A Topic Kept Under the Sheets

A student’s life does not mirror each other. Each individual has a different story. Now, what makes each story a little bit identical? One way could be through the ambiguous word named, academic pressure.

The academic pressure that we students have is quite unreal. The constant need to do better to reach a certain goal, while not considering the fact that it will affect our mental, social, emotional, and physical strength is something. This pressure might be put on ourselves or from the judgment of others. For what? Just so they can congratulate us while having the mindset that what we did was so easy to do

Some people can be the very first to congratulate us when we achieve something. In social media, gatherings, and other events. Unfortunately, they don’t see all the sorrows and pain we went through to reach that goal. All the

Response

‘Til Classrooms Do Part Us

The number of teenage pregnancies and Human Immuno-Virus (HIV)-positive individuals continuously rise and become a problem in our country. The Commission on Population (POPCOM) cited that around 196,000 Filipinos aged 15 to 19 get pregnant every year. While the Department of Health (DOH) said that 36 new HIV infections are recorded daily. Most of the cases belong to 15 to 24 age bracket. Data from the same institution recorded that from January to April, there were 529 cases of people who acquired HIV after engaging in transactional sex.

With these problems going up, the head of the country’s National Youth Commission (NYC) suggested that there should be gender segregations in schools grades 7 to 12 to curb the rising cases of HIV and teenage pregnancy. That’s the only solution a government official can come up with, to separate male and female students without thinking that they couldn’t even provide students enough classrooms.

Separation of male and female students means to double the facilities, and we already lack enough classrooms. Even teachers sacrifice their own seats to their students because their classroom also lacks chairs. The proposal of separating male from female students in schools cannot solve these problems. The heterogeneity of students in one classroom is not the cause of these social problems but the lack of proper sex education and thoughtful regard to values at

Get Out!

China’s illegal incursion into the West Philippine Sea continues until today, and our country is unable to stop it.

Even after the Philippines’ numerous protests against the unprecedented and unlawful occupation of the Scarborough Shoal and its adjacent exclusive economic zones, China never once took respite and continued its incursion. Since then, fishermen have been harassed, China’s navy patrol there now extended borders, and the Philippines continues to lie helplessly at the hands of China.

But, what else can our puny and small country do? The explicit United Nations verdict that the shoal belonged to us has done all but naught, as it seemed to spurn China into redoubling their efforts, and target another island.

Our country, despite mostly composed of water, has insufficient and critically lacking maritime capabilities. Equipped with only outdated aircraft and few ships to patrol our seas, it is inevitable that a large part of our territory will be left vulnerable.

Luckily, for the country, there is always a bigger fish. Although the Philippines is laughably small, it has behemoth friends. America has lent its support in defending the nation’s territory. Sending out warships, and formally declaring their side in the dispute, America seems bent on not letting China have its way.

The country must take measures to increase its maritime capabilities. To this end, the country acquired C295 planes, built for combat and freight, and CESSNA planes to increase the nation’s patrolling capabilities. However, this is still insufficient. As the recent Mindoro oil spill has proved, the country’s available resources to handle maritime issues remain insufficient as the country failed to immediately and effectively address the problem.

home, in communities and sometimes, in school. In reality, doing sex is a natural act. It’s not wrong when you do it before or after marriage. But, imposing abstinence won’t work every time. The root cause of this problem is not the over knowledge about sex, it’s the lack of education and the lack of proper usage or not being able to use protection.

Some students in school are equipped with minimal knowledge about sex. Sex education is the key solution for this since students in highschool and college are open-minded. Educate them, instead of isolating them with one another. However, if the government insists on separating these students, then they should first prioritize adding classrooms.

Hopefully, we could come up with solutions to solve these problems, making way for the bright future of our students since they are the hope of our country.

Letter To The Editor

Dear Mr. Editor,

A fine rainy afternoon to you. Schools been canceled due to heavy rainfall so it would be a perfect time to converse with you via letter. In this letter there may be things that may offend you but please pay no mind to it for I show no malevolent intent but just to voice out my perspective and my fellow students woes.

First, the school’s restrooms. This is the place that I’ve always hated because it is uncomfortable to use when it is uncleaned, it had unflushed excrements, urine all over the place and some damaged cubicles. In my perspective though it is mostly the student’s fault. Because they are the people who mostly causes restrooms to be so filthy and to be damaged. Though I can see the effort of the staff to keep the restrooms tidy, they just can’t keep up with the unpleasant behavior of the students. Maybe the school should impose rules when it comes to restroom hygiene. A good rule would probably be “whatever classroom is near a certain restroom and that restroom becomes displeasing, filled with filth and dirt, the nearest classrooms will be put to blame”. Just to make the students more aware and maybe they’ll help with keeping the places tidy as well.

The next thing I wanted to talk about is the idea on prices of food sold that I usually hear among students. Though I understand that prices of the other food items in our school canteens varies based on the kind of food they will buy.

Another is something the school is not at fault at but something that I think they can fix. Student hygiene. Yes, student hygiene, I understand some people who have unpleasant odor like students who like to play physically, Athletes, and I guess people who have sweat glands issue. But some students just have displeasing odor without sweating. I don’t usually mind it but if the odor lasts for so long that’s the part where I get a bit riled up. To athletes and people who like to sweat a lot, please don’t forget to bring hygiene necessities like extra t-shirts, towels, cologne or whatever to keep ourselves tidy and squeaky. Hoping that schools would set simple reminders on hygiene and maybe students would take action upon it.

Lastly and the most common and famous and the most complained thing in school by students are on the number of tasks given and how short the deadlines are. Yes, I understand why they’d complain but in all honest, the tasks given are a lot easier than the tasks given to higher grade levels. In my opinion, students only need a breather. What I meant by breather aren’t holidays or random days where there will be no school days or break days, but I think what the students really need is something that will inspire them. Fun activities like Valentine’s day, Intramurals, school contests or activities that can be an avenue for them to release their pent up stresses or something which they can say in their minds “it was worth it coming today” and much more just to increase their morale.

Well, in general, problems our school has now are pretty common and mostly students are at fault. I know, the teachers have it rough already. Most students don’t really recognize the efforts of their teachers because they don’t even visualize how much work it is to become a teacher. But all I hope is that the school, teachers, staff, and students would work together to make each other’s role even just a bit easier. Though in our current state it seems like a far cry. Nevertheless, there are still many chances and opportunities for these hopes to happen. We’ll only have to observe.

With respect and great gratitude

Lovelight Grace O. Habla

headaches, tears, paper cuts, and late nights that put us all in a swirl of constant agony. That’s why they still dare to think about how trouble-free the journey was and judge us even more if we are not constantly at the top.

Due to this, multiple severe cases can be seen in schools all over the world. With symptoms ranging from loss of appetite, anxiety, and depression, to intrusive thoughts. This pressure will forever be entwined to us like a weight that we can’t get rid of. Like a wound that would never heal nor scar. Unless we take action now.

Fortunately, there is something that you can do as a person going through this. Studies have shown that talking to someone can be a way to release this stress. Positively talking to yourself can be another way since what’s more important than the love we have for ourselves?

Dear Yuriel,

A pleasant day to you. First of all, I would like to appreciate your courage for reaching me directly in order to express your concerns instead of stirring the hodgepodge of rumors and misunderstandings in the school curriculum. You have made a good choice by doing so.

I have read your letter twice and I am in favor of your perspective towards the issues arising in our school. I agree with the notion that issues or problems could not be avoided in schools. Thus, it is essential to address these in order to prevent the worst case scenario.

I agree with the thought that students should be held responsible when it comes to the facilities they use, including the comfort rooms. It is a must that they clean up after themselves and not be dependent towards the staff. Even the school requires the proper practice of the CLAYGO or “Clean As You Go” rule. The staff have done their part by cleaning the comfort rooms, it is the students’ responsibility to maintain the cleanliness.

Regarding the canteen’s food prices, it is obvious that some of the products are a bit pricey, but there are also affordable food items that are within the students’ budget. Buying food items that are within their price range is a proper way to practice budgeting, another is by making homemade food they can bring to school. Due to our country’s current inflation rate, it is normal for products especially food, to become pricey, which is why it is important for students to have the capability to manage their daily allowance and distinguish the feasibility and availability of a certain product.

When it comes to students’ personal hygiene, I do agree that students with unpleasant odor, especially athletes who often engage in physical activities required for their training, should bring a hygiene kit. If we know that we give off unpleasant odor whenever we sweat, it’s best if we improve our hygiene routine. We should be conscious about ourselves and sensitive towards the people surrounding us.

We can’t avoid complaints regarding the amount of school work. Aside from school, we also have other responsibilities at home. Some of us are dealing with mental health problems as well. Learning to be optimistic about certain aspects in life will help us overcome these. A breather like special events would really benefit the mental health of students since they get to take time off from the negativity surrounding us, it will help us become more optimistic about life. Time management is also essential; this will help us accomplish our tasks on time and will give us enough time to rest. Being optimistic and a pro at time management will benefit students a lot. This will help them get through highschool and life as well.

Thank you for bringing these matters to my knowledge. I really appreciate your initiative to take a step towards addressing concerns that have brought disruption and discomfort to our teachers, staff, and fellow students. However, I would like to request your patience regarding the solutions to the rest of these matters because it is impossible to solve all of these at the same time. We will take this one step at a time.

The school, together with its staff, teachers, and students will do their best to work together in order to solve these problems and prevent the occurrence of more issues in our school. From what you mentioned in your letter, working together will help us make each other’s roles a bit easier, and I agree. This will help us tenaciously thrive because where there is unity, there is victory.

Sincerely,

Editor

Sincerely yours, Yuriel