Reesians as model citizens

My foreigner friends asked me why they don't see Filipinos marching in the streets, protesting against these glaring and so-called "scandals." I told them, I really don't know. Filipinos are an unpredictable species, the kind that you love and hate at the same time. You love them for being nice and friendly. You hate them because for being nice and friendly, they give in eventhough someone already punched them in the face, raped their wives and daughters or has robbed them already. They manage to smile inspite of poverty. They smile despite violence in their midst.

On circumspection, who is the Filipino anyway? Why is there no violent response against decadence, and filth or corruption?

Emil Ong, a friend of mine and director of Reedley International School, provides a concrete answer---our educational system. Most of our schools prepare us to be proficient in the sciences and probably also in humanities. But, schools don't teach what they call "lifeskills".

"Lifeskills, my friend", says Ong while tickering his Macbook, "...teaches our kids the proper and necessary conduct when with their parents, friends and peers. It develops character. It builds stronger relationships. It teaches you what's right or wrong, based on widely accepted norms of conduct."

Lifeskills, he says, taught Mike Cruz, the boy who was invited by Barack Obama to attend his inaugural last January 20. It was this same teaching method that enabled many "Reesians", as he calls his students at Reedley International School, to go and study in prestigious universities abroad. And it is this lifeskills that empowers these Reesians to conduct themselves properly in society.

I asked why this method is not extensively being taught in other schools. Emil says he does not know. At Reedley International School, every student undergoes 80 minutes per week of lifeskills instruction. Every Reesian is expected to conduct himself properly before his parents and give respect to anyone he encounters in his home, surroundings and what-have-you.

For backgrounders, I read numerous online and offline articles about Mike Cruz. Being familiar with the school which produced him, I emailed Emil and asked him some questions--what's the secret of this kid, because as a father, I also want my kids to be the same mold as Mike. That one email led to another. And another, until I got the appreciation needed to write this piece.

Anyway, maybe our government officials lack the proper lifeskills. At the University of the Philippines in Diliman where I graduated, there's no lifeskills there. Only survival skills. Yet, those "survival skills" we learn when we go to the streets and fight those cops who want to arrest us.

Maybe, just maybe, we conduct a national test for those who want to seek a public post and ask them about their character rather than ask them about their proficiencies. Look at what happened to us. We elected and put to power an economist. We elected and put to power political scientists, lawyers and even doctors. Yes, they are competent, academically. But, do they have the necessary moral strength and fortitude?

Let the First Gentleman answer that.