[Late-Night Talks] False Privileges

The pandemic has changed the life of the students. The pressure, anxiety, and fear of failing doubled when classes started inside their houses. Other people say how ‘chill’ students are because they’re in the comfort of their homes, clueless about how their words can greatly affect them.

Education is the key to securing a promising future for the students. This helps students to acquire new knowledge and improve their skills. It gives them opportunities to get their dream jobs, be successful and make their families proud.

However, Filipino parents have these expectations from their children to get higher grades because as our parents always like to say, “Ikaw ang mag-aahon sa pamilya natin mula sa hirap (You’ll be the one to raise our family from poverty).”

These expectations continue to drown students from the stress they feel from their own families. As a result, this affects their performance in academics.

Students have to bear judgments from their parents and other people when they get lower grades in this set-up without personally experiencing how online learning really works.

Being in an online setup for classes is expected to be much easier and more relaxed than face-to-face classes, seeing how students can close their cameras, do irrelevant things during class, and fiddle with their phones which adds to the disappointment of their families.

Unaware that not all students can learn and focus on this new way of learning.

Disappointment eventually leads to scolding and misunderstandings.

We need to understand that not every student has the privilege to sit and listen quietly in class. Limited communication limits us from learning, and not everyone can easily adapt and excel in an online setup.

It’s time to break these stereotypes of Filipino children as perfect daughters and sons. As someone who also has been through childhood, they should at least appreciate the students' efforts trying to adapt to this new mode of learning.

We might not realize that our words may give them the chance to give up due to the overwhelming workload and expectations.

If you received a low grade, remember that this doesn’t mean you’re a failure. You will always have the chance to prove to yourself that you can be more than what people think of you.