Abstract: Do our current standard academic practices efficiently address the changing needs of modern education? Are our tacit assumptions on teaching aligned with the contemporary revaluation of education theories, understanding of students’ competency, role of teachers and pedagogical methods? The well-meaning stalwarts of the “old system” might disagree to apply drastic changes in their usual teaching practices. Yet, one has to recognize that the reluctance to correct dearly-held teaching dispositions, either for convenience or out of sheer rigidity, is itself an indication of an erroneous assumption of the authority of educators. This paper argues that transmission-based pedagogical practices reinforce stultification among students. Following Lipman’s pedagogical model, it further argues that an inquiry-based reflective paradigm, which is practiced within a community of inquiry, can supplant the “standard” but less effective academic practices that still find their way inside the Philippine classrooms.