Quiet on the campus

Title

Quiet on the campus

Identifier

Education

Language

English

Source

The Republic (2) 31 March 1973

Year

1973

Subject

Martial law -- Philippines
Student movements -- Philippines

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Education (Frorri page 18) itan counterparts. What is in store for community journalism under the new order? The picture has somewhat changed in the same manner that the metro politan press has. Scanning samples of post-martial law community papers, one notices, as one does in the metropolitan press, the demise of the local society page. One also notices a format that puts the accent on what is often referred to as positive reporting. The quality and content of some articles indicate that local writers, given further profession al guidance, may yet emerge as firstrate developmental journalists. In many cases, though, reporting tends to be dull on account of the uniform treatment of news stories. While there are guidelines for the media to follow, there must be a way of writing about the various aspects of community life in a lively and interesting manner. Several papers do retain some of the more commendable qualities they had before. The Sunday Punch has maintained its original crusading image, this time concentrating on the “enemies of change.” The Naga Times is still the better edited among the Bicol papers and can compare favorably with the today Punch in layouting. In Cebu, the local papers — namely the Cebu Advocate, the Cebu Times, raid the Republic News — show the same writing enthusiasm of the small town journalists. Davao City’s Min danao Times tries to cover as many provinces in Mindanao but really ends up announcing plans and projects of a locality. In Tarlac, two papers (The Monitor and the Luzon Star) balance between the news from Camp Makabulos, the Constabulary headquarters in that province, and the local civic clubs. The columnists have re-appeared and, with the political pyrotechnics now non-existent in the place, have turned writing on less spicy though more sible domestic subjects (boyhood mories, why the streets of Tarlac are named after so-and-so). Armando Matias, editor of the Monitor, has his version of Jean Edades’s “How’s Your English” and adds the qualifier “Infor mation Editor eligible” below his by-line. One finds Mr. Matias’s tech nical motives commendable, but as one browses over the other paper, the Luzon Star, one realizes, remember ing Mr. Matias’s samples of murdered grammar, that Jean Edades’s Tarlac counterpart is putting one over the other paper in a petty sort of way. A fairly common, noticeable feature of both pre- and post-martial law papers is that they have all but sacrificed wider coverage for the sake of the revenue-rising court notices. Anywhere from 70 to 90 percent of the pages of today’s community news papers are occupied by such notices. It is fairly obvious that the com munity press still suffers from a num ber of old, recurrent ills. To be sure, some of the hazards that community journalists faced have disppeared since the institution of reforms now reach ing into every facet of Philippine so ciety. They no longer have to con tend, for instance, with the old per nicious political alignments and the criminal and other malevolent forces that often placed a sword of Damocles over their heads. Today, they face new challenges, new responsibilities. PABLO A. TARIMAN Quiet on the campus People had begun to sing the dirge for student activism when reports about its resurgence hit the headlines once again. “Universities watched,” bannered one morning daily. “Crack down on activism in campuses,” said a one-column, below-the-fold story in another. A concerned Education and Culture Secretary Juan Manuel sent Undersec retary Narciso Albarracin to Dumaguete for a look-see at developments in Silliman University, where much of the renewed activism was noted. Mr. Manuel later ordered the weeding out of faculty members abetting student activism and warned that a repetition of such incidents as were reported in Silliman would be dealt with more severely. For all its attendant publicity, what happened at Silliman was not the first discordant note frorn the activist camp. But it was not typical of the country’s campuses, either. Since classes resumed in October, majority of the student population had settled down to what they had gone to school for in the first place — more religious ly this time and without the distrac tion provided by that unlovely omni presence of pre-martial law days: the placards and the graffiti. “Generally the campus scene is now serene,” says one education official. A tour of school campuses confirms that assessment. Gone are the red ban ners and the posters, the manifestoes and the microphones, the teach-ins and the discussion groups. No more boycotts and demonstrations to up turn carefully planned academic calen dars. Gone too are some of the more vocal radicals. Order has returned to what once was a chaotic campus life; a calm and subdued atmosphere en velopes the nation’s educational insti tutions. Most students now tackle their academics in dead earnest, and teachers are responding with equal de termination via more readings, more term papers and more quizzes. This turn of events is being hailed by edu cators and parents alike. The prevailing mood does have some variations from school to school. At the University of the East where activism did not gain a very firm foot hold, students take to developments on the national scene in much the same manner as the majority of the Filipino people — that is to say, with relief coupled with a new-found feeling of confidence and security. “They like it this way,” says Jesus Espiritu, UE’s vice president for stu dent affairs. “They can come to their A university campus scene-, peace at last. classes without fear of being mugged or robbed. There are no more demons trations, which (had) often led to the suspension of classes.” As to why ra dicalism never took root in the coun try’s biggest (in terms of enrolment) university, he has this explanation: “Our students come from middle- and lower-income families. They are there fore in a hurry to get their degrees and help their parents.” Unlike some schools which cater to the children of the rich, he says, most UE students cannot afford a year’s delay in their studies. On the other side of the spectrum, students at the University of the Phil ippines seem to suffer a slight mental discomfort whenever they are con fronted with the new restrictions around campus. Oscar Yabes, editor of the Philippine Collegian, official student organ of the UP, perhaps encapsulizes this mood when he says: “Things are not normal yet. You can not change the UP psyche overnight.” Says Dean Armando Malay of the UP Office of Student Affairs: “Student activism is not dead. Neither is it dy ing. It is merely quiescent.” Another educator puts it this way: “In their heart of hearts, even the radicals will admit to seeing some of their own imprints in the President’s program of reforms: an end to politics, an end to official corruption and the beginning of a bright future for our farmers through land reform.” But, he adds, they seem to find difficulty ridding themselves of their doubts. It would be naive to think that the voices of doubt and cynicism have been totally stilled at this stage of the reform movement in the country. No less than the President took note of this when, in late January, he under lined the need for more effective supervision of schools, especially those where subversive forces had begun their insidious work again. A couple of weeks earlier, the President, assessing the first 100 days of martial law, warned of a reversion, a sliding back, into the undesirable and unconstructive activities of the past. It cannot be said, therefore, that the government is unaware of what is going on in the campuses. It has al ways kept a finger on the pulse of the student sector, ever sensitive to the faintest stirrings among students. And it has not been lacking, either, in the understanding of the Filipino youth’s psychology. That so far no school has been closed since the resumption of classes in October is perhaps a tribute to — or a reflection of — that discernment. It may also reflect the fact that the doubters are but a small minority of the country’s vast student population, who make up a substantial portion of our young society. Be that as it may, the majority — like the majority of the Filipino na tion — have welcomed the reforms instituted the past six months. And with every announcement of a new reform measure, the government con tinues to gain their confidence, erasing whatever vestiges of doubt may exist in their minds. In their heart of hearts, to repeat what one educator said, they know that the changes now sweeping, the cities and the countrysides were the very ones they had SQUght, had demonstrated for, during those tur bulent days preceding the historic last quarter of 1972. It is the mood of this vast number that prevails in Philippine campuses today. THE REPUBLIC 31 March 1973 Page 19

pages

19

Media