"Buti na lang Kring, hindi ka mayabang kahit tagaUP ka."
"It's good that even though you're from UP, you didn't turn out to be boastful Kring."
That's what remained as a memory of today from a jeepney ride with a colleague. It also left me wondering why most graduates of UP are seen as boastful or arrogant. I think, they're just doing their best, and are hated for it. It's no difference from people of other schools that have boastful creations too. However, it is the stereotype that coming from a prestigious university makes one righteous and arrogant.
"Matapang, matalino, walang takot kahit kanino." We were taught to speak out our opinions and ideas, without being afraid. We were trained to sacrifice our sleeping hours to finish our term papers, thesis, reaction papers along with a bucket of reading list, in that hard work was always equal to a good mark and a happy feeling inside of fulfillment. It was made clear to us that "there is a time for work, and a time for play". We were taught to exert all the best in what's within us, to every work at hand.
This is just but one con of being a UP graduate. Yet this is not of heavier weight at the shoulder. To be a graduate of UP entails a series of proving one's self uplifting "honor and excellence" and being very careful of each move so as to preserve the name of the school, your name is connected to. At times, there might be some instances when you're asked to stretch your duties, just because you could do better than anyone else. And though, one hasn't the agenda to lift one self, a UP graduate is most often compared to graduates of other school. Believe me, it is but also a difficult life-long task of patience and humility.
But let's also look back to the PROS.
Like me, with no any other achievement in other realms of life such as sport, being a graduate of UP is the only saving grace where I get my confidence to make my dreams come true. Being a graduate of UP opens your doors to endless possibilities, if you carefully choose your path to go and doors to enter. Have you heard of the tutor website where only students or graduates from UP are admitted? In my three years as a worker, I experienced proof that a UP graduate doesn't have any difficulty looking for a job since he or she if from UP. But of course, one will be, because UP has already equipped him/her to do well.
Another good thing about UP and its culture is its organizations and clubs. In our freshmen and sophomore years, we all tried to enter organizations and clubs and has undergone a series of emotional, mental turn down of challenges. As I look back, I went to my Art Studies class one morning with my eyes puffed because of tears, as I just finished my final interview with the International Club of UP. My classmates consoled me that morning saying that "we all go through with it, but the best part is being accepted as a member." As I prepared myself for an interview with DSWD months back, I looked back to that day and I compared it. If it haven't for that "hell day" as an applicant of ICUP, I haven't nourished the self-esteem in me to be just myself in interviews and just tell what is in my heart and mind without considering if I get accepted or not. Fortunately, in both interviews, I passed.
In contrast, I grew up to be humble because of UP because in UP it was an endless chase of knowing that you are the best, but meeting somebody else that is better than you. In UP, I learned my strengths, own talents and skills just as I learned my weaknesses, from the fellow UP students I earned as friends through the years. Getting a grade of 2.75 taught me that I could not pass, if I don't read. It is in my failures as a UP student, that I learned to become "everyone's student" for I am not as good as them. Everyone, even the jeepney driver, the farmer, the fisher folk or the child at your neighborhood, can be your teacher.
Only one thing I hope is that, UP graduates shall be seen as ordinary people too, with emotions and could commit mistakes, just like them. But anyway, in life, everything always has its pros and cons, you just have to live with it.
"It's good that even though you're from UP, you didn't turn out to be boastful Kring."
That's what remained as a memory of today from a jeepney ride with a colleague. It also left me wondering why most graduates of UP are seen as boastful or arrogant. I think, they're just doing their best, and are hated for it. It's no difference from people of other schools that have boastful creations too. However, it is the stereotype that coming from a prestigious university makes one righteous and arrogant.
"Matapang, matalino, walang takot kahit kanino." We were taught to speak out our opinions and ideas, without being afraid. We were trained to sacrifice our sleeping hours to finish our term papers, thesis, reaction papers along with a bucket of reading list, in that hard work was always equal to a good mark and a happy feeling inside of fulfillment. It was made clear to us that "there is a time for work, and a time for play". We were taught to exert all the best in what's within us, to every work at hand.
This is just but one con of being a UP graduate. Yet this is not of heavier weight at the shoulder. To be a graduate of UP entails a series of proving one's self uplifting "honor and excellence" and being very careful of each move so as to preserve the name of the school, your name is connected to. At times, there might be some instances when you're asked to stretch your duties, just because you could do better than anyone else. And though, one hasn't the agenda to lift one self, a UP graduate is most often compared to graduates of other school. Believe me, it is but also a difficult life-long task of patience and humility.
But let's also look back to the PROS.
Like me, with no any other achievement in other realms of life such as sport, being a graduate of UP is the only saving grace where I get my confidence to make my dreams come true. Being a graduate of UP opens your doors to endless possibilities, if you carefully choose your path to go and doors to enter. Have you heard of the tutor website where only students or graduates from UP are admitted? In my three years as a worker, I experienced proof that a UP graduate doesn't have any difficulty looking for a job since he or she if from UP. But of course, one will be, because UP has already equipped him/her to do well.
Another good thing about UP and its culture is its organizations and clubs. In our freshmen and sophomore years, we all tried to enter organizations and clubs and has undergone a series of emotional, mental turn down of challenges. As I look back, I went to my Art Studies class one morning with my eyes puffed because of tears, as I just finished my final interview with the International Club of UP. My classmates consoled me that morning saying that "we all go through with it, but the best part is being accepted as a member." As I prepared myself for an interview with DSWD months back, I looked back to that day and I compared it. If it haven't for that "hell day" as an applicant of ICUP, I haven't nourished the self-esteem in me to be just myself in interviews and just tell what is in my heart and mind without considering if I get accepted or not. Fortunately, in both interviews, I passed.
In contrast, I grew up to be humble because of UP because in UP it was an endless chase of knowing that you are the best, but meeting somebody else that is better than you. In UP, I learned my strengths, own talents and skills just as I learned my weaknesses, from the fellow UP students I earned as friends through the years. Getting a grade of 2.75 taught me that I could not pass, if I don't read. It is in my failures as a UP student, that I learned to become "everyone's student" for I am not as good as them. Everyone, even the jeepney driver, the farmer, the fisher folk or the child at your neighborhood, can be your teacher.
With my batch mates at UP. It was our last year.
It was time, everyone was both sad and happy.
Only one thing I hope is that, UP graduates shall be seen as ordinary people too, with emotions and could commit mistakes, just like them. But anyway, in life, everything always has its pros and cons, you just have to live with it.
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