GRPundit

Sometimes, I'm amazed at how the Philippine educational system, deranged though it is, has produced people who appear to think profoundly, but not give an alternative future for the Philippines at all. I have this acquaintance who prides himself on being a "proletaryo". In fairness to this guy, he is actually a working-class intellectual, the sort of Mao Zedong-types colegialas fall in love with, marry, and then dump well into their marriage because they eventually prove to be a burden. He reads much, talks much, and knows a lot of people. He is generally genial - until you hear this "proletaryo" shit from him. We're good, by the way - but I'm not okay with this kind of deception or hypocrisy I hear, not just from him, but from a lot of such other working-class intellectuals. It's becoming a widespread phenomenon in the Philippines. I am a working-class intellectual, and one of the hardest things for us is to congeal (in Tagalog: pagtagni-tagnii...

A minor epiphany while waiting to pick up my daughter from her grade one class this afternoon: Schools in the Philippines do not have bells. In other parts of the world, children are conditioned to follow schedules by the helpful - if somewhat Pavlovian - reminder of the school bell marking the beginning and end of classes. Could the lack of this simple bit of training develop adults who think 9:25 is a reasonably accurate time to show up to a 9:00 meeting? Interesting thought.