Back to school

It has been quite some time since I last visited Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Main Campus (also known as Mabini Campus) in Sta. Mesa, Manila. I came back this afternoon with my college friend, Olga, to follow up on the release of a school record and visit old teachers as well.

There have been not so many noticeable changes. Nothing major, unless you would call that newly-constructed brickroad a change that took, let’s say, a decade to see fruition. It buried what used to be a water fountain and a garden of flowering shrubs. The obelisk has been reconstructed in the same fashion as the one in New York (the name escaped me, sorry). Filipino hero Apolinario Mabini, also called the Great Plebeian, now owns that particular space. Apolinario Mabini is PUP’s patron saint. Kidding.

Apart from those things we saw, everything else remained just as the same as they were in 1999. Poor-ventilated classrooms, smelly and slimy restrooms and the university canteen which apparently turned out to be chain of hamburger stands selling footlong sandwiches and bottled drinks. Students still express their patriotic angst on postings at the catwalk. I still have the fondest memory on the football field where I almost lopped off the pitcher’s head with my flying bat during our softball class.

It’s not that we were plain critical about these things. The budget for the brickroad and street lamps should have been alloted to the repair of stinky restrooms and dinky classrooms. I think the students need surroundings that are more conducive for learning and not just another replica of the gas chamber. PUP is a state university for crying out loud.

Outside the university, we were met by distressing scenarios. Houses surrounding PUP Sta. Mesa for the longest time have been demolished. It was like entering war-torn Iraq.

Nevertheless, I remain a proud student of PUP – Iskolar ng Bayan as we were called then. Where else can you find tuition fees that were as low as P350 per semester? (I am not sure of the amount now.) I remember someone from the guidance office told me before that out of 40,000+ people taking the PUPCET entrance exam, only 8,000+ students get admitted for one school year. It goes to show that PUP students are persevering pure-bred intellectuals despite their poor economic status. At hindi mga tamad.

I find it really ridiculous whenever I hear horror stories of companies hiring only graduates from UP, La Salle, UST, Ateneo and other expensive schools. I guess they forgot that in the long run a person’s character weighs more than their scholastic affiliation. Believe me.