236 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition elections compared to the intermediate and primary school students, they still had wrong perceptions of government institutions (i.e., what they did) and were unsure of the necessity of government. All the respondents showed high conformity and compliance to authority and believed that punishments are a natural consequence of transgressions. Unquestioning obedience is the expected norm when dealing with authority gures. Teachers are often considered the authority gures in the classroom so it comes as no surprise that they elicit deferential behavior or that they expect and reward such behavior from their students. Thus, in addition to the information and values directly transmitted, the teacher-student relationship is also a rich source of latent learning about appropriate behaviors towards authority gures. This only serves to reinforce the authoritarianism initiated within the traditional family system but runs counter to the function of education as a liberalizing factor. The latest reform in the basic education curriculum (BEC), however, has taken steps to rectify this by recasting the role of the teacher from "authoritarian instructor" to "trustworthy facilitator or manager of the learning process" (Bernardo and Mendoza, 2008). This latest move to reform the BEC also shows clearly government's direct hand in determining the transmission of values relevant to the development of future engaged citizens of the land. A fth learning area labeled Pagkamakabayan (Makabayan, for short) has been developed with the ambitious goal of teaching love of country and using it as the unifying principle for a diversity of values to be taught. This area is envisioned to cultivate the personal and national self- concept and a better appreciation of Philippine history and culture in the student. While promoting patriotism, it is also intended to keep the individual cognizant of and rmly anchored within the context of global interdependence. Unfortunately, the broadness and open-endedness of the learning area has generated a lot of criticism and downright resistance from teachers. While this area has great potential, its success will depend on teacher ingenuity and creativity and on learner's readiness to partner with their teachers in this effort. Given overcrowded classrooms full of distracted students, not to mention overworked and underpaid public school teachers, it would almost require a miracle for this important and direct political socialization to happen. Furthermore, given the high dropout rates, particularly among male students (Palanca, 2015), the benets of this opportunity become even more remote.
At the tertiary level, the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001 was passed to provide early training to Filipino citizens to render personal, military or civic service to the country. The training was meant to generate civic consciousness and defense preparedness via any one of three areas of participation - the reserve ofcers' training corps (ROTC), the literacy training service and the civic welfare training services. When joining in any one of these programs, the individual is exposed to manifest as well as latent