MANAGING the Varsitarian website (www.varsitarian.net) is more than just clicking the publish button on readers’ comments and uploading the breaking news. Often, I have to stop and stare at all the words flashed before me and really think if it is right to publish certain remarks.
The day I became the assistant news editor cum online editor, the task of screening comments and judging whether they are fit for publication on the site or not fell on my shoulders. At first I thought it was easy enough. Just read the comment, decide if it is right or too debasing and either click the publish or the delete button.
As it turns out, however, the responsibility is one heavy boulder continuously weighing down on my judgment.
In my first few weeks, deprecating comments like “Thomasians are dumb and stupid,” or “UST will never live up to the so-called Big Three,” and other notes that may cause some “full-blooded” Thomasians to rise up in defense of the University or to be infuriated abound in the comment moderation box.
Of course, the site is not biased towards Thomasians; its aim is to bring news to more people and, in the process, let the readers come up with intelligent opinions and judgments.
However, a limit to one’s opinion must be observed, especially if that outlook demeans others. It is, after all, said that your right ends where another begins.
I have no wish to stop the string of comments which usually makes readers exchange hostile banters online but, bias aside, when one looks at results and figures in a rational and objective manner, Thomasians are far from dumb and stupid and it is blindingly clear that they have what it takes to live up to other “bigger” universities.
Just as Rector, Fr. Rolando dela Rosa, O.P., said in his report last September 8, “Thomasians are among the finest breed of Filipinos.” Surely, the Rector would not say such a thing out of nothing.
UST continues to be one of the top-performing schools in various licensure examinations, including the physician and medical technology exams, released last August 18 and September 8, respectively. In the nursing exam, meanwhile, 14 Thomasian examinees made it to the Top 10 this year while 26 graduates were in last year’s list.
The Salinggawi Dance Troupe has once again made it to the top three in the recently concluded cheerdance competition. Athletes like the Male Shuttlers (badminton) and the Tiger Cubs (basketball) have made it to the final round in their respective sports, while the UST Singers emerged Choir of the World for the second time.
Also, there are Thomasians who passed the entrance exams in the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University, but still chose to study here in UST, feeling (or maybe knowing) that the courses here may be better than what the others currently offer, just like the health sciences and architecture, to name a few.
Thomasians make the University proud as they succeed in their respective endeavors and yes, we do recognize that these three other universities have made a name for themselves.
In the weeks yet to come, there may be more vicious comments to approve and more cyber quarrel between the readers fighting over what the best school is. But, if I may borrow one of the reader’s comments, “why are we pulling each other down? Instead of competing with each other, why not compete with the world? Philippine universities still have a long way to go.”
Also, every university in the country surely stands out in a particular field and falls short in another; each school should focus on maintaining its strengths and remedying its flaws, not in provoking and mocking each other, so that wherever one chooses to pursue higher education, whether in Ateneo, La Salle, UP, or UST, he would not worry over being antagonized by others and would be able to focus on developing his abilities and talents to the fullest.
