blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

St Theresa's College in Cebu (STC)  defended its decision to bar five of its girls to attend their graduation for donning swim wear that "amply showed" too much of their bodies. STC is a Catholic school and as such has the right to set standards of modesty for their students. Even the secular University of the Philippines still can set a standard for modesty and no Board of Regents (BOR) over the last 104 years has rescinded this right. This might be surprising for today's students of the national university but UP in the 1920s did have standards of modesty and the State University had a Dean of Men and a Dean of Women to make sure these standards were observed. Then as now UP had a lack of proper dormitories and most students boarded in flophouses in Ermita and Intramuros where they were exposed to vice. A few "dormed" in facilities run by churches. My grandmother who was a nursing student during that time boarded in a dorm run by Protestants. (At least we...

Who can forget high school? Many songs have been written about high school days. Jim Croce's Salon and Saloon perhaps encapsulates what it was all about. " Sometimes I think about our good old high school days You would always kid about my adolescent ways Oh, Mary, Mary, good to see you too Haven't seen to many of the old crew The time just flew, and how are you?  " Of course, for many Pinoys Sharon Cuneta's "High School" remains as The High School song. Enough of those songs. But the University of the Philippines Intergrated School (UPIS) last Saturday celebrated its 2008 General Alumni Homecoming and Reunion at the university's Bahay ng Alumni. The UPIS is the merger of UP elementary, high, and preparatory schools. The reunion is different from all others since it was also in celebration of the university's centennial. Thus it was well attended beyond expectation. Well some of the alums and teachers I haven't since since we parted after the...