We have read, heard and watched it countless times in mainstream media.
Take Wowowee for example, wherein a contestant will be asked by Willie who he/she is with. The contestant's companion would usually be a parent. And whenever Willie would ask what the parent wanted to tell his/her child, it's time for cheap impromptu noontime melodrama. The parent, teary-eyed, would say, "Anak, kahit mahirap ang buhay, gagawin natin ang lahat para makapagtapos ka ng pag-aaral."
Very predictable. Very typical. Very Filipino. And most of all, very sad.
Indeed, for the Filipino culture, it is a must to do everything for the sake of acquiring a college diploma.
And when they say everything, they mean everything!
Cheating on exams, parents doing their children's homeworks, plagarizing research papers and theses, resorting to prostitution to raise enough money for matriculation expenses, stories of one night stands with the instructor to evade a failing mark.
We Filipinos now do EVERYTHING all for that big dream of graduating, that piece of paper called college diploma, which is the academic world's "documented affirmation" of a person's "intelligence", even if it costs us our sense of honesty, integrity, and self-respect.
We Filipinos have now reached the lowly situation that we now value the college diploma over our moral virtues.
The Filipino society has now placed an extraordinarily overwhelming emphasis on the college diploma. The Filipino people has now deified it. For most Filipinos, the college diploma is their God! I don't care if a conventional grade-conscious folk would approach me and dare correct me, for as long as he/she is willing to do "everything" to get that shining college diploma, that piece of paper is his/her God!
How low have we fallen? Sure, there's nothing wrong to pursue formal education and finish college, but if we continue pursue it in the way we do it nowadays, that's when things get horribly wrong. In an attempt to uplift the current situation of our country by producing more professionals through college education, we actually worsen the health of our nation by instilling a culture of corruption to our youth who will grow old believing it's fine to resort to dirty things to acquire the desired wealth, power, and social status.
Now, to the students who are currently pursuing formal education in the academic world, before doing anything for the purpose of acquiring that aspired academic merit, please do think about the ethical uprightness of the act. After all, I can say with full and uncompromising conviction that dignity is still far more important than the diploma.
Take Wowowee for example, wherein a contestant will be asked by Willie who he/she is with. The contestant's companion would usually be a parent. And whenever Willie would ask what the parent wanted to tell his/her child, it's time for cheap impromptu noontime melodrama. The parent, teary-eyed, would say, "Anak, kahit mahirap ang buhay, gagawin natin ang lahat para makapagtapos ka ng pag-aaral."
Very predictable. Very typical. Very Filipino. And most of all, very sad.
Indeed, for the Filipino culture, it is a must to do everything for the sake of acquiring a college diploma.
And when they say everything, they mean everything!
Cheating on exams, parents doing their children's homeworks, plagarizing research papers and theses, resorting to prostitution to raise enough money for matriculation expenses, stories of one night stands with the instructor to evade a failing mark.
We Filipinos now do EVERYTHING all for that big dream of graduating, that piece of paper called college diploma, which is the academic world's "documented affirmation" of a person's "intelligence", even if it costs us our sense of honesty, integrity, and self-respect.
We Filipinos have now reached the lowly situation that we now value the college diploma over our moral virtues.
The Filipino society has now placed an extraordinarily overwhelming emphasis on the college diploma. The Filipino people has now deified it. For most Filipinos, the college diploma is their God! I don't care if a conventional grade-conscious folk would approach me and dare correct me, for as long as he/she is willing to do "everything" to get that shining college diploma, that piece of paper is his/her God!
How low have we fallen? Sure, there's nothing wrong to pursue formal education and finish college, but if we continue pursue it in the way we do it nowadays, that's when things get horribly wrong. In an attempt to uplift the current situation of our country by producing more professionals through college education, we actually worsen the health of our nation by instilling a culture of corruption to our youth who will grow old believing it's fine to resort to dirty things to acquire the desired wealth, power, and social status.
Now, to the students who are currently pursuing formal education in the academic world, before doing anything for the purpose of acquiring that aspired academic merit, please do think about the ethical uprightness of the act. After all, I can say with full and uncompromising conviction that dignity is still far more important than the diploma.
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