Bryan Miseducated

Eighteen year old Vivian is from a family of eight children. A product of poor public education, I inform rather than ridicule when I say she is not very smart. And her days at school with empty tummy were not of any help. Out of school and unemployed, she keeps her days busy dating, unlike her Kapuso mermaid-turned-human heroine who's snagged a wealthy CEO's son, an equally poor and a doubly stupid boy her age. And they plan to get married soon.



Had she been taught in school that the economics of marriage goes beyond renting a Aling Lilian's Creation wedding gown and an Bombay-financed fund for the wedding reception, perhaps Vivian and her stupid boyfriend would remotely consider dating each other off?

Vivian, had she been taught in school that having kids in the family meant more than just figuring out an anagram-ic three-name first name for her baby and a second Indian-(refinanced) christening expenses…why, we're talking about baby formula, the diapers, the visits to the pediatrician, the supplements and vaccines, a clean environment, recreation, a clean shelter—a house, employed parents…

Vivian should have been thought in school that the Filipino optimism "may remedyo" employed in child rearing is inadmissible. Refer to any adoption case and you will see that no righteous court will award any adoption to insufficiently capacitated adapters. While an impoverished lovers are awared leniency on the grounds of romance (i.e. 'against all odds' shit) the "may remedyo" mentality is not fair cruel to a child who have no voice nor a legislative right to choose parents who has "may remedyo na".

We must educate our Vivians and their hopefully not so stupid husbands-to-be that they must postpone bearing children until they can afford and able to rear them for the long haul at least until they finish school.

The church's bitter opposition against the proposed birth control legislation is tad disheartening than it is anything else. It might as well be a premature veto from God himself. My humble opinion is that we should all go back to schools and sustainably educate our Vivians about the economics of starting a family and nurturing it. We address the apparent issues on population not by suppressing it but by informing the next Filipino generation that a proper management of finances and time like good morals and values are basic in rearing a family.

There is nothing new what I'm saying here. But who knows… a naïve Vivian spending her idle afternoon ogling over his unemployed boyfriend's Friendster photos might accidentally end up here.

Labels: Assumptionista ako minsan., Comment-comment, Things you can't help but shake your head disparagingly.