Inchworm day
Fir
st time in years that I w
ent to see the UP
Lantern Parade, and then they cancel it.
Aaaargh. But at least it was because the UP administration was freaked– they were afraid of the protests that UP students and the militant student groups were prepared and eager to launch against the UP Board of Regents’ determination to impose an insanely high tuition fee increase. Also, it’s been months since the Philippine Collegian came out, and it’s a scandal of immense proportions.
I don’t care what non-activists say, but I do think that it is the activists and the lively youth and student activist movement in UP that still make it different from other state colleges and private universities and learning institutions. It’s the activist tradition of UP that makes it, let’s say, more interesting, more intriguing. The atmosphere (or illusion?) of academic freedom, and the attitude of independence and ‘diskarte’ that students have.
Kaso nga, as the years go by and the plans of commercialization proceed, UP education also continues to deteriorate. The national government also refuses to pour more funds into state colleges and universities like UP. Poor but talented, intelligent and deserving students find it more and more difficult to get into UP not because they can’t pass the UPCAT, but because they cannot afford the tuition and miscellaneous fees (nevermind the bogus scholarship program of STFAP).
Haay. Oh well, kung ano’t-ano man, am still proud of having gone to UP. It remains (pasintabi na lang sa mga taga Ateneo, La Salle o UST), the best school in the Philippines (kasi maganda ang campus, hahahaha).
So the lantern parade was canceled. I was so disappointed. But at least something good came out of it — I got pictures of a cute inchworm caterpillar that dropped from the trees and onto Kim’s hair. It was the first time that I’ve seen inchworms for real, as different from, say, the inchworms in Sesame Street. It was really cute and had a lovely, warm green color. After we took the pictures, I took him back out and put him on the leaves of the lower branches of a Kalamansi tree.
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