PG

The annual graduation season has begun.  Some of us will witness the march (no pun intended) of proud graduates and perhaps even prouder parents.  On the flip side, there are the less fortunate students who are facing difficulties in school. Indeed, poor academic performance is a challenge that many students face and that many parents agonize over. In this regard, may I share with you parental guidance (PG) given by Boston-based lawyer Faustino Lichauco to his 15-year-old son regarding the value of grades, education and beauty. 

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“Your mother has asked me to lecture you on the value of education, apparently because you are getting low grades.

First, let me just say that I think there is far too much emphasis on grades. Second, I want to point out that much of the conventional wisdom about the value of education is incorrect. Many people think it is about getting into the right college so you can get the right job and make lots of money. It isn’t.

First, allow me to digress by considering the five senses. What are they for?

Well, they certainly have some survival value. It’s hard to outrun a sabre-tooth tiger when you can’t see.

But they have value beyond that. They let us see beauty. The ears may warn us of danger, but they also let us hear music. The eyes show us lurking predators, but they also let us see rainbows. Indeed, God gave us eyes and ears not just to avoid getting killed, but also to experience the beauty of His creation.

Now, where do all these sensory organs connect? They all go to the brain which, in a way, is the ultimate sensory organ. Now if God gave us eyes and ears to see the beauty of His physical world, what did he give us a brain for?

The key is to recognize that God created more than just a physical world. He created everything. And part of that everything, is the world of ideas. God gave us a brain so we could see beauty in this abstract world of ideas.

Now, what does this all have to do with school?

School is the most efficient way to reveal this beauty to the interested student. It is about pulling back the curtain of ignorance, and inviting the student to step through into the wonder of what lies beyond.

I say “interested” students because, sadly, most do not bother to look. They are content with what they have.

The teacher holds the curtain open. She beckons. But most students look at the shimmering world beyond, and turn away. “Too much work,” they say to themselves. “I’ve got my friends and I go to parties and I eat and drink. That’s all I need.”

But for the few who step through, the world changes forever. It will seem more beautiful. Where once they saw chaos, they see patterns. What looked like gibberish acquires meaning. And they will look back with sadness at those who stayed behind, wishing they too could have come. How tragic it is to willfully stay blind, out of sheer laziness, when it is so easy to see.

I am reminded of the feeling that comes when you take an elevator to the 100th floor. You look at the view. It’s fun. But why? There isn’t much practical value. It doesn’t help you earn more money, or get into the right college. You go because it’s beautiful. And it’s beautiful because you see the big picture.

 And when you’re back on the street, things are somehow different. But it’s not the world that changed. It’s you. You have become a little bit “educated.”

That’s what it’s like. And that’s what you’re turning away from.

Because at the end of the day, education is about trying to experience the naked beauty of God’s universe. It is about rising above the muck of our quotidian animal existence, and reaching up, well past the stars, to what lies beyond.

It’s much bigger than just getting a good job. “

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While I agree with the eloquent insights of Atty. Lichauco, I do not think there is really a contradiction. We also need to tell our children that getting into the right college, getting the right job and making money may allow them to appreciate the beauty of nature even more. While not discounting all the grandeur that is present in our own neck of the woods, there is much to recommend about being able to experience the other things that the world has to offer. One can only look at a sabre-tooth tiger in the eye if one is able to join an African safari.  One can only marvel at the majesty of Niagara Falls if one can travel to Canada and/or the US. One can only be a Robert Frost/Ralph Waldo Emerson if one has had the good fortune of experiencing the four seasons of New England...

Moreover, one gets to select from more options when one has had the value of quality education. Whether your personal bliss is to make money or to fight injustice, whether your heart’s desire is to live comfortably or to trek to the forgotten corners of the globe, you are in a better position to pick from a variety of choices when you’ve had the benefit of having a stellar record in a quality institution.

So the bottom line is that students still have to get high grades :-) 

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In Memoriam: Jaime M. Carino passed away peacefully in Los Angeles, California at the age of 74. A memorial service to honor him was held yesterday in the US.

He founded the Forex Organization in 1983, a leading money transfer and package delivery service company. It has made an impact upon the lives of hundreds of thousands of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries in the Philippines.

Together with Bing Limcaoco and Meckoy Quiogue, Jimmy Cariño taught a group of high school students how to laugh in/at life and inspired them to live it to the fullest.

Farewell JMC. Thanks for the memories.

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“Wisdom is not a product of schooling

but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” – Albert Einstein

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