requirement-national-posts-federalism

Lee, M. (1994). Plato's philosophy of education: Its implication for current education.

Retrieved from: https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations/AAI9517932/