K+12, the new educational system implemented by the current administration, can no longer be stopped.

The Aquino administration is determined to implement it this coming school year 2012-2013. Despite the problems besetting the new system, no one can hinder its implementation. Since we are already faced with it, let us analyze the good things the new system can bring using the five pencil points.

What’s important is what’s inside. Before criticizing the new system, we must first take into consideration the good it can bring to us.

As citizens, it is our responsibility to weigh the pros and cons of the new system. The government might have seen that it can bring about more benefits; hence, they wanted to concretize it. Let us always be reminded that not because it is new means it is good, and not because it destroys the status quo means it is bad.

It has an eraser to correct its mistakes. The new system aims at improving the quality of education in the Philippines and developing the students so they can be at par with our neighboring countries. We have witnessed the weaknesses of the past educational system that is why this new system could be an instrument of educational reforms. 

It needs to undergo painful sharpening to become better. For this new system to be realized, there were many sacrifices that the government underwent. One of these is the need to increase the budget for the education sector; hence, reducing the budget for the other sectors of the government. Adjustments are not only to be done by the students but it must also be true for the government, school administration, teachers, and parents.

It leaves a mark on every surface it touches. Despite the fact it is a new educational system that has its own methods, it has the same goal with the old one. That is, to educate students so they can be functional members of the society. The new ways of this system may be of help to the development of the quality of Philippine education. 

It allows a hand to hold it. To ensure the success of the new system, we must allow the government to implement it but as citizens of this country, we must take part in its implementation.

Let us learn to accept the new system and discover fully its potentials. It is like fitting a new pair of jeans. One must not say that it does not fit when in fact the jeans are still half way through the waist.

He used to watch the world from a viewdeck in fierce silence. His feet lie on a floor of cabin covered with rusted metallic sheets. Every time he peeps through the small holes of his virtual lenses, no major change outside really catches his eyes.

This is me. First, I would like to thank this paper for publishing the words that I’ve kept within me. What I pen now doesn’t necessarily reflect my own spiritual conviction. I’m providing such disclaimer to protect my rights against criticisms that may arise especially in social media sites where I’m sharing my views and stories, and to defend myself against those who are fond of bad mouthing and gossiping on the life of other people, which sadly, include their articles and their deeply treasured personalities.

I write subjectively, and it’s obvious that I have not been just sharing my life stories, but I attack the solid structures of prevailing general ideas and experiences that sometimes we don’t want to accept because we conform to those belonging to what sociology defines as in-group.

I know that freedom of expression is not absolute, but it is still a protected right that no dogma can curtail.

I was so disappointed when I received criticisms and ridiculous comments over Facebook for posting an edited photo of the Mon Tulfo-Raymart, Claudine incident, with strong notes launching a shame campaign against the artista culture of deceit. I didn’t expect the comments will come from some members of a social institution, which purpose is to initiate all levels of social changes. I see people throwing premature judgments against me like how the religious monsters of the old days branded the traditional healers as witches and demons that they had to kill them because their existence is against God’s will.

Then I realized where I came from. I came from the manholes of a society that don’t want to be clogged. The very social institutions that we respected, valued, and did our best to adapt with to become functional creatures, are the same institutions that solidify discrimination, labeling, and religious fanaticism. I don’t like the idea of single-handedly controlling the life of people in all areas of our existence and locomotion; the way we talk, we write, we chat, even the way we use Facebook!

I can’t blame Karl Marx when he said that religion is the opium of the world. He is exactly right, and I’m sorry that it seems now I’m writing contrary to the essences of my previous articles. I can’t help it. I wasn’t given the chance to grow. I’m being nailed down to a world that I hated most, a world of killing your own common sense and freedom to choose how you want to move considering your dignity and self respect. I know I could have been wrong, but the reaction is more wrong. I couldn’t breathe. I’m always prejudged because I was born to challenge mediocrity and the towers of commonality. We are in the same path but our ways are different. I am a bomb and you are a fire that wants to extinguish my explosives, the last spark of energy that I have.

So why did I choose to be alone? It is because I don’t want to be imprisoned anymore. I want to be free. If we think that being free means being bad or evil, it is purely a religious opinion, maybe popular, maintaining stagnant social institutions for the purpose of cloning human beings under one kind of thinking and judgment.

Family, communities, organizations, peer groups, ethnic groups, and churches are all social institutions. Conflicts within and among them are serious, which means they have a root cause. Sometimes their orientations run destructively against the multi-facets of human behavior and personality development. Its either we take our clothes off that always comfort us, in exchange of promised rewards and because of fear of being considered outcasts, condemned, damnation to hell, and falling short of the expected religious norms. I’m tired of people messing with my life.

Social entities are there to influence us to an extent that they still need to leave a room for free choice free thinking, where we could feel that we are still in control of our lives. I was able to survive my academic years excellently even if I’m suffocated by the humidity of such entities. I struggled against the mocking of my classmates every time they couldn’t relate to my narratives and ideas. Fortunately, books, people, and other resources never failed to be on my side, those people whose notes they themselves were reading. I squeezed myself into the tubular system of all rules and restrictions. I was able to survive. This time, I don’t want to be captivated again, in the first place I’m not a criminal offender to be judged as one. I can’t imagine there are people who call themselves chosen, elect spiritually, claiming they already wear off their past earthly life, yet they never stopped pulling people down. They want to see people beaten up, punished. That is not Christianity!

How really easy it is for social institutions to manipulate people using their customized codes. By simply quoting their own words of wisdom, they are able to extract obedience from the majority, tremble our nerves, and then we end up losing our minds. We see things as only heaven or hell. I’m writing this as an observation and an opinion. Call me insane, I don’t care. Great minds are always insane in the eyes of close minded people whose knowledge about other people is purely deduced from gossips, hearsays, and inaccurate declarations. If this will be my last essay then let it be. I have a nice journey with the experiences the inspired me to write my articles. I want to be alone. I want to get free.

I exactly don’t know how social institutions operate that way. For sure, after reading this article, many will shout out loud again against me. Maybe it would be better that they assess themselves more before acting so bossy towards me. I believe that the current socio-economic conditions are contributory to such mass behavior. It always feels nice when you assume authority, especially if you think that it is a powerful authority. It is because of the traditional concept of himala. When economic breakdowns occur, coupled with a social environment of uncertainty, people have a tendency to pattern incompatible framework of solutions to problems that are inherently economic or psycho-social problems. Hero worshipping, sectarianism, and blah blah blah now come in. The consequences thereof include narrowing down our ability to trace and act on simple problems. This is what happened to our most valued social institutions of today. Personalism under the curtain of hypocrisy and mind manipulation dominates the doorsteps of our sources of hope.

Why did I choose to be alone? Because I want to be good while being free at the same time. Many don’t want that. They choose to be manipulated. They choose to be fooling themselves incredibly, that if you question that, you’re out!