Friday, March 15, 2013

Honor, Excellence, and Death


First, I offer my condolences to the family of the student involved, the whole of UP grieves with your loss. I know that the sadness that we feel is nothing compared to your grief. Again, my deepest condolences.

I am writing today about the incident of suicide in my beloved school, the University of the Philippines Manila. 

I am very proud that I graduated from the premiere university in the country. In fact, that pride crosses the line into arrogance at times. I have tries to subdue it but in the end, I know that the pride of coming from UP is still in my heart.

I belong to the first ToFI batch. I paid at least 20k almost every sem, a far cry from the average 6k that Iskolars were used to paying before our batch but I believed that I was paying for good education.

I have never taken the ToFI seriously before. Well, until now that is. From what I have read on twitter, a freshman committed suicide because she was forced into a leave of absence because she cannot pay for her education in UP Manila.  I don’t know the whole story but if this is true, I am truly saddened. My heart breaks into a million pieces for my beloved Alma mater.

If this story proves to be true, oh how the mighty have fallen. I believe that we are an education system that prides itself on honor and excellence. But if we deny someone her rights because of money, are we not worse than the system we claim to fight and abhor? Where is the honor or the excellence in that, my beloved UP?

I know in my heart that this incident will spark a change in the UP system. I know that Iskolars will not let this pass. It just truly breaks my heart that a tragedy had to befall us before we realize that we are in need of drastic changes. 

UP, mahal kong UP, I know you have your reasons. I know that the LOA might not have been the sole reason so please tell us your side. What happened? Tell us. Because I for one, cannot accept that the university I have loved with all my heart is capable of this injustice. 

I am not pointing fingers, merely expressing my despair on the incident. It's not too late, UP, you know what to do. Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan.

1 comment:

  1. If there's a real lesson here, it is that you should make a reasonable profit on a regular basis selling books or anything else, and once in awhile you'll get
    an unexpectedly nice payday. Repotting your
    Salvia plant into a larger pot of soil or transferring them in your backyard garden should be
    done every few months because your Salvia plant will most likely outgrow its current pot.
    Unlike pawn shops, these diamond buyers actually have a reputation to protect and
    therefore will do their best to provide you with
    the best cash settlement possible.

    Also visit my blog post: university of calgary

    ReplyDelete