The Problem of Too Cool for School Attitude in the Philippines!

Education itself is pretty poor in the Philippines. There is the problem running among FLIFPAGs that some of them have the problem of thinking that they are pretty much "too cool for school". I used to think that the problem is exclusive among the wealthy but I was wrong. During my College days, I met a couple of people who were not even rich but they would waste their time in school doing stuff like not attending classes, not cooperating with group work, not doing their homework, etc. which for me is probably a result of undisciplined upbringing. Why do I say that? It's because I'll admit I used to be a slacker but my parents though they didn't demand that I get honors, still would scold me if my grades were pretty poor. It pretty much paid off because by College even if I didn't get honors, I was more or less concerned about my own studies.

I could remember some stupid troll (who thinks he's that smart) who would heckle me and say that he's there to expose how "stupid" I am. Later, he admitted he doesn't even have a high school diploma. Later on, he would comment stuff like, "Well the proof you had to take a graduate school degree and take a College degree is proof you are stupid, I'm so smart I do not need a College degree unlike you who has to get further education because you are so stupid.." That of course was very face-palming. Somehow I suspect he has been held back several times. Now I'll admit some people did not have a College diploma and were successful businessmen. However Steve Jobs and Bill Gates though they did not finish College, both had their high school diplomas and only dropped out of College because they really exceeded beyond the system. Even if they did not get a degree, they still finished high school and later, hired people with a degree to help out with their system and contributed to University education nonetheless. That troll definitely does not fit the category of the dropout achiever. He is a microcosm of the problem of thinking one is "too cool for school".

So what's wrong with the problem of thinking that one is too cool for school? It creates the culture of hardheadedness such as not following even very simple guidelines such as respect and decency. After all, did we not learn to follow simple guidelines in school? Learning how to follow guidelines such as the desired margins, required medium of paper, required medium of instruction, picking up litter when one sees it, greeting teachers, submitting assignments and so on can go a long way. However the problem of the Philippines more often than not is the cover up culture. If you think it only happens to the rich, think again. I remembered how it happened that a classmate of mine who wasn't rich was frequently covered up by his parents and relatives for any bad he did, even if it meant they had to borrow money and presumably not paying it back. Instead of cooperating with the authorities on the child's discipline such as the problem with low grades and bad behavior, some parents even among the lower class would defend their child no matter what. This creates the problem o fcondoning to the wrongs of our citizens.

I have observed how more often than not that most of the Philippines' campuses may soon be close to the problem of most of America's campuses. With the very basic of the classroom and no thanks to cover up culture among FLIPFAGs, I have observed how classroom disobedience has become cool among the youth. Even when I was still in elementary, the whole class voted for two troublemakers to become the classroom peacekeepers because they wanted anarchy. Later on, I have observed how real troublemakers become the classroom officers. More often than not, the person who is usually the model student of the teacher gets antagonized and even non-model students get antagonized by the majority. They refuse to follow instructions inside the classroom and worse, some parents even condone to their behavior which results in more rebellion.

The attitude itself has affected how Philippine society has been plagued by more and more FLIPFAGs more often times than not. After all, they have not learned obedience because they refuse to. I have noticed how more out-of-school youths are failures than achievers while I don't deny some people with a College degree are still losers (even lawyers). As I'll stress it, some successful businessmen did not get a degree but many of them insist that their children still get a degree. When I look at the out-of-school youths, many of them are working menial jobs but are not even running their lives properly. A lot of them get drunk, womanize and gamble even with a minimum wage salary which forces them to do stuff like steal, cheat others or even get into the narcotics trade (please spare me the excuse they didn't know they were bringing drugs) which makes them ideal recruits for illegal Chinese who are hiding in the Philippines, because it's more fun in the Philippines for those crooks who should have been deported back to China's chopping board instead of given privileges.

Also, what must be emphasized is that education is not always just a degree. You get sick, your doctor went to College. You need a lawyer for legal matters such as property transaction or cases in court, your lawyer went to College. You need an infrastructure built, your engineer and your architect both went to College. Even Bill Gates is looking for college graduates of related courses to become his workforce and without them, he is not going to be the Bill Gates I know and love. Some people may take vocational courses to gain an edge in working but it would be best to also do menial jobs to pay for one's education, get a degree and land on a decent job. After all, didn't the oligarch Lucio Tan before he became a big time businessman, use to work as a janitor in order to pay for his school fees?

It's time to get rid of that, "I'm too cool for school attitude." because it's not helping the Philippines.