THE EDUCATED MAN

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga

A CRITICAL EVALUATION

Many people believe in the importance of education. Today, we can see and feel how

crucial education is in our lives. Parents struggle to send their kids to the best school because

most of them believe that education is an important gift that they should leave to them. Most

of us believe that the key to success is to become an educated man.

What is an educated man? We have always thought of it as being able to attain a degree

but Former Senate President Jovito Salonga thinks that being an educated man is far deeper

than just being able to graduate.

In the speech, he explained the true meaning of being an educated man. Was he trying

to prove something? Was he doing the speech to serve his own personal motives? Did he use

the right choice of words? Did he deliver it effectively? I will look deeper into his speech by

analyzing it using several approaches.

USING THE BITZER’S APPROACH

CONSTITUENTS

Rhetorical Exigencies

In paragraph number 10, he mentioned that they should be reminded that Silliman’s

capacity to get into the stream of things and contribute to the life of the nation has not been

fully tapped. He also mentioned that we should not just look back to the glories of the past but

we should not forget the challenges of the present. Salonga’s mentioning of the untapped or

unused capacity of Silliman was uncalled for. He could have just stated that Silliman needs to

help the nation by using its capacities but he should not have mentioned that Silliman’s capacity

is untapped. It could bring about a negative response from his Silliman audiences. He could

have delivered it in a more positive way.

Audience

Salonga was invited by his UP classmate, Dr. Cicero Calderon, the president of Silliman

University at the time, to speak at the Silliman campus in Dumaguete City during the 63rd

celebration of Founder's Day, August 28, 1964.

With that given, it is clear that Salonga’s audience was composed of the students of

Silliman University. One of his speech’s major thought is the meaning of the educated man. In

paragraph number 19, he said that it is the Silliman’s obligation to produce the educated man

and in paragraph numbers 20 to 24, he explained what an educated man is. According to

Salonga, the educated man is the one who knows the right kind of books to read, the one who

knows the important basic, historical and religious facts that should be remembered, the one

who has not only skill but a good heart, and finally, the one who lives a good, meaningful, and

abundant life.

He also emphasized the importance of the spirit of youth. He said many inspirational

thoughts about the real meaning of the word youth. “Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a

state of mind. It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips or supple knees. It is a temper of

the will, a quality of the imagination, vigor of the emotions, and a freshness of the springs of

life.” Salonga said, paragraph number 7.

With that given, we can say that Salonga delivered this speech because he wanted to

inspire the graduate students of Silliman. His message was that the educated man is

responsible enough to take part of his role in the nation. He wanted to make them believe in

the real meaning of youth and educated man so that he could make them move, so that he

could make them help in pursuing justice and democracy in the nation.

Constraints

The Speaker’s Personal Character

Jovito Salonga or Ka Jovy, as people fondly call him, is known for his endless pursuit of

justice and democracy in the country. He was former senate president of the Philippines. He

has been fighting democracy and dictatorship since his youth. When Martial law was declared

in 1982, he was one of its most outspoken opponents. He won the 2007 Magsaysay

Government Service award; he wrote a book on International Law; and he has a program for a

new democratic Philippines.

Apparently, the speaker’s beliefs and attitude was shown. He told the audience of the

real meaning of being educated so that they would try to be one. His motive was shown. He

motivated the students so that they would delve in fighting for democracy. He stated these

kinds of inspirational ideas so that they will feel that it is essential for them to involve

themselves in the country’s issues for them to fully make use of their good education.

Relations

I think another constraint in this speech is Salonga’s relation to his friend Dr. Cicero

Calderon who is the Silliman president during that time. I can consider it a constraint because

the type of speech given can be affected by their relationship with each other. The setting was

in a school so, somehow, it affected his choice of words and the way he delivered his speech to

the students. He is also considered an important and popular image in the field of democracy

so that affected the type of speech that he delivered.

Rhetorical Situation

The setting was in the Silliman University. Salonga was a guest speaker in the

Foundation day of the school and his audience was the students of the school. It is a simple

structured situation because only a few elements were made to interact. It is loosely structured

because even if he had a definite audience, which was the students of Silliman, we cannot be

sure that the students became mediators of change. We are not sure if the students did take

their roles in the society, as it was the assigned task of the students considering the goal of the

speech.

Fittingness

During the time he delivered his speech, it was a time of graft and injustice and

democracy was clearly needed. Salonga’s speech was a fitting response to the situation of the

country during that time. He responded to it by delivering the speech to young students, who

we consider and always think of as “pag-asa ng bayan” and motivated them to fight for justice

and democracy.

USING THE JUDGMENTAL APPROACH

JUDGMENTAL REQUESTS

Majority of the judgmental requests of Salonga’s speech are promissory ones. There are

paragraphs where the requests are promissory alone but there are also paragraphs where there

is a mixture of requests like factual promissory and optative promissory.

The most prevalent in the speech are the purely promissory judgmental requests. Most

of the paragraphs that make up his speech have an inspirational touch and composed of

dreams and promises. He usually defines the term or the idea according to his own thoughts

and he will justify it later by stating what good will happen in the future. For example, he

defined the educated man and then he told the audience of what the educated man can bring

forth to the country. In paragraph number 23, he summarized his thoughts on the definition of

the educated man. At the end of the paragraph, he said, “But there is one more important thing

that we should always remember and it is this – that far more important than the making of a

living, is a living of life – a good life, a meaningful life, an abundant life.” “The educated man

lives this kind of life, because he has opened the windows of his mind to great thoughts and

ennobling ideas” he said, paragraph number 24. “Because he lives a life of relevance to the

world in which we live, a sharing in the problems of his time and doing whatever he can with

intelligence and fairness and understanding” he ended the paragraph. He defined the idea first

- what an educated man is; then, he stated what will happen in the future - that the educated

man will surely help the country because of his kept ideals.

Another example is when he explained the importance of the training in the university

and then he justified it by saying that the good leaders of tomorrow will come from a good

training from a good university. In paragraph number 13, he said “For it is in the schools,

colleges, and the universities of the land where the youth who will pilot the affairs of tomorrow

are being taught and trained and equipped for what we trust will be a better kind of

leadership.”

There are some parts where he used factual requests such as paragraph numbers 1, 3,

12, and 14. For example, in paragraph number 3, Salonga recounted the story of their former

president, Dr. Arthur Carson’s help to him. In paragraph number 12, he enumerated the

country’s problems.

There are also few purely optative requests and a mixture of optative and promissory

like paragraph numbers 10, 18, and 25. Basically what he did in these paragraphs was he built

up what the image of the Filipinos, or the students, or the institutions should be. That was what

he talked about in these optative requests.

There are other parts where he gave factual promissory requests like paragraph

numbers 5, 6, 11, and 20. First he states a fact; then, he inserts the inspirational part – the part

where he mentions what is ideal, what we have to do, and what will happen in the future if we

do it. For example, in paragraph number 11, he stated first the fact that amidst the physical

reconstruction of shops, factories, towns and cities during that time, there has crept in a serious

case of internal breakdown. Then he ended the paragraph by saying “unless every one of us

does something about it, the national structure may collapse and go down.”

Also, I have observed this type of sequence in consecutive paragraphs. In paragraph

number 12, he stated that country’s worst problems during that time “the fact of widespread,

grinding poverty, the problem of massive unemployment in the context of a society that

possesses a high rate of population growth, the fact of graft and the paralysis of initiative in

public services…” Then, in paragraph number 13, he said that the institutions of learning

provide the guidance and direction in critical days such as those days.

Overall, he used more promissory and factual requests but the most dominant ones are

the promissory requests. He used a mixture of facts and promises to make it more convincing.

First, he will put a solid ground or foundation for his arguments which are the facts; then, he

will add his inspirational thoughts which are promissory requests. He makes his promissory

requests effective by combining them with facts.

EXAMINING THE STYLE

SYNTAX

Sentence Structure

All the paragraphs of Salonga’s speech are composed of secondary structures. He used

many adjective and adverbial modifiers, dependent clauses and adverbial phrases. In some

paragraphs, I think, he just did not cut his sentences. There are uncalled for compound

sentences which are irrelevantly joined. For example in paragraph number 5, he said “When I

learned some three years ago that my former classmate and good friend, Dr. Calderon,

accepted the offer to become the president of this university, I was happy both for your

president and this institution, convinced as I was, that an enduring partnership had been forged

and that Silliman could look ahead, for even brighter days, in the unending quest for truth and

goodness and beauty.” This long sentence occupied the whole paragraph. But when we read it

again, the paragraph can be divided into sentences.

However, most of the paragraphs proved that it was his technique. His technique is he

emphasizes his message by intensifying its importance through modifying or describing it, or

through enumerating many facts revolving around it. For example, the long paragraph number

24 is composed of only one sentence. Another example is paragraph number 25. Salonga stated

“it is the responsibility of Silliman, as in all other institutions of learning in this country, to

produce the educated man and to produce him in such number and of such high quality of

excellence that Silliman products will be a leavening influence in a time of great challenge and

in a world of countless perils.” He could have stated it in a simpler manner but he chooses to

add adjectives and adverbial modifiers.

In paragraph number 12, his extensive use of modifiers was shown when he used an

adjective for each dilemma. For example, he used grinding poverty, massive unemployment,

society that possesses high rate of population growth, fact of graft, paralysis of initiative in

public service, chronic problem of moral breakdown and wastage and neglect of human

resources instead of simply saying poverty, unemployment, graft, lack of initiative, and moral

breakdown. It is clear that he is intensifying each problem just like his intensification in the

other paragraphs.

Style Category

Salonga’s speech is in the periodic or paratactic style. Because his paragraphs are in the

secondary structure, it follows that his paragraphs are also mostly paratactic. He usually tells

the audience what to do with the primary structures. For example, in paragraph number 24, he

said “The educated man lives this kind of life, because he has opened the windows of his mind

to great thoughts and ennobling ideas; because he is not imprisoned by the printed page, but

chooses to make a relentless, rigorous analysis and evaluation of everything he reads…” and so

on. His paragraphs are made up of sentences which are tight, reasoned, intricate and

connected.

IMAGERY

Salonga used many images such as fear, hope courage, beauty, confidence and the like

but the most dominant images in the speech are youth, democracy, nation, life, and most

importantly good education. These are the images that were repeatedly mentioned in the

speech. His aim was to promote democracy through education and by using ideas concerned

with youth, life, and nation.

Some of the metaphors he used are mechanistic. In some parts of the speech he

mentioned “growing spirit”, “recording chamber”, “grinding poverty”, “paralysis of initiative”,

“wrinkles the soul” and more other modifiers.

Mechanistic modifiers are moving modifiers. They add movement to the noun and it

helps put an aura of action into the speech. His mechanistic modifiers helped intensify the

purpose of the speech given that it was aimed to inspire and make the students move and do

action.

WORD CHOICE

Lexicon

Salonga used many god terms. Majority of his judgmental requests are promissory so it

just justifies his usage of god terms such as freedom, liberty, democracy, youth, courage,

justice, and so on.

As stated above, majority of his paragraphs have secondary structured sentences. He

used long sentences. He used many auxiliary verbs and main verbs. He also used many nouns.

Stylistic Features

His speech exhibited almost all the stylistic features. We can see realism, certainty,

optimism, human interest, embellishment and symbolism. But the most prevalent features are

embellishment and symbolism. He used many adjectives and adverbs to describe and

exaggerate his thoughts and he also used many god terms.

The speaker’s political vision and social power greatly affected his style. Because

Salonga is a diehard believer of democracy and justice, his paragraphs are full of god terms. He

wanted to promote his beliefs that much that he used so many colorful and inspiring words. His

theme is more optimistic than pessimistic. He poured out his dreams and visions in the speech.

He used very long sentences because he used long descriptions for almost every thought.

His educational background also affected his style. Salonga is a lawyer. When lawyers

are in court or when they are defending an argument, they should relate one idea from

another. We can assume that because of that, Salonga got used to using very long and

connected sentences. I think that might be one reason for his secondary structured sentences

and his paratactic style. Also, in court, lawyers should know how to describe or how to add

modifiers in order for them to strengthen the situation; thus, support their argument. That

might explain why he used so many modifiers.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Message Design

Salonga’s speech can fall under several types of structural techniques like spatial, causal,

problem-solution, and withheld-proposal sequence but I think the most prevalent structure is

the withheld-proposal sequence. Majority of his speech was devoted to praising ideas such as

youth, democracy and most especially the educated man. He also emphasized the fact that

Silliman and other universities can train individuals who will become crucial in building the

future of the country. He said that it is the students’ obligation to do something about the

country. The basic point is that he created enough build up before he stated his goal in the end

– that the Silliman should produce the educated man. Therefore, the audience already

absorbed most of his wonderful ideas before he persuaded or convinced them of his real

intention.

The withheld-proposal structure is the most effective type of all because it is highly

dependent on the speaker’s knowledge rather than what the audience already knows. Because

Salonga introduced not just a new idea but an inspiring and moving one, most probably, the

tendency will be that the audience will believe him and will be convinced that his plan will be

effective.

He consistently used the withheld-proposal to introduce and embellish his ideas first;

then, he strongly suggested his plan in the end. Actually, he was more of demanding that the

university should listen to him and produce the educated man because according to Salonga, it

was crucial to the nation’s betterment. It was evident also in most of the paragraphs. As stated

above, he will first build up the image by using modifiers and descriptions; then, he will

convince them of his idea in the end. For example, in paragraph number 19, he first praised

Silliman by saying that the Silliman institution serves the highest end of a free society, that its

work is of great relevance for the betterment of the nation; then, at the end of the paragraph,

he said that it is Silliman’s task to produce the educated man. He used it all throughout the

speech.

Message Emphasis

The speech is highly constricted in content. Salonga introduced a few major ideas which

are youth, Silliman and the other universities’ obligation to the nation, and most importantly,

the real definition of the educated man; then, the whole speech revolved around these ideas.

He strictly adhered to his topic about education. He did not insert other irrelevant thoughts.

Although his speech is long and full of examples, these thoughts only point to his major topic.

He was able to put emphasis to hi message through concentrating the speech on his goal.

Only a few arguments were presented. As I have said, Salonga’s speech has one major

aim – to persuade the university to produce the educated man. He only presented a few

arguments. Then, he added many examples and modifiers to support these few arguments.

The interconnections between evidences were made clear in the transitions and

previews. Because Salonga’s speech is highly constricted in content, the speaker did not have a

hard time connecting one topic from another. It was easy for him to introduce a secondary idea

because its relation to the first idea that was introduced is very apparent. Also, he used long

and compound sentences so the transitions between ideas are not confusing because he placed

the ideas in the same paragraph in the first place. The relation of the topics is very easy to

understand. For example, he immediately told the audience that Silliman has the obligation to

produce the educated man right after the long explanation about the real definition of the

educated man. Using that method, he arrives on what he wants to say and his message travels

to the audience clearly and easily.

As stated earlier, the ideas are embellished first through giving examples or through

extensive elaboration. For most paragraphs, the ideas appear more likely to be well received

because the thoughts that were given or stated before it emphasizes its importance. A perfect

example for this, again, is the elaboration of the idea of the educated man, before the

introduction of the importance of producing the educated man.

Message Density

The emphasized points were youth, the obligation and the educated man. Almost all the

ideas were well discussed by the speaker. He took time expounding each and no idea was given

short shrift. The speaker’s intention is very apparent in the speech. His long examples and

detailed elaborations expose the persuasive obstacles being faced by Salonga.

The speaker spent more time elaborating the new ideas and spent less time recasting

the familiar ones. Salonga gave more emphasis and importance on the newly presented ideas

than the familiar ones because his main goal in the first place, was to make people believe in his

idea and in his proposal.

Message Pacing

He arranged his arguments in that sequence so that when he introduced his basic goal,

more people will be convinced and persuaded. If the arguments were reversed, the speech

would be less effective because the arguments were presented according to its weight and

appeal. The last ideas introduced were more likely to create a greater impact on the audiences.

To add impact to the speech, he ended it by stating an inspiring quote from Emerson.

Through listening to the last words of Salonga, we can already assume about his personality and

about his principles in life.

There are certain parts of the speech where rhetorical questions are dominant. For

example, from paragraph numbers 15 to 17, he enumerated the bright sides of youth (the

youth sees democracy but wonders whether democracy is worth fighting for, the youth is told

that the poor and the rich are treated alike but he sees the crimes which are lightly disposed of

because the authority it too willing to look on the other way, and the youth sees that it is not

what you are, nor what you know, but whom you know and how much you are worth that

matter). Then, in paragraph number 18, he said “Shall we, the school officials and teachers and

students, throw up our hands in resignation and defeat and pass back the whole burden to

society?” The rhetorical question stated was very apparent, it was outstanding. It created a

great impact because the first given ideas were able to emphasize it well.

CONCLUSION

Salonga’s speech was well thought of. It was delivered in the best and most effective

structure, the withheld-proposal structure. He arranged the arguments in such a way that the

first idea illuminates the second. He used inspiring terms. He gave an inspirational quote in the

end which added impact on his whole speech. He used more factual and promissory judgmental

requests which again, I think is one of the most effective combinations because it combines

facts and visions. The transition of his ideas and arguments is smooth and easy to understand.

The overall construction of the speech is quite outstanding but we cannot have an

assurance that it created an impact on the audience. No matter how perfect a speech can be, in

the end, it is still the audience who will give judgment. After all, it is not only the speech that is

evaluated but also the personality and performance of the speaker.

SOURCES

Andrews, James. The Practice of Rhetorical Criticism.

Bitzer, Lloyd. “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy and Rhetoric.

Harnadeck, Anita E. Critical Reading Improvement: A Program for Self Instruction.

Hart, Roderick. Modern Rhetorical Criticism.

Salonga, Steve. The Jovito Salong Journal.

http://jovitosalongajournals.blogspot.com/2007/09/educated-man.html

http://www.senate.gov.ph/senators/former_senators/jovito_salonga.htm

http://www.txtmania.com/articles/jovy.php