John Gokongwei donation riles Ateneo alumni

Billy Esposo just forwarded to me a copy of a very angry e-mail from an Ateneo alumni over the decision of the Jesuits to accept the P200 million endowment donation of John Gokongwei. I am not an Atenean. I spent my high school, college and post graduate years at the public school near Loyola Heights. I can’t help being amused at how incensed some of the Arrneow alumni are over Gokongwei’s contribution to the business school. It is almost as if the Jesuits allowed a barbarian inside the holy of holies. But then again, these arrogant, holier-than-thou Arrneans who have this feeling of superiority over Gokongwei, as if they are God’s special creatures, had it coming to them. They should have raised that kind of money collectively and beat Gokongwei to it.

Running a business school, or a university like Ateneo is an expensive proposition even with all the tax exemptions. The fact that the Loyola campus is worth billions means little unless the Jesuits build malls and condos on them instead of school facilities. The e-mail writer who claims to be an economist should know something as basic as that. Or maybe he was playing hooky with his classes as a student in Ateneo.

I remember that one of the reasons Ateneo didn’t make it as a top university in Asiaweek’s rankings is its less than world class research facilities and faculty development program. That should have been the cue for Ateneo alumni to raise funds to help the university bring it up to par.

But the Ateneo alumni were only willing to raise funds for the basketball team, primarily to get front row seats at the La Salle-Ateneo playoffs. What about salaries for teachers that are competitive with alternative work in the business sector? Or state-of- the-art facilities that include Internet ready computers, etc. Let’s not even talk of air conditioned classrooms which UST and the computer colleges Arreneans laugh at have, but not Ateneo.

I have a daughter in Ateneo now and a son just graduated. They tell me that trying to use a computer is an exercise in patience. The lines are always long and things could definitely be better. Their classrooms too have seen better days.

The snobs around us may scoff at Gokongwei as I once did. But you have to give it to the man – the way he brought himself up from an impoverished orphan to a taipan is an accomplishment that any school of business should take notice of.

Gokongwei was also humble enough to open his speech with these words: "I am not an Atenean but I feel at home with you. Today, at least. Sixty-two years ago, I could not have dreamt of appearing before the Jesuits and their students to tell the story of my life." The Gokongwei father and son who both studied in La Salle, are at least broadminded enough to give that kind of money to Ateneo.

He might have been a pretty ruthless businessman. But successful businessmen anywhere normally are, in one way or another. As he ends his business career, he must have figured he wanted to leave a legacy. Tightwad that he is, he didn’t mind that it will cost him P200 million. It must really mean a whole lot to him.

There must be more than a dozen Ateneo alumni who could have donated P200 million but didn’t. Or they could have raised that amount, but the reality is, they didn’t. However, if the Jesuits accepted a donation like that from Jaime Dichaves and named the business school after him, that would be totally different... that would be really dishonorable. Dichaves is an influence peddler and unabashed rent-seeker, not a real entrepreneur.

All the self righteous protest now from some Arrneow alumni is simply sickening. It seems to me that if the Jesuits failed in anything at all with their education, it is in inculcating more humanistic values in them as true Christians. What happened to "a man for others?"

By taking this holier than thou reaction to Gokongwei’s donation, they showed themselves to be no better than the despised Pharisees of the Gospel. They ought to reflect a little more deeply on the teachings of Christ this Holy Week. They should also be totally ashamed of themselves.

If I were Gokongwei, I’d double my donation, if only to make them really fry. And maybe even return their diplomas. They can’t be the kind of graduates Ateneo and the Jesuits can be proud of.

Teacher education

Reader Tim L sent me a pretty long e-mailed reaction to our column on the quality of our university education. Here are portions of it.

This is in response to your piece yesterday. You raised an issue about which I’ve become very much concerned over the past few years. I had both male and female children in schools ranging from grade school to university. Based on their experiences in all of these settings, I believe that the educational system has deteriorated very seriously, and is in a crisis condition.

Almost without exception, their teachers have not had a command of the material they were supposed to teach. Often they have not been very effective teachers of what they did know. And far too often a good deal of what they taught, in many cases day after day, was simply wrong.

Some, perhaps most, of these teachers were hardworking, dedicated individuals, who were genuinely interested in the welfare of their students. Some I consider to be personal friends. Unfortunately, this has no effect on the consequences of what is taking place. And these experiences took place in several of the most prestigious private schools in the country. I can only imagine what it is like in the public schools.

What has me most concerned is the consequences of this educational failure for the nation. I cannot see how the products of the current educational system will be able to run society 20 years from now at the same level of development that is currently enjoyed, let alone any more advanced. It would not surprise me at all if a steady decline in economic output per capita were to commence a few years from now.

I don’t think the problem is the fault of the particular schools my children attended, and it is impossible for me to believe it is limited to them, because they all have reputations for being at the top of the educational system. Rather, the problem is with the entire system, but especially with teacher training and credentials, as well as salaries, which obviously have been insufficient to attract or motivate an adequate number of well-qualified individuals to a career in teaching.

With regard to teacher training, it seems likely that the problem is only going to get worse, because those doing the training are or will soon be products of the same failing system. It is hard to understand how they will be able to teach what they themselves have never learned.

And the best teachers have consistently been leaving the country for much higher paying jobs overseas, as well as higher paying or more rewarding work here. I am aware of at least one former U.P. professor who now tutors students privately instead.

I will end here. Thank you very much for raising this extremely important issue. It needs to be thoroughly discussed and addressed by the entire nation sooner rather than later. The future of all is at stake. Any delay will only serve to greatly exacerbate the consequences.

Holy Week

This one’s from reader Eliseo Tanopo.

An Erap groupie: Unfair talaga ang Catholic Church kay Erap.

A Gloria groupie: Bakit naman?

An Erap groupie: Kasi kita mo naman... yung Black Saturday e, Sabado de Gloria ang tawag. Yung Palm Sunday, Domingo de Ramos. E, si Erap wala!

A Gloria groupie: Mali ka pards. Nauna pa nga si Erap sa lahat. Di ba nagsisimula ang cuaresma sa Ass Wednesday?

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])