Activists,
rebels, brave and smart are the words that will surely come first in your mind
when you hear the word “Iskolar nga Bayan” or the nation’s scholars. We are
stereotyped as students who are always present in rallies and any protest
against the government. We are said to be rebellious. We are labeled as brave
students who are not afraid to fight against the government’s wrong doings.
People say we are smart because we were able to study in the most prestigious
university in the country. But what they don’t know, there is more on being an
Iskolar ng Bayan.
Passing
the University of the Philippines College Admission Test or the UPCAT is not
enough to call yourself an “iska” or an “isko”. You can say you’re a true
Iskolar ng Bayan once you are able to do all the responsibilities. As the
nation’s scholar, our tuition fee is being paid from the taxes of the Filipino
people. For this reason we need to give back to them what they have given to us
by fighting and protecting their rights against the corrupt leaders.
An
Iskolar ng Bayan values education a lot. One is willing to fight for it no
matter what happens.
Even
though I’m just a freshman student, I can already say that life of a scholar is
not easy. It’s not a bed of roses as what others think. Stress is as natural as
breathing here. There are nights that you don’t sleep just to finish reports
and papers. There are lessons that are hard to understand no matter how you try
to understand it. There are times when you just want to sit in the corner and
cry because there’s still so much to be done and not enough time to do it all.
Smart
is not an adjective that fits for all scholars. It fits for some but not for
all. Not all of us who pass UPCAT and study in UP are smart. We have a lot of
failing grades. We often get low scores in our quizzes and long exams. Just
like the students in other schools, looking for x and y in math is still a
problem to us. There are a lot of students who repeat a subject or even their
course. Many even didn’t graduate on time.
Not
all scholars are hard working. I admit I belong to this category. There are
also lazy “isko” and “iska”. A lot of us hate studying. We love to cram in
every exam. We often engage in procrastination. We also hate doing the
assignments and projects. As a matter of fact our motto is, “Due tomorrow, do
tomorrow.”
Despite
our busy schedules, we still find time to enjoy life. A true Iskolar ng Bayan
knows how to party even he has tons of paper works to do. We won’t let school
get our lives. We don’t want to die with boring life. After all we are still
humans who need to enjoy.
Accepting
the honor of being called as the nation’s scholar comes also great
responsibilities. Once you study in UP, you’ll stop thinking of yourself only.
You’ll stop being selfish because you’re carrying great responsibilities on
your shoulders. You will start to care for the people and for the nation. You
will start to develop patriotism in your life. You need to serve the people and
need to take honor before excellence. A true “Iskolar ng Bayan” is also an
“Iskolar para sa Bayan”.
It’s
never easy to be an Iskolar ng Bayan but at the end of the day you’ll going to
love each day of your stay in the university.
