Truth is in the middle, anchoring in on reality by Dean Dr. Ricardo Lim of AIM

PRME Forum, APS Auditorium, Rockwell, Makati City  | November 15, 2013

                                    Dean Ricardo Lim's presentation

I found the speech by Dean Ricardo Lim of AIM to be compelling and practical.  He started his talk by saying that AIM anchors both DLSU and AdeMU who are high in the air with their basketball UAAP rivalry.

He says that a business school, our country is confronted by several challenges:

1.  lack of resources (as we experienced in the Leyte disaster relief and recovery operations)  the devastation was so much, and we lack communication, fuel, and logistics to deploy the aid that arrived;

2.  complexity/duality (there are always two sides to an issue, good and bad;  problems are not linear but systemic -  Senge)

3. ideal vs real;

4.  complex student make up (as in AIM which is populated by foreigners, mostly Indians)

So he proposes:

1.  constant debate to handle complexity

2. purposeful bargaining

3.  seek small starts (baby walk) rather than large monolithic gains

4. Truth is in the middle.

Truth is somewhere in the middle

Truth in the middle

 

There are many stories that we can share as Asians/Orientals to move forward.  Let us not go by extreme values.

The truth in the middle applies to:

1.  Looting in Leyte is it good or bad?

2.  Charcoal making -  it destroys the forest, but stopping it kills livelihood of people in the mountains

Be more practical and realistic, rather than being idealistic and cogent?

                                       We try moderation?  Socratic

De La Salle University a school for the poor a presentation at Fourth Regional PRME forum by Br. Michael Broughton

Fourth Regional PRME Forum, APS Auditorium, Rockwell, Makati City  November 15 2013

                                         Br. Michael Broughton of De La Salle University

Bro Michael Broughton, a Singaporean, Vice Chancellor for Mission of De la Salle made a strong case for the mission and vision of the university, namely it is the school for the poor. He said that there is a sense of contradiction that the school serves for the poor, but it does not mean it does not serve the god of excellence.

However, I was waiting for the SMART details on why is school for the poor.  The only thing I saw coming was having 20% of its students as scholars. And its practice of reflection (used by Catholics vs spread of Communism in Europe) Aside from the scholars project, the social enterprise programs of at least 3 schools  at Loyola, the immersion programs, is something that even NUS want to emulate and benchmark, we are forced to state.

Michael Go did a better job of explaining how he helped the poor farmers.

Education leads to social progress/change; must be educ ACTION

 PMRE Forum, APS Auditorium, APS building, Makati City, PHL November 15, 2013

Our friends from Universiti Utara Malaysia Roslam Hakim, Professor of Economics Head of Sustainability and Community Development and Azian Yaya  remind us that the purpose of Higher Education (is not self fulfilment or a another degree/feather in the cap) but to improve the common good and poverty alleviation.  This is quite straight forward and simple goal. 

What is education without action? It should be educ ACTION.  Learning is nothing without ACTION

This is the same dilemna that caught Prof Mohamad Yunus when he initially taught developmental economics at U of Chitagoong at Bangladesh.  He asked himself on the value of his teaching if poverty lurks at the gates/around the university.  So he asked his students to go out and find out what he can do.

So what did they do:  1.   women in social enterprise  (WISE)  2 cooperative for students 3. University for SME

 x

 x