How About Aspiring Scholars?

Written on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm | by Letters To Editor

I want to be a scholar.

I want to study.

But I can’t.

Because I have no money for college.

I searched all government sites, perhaps looking for a chance to redeem myself and my family from poverty.

But i didn’t see anything, just scholarship labels that are too much for my mouth.

Bottom line : unless Im from a minority group, i wont be heard;

Unless I’m a genius who has fallen down from heaven, I’d never be given a chance.

Iskolar ng Bayan? nah, maybe some fart-brained rich kid who has some cash to review for UPCAT.

It disappoints me so much that i regret being born a Filipino, let alone living in this superficial planet, which they say is bound for extinction in a few hundred years.

So much for the hope of the nation.

Ergo, where do i go from here?

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the moment.

(sent via email: written by “Dara”)

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About The Author: Letters To Editor are the articles and emails that have been sent to Filipino Voices.

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20 Responses to “How About Aspiring Scholars?”

  1. benign0 on September 15th, 2008 1:35 pm

    Unless I’m a genius who has fallen down from heaven, I’d never be given a chance.

    Iskolar ng Bayan? nah, maybe some fart-brained rich kid who has some cash to review for UPCAT.</blockquote.

    Spoken like a true loser. :D

  2. benign0 on September 15th, 2008 1:35 pm

    Unless I’m a genius who has fallen down from heaven, I’d never be given a chance.

    Iskolar ng Bayan? nah, maybe some fart-brained rich kid who has some cash to review for UPCAT.

    .

    Spoken like a true loser. :D

  3. Jon Limjap on September 15th, 2008 1:47 pm

    I have known several people who come from downtrodden backgrounds, many of whom are living their dreams right now with professional and financial success, or are at least on their way there.

    Some of them are geniuses, most aren’t. Most of them are simply hard working critical thinking high-aiming individuals.

    They are my constant reminders that no amount of poverty can imprison true brilliance.

    Dara, may I ask you: what brilliance do you have in you?

    Find it and let it shine through.

  4. Marocharim on September 15th, 2008 2:25 pm

    Dara:

    Aspire, inspire, perspire.

    Get your act together, kid. You know what they say about waiting for fruit that fall from the tree: they’re often rotten. It’s harsh, but there are a LOT of things in the world that are not your fault. Don’t lose hope. Keep looking for opportunities. Make a difference. Don’t blow ‘em, once you got ‘em.

    Take it from me, kid: uncross your fingers, dig in your heels, and start climbing.

  5. cvj on September 15th, 2008 2:33 pm

    Dara, the reality is that even a responsive government (which this is not) cannot afford to pay for the college education of all aspiring scholars. If such a facility was available, are you agreeable to getting a loan instead which you will then have to pay off when you get a job after graduating?

  6. the jester-in-exile on September 15th, 2008 2:47 pm

    two words: student loan.

  7. the jester-in-exile on September 15th, 2008 2:49 pm

    heck, service contracts. TANSTAAFL.

  8. blackshama on September 15th, 2008 4:23 pm

    The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is practically on its knees begging young people to apply for scholarships. See the DOST website and the papers for details. But that presupposes you want to study SCIENCE. Science is never an easy way to get a college degree.

    Oh BTW, whining is never a way to winning! I have known students who are probably in a worse situation than you and have made a success out of themselves.

    Take it from me, kid. I have been a professor at university for several years!

  9. edgar v. on September 15th, 2008 4:48 pm

    Children of the well heeled people are smarter these days because their parents have more money to burn for their education specially for their private tutorings, exposure to anything of educational values(visit to museums or science fairs),quality school materials and projects, high tech gadgets like computers and a less stressful environment to study.Unless children of the poorer class is genius entering a school the like of UP is just a mere luck to ordinary people.

  10. Philman on September 15th, 2008 5:04 pm

    I think Dara is just stating a reality. The odds are uneven: the rich kids will have a better chance of passing the UPCAT (because of tutoring, aceess to GRE/GMAT reviewers, etc.)than those from poor families, especially high schhol graduates from the rural areas.

    Consider this: Why do you think puno ng magagandang kotse yung harap ng AS?

  11. The Jester-in-Exile on September 15th, 2008 5:14 pm

    philman, that is one of the reasons i support service contracts.

    that reality you speak of could very well disappear with the application of such a policy.

  12. blackshama on September 15th, 2008 5:14 pm

    “Why do you think puno ng magagandang kotse yung harap ng AS?”

    Answer: They belong to Upsilonians! LOL!

    “the rich kids will have a better chance of passing the UPCAT (because of tutoring, aceess to GRE/GMAT reviewers, etc.)than those from poor families, especially high schhol graduates from the rural areas.

    Partially true but never completely. The admission system has certain “palugits” that favour those from the more disadvantageous sectors of society.

    As for the reality that cannot be denied . RICH KIDS HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF BEING ADMITTED TO LA SALLE OR ATENEO THAN TO UP!

    However it is from the ATENEO that a realistic strategy to make disadvantageous kids get into good universities became successful. The Pathways program seems to work and if you want to know more about it and how to help, get in touce with Father Ben Nebres.

  13. Jon Limjap on September 15th, 2008 6:15 pm

    blackshama,

    From the looks of it, Dara doesn’t claim herself as being a “genius” that’s why she didn’t avail of that.

    De La Salle University also has Star Scholar and StuFAP (similar to UP’s StFAP) programs to cater to poor-but-deserving students.

  14. The Jester-in-Exile on September 15th, 2008 6:24 pm

    besides, with comments like those you’ll find here, here, here, and here, it’s kinda hard to say that you’ve gotta be a genius to be accepted to UP. :D

  15. Dean Jorge Bocobo on September 15th, 2008 7:39 pm

    The govt already provides tuition free schooling for about 22 million students (growing by 2 million per year) at the high school and elementary levels.
    But most college graduates come from private schools (with UP being the notable exception).

    Yet we all know that public schools don’t educate. They are just aging vats.

    It’s wrong to blame the sorry state of education on the expense of going to private schools though, because they are in fact the bright spot in the field. The only reason their tuitions are so high is because the public schools unfairly compete with them. Lookit, 150 billion was allocated to the Deped to run a basically dysfunctional system.

    If the govt got out of the business, the private sector would move in (albeit with a religious vengeance). But I daresay Dara would stand a better chance of getting a good education that way.

    (By the way, I suspect Dara is misrepresenting him or herself, or else he or she is a pretty smart dude or dudette. How many undereducated kids say stuff like, “Ergo, where do I go from here?”

    Or, “So much for the hope of the nation.”

    I estimate Dara’s age to be about 30 to 40 years old.

  16. speed blogging on September 16th, 2008 12:12 am

    […] am on September 16, 2008 | # | I find the FV Community’s first attempt at being advice columnists hilarious, especially the opening response by Benign0 which is a classic. I do hope DJB’s […]

  17. UP n student on September 16th, 2008 8:43 pm

    “Free education for all” does not extend beyond high-school.

    And Dara writes much better English than a lot of those who have law or whatever degrees and now post in MLQ3’s site, do you notice?

  18. Dean Jorge Bocobo on September 18th, 2008 9:05 pm

    Well there they go again. Ricky Carandang had a gaggle of Deped USecs on The Big Picture to talk about education. After an hour of batting the same old same old they come to this conclusion: it’s all to do with a lack of resources.

    I say: B.S.!

    It always ends with that same conclusion. It is time to challenge this kind of sterile, inutile thinking.

    I really think it’s because the Govt simply cannot handle education. It’s too vast an enterprise for the central planners at Pasig. With nearly 20 million in the public schools there is simply no Filipino bureaucracy capable to doing anything but a mediocre job of it.

    Yet over in the private sector, they seem to be doing just fine. Why is that? They say it is because the private schools get to charge a high tuition fee, whereas the public schools (at least up to high schools) are free.

    But I really think the public schools are the main reason the private school tuitions are so high.

    Just imagine what would happen to the price of hamburgers if the govt were to subsidize just one of the major fast food outlets, like let us say, Jollibee. Everyone would flock to the subsidized outlets, where of course quality would drop because it’s run by “free public money” except for those who insist on quality and are willing to pay a higher price that would only be artificially high because of the loss of market share.

    I say: privatize education!

  19. Buboy on September 19th, 2008 2:37 pm

    Reality bites… and Truth hurts…

    It simply our world is… money talks and money moves the world…

    Only the rich and with power can move this world… manipulate everything… and fabricate stories…

    We have to face every challenge in our life with courage and perseverance…

    Just live on and go on with your dream…that is the only thing which is free in this world…

  20. dherald on September 23rd, 2008 11:12 am

    go to business then…

    then go to college when you have the money.

    i do not despise the author by writing this, though i find this article funny.

    Note: the very disadvantaged sector of our people can’t have access to tertiary education, how much more knowing and doing email.

    I have a housemate who is a student of UP who is from Bicol. His family lives in a makeshift hut but before and through college. Now, he has a laundry business that brings 15K a month. His customers, us, his classmates, dormates and friends. His initial capital P2000, owed us money for the rest of capital in exchange for a discount.

    He is not even a business student. He’s an agricultural engineering student.

    So I guess this is just a pessimistic point of view.

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