My left fist
In a forum during the press freedom week where I was one of the speakers, I raised my left fist in the air as we sang the hymn to the university which happened to be my alma matter. With all conviction I threw that fist up and down as the last line of the song went, "Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan!" (long live the hope of the country). Of course, the song was for the hope of the motherland - the youth of the next generation.
I considered it a gesture to talk to them. I saw the vigor in those young minds while listening about citizen journalism. During the question and answer portion, all they asked for were tips and advices as to how to survive the years in college and to start up as a journalist. And so I gave them the reality that it will be bloody as how glamorous they think it will be. It will not be an easy feat for them, but it will definitely be fulfilling.
Their questions got me thinking as to what extent we have - in the industry - done for the next generation. Is it enough to keep them on their course or enough to shun them away to the force that awaits them? I have heard a lot of stories of students who just want to take up Mass Communication as a course in college so they could earn a degree. None of them want to pursue a career in line with the course because they want to have jobs with high income, as if they are entitled to one even if they have just graduated.
I respect that some of them have needs and dreams to fulfill which is totally out of the way. But it's just sad that there seems to be a drift from the next generation to the current industry. The idealism of the youth is being wrecked by the reality of life that does not meet their expectations, and it will be a tough world to accept.
That is why I raised my left hand to show that the system today is the same system that we used to complain and rally on the streets. This is the system that hampered so many promising students of a decent education simply because they didn't have enough Monday. More importantly, it was the system that drowned out bright ideas in exchange for money.
I do not know when the educational system in this country will change, despite the change of one administration to another. There are a few steps taken, I believe so, but it will never be enough to send a child from a remote place to school.
Back in Dumaguete, I remember visiting a far-flung area with students who had the potential to go to college. The only problem was that their grades couldn't get them by as their attendance was dropping each day. Why? It is because they would rather tend to their parents' farm to have something to eat rather than spend time in school and earn nothing.
It is such a messed up logic in the way we see it now. Those who care so much for education will continue to march the streets in every opportunity they get with fist raised up in the air in anger and spite. Sometimes I long to see the day when it will no longer be like this, where public schools will be the preference of the majority because it equally gives quality education at no cost at all.
Rizal was right about the youth, and a hundred or so years later they are now the ones governing our country. Shall we wait for another hundred years to have a mess? Better start changing the mindset and the system now.
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