Call a Spade a Spade

By Paul Anthony M. Eso
(Vol. XXIX No. 3 , Editorial Cartoon)

College Acquaintance Party. For the oldies of the university, this is an opportunity to be re-acquainted to old buddies and friends. For the newbies, this might be a chance to establish new, and possibly, intimate friendships with other students.

Normally, different governors of the various academic colleges of this institution exert great effort in organizing successful acquaintance parties. They cook up elaborate themes and rent the trendiest venues.

This year, however, there will be no such party to prepare for after University President Henry A. Sojor said that there will be no acquaintance parties.

Sojor said that students should be engaged in more relevant activities like debating, orating, public speaking, dancing, singing, and acting. He said that these activities will contribute greatly to a student’s development. He continued that acquaintance parties are not the only avenue to get acquainted with the rest of the students in the university.

It is a fact that the activities suggested by the university president will hone the skills and talents of the students. Anyway, for the past years, students complain about the inadequate food, lousy program, money-consuming motifs, and dreadful venues during and after every acquaintance party.

College governors should bear in mind that they are leaders and that they are supposed to be creative and resourceful. They should better be thinking of other ways for students to be acquainted without spending more than what they have paid for.

So here’s the rub. What will they do with the P200 contributed by each student? Won’t the amount be too much for just a series of contests? How many students can participate in such activities, anyway? It would be a certainty that colleges will only field their best students. So what happens to the rest of us? Become part of the audience? We pay P200 so most of us can become part of an audience?

Also, why did the university president allow the students to continue to pay for the acquaintance party fund, when, in the first place, he did not intend to conduct one? Why did he make and disclose of this decision just now?

Imagine buying P200 worth of junk food from a store selling them only to be given milk and bread by the vendor because he thinks it is healthy for you. Why is the vendor selling junk food in the first place?

It’s the students’ money after all. Why not give them the chance to decide on how and where to spend their money?

And would not it be best if we call a spade a spade.