Here's an idea for our Alumni President.
I've been an "alumni" for the past two years now ( whatever that label means). And during that period, I have come to grapple one of the hardest truths any graduate should know and swallow: that as we move further away from our graduation date, we become more and more stupid.
I guess that's the way things go. We tend to shed away most of the stuff that made us survive school in exchange for things that will help us survive in the real world. In my case, it was my fluency in English that slowly drifted away. Right now, I'm having a hard time speaking in straight English these days and my writing skills are going down the drain too. It's what one might call a "necessary atrophy" or "an inevitable doing away" but, even if this were the case, it still sucks. True, we still acquire skills that are more in line with our current needs but it comes at the expense of the other skills or abilities we have to come to master in the past.
Still, this pales in comparison to a more serious consequence befalling out-of-school youths like me. If I remember right, there was a study mentioned in a Psychology class that people in their early twenties and beyond possess mindsets which are less malleable to change. In other words, people who are already professionals tend to have fixed ideas and opinions about the issues in this world as opposed to their more youthful counterparts who are still more receptive to other people's thoughts ( Tragically, sometimes this receptivity allows subjects to be easily manipulated by people who have ulterior agendas. But I digress).
I guess this observation stems from a host of factors, one of which is the dearth of ideas experienced by people outside the confines of a school. More specifically, this experience can be a result of people not reading enough books, of people not getting enough "library time". What usually accounts for typical reading materials for a typical graduate are newspapers, coffee table magazines, and the occasional books read to pass away the time. Although these materials are informative and one can indeed learn a thing or two from reading these, the same just cannot replace the wealth of ideas stored in a library. We, adults, do have a tendency to become close-minded bigots and, maybe, that's a result of reading less than we were accustomed to at school.
My solution? Well, I hope it has been obvious right from the start. I happened to see a video of Improv Everywhere agents "ghost busting" in a public library in New York and I was surprised to see a lot of people, adults, with laptops taking their leisure time inside the library's solemn halls. I just wish we had that kind of luxury here but I guess you already know how deplorable our public library is here in Davao. So we go to the next best thing: the libraries of our respective alumni schools.
How about we create a library card system for the alumni association?
Yes, it may sound unnecessary. Why go to that extent when our libraries allow anyone with an alumni card to come in? Yes, it does but that privilege comes with a price tag: P100.00 per library visit. I know it isn't much but do consider that P100.00 per visit is still more hefty compared to surfing the net for an entire day. Sure, the school does profit from this but it unknowingly deters the majority who would go on preferring a cheaper, yet less intellectually stimulating, form of entertainment. The price tag now becomes a penalty instead of an incentive to learn more.
So what is this library card system I'm talking about? Well, I'm thinking along the line of a loyalty card. Every alumni can apply for one and then only has to pay his annual dues to keep the card valid. Definitely, some privileges, like borrowing a book or using wi-fi inside for free, have to be curtailed for the benefit of the studentry but I guess such an arrangement will be a win-win situation for everyone. The school can still get a decent profit from this exercise and alumni get their much-needed library visits at a lower cost.
If all goes well, I guess the school can even profit better with this arrangement due to more alumni coming in to enjoy this perk and more consistent collections of dues. Sounds neat, don't you think?
I've been an "alumni" for the past two years now ( whatever that label means). And during that period, I have come to grapple one of the hardest truths any graduate should know and swallow: that as we move further away from our graduation date, we become more and more stupid.
I guess that's the way things go. We tend to shed away most of the stuff that made us survive school in exchange for things that will help us survive in the real world. In my case, it was my fluency in English that slowly drifted away. Right now, I'm having a hard time speaking in straight English these days and my writing skills are going down the drain too. It's what one might call a "necessary atrophy" or "an inevitable doing away" but, even if this were the case, it still sucks. True, we still acquire skills that are more in line with our current needs but it comes at the expense of the other skills or abilities we have to come to master in the past.
Still, this pales in comparison to a more serious consequence befalling out-of-school youths like me. If I remember right, there was a study mentioned in a Psychology class that people in their early twenties and beyond possess mindsets which are less malleable to change. In other words, people who are already professionals tend to have fixed ideas and opinions about the issues in this world as opposed to their more youthful counterparts who are still more receptive to other people's thoughts ( Tragically, sometimes this receptivity allows subjects to be easily manipulated by people who have ulterior agendas. But I digress).
I guess this observation stems from a host of factors, one of which is the dearth of ideas experienced by people outside the confines of a school. More specifically, this experience can be a result of people not reading enough books, of people not getting enough "library time". What usually accounts for typical reading materials for a typical graduate are newspapers, coffee table magazines, and the occasional books read to pass away the time. Although these materials are informative and one can indeed learn a thing or two from reading these, the same just cannot replace the wealth of ideas stored in a library. We, adults, do have a tendency to become close-minded bigots and, maybe, that's a result of reading less than we were accustomed to at school.
My solution? Well, I hope it has been obvious right from the start. I happened to see a video of Improv Everywhere agents "ghost busting" in a public library in New York and I was surprised to see a lot of people, adults, with laptops taking their leisure time inside the library's solemn halls. I just wish we had that kind of luxury here but I guess you already know how deplorable our public library is here in Davao. So we go to the next best thing: the libraries of our respective alumni schools.
How about we create a library card system for the alumni association?
Yes, it may sound unnecessary. Why go to that extent when our libraries allow anyone with an alumni card to come in? Yes, it does but that privilege comes with a price tag: P100.00 per library visit. I know it isn't much but do consider that P100.00 per visit is still more hefty compared to surfing the net for an entire day. Sure, the school does profit from this but it unknowingly deters the majority who would go on preferring a cheaper, yet less intellectually stimulating, form of entertainment. The price tag now becomes a penalty instead of an incentive to learn more.
So what is this library card system I'm talking about? Well, I'm thinking along the line of a loyalty card. Every alumni can apply for one and then only has to pay his annual dues to keep the card valid. Definitely, some privileges, like borrowing a book or using wi-fi inside for free, have to be curtailed for the benefit of the studentry but I guess such an arrangement will be a win-win situation for everyone. The school can still get a decent profit from this exercise and alumni get their much-needed library visits at a lower cost.
If all goes well, I guess the school can even profit better with this arrangement due to more alumni coming in to enjoy this perk and more consistent collections of dues. Sounds neat, don't you think?
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