Happy-go-lucky students should come to UP during the UPCAT

I have so many students who are far too happy-go-lucky, it's as if they don't care about their studies and just go through the motions of being in school.

(In case you're wondering, I'm talking about both my high school and college students... as for my grade school alagas, I've no problem with them, they're such bright little things... they come up to me and ask, "Teacher, how many items is the quarterly test?" and when I say "100" they go "Yay!" Haha. I love them.)

Being irresponsible with one's studies is forgivable, but only up to a certain age (2nd year high school is the latest). I just can't understand the reasons behind some of my students' actions.

For example: not attending a once-a-week-lecture, and not even bothering to text me to explain his/her absence, even after being told to do so.

Another example: Not studying one's pieces, even after being repeatedly told to do so. It would be o.k. if the student were a sight reader, or had perfect pitch. But add zero musicality and a poor ear to the mix, and you're left with the teacher wondering how on earth this student passed the Music Theory/ Audition test.

I suppose students such as these need to be reminded of how privileged they are, to be studying in UP.

I wish they could have been with me when I proctored the UPCAT last weekend.

Students and parents were lining up outside their exam venues as early as 2 a.m. (especially those from the provinces). I witnessed so many dramatic partings, so many touching scenes... a mother frantically looking for a street vendor who sold bottled water so her child would not suffer from thirst during the exam... a father giving his daughter a last-minute hug and a kiss on the forehead for good luck ... a UP-hopeful who was obviously suffering from bronchitis (if not pneumonia) but determinedly went to fight through the test ... very manang-looking young girls who went through the Reading and Language Comprehension parts at an agonizingly slow pace but breezed through the Science and Math parts at breakneck speeds ...

Granted, I also had students from the opposite specturm... a Korean national who came from an exclusive international school and told me she couldn't understand TAGalog (accent on the first syllable, mind you!) so is it OK if she left some questions blank? ... Six Ateneans in one room who had to be put in spaced apart seats, who proclaimed loudly afterwards how easy the UPCAT was... a Southern belle who wore skimpy shorts on a very cold day and took the test in a very cold airconditioned room, and asked to go to the CR every test, and who threw a silent tantrum when she wasn't given immediate permission to leave the room...

But the whole experience made me feel all the more grateful for the chance I've been given.

To think that of the 160 students who were under my UPCAT partner and I, only 1 or 2 will make it and become a UP isko... it's a sobering thought.

I wish these happy-go-lucky students of mine could have seen what I saw. Maybe then, they'll change their ways, and appreciate the golden opportunity they're presently taking for granted.