Alex @ March 30, 2008 | | Education | Comments (0)
The semester’s nearly done and many seniors are just looking forward to graduation. And as it’s always been, graduations are a source of academic and political conflict.
I probably wouldn’t ride on the sudden surge of my good friend Ma’am Tina’s post on the value of the Pisay diploma since I am a graduate of some other high school. But what is important in that post is the trend of lowering standards of what makes a graduate worthy of claiming an alma mater as one’s own.
So how important are grades anyway? I myself am a self-confessed grade-conscious student. I have kept a grade log of all of my requirements for courses and still keep track of my general weighted average even for my graduate studies. Yes, there will be a lot of inspiring educators who would say that grades don’t really matter but given that argument, why even have them around?
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Tags: Academics, Education, Rant, UP
Alex @ March 26, 2008 | | Education | Comments (0)
…comes great chances of messing things up.
Never mind if I’m actually a rookie but I sat as a panel member for the defense of three undergraduate theses done by seniors. And I’d have to say it really feels different being on the other side of the room, making comments and providing criticism to what these “kids” are about to claim their academic magna opera.
But yes, it has been three years since I successfully defended my undergraduate thesis and it’ll be a year or so until I switch to being the one under the lights when I eventually defend my masters thesis. But for now, it’s all about being part of the process whether I would let these seniors get their diplomas or swat them back to the drawing board.
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Tags: Education, Teaching, Thesis, UP
Alex @ March 22, 2008 | | Internet and Web, Politics and Society | Comments (0)
I avoided blogging about that anti-Pinoy OFW article Malu Fernandez wrote some time ago. The rest of the Pinoy blogosphere, however, raised hell over it. If I was in the mood, I probably have joined in the Malu-bashing. While, one friend of mine thinks that the whole issue was one of the typical (over)reaction for any anti-Filipino reaction or comment. Whether it’s a failure of the editorial process or just a tasteless comment from Malu Fernandez, the point is, I just hate blatant crass comments based on social class coming from someone like her.
This article is nearly a week old but Malu Fernandez just can’t keep her mouth shut (or her fingers curled back). Any Pinoy blogger would probably be interested reading on since it’s Malu again writing with a title “The problem with blogging….”
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Tags: Blogging, Journalism, Malu Fernandez
Alex @ March 22, 2008 | | Politics and Society | Comments (1)
Scr*w this “unprecedented” rice shortage. This is the kind of shit that you can’t blame to the Spanish, Japanese, and American occupation or to globalization anymore. The Philippines as one of the supposed top rice producers of the world is having a huge shortage of rice to feed our population. We’re the home of the International Rice Research Institute and we have a rice shortage. No pointing out of ironies needed. This is a case of SATFU (situation abnormal totally f*cked up).
The continued existence of haciendas and the failure of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is something that we can’t really blame on to others. Sure, we can still point out the whole history of agrarian f*ck ups our country has to go through but it has been more than 100 years since Spain left our soil so we really can’t still blame the encomienda system for our agricultural woes. The failures in agrarian reforms are failure of governance.
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Tags: Agriculture, Politics and Society, Reform, Rice
Alex @ March 15, 2008 | | Education, Health, Personal | Comments (1)
I hate it when I don’t get the time to write on my precious blog for more than a week! Anyway, as it has always been when I don’t get to write something on my blog, things have been f*cked up. I’m perpetually busy with work and since it’s the end of the semester again, time to turn in final requirements for my graduate classes. And since I was in the mood last week, I finished it last weekend two weeks before the deadline. That’s what obsessive-compulsion does to you.
Too bad, I’m assigned to be part of the defense panel for a few undergraduate students so I have to pore over a couple of hundred pages of preposterous twaddle-cock (hehehe) and see what can be “improved” on them before we start recommending those people for graduation.
Well, aside from those…
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Tags: Cyst, Education, Health, Hypochondria, Personal, UP
