What Philippine Catholic Schools really care about...

And I heard it straight from the horse's mouth.

Sincerely, it was straight from the mouth of a Monsignor of a Catholic School in Manila

while I was attending my nephew's Recognition Day - where he won 3 awards (they call it certificates but I call them awards because I just did).

During the event, Monsi made a speech in front of 6 - 16 year old students and highlighted to them three things which stood out to me, - and which brought me back to my own days as a kinder,elementary,highschool student in a PAASCU-accredited Catholic school run by nuns - these are the following:

1) "Be a good girl/boy"

2) "How does a good girl / good boy sit? A good girl / good boy sits with his / her hands on his lap and with his/her legs together."

3) "We take care of our identity"

4) "We form highschool students, we train elementary students."


Monsi also described a scene in the movie Captain America - to connect to his "Be a good boy/girl" speech - but I couldn't remember how he put those two together, he just did.

Did you just see how he doesn't give a shit about the minds and hearts of the students he's giving the speech to?

You didnt have to be physically present to know or understand what he said, just look at the four sentences above (note that the first two are actual quotes and the third and fourth are paraphrased ones) and you'll get his drift.


You: Wait a minute, I dont understand, what do you mean he doesnt give a shit?

I mean he doesnt care.

You: What do you mean he doesnt care?

I mean he doesnt really care about the students.

You: What do you mean he doesnt care about the students?

Okay, he cares about the students....

You: SIGH OF RELIEF.


....But he only cares about them when they are being "good girls" and "good boys" because that is how they were formed and trained to be. They were not formed and trained to think on their own or to think of themselves in any way other than the student of Catholic School X.

Have you ever wondered why schools even bother to label their students as "Maryans," "Theresians," "Thomasians," "Lasallians," etc. other than to maintain or develop, not the student's own character but the school's identity?

Have you ever wondered why they make students memorize Mission Statements and mottos?

If you're a student of Catholic school X Y or Z, you are supposed to be a good girl, good boy, you're supposed to value service; value religio mores cultura; Veritas in Caritate; Caritas Veritas Scientia; etc.

To state what is blatantly obvious, Monsi and Catholic schools form and train its students to be extensions of the school's identity.

So any flaw, mistake, any bad boy, bad girl of Catholic School X is equal to a stain in the identity of that school.

Because Catholic Schools dont care about students as persons or individuals. They care about students as how they serve the school's image

the way they are properly "formed" and "trained" to do.


Philippine Catholic schools values its students for how they reflect back the image of that school - and that image is supposed to be "good," only "good."


So if students are in a beach wearing a bikini and they post pictures of themselves (on a social networking site which a LOT of people has access to) in a beach wearing a bikini, and school authorities see pictures of these students in a beach wearing a bikini, the students are

1) Not being good girls.

2) Obviously does not sit with their hands on their laps and with their legs together.

3) Is not taking care of the school's "virtuous" identity.


What's important is the school's feelings and how hurt and shamed the school was by these girls improper behavior. Whoever "school" is supposed to be.

Because the school doesnt really care about what the girls feel and think.

That is why no one called these girls "sluts,” “addicts,” “drunkards,” and “cheap" except them.

To others who did not know they were STC students, they were just girls wearing a bikini while on the beach.

Because -- and I bet you hear these a lot from Catholic school authorities, I know I did -- these students are supposed to be carrying the name of the school wherever they go.

That is why students who want to loiter around in the mall during or after school hours change their uniforms and wear casual clothes (also, mall guards turn away uniformed students during school hours/days) because no one wants to see a Maryan, Theresian, Whateverian watching Unofficially Yours in the middle of the day, right?

What would everybody think? That the school is so lax in its discipline!? That it couldnt even regulate / control the behavior of its virtuous students?!

So not allowing these students to attend the Commencement Exercises - despite court orders that the school should - is a very Christian thing to do a-la Matthew 5:29:

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

Cutting them off from the school activity, denying them the opportunity to be part of the graduation rites is the school cleansing itself of the dirt and stain it perceives the students brought on the school via pics on their Facebook account because - and this is again a direct quote from STC - the students did not "live the values that the school stands for..”

If STC/Infant Jesus Academy allow these students to attend, they would in effect be publicly certifying that these children are their products. And if they do that, it would be identity/image-suicide.

Imagine Piolo acknowledging what everybody else is thinking. It would be career-suicide because that is not the "image" he wants you and advertisers to see, see?

"It is the school’s certification to the world that these students are our products...If you view commencement in that light then, the school has no alternative than to refuse to certify these students."


Wait a minute. Change the word "school" and replace it with your last name / family name or your father's name / mother's name / grandfather's name / grandmother's name and Voila! See how these same words are so familiar you actually swear you heard someone say these from your family of origin.

"Wala akong anak na (fill in the blank here)."

"Akalain ng iba di ako marunong mag-disiplina; mag-palaki ng anak na maayos; mag-(fill in the blank here)."


You: Woah! Do you mean our family of origin cares much for their identity / image too?

I dont know, do you?