MANIMBO, Dana Grace A. 3AR-01 EDUCATION IN ABNKKBSNPLAKO ABNKKBSNPLAKO?! or Aba, Nakakabasa na pala ako?!

is an autobiographical novel pubished in 2001 by Roberto Ong, or Bob Ong. It was Bob Ongs first book, and was published by Visual Print Enterprises. The selection was written in Tagalog slang, in Bob Ongs personal point of view. He made his book short but full of insight and quotable quotes. This made it more enticing to read. The subject matter was relatable, true to life, and probably universal. The selection was humorous, although inconsistent as more serious topics were injected, and the drama of his life depicted. The weakness of this book was its organization - how it was not organized in a way that the audience could really separate the stages of his school life since he was going back and forth on his experiences before.

The book talks about his journey as a student and as a teacher, which was effective enough to induce the nostalgia of grade school and high school, and even past college experiences especially because it was written in a personal point of view. The format of writing for this book was as if he was just talking to the audience as a new friend, and inserted familiar, common happenings during schooling, which made the story relatable. In a deeper sense, depicts the Filipino culture and, although in a humorous way, reveals the social realities and issues that remain present up until now namely education, economy, corruption up until personal struggles. The author also leaves audiences with advice regarding life and school in general. Bob Ong quoted Mark Twain in his dedication page, I have never let schooling interfere with education, which gives the audience a hint, other than his cover page, of his main notion for the novel education. He not only discussed how his schooling years went, but also taught the audience a thing or two about looking at a bigger picture than simply passing school. He educated his audience by showing them what education really is for not just to make money or

get jobs but to build self-sufficient citizens, to make use of the intellect that was given to us, to be able to strengthen and test principles, and to build character.

He stressed in the book that defining a person by numbers, in school or at work, is a common mentality that should be stopped. He firmly believed that character is more important than academic excellence. He said Pero sino nga ba ang learning disabled, 'yung mga hirap mag-aral o 'yung mga walang natutunan? Ano ang pinagkaiba ng out-of-school youth na shoplifter at Harvard graduate na corrupt government official bukod sa mas masama yung pangalawa?... Hindi ba malaking pagkakamali ng maraming eskawelahan na gawing 0-10% lamang ang 'Character' sa computation sa grades -- gayong Character ang humuhulma sa tao, pamilya, bansa, mundo, at kasaysayan?"

Clearly, he values things that are more important than answering a test, and is more concerned of what we become after schooling. It is agreeable that students and other professionals have become more judgmental about others by how they fair and how much they are paid. It is a mentality that is common in the Philippines. It is not common for a school to consider character when grading students. It feels like politics, sometimes, like when the student leaders are given credit because of organizing events for a college, but never credited the students who tutored their classmates all those years at certain subjects. Cramming was part of the story as well as it is after all, a students life. There came a time when he and his classmates were cramming for a project, but they were asked to participate in a prayer mass. His classmates started to excuse themselves from the activity by saying they had a different religion, but Bob believed that sticking to ones principles is more important than finishing a project. napakaliit nung project na yon para ipagpalit ko sa iilang prinsipyo ko sa buhay noon. Principles have more worth than transcripts of records. Again Bob Ong stressed that there is more to education than just numbers on a piece of paper we can wave around for others to see.

The book also depicted injustice in school, which often happens in a real life setting. A latecomer should be permitted to take exams, but in his story, he was not allowed to take the

exam because of tardiness, and was asked to get a permit for a special exam, but unfortunately, he was not given permitted to take a special exam by the deans office. May utak naman ako, pero pinili ko na maging bobo. Aminado akong kasalanan kong maging late nung araw na yon, pero mas kasalanan ang hindi ko ipaglaban ang simpleng karapatan sa loob ng klase That would have been heartbreaking for any student. Personally, being a grade conscious person, this would mark one of those days that will make me cry for the whole semester. That was the point. The book reminded their audiences of the simple rights students have which the people who implement them sometimes violate. Ong also gave us an example of the concept of teachers being always right because they have the power to grade the students. During their culinary class, they cooked a dish called Mechado, and the teacher kept asking for Afritada, hence forcing the students to call their Mechado Afritada. Students of today still experience absorbing wrong information from teachers who insist they are correct. His experiences and realizations open the audiences minds on what should be happening in school, what should they be doing, and how they should act. It is a common response of a student to do what is asked of him, but what we should do, and what the author is telling us, is to question them, and ask for justifications, and fight for what we believe is correct.

On the other hand, some professors are too tolerant of the offenses of students. It is not uncommon in school set-ups today. Cheating has become normal simply because teachers do not implement what should be done. This made me realize that school is for reputation, not really for education which should not be the case in the first place. The mechanics of society today is based on numbers more than values and morals. More people have gained achievements without actually deserving them. Suspension of judgement was not at all evident in the book or in real life, at that. People who have caught the attention of school officials and staff have been marked as people with bad morals, and those that stayed silent kept their good moral titles. Students are being judged as a rotten tomato in the garden by professors, who should be professional enough to treat all students with the equality they deserve. Bob Ong admitted that he was not always a clean slate student, but still kept his reputation of being a good seed one of Good Moral Character.

Also depicted in the book was a string of failures in a students life. Failure is inevitable in schooling, whether it be of own fault or a series of uncontrollable and unfortunate events. During his college life, he had problems with academics, and he realized then that every problem can be solved with perseverance and persistence. Kahit ano raw problema, isang tao lang ang makakatulong sa yo ang sarili mo. He had painted a picture of his struggles in classes how he was always late, how his projects were not accepted, and how he failed his classes because of it. School made him persevere, but it also made him burn out. He lost interest in school, which I personally think is a common thing between him and some students. Most students lose interest in school because of lack of credit, or because the school made them believe that their academic performance is all they will ever be. Nakalimutan na ng tao ang kabanalan nya, na mas marami pa syang alam kesa sa nakasulat sa Transcript of Records nya, mas marami pa syang kayang gawin kesa sa nakalista sa resume nya, at mas mataas ang halaga nya kesa sa presyong nakasulat sa payslip at sweldo nya His message was simple that everyone had a chance to redeem themselves, and in every failure comes a new perspective.

The book gave a point about how the grading system is a failure, and how education is not stressing to the students enough what should be done with it, and gave a simple yet striking example politicians. Ayos ang reputation, hindi ang character. Nangangamoy politician. Politicians nowadays are the once who had gained a high degree of education. They are the ones who during election period are heaven sent, and criminals when elected. Evident it is, in the Philippines. The current set-up of government is composed of well-educated, if not well-known people in the country. A school is a mini version of that, he implied, as the people who are SEEN or KNOWN to be good are awarded with a high grade in conduct, while people who are good but always late or unfortunate, or deemed unprofessional are left with the bad student label.

When the school implants the idea that a student is mediocre, that thought will continue to grow in a students mind, given the numbers on his transcripts, or the scars that punishments have left him or her. The idea is simple. The grading system in school sucks, and does not necessarily reflect on how much you learned, or how much you have grown as an individual. These days, with an ugly transcript of record, you can only go so far. Very few get hired because they are judged before even being sent to the workplace. Education has become a business, and

most of them are not giving students enough chances to grow as a holistic, self-sufficient and unlock their full potentials simply because they were not assets to the school or university.

All of us have special talents. One probably is good in memorizing or studying by the book, but is not on essay writing, analysis and application, but this should not make him or her superior than the other, because that someone might be good in sports or may be gifted in strategy. One could also be good in communication, but could not differentiate a binomial from a trinomial. The school sets standards for how big of an asset a person is to a country, but does not account for all talents just academics. According to Bob Ong, in a classroom, there are many types of people. What makes one think that in the world outside it, there would only be a person who is academically successful? How good you are in terms of art would not immediately get one a job for art is subjective, and is teachers preferencebased, and not industry-based. How good a person is at soccer would not get one to play with the Azkals, for it did not matter because he or she got kicked out of the league because he failed at a certain subject for being late. The point is that what we are basing our credibility on does not account for all talents, and might even be a misleading instrument for the development of the country.

A lot of successful people have not finished schooling or college, but they have proven that it is not the school, but the person who works for his future. The school is just a tool to get one to land a job but not always. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Adele, Christina Aguilera are just a few examples of these people. Getting a job should not be the main reason to study but to be a better citizen, to enrich oneself.

A few things were made clear by this book. Schooling shelters us from the real world. It closes our minds indirectly, as it eliminates most talents worth looking at. It helps us to gain knowledge, but it makes the scope a whole lot smaller just academics- and experience would still be the best teacher. The school would teach only some things effectively, and not everything that matters is found nor stays at school. It does not matter if you know every formula known to man, but do not know how to use it to contribute to society, or use it in a good way. No one should be judged by his or her academic attainment, but what he or she does with it. Schools would not examine a person regarding attitudes. It cannot teach students enough about what it

was like being a professional one should work for it, and experience it. Schools can even lead someone into thinking they are mediocre, or they do not have a future, when they should be encouraged. This is why schools should never be a business. Being a Filipino writer, the author also addressed corruption in the Philippines. May tatlong uri ng mamamayan: ang mahihirap, ang mas mahihirap, at ang mga makapangyarihang oportunista na may likha sa dalawa Educated people do not always help the economy and lifestyles of the Filipino improve. They can sometimes take advantage of the people who did not have much academic attainment. It did not matter to him whether anyone had gained a high level of education, it mattered how much one has contributed to society, and used it for more than personal gain.

Economically speaking, the book had a very vivid picture of the current state of the Philippines, what it was like to be studying in a public school, which is supposed to be properly funded by the government for the benefit of the students, and a view from a single Filipino trying to get by. Bob Ong had no intentions of sugarcoating realities from his audiences. He did inject facts that were disturbing, and sadly, true. Public schools had a 1:10 ratio of books to students. The book showed that teachers were not being paid enough just because they did not give the country dollars unlike the domestic helpers. This is a social reality that must be addressed for teachers are one of the most important aspects of growth of a country. Bob Ong stressed that these educators are taken for granted, and thought of as having an easy job. His experience as a teacher revealed to its audience that it was a stressful profession, and very different from a students perspective. According to him, Its a different world in the teachers table. Of course there are always two sides to the story. It is true that CEOs, doctors, nurses, pilots, architects, engineers and other people of other professions deserve the pay they are getting. One thing we must never forget though, is without instructors, professors, or teachers, they would be nothing.

Students are going to relate to this book very well, as even the tiniest details of kalokohan are presented up to the terror professors punishment was evident. The humor of

the book roots mainly on the authors wording of experience, sharing the most unpleasant events in his life in a sense of fun and childishness.

Although the book focused mainly on education, it did not fail to paint us a picture of current problems of the Filipino family. In the book, he had trouble communicating with his parents, basically because he believed he was a failure, due to his performance in school. He had trouble telling his family about how he was really doing, keeping his failures a secret. This is not surprising due to the fact that it does happen in almost every household in the family, probably not just because of failures in class, but also other shortcomings, which affect the person negatively.

In my honest opinion, Bob Ong is not the kind of writer that is very technical in terms of style and wording, but is the kind who will give you the point of his book in a one-seating morning. He was very realistic, relatable and humorous.He encourages people in a style that I would say is Filipino, and more people should appreciate his writing especially this one. Abnkkbsnplako is a read that I would recommend to those losing hope in terms of academics.

This book has taught me several things, and I believe so will other people in my age group. Rizal, our national hero, once said that the children is the hope for the future - and Bob Ong did what he can as a writer to impart with students and other citizens of the Philippines that education is important - to a certain extent. He reminds us through this book what really counts.