What is a commencement address for? Is it to showcase the verbal or oratory prowess of somebody? Is it to put plain words in the mouth of a somebody in the society so those plain words can magically turn into moving declarations? Or is it way beyond that?
A commencement address is like the voice of a coach before basketball players go into the court of the real world and play the game called real life. And after spending four years or more under the "merits over morals" pulse of the academic world, a commencement address must remind the students to embrace the "dignity beyond diploma" mindset as they prepare to join the society's economic activities.
But what happens if a commencement address that is supposed to remind college graduates to be dignified encounters ethical issues due to plagiarism?
Manuel V. Pangilinan's speech controversy
This last Easter Sunday, I learned about the controversy surrounding Manny Pangilinan's commencement address as delivered to the Ateneo de Manila's graduating class for 2010 (particularly to the graduating class of School of Management & School of Science and Engineering on 26 March 2010, and School of Humanities & School of Social Sciences on 27 March 2010). According to a report from ABS-CBN, Manny Pangilinan (also known as MVP) resigned as Chairman of the Ateneo de Manila's Board of Trustess after admitting that parts of his speeches were copied from from speeches of Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, and Conan O'Brien. Although he said that he had some help in writing the said speech, MVP took full accountability for the controversy that surrounded the said commencement address. MVP even said, "Wala talaga akong mukhang ihaharap pagkatapos."
An academic achiever's honest mistake
MVP is not just a plain degree holder. He graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila university with a degree in Economics, and got his MBA degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
But aside from his academic records, what's more noteworthy about MVP is his underpublicized acts of philantropy.
Yet now we have here, on the other hand, a rather overpublicized mistake, which ADMU President Father Bienvenido "Ben" Nebres perceives as an honest one.
Why an honest one? Well, I have to admit that I was initially angered by this plagiarism issue. "Bakit ba kasi antanda na niyang si Pangilinan hindi pa niya kaya gumawa ng original speech mag-isa." I, after all, am a differently educated person who can write original speeches and articles all by myself, so I was expecting an MBA holder like MVP to be capable of the same thing. But my dad-in-law commented, "Naku, alam mo namang top executive 'yun, malamang sobrang busy 'yun kaya nag-hire ng writer." Furthermore, Father Ben Nebres noted in his letter to MVP, "In reading again through your speeches, we also see that indeed the main part of your speeches were your story and your thoughts." There I can see the possibility that the writer who "assisted" MVP may have consulted Mr. Google so he/she can beef up the speech by adding parts of commencement addresses delivered by other celebrities. Now that makes more sense to me.
A Lenten reflection for the differently educated
The timing of the controversy is somehow heaven-willed, at least for the differently educated people, for the news about MVP's controversial commencement address spilled out during the Lenten Season.
Here we can see a person who can be readily seen not just as a business tycoon but also as an academic achiever committing the infuriating crime of plagiarism.
Indeed, MVP is a person whom a misguided radical anti-academic person can easily despise. Yet this same person is facing us now as an embarrassed and broken man, probably asking for forgiveness.
What I really find admirable about MVP is not just his humility to issue an apology, but above all his courage to resign as the Chairman of ADMU Board of Trustees. Now that's what we call accountability. We have here a man who admits his mistakes AND faces its consequences, no matter how harsh they may be. MVP proved to us that there should be more than just delivering an "I'm sorry" speech on national TV but refusing to relinquish a government position like the presidency and continue with business-as-usual routines as if nothing horrible happened.
No matter how privileged academic achievers appear, we must bear in mind that they are also human beings that can commit mistakes. Like us differently educated people, academic achievers are also souls enveloped in earthen bodies, bestowed with feet of clay so to speak. When an academic achiever commits a mistake, our initial reaction is to call for punitive action. Although I strongly believe in the virtue of justice, the MVP Commencement Address Controversy is teaching us two equally important virtues: repentance and forgiveness.
MVP has already shown repentance. I think we should do our share by showing forgiveness.
We must give academic achievers the right to experience defeat. We all experience defeats. We all feel pain and embarassment. But isn't it great to realize that academic achievers and differently educated people can also share the same pains (like the pain of job hunting as written in my sub-blog "Requirement: Pleasing Personality") and gifts (like the gift of music as written in my sub-blog "Music Lessons")? Isn't it astonishing to see that even an MVP needs help from his teammates?
After all, even an MVP can get fouls. In fact, they're not even immune to injuries.
(Click here to view photo source)
A commencement address is like the voice of a coach before basketball players go into the court of the real world and play the game called real life. And after spending four years or more under the "merits over morals" pulse of the academic world, a commencement address must remind the students to embrace the "dignity beyond diploma" mindset as they prepare to join the society's economic activities.
But what happens if a commencement address that is supposed to remind college graduates to be dignified encounters ethical issues due to plagiarism?
Manuel V. Pangilinan's speech controversy
This last Easter Sunday, I learned about the controversy surrounding Manny Pangilinan's commencement address as delivered to the Ateneo de Manila's graduating class for 2010 (particularly to the graduating class of School of Management & School of Science and Engineering on 26 March 2010, and School of Humanities & School of Social Sciences on 27 March 2010). According to a report from ABS-CBN, Manny Pangilinan (also known as MVP) resigned as Chairman of the Ateneo de Manila's Board of Trustess after admitting that parts of his speeches were copied from from speeches of Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, and Conan O'Brien. Although he said that he had some help in writing the said speech, MVP took full accountability for the controversy that surrounded the said commencement address. MVP even said, "Wala talaga akong mukhang ihaharap pagkatapos."
An academic achiever's honest mistake
MVP is not just a plain degree holder. He graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila university with a degree in Economics, and got his MBA degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
But aside from his academic records, what's more noteworthy about MVP is his underpublicized acts of philantropy.
Yet now we have here, on the other hand, a rather overpublicized mistake, which ADMU President Father Bienvenido "Ben" Nebres perceives as an honest one.
Why an honest one? Well, I have to admit that I was initially angered by this plagiarism issue. "Bakit ba kasi antanda na niyang si Pangilinan hindi pa niya kaya gumawa ng original speech mag-isa." I, after all, am a differently educated person who can write original speeches and articles all by myself, so I was expecting an MBA holder like MVP to be capable of the same thing. But my dad-in-law commented, "Naku, alam mo namang top executive 'yun, malamang sobrang busy 'yun kaya nag-hire ng writer." Furthermore, Father Ben Nebres noted in his letter to MVP, "In reading again through your speeches, we also see that indeed the main part of your speeches were your story and your thoughts." There I can see the possibility that the writer who "assisted" MVP may have consulted Mr. Google so he/she can beef up the speech by adding parts of commencement addresses delivered by other celebrities. Now that makes more sense to me.
A Lenten reflection for the differently educated
The timing of the controversy is somehow heaven-willed, at least for the differently educated people, for the news about MVP's controversial commencement address spilled out during the Lenten Season.
Here we can see a person who can be readily seen not just as a business tycoon but also as an academic achiever committing the infuriating crime of plagiarism.
Indeed, MVP is a person whom a misguided radical anti-academic person can easily despise. Yet this same person is facing us now as an embarrassed and broken man, probably asking for forgiveness.
What I really find admirable about MVP is not just his humility to issue an apology, but above all his courage to resign as the Chairman of ADMU Board of Trustees. Now that's what we call accountability. We have here a man who admits his mistakes AND faces its consequences, no matter how harsh they may be. MVP proved to us that there should be more than just delivering an "I'm sorry" speech on national TV but refusing to relinquish a government position like the presidency and continue with business-as-usual routines as if nothing horrible happened.
No matter how privileged academic achievers appear, we must bear in mind that they are also human beings that can commit mistakes. Like us differently educated people, academic achievers are also souls enveloped in earthen bodies, bestowed with feet of clay so to speak. When an academic achiever commits a mistake, our initial reaction is to call for punitive action. Although I strongly believe in the virtue of justice, the MVP Commencement Address Controversy is teaching us two equally important virtues: repentance and forgiveness.
MVP has already shown repentance. I think we should do our share by showing forgiveness.
We must give academic achievers the right to experience defeat. We all experience defeats. We all feel pain and embarassment. But isn't it great to realize that academic achievers and differently educated people can also share the same pains (like the pain of job hunting as written in my sub-blog "Requirement: Pleasing Personality") and gifts (like the gift of music as written in my sub-blog "Music Lessons")? Isn't it astonishing to see that even an MVP needs help from his teammates?
After all, even an MVP can get fouls. In fact, they're not even immune to injuries.
(Click here to view photo source)
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