stories from the middle earth press room

"...Because the conflict has been going on for years, they have coined a term for it -- "the great divide." Yet many professors and school officials do not even know it exists. On one side are students who came from private schools like Ateneo and La Salle. On the other side are those who did not. They are all bright and talented, except that perhaps the minority from private schools have better communication skills and a better command of English, though there are exceptions. Because they always speak English, and perhaps exude a certain kind of self-esteem and confidence, they have been the object of hatred by others. More so my daughter Bernadette. She is a candidate for summa cum laude, vice president of her organization, and a possible topnotcher for UP's entire graduating batch, and was singled out...."

i refuse to believe speaking good english is the reason why the accused cheaters were "singled out", "discrimated against" by the other students, as the father of one of the accused, Bernardo Lopez, claimed. Maybe there are narrow-minded people in the UP system but speaking good english IS NOT one of those the reasons why they will pick on you. I don't know where Lopez studied in college but i hope he did not come from UP because it seems like he does not know UP at all.

ok let's say give him benefit of the doubt...

but speaking good english is a very lame excuse. as celeni puts it succintly:

"...I do not think that the greater student body has a knack for condemning people based on their socio-economic background or their choice of vernacular. I find it particularly offensive that even if you generalized the student body as "bright and talented", you still condemned some of them as baseless accusers who will falsify events based on their slightly inferior English-speaking skills..."

like what the ---???

i just don't understand why they keep on harping on the loss of the Gawad. is that award very important to validate your intelligence? is it a validation of your self-worth?

the issue would not come out to the media and blogosphere if it weren't for them anyway. i mean the UP admin decided to be silent about it and i guess the local media did not bother to cover it since -- as i've said earlier -- the UP community was mum about it until the issue was resolved, i think. and it was good para so that the accused would not be nailed to the cross further.

anyway, these are the classic examples of pompous asses, in my opinion, who are too drunk in their own consequence, their self-glorification. the way bernadatte (one of the accused) wrote her letter was indicative of what kind of character she has. para bang walang humility. yes, she is angry and she should be. but read again her letter. ang yabang eh. makikisimpatya pa sana ako pero...

as i've experienced in my college and post-college years, i discovered that my self-worth is not tied to whether i was cum laude or not. at the end of the day it would all boil down to whether i've been good to my brethren or i did a good job and i know i worked my ass for it. yes it's so cliche.

i'm not bitter that i wasn't able to have those awards, the cum laude thing that was supposed to be attached at the end of my name when i went up the stage during graduation. anyway, kasalanan ko din naman bakit nagpabaya ako. basta i know i did not kiss asses, did not compromise my principles (hello soc sci!) and lived my college life to the fullest (*hik*). i know i am intelligent enough for whatever i'm doing right now. i know that the cum laude thing would be negated by my performance at work and by my character. just the same the stigma of being called a cheater during their college years would be erased when they will be out in the field and do their thing.

as long as your self-worth is not attached to these accolades, you'll be all right.

ang question is, binawian ba sila ng cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude nila? mukha namang hindi. point is -- let it go. life is too short to dwell on such petty things like cheating scandal and the loss of the Gawad. yes, it's easy for me to say but if you let yourself be burdened by this, you will only let this haunt the rest of your life. besides, people's attention span now is only up to 15 minutes so by next year people will completely have forgotten about this by then.

but let's go back to the main point. the great divide in UP exists when there are students who drive around the campus during enrollment in their BMWs while there are students who are already at their wits' end trying to find ways how to pay for their increasing tuition fees for the semester. i suppose the animosity (if there is any) towards these rich kids would rear its ugly head when those who try to survive in the university without knowing how they would be able to stretch a measly P500-a-week budget (if they are lucky to have such budget) sees that the "haves" are just wasting away this opportunity to study in a premier university by showing up in school stoned and drunk and yet they have more chances of staying in UP because they have pamasahe and lunch money in their pockets.

my mother adopted this kid from her hometown when she learned that the reason why this student was always absent is because wala siyang pamasahe papasok. muntikan na kasi madismiss yung bata pero nung nalaman ng faculty na yung excessive absences nya eh dahil sa kahirapan, inimbita na siya ng nanay ko tumira sa amin hanggang makatapos. maraming utang pala 'to sa mga kaibigan nya kasi wala siyang pangkain and may mga panahong papasok siya na hindi pa kumakain maghapon.

she stayed in our house for a while and during the time na inampon siya ng nanay ko, hindi siya kumakain ng pagkain namin. akala namin ayaw niya. yun pala nagiguilty dahil siya masarap daw kinakain sa bahay namin samantalang mga kapatid nya daw walang makain. she cannot bring herself to eat good food.

in the end she left our house and did not enroll that coming semester. i guess she ended up as a panadera somewhere to support her siblings, as was her original plan before she came to our house. my mom was powerless to stop her. guilt was eating this kid alive.

marami silang ganyan. kaya nga naimbento sa amin sa elbi yung "101 ways to cook pancit canton and 555 sardines" (i had a good friend who taught me ways to cook lucky me and 555 and she came from a poor family)....kasi yun lang ang kayang bilhin ng karamihan ng estdyante sa amin sa UP para tumagal lang ang allowance na kayang ibigay ng magulang nila o ng kinikita sa pagiging student assistant o serbedora sa mcdo.

pero dahil sa kahirapan, maraming tumitigil sa pag-aaral.

AND THAT, MR. LOPEZ, WHERE THE GREAT DIVIDE LIES.