(Not) Kalayaan College
My school is seriously creepy. From the students, to the teachers, the staff, and the admin - everyone is so fucking creepy. The creepiness crosses all social boundaries. Well, I don't think I'm creepy (well, I am, but in a different way) and I don't think my orgmates are creepy. Some teachers aren't creepy. But we're all surrounded by creeps that the creepiness is starting to creep in. (I won't even try to understand the logic of that sentence).
A constitution for the Kalayaan Student Council is being proposed to the student body. We voted on it today. I voted "no". I have many reasons why, but the primary reason has to do with freedom of speech, and how the KSC is in league with the creepy admin when it comes to suppressing it.
Kalayaan College has a single newsletter/school paper. It is not run by students. It is run by the admin. They have the final say on what gets printed. Of course, it's filled with articles on "achievement" and such. Nothing with any actual depth. Nothing that makes the students think. It's just plain old information presented in the way the admin wants it to be presented, which is boring, bland, and one-sided.
An example of how much creative (not) control the admin has over the paper: They asked ClassmateBea to make a comic strip for the Christmas issue. In the comic strip, two KC students are talking about Christmas. One of them doesn't like it because it's his 7th Christmas spent taking NatSci2. It's kind of a lame joke, but that's not the point. The admin gave her back the strip and told her that she should put a "moral lesson" in it. Which made the joke, well, no longer a joke. Then, they told her to give it a title. They didn't like the first title she gave. So they wanted a new title. Then, too ashamed of her "work", Bea didn't want a byline. But they kept insisting on giving her "credit".
No one liked the comic strip.
Then, last sem, while we were starting our LGBT org, we weren't allowed to put up posters. NOT ONE. They gave us no reason, apart from "it might make some of the students have a hostile reaction" or something. EVEN WHEN THEY WEREN'T POSTERS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY. We will try again, of course.
(And I'm not even going to mention their initial hostile reaction towards the org while we were starting out)
The journ org has always wanted to have a school paper that was actually run by the students. So they gave a proposal that having such a paper was to be included in the new constitution. The KSC promised them this. But when the new constitution was printed, the promised article was nowhere to be found. Then, the KSC said they were going to add it to the bylaws. Again, any article or bylaw regarding a student-run paper did not see the light of day.
So what did the journ org do? They put up posters asking the student body to say no to the new constitution until they see an article about a student-run paper. It was a very well-written, formal request. They did not gain admin approval to post them anywhere in KC.
But they posted the request anyway.
The admin was furious, called their president to the guidance counselor's office. She was in there for a long, long while. I don't know what happened because when they were finished with her, she was getting ready to leave for an OJT interview that she was late for.
What's worse, the KSC did not encourage the journ students to vote. I sat in a table surrounded by journ students, and they only approached ME. As more people came, they only kept approaching the non-journ students. As the posters made by the journ students were riddled with anonymous comments such as "Selfish mo!" and "la kang kwenta!", etc.
And why is it that only students are watching the ballots? Shouldn't a faculty or staff member supervise the procedure? Well, only if they're not as creepy as everyone else.
Also, why was there no meeting about this constitution? No forum for discussion. Were they thinking "I'm sure a couple of boxes marked 'yes' and 'no' would be enough for the students to tell us if this constitution suits their needs"?
At least the journ students made an effort to formally articulate their feelings. Those against them resulted to juvenile comments.
And you'd think we'd find hope in this new org that my acquaintance Robert is trying to organize. It's an org that wants to stand up for student rights and increase the student body's awareness when it comes to local and global political issues. But what does he want to do with a student-run paper? He wants only the Public Administration department to run it (he's very firm about this). And who's their big boss? Sir Abueva. It. Doesn't. Make. Sense.
In other words, the "freedom of speech" article in the new constitution is a big fat lie. You're only free if you agree with the admin. Or if you have nothing new to say.
This is going to bite them in the asses someday.
Well, I hope it will.
And if I run out of hope, I'll make sure that the biting comes anyway.
A constitution for the Kalayaan Student Council is being proposed to the student body. We voted on it today. I voted "no". I have many reasons why, but the primary reason has to do with freedom of speech, and how the KSC is in league with the creepy admin when it comes to suppressing it.
Kalayaan College has a single newsletter/school paper. It is not run by students. It is run by the admin. They have the final say on what gets printed. Of course, it's filled with articles on "achievement" and such. Nothing with any actual depth. Nothing that makes the students think. It's just plain old information presented in the way the admin wants it to be presented, which is boring, bland, and one-sided.
An example of how much creative (not) control the admin has over the paper: They asked ClassmateBea to make a comic strip for the Christmas issue. In the comic strip, two KC students are talking about Christmas. One of them doesn't like it because it's his 7th Christmas spent taking NatSci2. It's kind of a lame joke, but that's not the point. The admin gave her back the strip and told her that she should put a "moral lesson" in it. Which made the joke, well, no longer a joke. Then, they told her to give it a title. They didn't like the first title she gave. So they wanted a new title. Then, too ashamed of her "work", Bea didn't want a byline. But they kept insisting on giving her "credit".
No one liked the comic strip.
Then, last sem, while we were starting our LGBT org, we weren't allowed to put up posters. NOT ONE. They gave us no reason, apart from "it might make some of the students have a hostile reaction" or something. EVEN WHEN THEY WEREN'T POSTERS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY. We will try again, of course.
(And I'm not even going to mention their initial hostile reaction towards the org while we were starting out)
The journ org has always wanted to have a school paper that was actually run by the students. So they gave a proposal that having such a paper was to be included in the new constitution. The KSC promised them this. But when the new constitution was printed, the promised article was nowhere to be found. Then, the KSC said they were going to add it to the bylaws. Again, any article or bylaw regarding a student-run paper did not see the light of day.
So what did the journ org do? They put up posters asking the student body to say no to the new constitution until they see an article about a student-run paper. It was a very well-written, formal request. They did not gain admin approval to post them anywhere in KC.
But they posted the request anyway.
The admin was furious, called their president to the guidance counselor's office. She was in there for a long, long while. I don't know what happened because when they were finished with her, she was getting ready to leave for an OJT interview that she was late for.
What's worse, the KSC did not encourage the journ students to vote. I sat in a table surrounded by journ students, and they only approached ME. As more people came, they only kept approaching the non-journ students. As the posters made by the journ students were riddled with anonymous comments such as "Selfish mo!" and "la kang kwenta!", etc.
And why is it that only students are watching the ballots? Shouldn't a faculty or staff member supervise the procedure? Well, only if they're not as creepy as everyone else.
Also, why was there no meeting about this constitution? No forum for discussion. Were they thinking "I'm sure a couple of boxes marked 'yes' and 'no' would be enough for the students to tell us if this constitution suits their needs"?
At least the journ students made an effort to formally articulate their feelings. Those against them resulted to juvenile comments.
And you'd think we'd find hope in this new org that my acquaintance Robert is trying to organize. It's an org that wants to stand up for student rights and increase the student body's awareness when it comes to local and global political issues. But what does he want to do with a student-run paper? He wants only the Public Administration department to run it (he's very firm about this). And who's their big boss? Sir Abueva. It. Doesn't. Make. Sense.
In other words, the "freedom of speech" article in the new constitution is a big fat lie. You're only free if you agree with the admin. Or if you have nothing new to say.
This is going to bite them in the asses someday.
Well, I hope it will.
And if I run out of hope, I'll make sure that the biting comes anyway.