One of the headliners of a national daily this morning was the landing of six Philippine universities in the higher spots of a recent world ranking. These are the UP, Ateneo, De La Salle, Mapua, MSU-Iligan and UST. UP and MSU-Iligan are State Universities. Ateneo, De La Salle and UST are catholic universities. Mapua is owned by the Ayalas and the Yuchencos of RCBC fame. It is the only one that has four semesters per year while De La Salle is on a trimester basis from which University of the Cordilleras was patterned.
These universities and so many other good universities churn out thousands of graduates every semester or every year. And yet . . . . our government is being run incompetently and is notoriously corrupt-ridden. So what are people learning from universities? Or should we drum into the brains of students Good Manners and Right Conduct every semester?
We are sure good religious or sectarian schools are not lacking in such. But after graduation students find out that those being looked up to are those with materialistic ideals. Even those who go to church everyday are inclined to have the same attitude. If you don’t have a big house and a shiny expensive car, you are looked down on or even considered stupid. More so if you are with government or in a profession or business where there is a lot of money to be made through shady ways.
And so we have come this far where corruption goes all the way to the top.
In the same article, a survey was mentioned where most people think that the UP is still considered the best university around. In fairness to UP I see more idealistic graduates from that university who think of the common good compared to others. Especially compared to graduates of expensive private schools.
It is called misuse of privilege.**