Required Entry #2: Equality vs. Competition

There are many aspects under equality such as social equality, gender equality, economic equality and civil equality. These types of equality, for me, have a positive effect on our society. However, the equality that is being portrayed in Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" is total equality which, I believe, is very dangerous. Due to the insistence of the Handicapper General on total equality, the citizens are forced to dumb themselves down and hide their special capacities just to achieve mental and physical equality among everyone which results to a society of stupid people. Total equality, in the story, is achieved but freedom and individual achievement suffered. 

Competition, on the other hand, also has its own branches like biological, social and economical competitions among individuals. It pushes the people to strive harder in order to succeed against other competitors in their own fields. People will have the perspective of improving themselves in the process of winning the competition, thus, creating more efficient citizens and workers. Despite all of these, competition can still harm our society if people try to gain advantage by hostile actions and contemptible methods. These can undermine the potential of competition on having positive effects in the society. 

Though competition also has its own disadvantages, I still think that it is better for our society than total equality.

Starting My Life As An Iska

Being a student of the University of the Philippines is something that I didn't imagine even in my wildest dreams. Since I was little, I already looked up to the students who have entered the top university in our country, wishing I would be one. But as time went by, I witnessed my older siblings fail the upcat so I thought that I had no chance of passing it too. I didn't even want to take the "mind breaking" entrance exam when I was in fourth year high school but my family believed in me so I pushed through.  Fast forward to January 12, 2015, when the upcat results were released, I didn't even checked or visited the website of UP. I just went home from school like it's a normal day, watched TV then slept... until my friend called me on my phone, said that I passed the exam and the rest was history.

Now, that I am officially an "Iskolar ng Bayan", I am still in awe because God has given me a wonderful blessing. But on the other hand, I am also having a hard time on adjusting and coping up with the changes that's happening in my life... The transformation from a high school girl to a more mature and responsible college girl. They say that entering the University of the Philippines is hard and graduating from it is even harder. Yes, I believe it is true but I say nothing worth having comes easy.

Required Entry #1: Literature

Every person has his/her own perspective of Literature. Others will say that it is a written material, a spoken work or simply just a story. Broadly speaking, literature represents culture and tradition. But for me, literature is more than that.

Literature is what connects me into other dimensions: cultures, historical eras, stories, etc. In terms of fictional literature, it can take me to a world different to where I belong and can also set my mind free from all worries in the real world even just for a while. On the other hand, literature can give you all the facts you want to know or you need to know about everything in this world. 

Given these characteristics, it is true that literature plays a very important role in the lives of every human being. It lets us learn new worlds of experiences, entertains us with different genre of stories and inspires us with poems written by great authors. But most of all, literature helps us to view ourselves from the shoes of other people, making us grow in our consciousness and sensitivity towards their situations. Literature is the closest chance the world has to be able to understand another person whole-heartedly.