{"id":2887,"date":"2006-04-21T08:24:04","date_gmt":"2006-04-21T08:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/04\/a-political-education.html"},"modified":"2006-04-21T08:24:04","modified_gmt":"2006-04-21T08:24:04","slug":"a-political-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/04\/a-political-education.html","title":{"rendered":"A Political Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s an interesting article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about a priest selected to head the Philippines’  Commission on Higher Education<\/a>,<\/p>\n

He didn’t last very long. Why? Because he attempted to go after the growing number of schools that are essentially functioning as diploma mills.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Though he had once served as his university’s rector, Father de la Rosa still regarded himself as a political virgin. (Perhaps it is the reason he got the job, he jests.) Unlike most politicians in the Philippines, he had no allegiances and owed favors to no one. Having taken a vow of poverty and chastity, he was not easily led into temptation. Father de la Rosa did not even pocket a government salary. He returned each night to his simple room in the seminary at the University of Santo Tom\u00e1s and ate communal meals with the brothers in his order.<\/p>\n

But once on the commission, which is charged with regulating the country’s universities and colleges, Father de la Rosa wasted little time. Even during his swearing-in ceremony in October 2004, he spoke of the need to tighten supervision of the poor-quality educational programs that were mushrooming across the country.<\/p>\n

Within weeks of his becoming chairman, the commission began to clamp down on the so-called diploma mills that had sprung up in recent years here. Flimsy programs were told to raise their standards or be shut down. Permits of those that had been warned were revoked. Owners were outraged. Members of the Philippine Congress with angry constituents and their own vested interests told him to back off.<\/p>\n

But not until a warrant was issued for Father de la Rosa’s arrest did he finally give up the fight.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s an interesting article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about a priest selected to head the Philippines’  Commission on Higher Education, He didn’t last very long. Why? Because he attempted to go after the growing number of schools that are essentially functioning as diploma mills. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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