I had no classes during the afternoon but I wasn’t able to come during the earlier parts of

the program because I was trying to look for the freshmen blocks in order to have them sign the

PolSci stand regarding PGMA’s continuous hold to power in Malacanang.

I arrived at around 3:30PM and stayed until 4:30PM. I wasn’t able to join the march to

Welcome Rotonda but I was able to listen to a few speakers regarding the crimes committed by

the Arroyo administration against the students of the country. Although I was disappointed with

the turnout, I was consoled by the fact that they few people who stayed there are aware of the

reasons why Arroyo should be ousted. I’m more comfortable with people who are fighting for

the right reasons that people fighting for Arroyo’s ouster only because they were paid to do so.

In our LFS discussions, we recently tackled the condition of UP Manila and I was quite

shocked with how terrible our problems are. I have been in the public school system since HS

and I am quite aware of the problems being faced by public high schools. Our problems in HS

were quite understandable because we were only funded by the local government but the

problems of UP Manila (and the whole UP system) are not understandable because the institution

is supposedly funded by the national government.

I heard one member from LFS High School exclaiming that people, especially HS

students, are already tired of Arroyo’s continuous stay in Malacanang. I was amazed and at the

same time, awed by how she openly expressed how she felt about our country. Only a few

people are given the chance to be aware like her. When I was in HS, I was the associate editor of

our school newspaper but I never thought of being able to express my feelings that way she

expressed her feelings during the mobilization. It made me realize how apathetic I was during

high school – to think that people actually believe I’ll do well in PolSci because I’m opinionated.
The thing is, it isn’t about being opinionated or not – it’s about being aware of the issues and

being aware of the things that you can do in order to solve those issues.

On the way home, I was thinking. I thought of how I changed from a typical HS student

to a college sophomore who has been joining mobilizations since first year. I admired my

freedom and my capacity to express myself without being told what to do or what not to do. It

makes me feel quite ashamed of myself to think that I considered myself “aware” during HS. I

realized that my Social Studies lessons were limited to discussing history – nothing more. I

realized that the education system is designed to make students apathetic – unaware of the things

that are happening around them. I realized that my nationalism died when I was in HS.

Only a few people are lucky enough to be in UP. It’s such a shame really because UP

could have helped in making students express their true selves. Unfortunately, I’ve been

observing UP Manila students lately and I realized that the culture of apathy has infiltrated the

campus as well. Although there are pretentious student movements who are really hiding the

interests of their elitist backers, I can’t help but think that UP students nowadays are not really

aware of the duties that they have as scholars of the country. UP students still think critically but

that’s it – they have a stand but they don’t do anything in order to advance that stand. I realized,

one doesn’t need to enter UP in order to be aware. In fact, more people out there are more active

with the issues that truly affect the nation.