Wasting their Chances

I, myself, am sometimes guilty of this, depending on the object of reference.

Sometimes, or most of the times I get resentful with those students who really have the resources, capital and all the means. They are fortunate that their parents provide them with this and with that. They have laptops, computers, super-fast DSLs and all the conveniences that help them to move a lot more easy with things at school. At least their efforts are maximized and not compromised with the hassles that these conveniences counter. If they really want to get down on their academics, they can easily deal with things that are needed to be taken care of.

On some instances, I feel the grudge on people who really have the means, all the resources and the convenience but sadly do not envision their acts towards academics. Also those who do not provide the rationality of their choice in failing to adhere from the expectations on them, as students, to get involved in the production of knowledge or at least acquisition of it as a minimum (at least to puppet knowledge). This is very irritating if you would find out that many of these people are in state-subsidized universities.

These people pass state university exams, for example UP. This university is known for having the exams quite tough pass, too tough to admit all who aspire. However, I know of some people who passed the exams are just wasting, spoiling their privilege. Just because they passed the exams, they have the right to bullshit everything, then consider themselves as people of high intellectual capital, and do nothing. They just pass the exam. They just got high with the single damned exam.

Evan the title ‘Iskolar ng Bayan’ is not entitled to everybody. Not everybody who passed the exams deserves it. It should be constantly earned.

What is sad about this is that: there, outside, there are more people, who I think, deserve more of our positions here in the university, especially those apathetic students. Some people outside should have been in the place of some of us because of the exam. Some of them needed the access to our educational system more than the apathetic students maybe because it is relatively low-cost and the academic excellence and freedom, which seem to be hard to be found all in the same school.

The people whom I referred to as apathetic are wasting a lot of advantages, which are entitled to them. Subtly, there is the need that these advantages are to be paid back with their expectations as students, or, at least a little modest will of it.

What more irritates me is that some of these students reason out of such dispositions towards academics with the freedom of choice, celebration of autonomy or maybe they would say: “I have the right and the means, why should you care?” That has got to hurt.

Please DO NOT get me wrong about this. I do not hold grudge against these people whom I criticize. This is not a hate letter and I do not curse people and resort to a class damnation. I just want to raise a query to scrutinize thing that fail to reach out stigma because we blur our vision towards freedom. Freedom is good. However, the question is, do we really deserve it? I myself do not want to give a damn on others choices and dispositions but I criticize on the rationality or the logic of these choices. Do their freedoms parallel their duties and expectations?

What I want to point out here, as I was saying a while ago, that we need to take a look out of own milieu—that our actions are still subject to a bigger social structure. Some people use golden toothpicks however a large chuck of population try to endure uncertainties and high levels of danger just to be fed for a single meal.

Think about it!

*Healthy and responsible antithetical comments are accepted. I want to hear from your perspective.