FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY

GENERAL EDUCATION

Formative Assessment 6

I agree with the points given by F. Sionil Jose in the article on Filipinos being
shallow. As a Filipino, reading the article I was able to see and understand where Jose was
coming from as he illiterates the superficiality of Filipinos. The "arrogance" he stated in
my opinion is based on wanting to make the Philippines look good in which would make
us, Filipinos, look good as well. Filipinos are "arrogant" because we want to look good
and knowledgeable and there's nothing wrong here until Jose mentions that we lack
humility. I also believe that one of the reasons for being arrogant is to want to get what is
wanted other than what is needed. Moreover, in our generation today, Filipinos no longer
know a lot of knowledge due to the increasingly popular forms that make the knowledge
of every Filipino superficial. As a Filipino citizen, change is often overlooked because we
focus only on things that are trivial or on things that do not help us as a Filipino citizen.
Due to the trends of this generation, this is one of the reasons for the shallowness of a
Filipino citizen.

With social media always representing a perfect lifestyle, job, and life in general a
lot of Filipinos want to flaunt that their lives are the same as that of others, this way of
thinking goes beyond social media and goes through their decisions of asking for help
whenever they find a topic hard to understand, to be honest of their weakness and ask for
assistance. Another is the media presented to us, I and my family aren't too fond of the TV
dramas presented as they would always circle the same plot with a few changes. Which is
probably why, K-dramas and other foreign series are welcomed by Filipinos because it is
different compared to the usual plotline of love, long-lost family, and a rich family vs poor
family.

Digital is also the new norm as not many Filipinos buy a book and prefer an eBook
instead, they prefer the online kind as it is informative as that of a book. The Filipino
culture seems to have a pervasive thread on celebrating ignorance and not that it means
that we don't value education but based on my research on our politics. In the 1992
elections between Senator Miriam Santiago and Fidel V Ramos and despite the
endorsement of Cory Aquino that may have contributed to him winning or the rumors of
cheating, there were rumor mills that implied that there was a correlation between her
intelligence and unstable behavior. While former President Erap Estrada boasted about
being kicked out of school, Senator Lito Lapid has built a political career on his ignorance
and more. We would also see people playfully shaming those who are knowledgeable on a
topic and joke about it rather than acknowledge them and what they know. It all goes back
to us being "arrogant" unable to admit not knowing something and so, we turn to this.
However, I believe that no one or not everyone thought of themselves as being shallow.
No one ever asked or gave them the time to think about these things and if there were who
thought of such would've been too afraid to voice it out since no one wants to know their
flaw. But if given the chance to let them read this article, it could enlighten them and be
able to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of the situation we have boxed
ourselves in. To let Filipinos, know of this, acknowledging, and immediately put a stop to
the toxic culture of smart-shaming would be unlikely but it isn't impossible. It would be a
slow process but it'll be fruitful.