The survey results were very interesting. As shown in Chart 1, 22% expressed that they prefer ROTC as an NSTP component when statistics show that there are no students taking ROTC in DLSL. It also ranked second among the three components that ousted LTS, which is more dominant than ROTC in the DLSL. Knowing this, researchers realized that some students do not take the NSTP component they prefer. One factor here is, probably, due to the provisions of the NSTP Act. According to RA 9163, higher education institutions (HEIs) must have at least 350 ROTC candidates to be able to offer ROTC. Because of this, DLSL being a higher education institution was unable to offer ROTC due to a shortage of candidates. The results in Graph 2 show that two out of three students do not like the idea of having mandatory military training. In the interview with Ms. Dimaculangan (2013) about the findings, she pointed out that the querulous nature of students nowadays might be the reason why students do not like the idea of compulsory military training. He added that this nature of students results in “weak” and “soft” male tertiary students, unlike before when ROTC was compulsory. The researchers agree with Ms. Dimaculangan. The current generation is very different from the previous one. Today, the current generation lives a comfortable and peaceful life, unlike the previous generation, which was aware of wars and difficulties. When looking at the interview results, the researchers, as expected, were able to gather diverse and divided results as the researchers chose different participants with the intention of obtaining contrasting responses. After a thorough analysis of the results, as a whole, the participants suggest that ROTC, alone, is important. Most of them are not... middle of paper... raising awareness from a young age. Increased awareness in students' military training will likely change their approach to ROTC. Security issues should be addressed. The risks of violence, abuse and death should be reduced through careful monitoring and student participation in providing feedback. Previous practices that endanger student safety should be removed immediately. This could, arguably, make some students optimistic and willing to enlist for ROTC. For future researchers related to ROTC, improvement in the scope of the survey and better selection of interviewees should be made. Improving the search tool will more likely improve the accuracy of the data. The researchers believe that the answers are biased as each interviewee answered the questions from their own perspective. Personal factors that could influence the results should be eliminated.
tags