Dr. Malayang Discusses Whole Person Education in UBCHEA Interview
“Whole person education to me is an education that builds competence, builds character, and builds faith in God, together.”
This is how President Dr. Ben S. Malayang III defined the kind of education offered in Silliman in an interview published on the website of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA) last November 22.
In the interview, Dr. Malayang further defined whole person education as follows: “It is an education that elevates and transforms a person into someone with a higher ability to learn, higher ability to live, higher ability to serve others, and higher ability to serve and to see God. That, to me, would be the essence of whole person education.”
He added that the UBCHEA can be instrumental as partner institution to develop this education in Asia, as it is an organization that has extensive linkages across with higher education institutions across the continent.
According to Dr. Malayang: “Accreditation systems, for example, can be one thing. We can set up internal and external standards for education, including languages, so that we not only address the obvious curricular content of our institutional system but also provide the silent curriculum that is available in each of our institutions. By “silent curriculum” I mean an underpinning objective of shaping graduates who are competent in their own area of study, imbued with character and integrity so as to command respect and esteem to be leaders in their profession and communities, and a strength of faith that makes them people who can be relied upon in good or difficult times.”
Dr. Malayang also acknowledged the challenge that comes along immersing faculty with whole person education. However, he is positive that Silliman, together with UBCHEA and its partners, can provide an avenue to facilitate a transition to a re-imagining, transitioning, and transforming curricular, pedagogical, and other personal approaches to teaching and learning.
The UBCHEA article also highlighted the 5C’s of Silliman education, which was established under Dr. Malayang’s leadership: the classroom, church, cultural center, the (athletic) court, and the community.
Click here to read the full interview with Dr. Malayang.
