THIS school of thought holds that knowledge is independent of sense perception or experience. It lays stress on the mental idea, intrinsic or spiritual values rather than on physical fact or material value. It also asserts that man as a part of the universe is a purposive being and knows some truths by reasoning logically in the relationship between values, and that true idea exist innately in the soul of man.

Idealism also claims that man’s knowledge is based on his mental state and the mental stimulus perceived by man soul comes from an infinite spirit which is God.  And God is the highest good to whom all absolute good, beauty, and values are found. In education, idealism argues that the individual’s freedom should be emphasized and guaranteed. The idealists claim that education must provide for the development of the mind of every pupil, and in order to realize this, the school must concentrate on intellectual and moral judgment, and aesthetic development of the students. This, they contend, showed only be made possible through a subject matter-central curriculum designed in order to provide students with the best ideas of human culture and civilization.

On the other hand, the idealist expects the teachers to be role models of intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and vocational excellence to their students. They should teach by example. (MIGUEL V. DUMAS, Jr.officer-in-charge, district supervisor)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Leyte has just passed an ordinance establishing the Integrated Taxation Management System for the province. The ordinance, authored by Vice Governor Carlo Loreto, mandates for the establishment of the iTAX National Development Center (iNDC) and the iTAX Regional Support Center in the province.
As iNDC, the provincial government is tasked to further develop, implement and promote the Philippine iTax to interested local government units; enter into a tripartite agreement with local government iTax Partners (IPs) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government and collect maintenance fees from IPs. Vice Gov. Loreto said the provincial board has to enact the iTax ordinance in order to institutionalize the system and provide a guideline in the imposition of service and maintenance fees to interested local government units to guarantee the sustainability of the service. The ordinance provides for the province-wide implementation of iTAX where all municipalities and component city under the provincial government are mandated to use the system. The iTAX is a software program developed by the German Development Cooperation-Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and provides aids to LGUs to address issues in tax collection. Several provinces and municipalities are already using the system including Leyte. As the IT hub of the region, the province, through a memorandum of agreement signed in May 2014 with the DILG, will act as service provider to other local government units interested to implement the system. Meanwhile, Loreto disclosed that municipalities of the province implementing the iTax claimed the system proved to be beneficial in performing non-tax and tax transactions. On the other hand the average increase of real property tax (RPT) collection in Leyte could be attributed to the iTax implementation. In the city of Baybay, real property tax collection increased by almost 70% between 2010 and 2012 from P6 million to close to P10 million per year. The provincial government of Leyte has an estimated saving of up to P40 million over 3 years because the revision of tax declarations performed by the software and takes only 10 days compared to manual revision that takes 3-4 months. (AHLETTE C. REYES)