Getting science students into UP

Every lawyer’s dream is to argue a case before the Supreme Court. To enrich jurisprudence not just tests an attorney’s mettle but, more sublimely, tacks a legacy. Astrid, a top-rate graduate of UP-Law Class 1990, had had to forgo that dream after the birth of her second of three children. Maternal instinct and family tradition so dictated. Astrid’s mother too had given up careers in pharmacy and music to raise her three progenies into a banker, a mathematician and a lawyer, before she aimed as a widow-grandma to herself become a barrister. And so Astrid concentrated on nurturing her brood’s academic potentials, ensuring the entry of her first two into the prestigious Philippine Science High School in Davao. Little did she expect her parental concerns to put her on a path of arguing for jurisprudence of sorts, that is, for UP to review its admission policies for PSHS graduates.

The case brief, if it can be called that, landed on Astrid’s lap last year, when her son’s PSHS senior class took the UP College Admission Test. Then, as in last weekend’s UPCAT for the next schoolyear, 65,000 applicants vied for only 3,500 slots at UP-Diliman and Manila, and about twice that limit at other UP campuses. The UPCAT is deemed the toughest of its kind in the land. But it should be a cinch for PSHS students, who are trained precisely to get into the premier state university. PSHS, itself a state institute, is for the cream of the young crop. Only three percent of elementary pupils ever get into its seven branches nationwide. Its students, all scholars, are mentioned for college courses in pure and applied sciences. The curriculum is advanced, compared to even the most rigorous private high schools. At second year, PSHS students spend five hours a week on Biology, three hours each on Chemistry, Physics Intermediate Algebra, Geometry, Java Programming, Environmental Science, and "minors" like Drafting with Computer-Aided Design Wood and Metal Craft. Third year would have higher sciences and math, like Microbiology and Trigonometry; at fourth year, Consumer and Industrial Chemistry, Advanced Electronics, Computer Networking.

To the disbelief of Astrid and other parents, only a third of PSHS-Davao’s 86 seniors made it to UP-Diliman, although 86 percent qualified for other UP campuses. Further inquiries showed that only a little over half of PSHS’ 229 seniors in the main Quezon City branch itself got into UP-Diliman, and only 72 percent made the grade for other UP sites. In the five other PSHS branches (Camarines Sur, Leyte, Iloilo, Nueva Vizcaya, Lanao del Norte), UPCAT passes for UP-Diliman ranged from only seven to 35 percent. Astrid, herself a PSHS graduate in 1978, was particularly shocked. In her time, it was already big news if two or three batchmates didn’t make it to UP. Could there have been a failure in the PSHS system, she inquired.

Partly so, perhaps. The PSHS maintains stringent standards of instruction, and is reputedly stingy with grades. But it has always been like that. So Astrid pressed on, discovering that the high UP failure rate could also be ascribed tot he University’s admission rule.

UP accepts freshmen based on the applicant’s UPG (University Predicted Grade), that is, 60 percent on the UPCAT score and 40 percent on the high school report card. The ratio has been in place since 1977, though UP president Francisco Nemenzo acknowledges it stands some reviewing. New high schools have mushroomed through the decades, with its seniors aspiring for entry to UP. Certain schools, exploring loopholes in the UPG, are wont to award high report-card marks to ensure a UP landing of their seniors — and consequently more enrolments. But "some are stricter than others," says Nemenzo. PSHS happens to be the stricter one, in keeping with its high traditions. Astrid remembers, as a UP legal counsel detailed to Mindanao in the early ’90s, a proposal to change the UPG ratio to 70:30, perhaps to ward off graduates of diploma mills. But nothing came out of it.

Astrid has suggested to Nemenzo the admission of PSHS graduates to UP solely on the basis of UPCAT scores. Nemenzo counterproposes the automatic admission of the top 1,000 UPCAT passers, since "I expect PSHS graduates to be among them anyway." That would mean the top 1.5 percent of applicants. There’s good reason for special attention on PSHS students. They are all state scholars, to begin with. The government spends P70,000 a year per student tuition alone. Depending on family income, a student also gets P500 to P2,500-stipend a month for the 40 months in PSHS. It costs P12 million to graduate an average batch of 85 seniors in PSHS – Davao alone. "Government should go the extra mile for its investment," Astrid argues. Nemenzo agrees: "Admission policy is an ongoing concern, especially in a public university like UP. We are aware of the limitations of our system, and are addressing them based on scientific studies."

Nemenzo notes that PSHS graduates do well in their first two years in UP. But he hastens to add that, despite the advanced subjects that should have prepared them for the rigors of UP, some falter in their junior and senior years, to the point of flunking subjects or dropping out altogether. That requires more scientific studies on why scholars eventually fail to cope. Meanwhile, other UP educators are questioning the high ratio given to the "standardized" UPCAT itself. The test, they say, bars potential Einsteins or Steinbecks from entering UP, since the UPCAT could just be a measure of a student’s aptitude to take aptitude exams.

The thinking runs counter to Astrid’s pitch for PSHS grads. And it is only one of many blocks in her uphill battle. Nemenzo, in their erudite exchange of ideas, informed Astrid that his option of automatic admission for the top 1,000 UPCAT scorers must first be approved by each of the UP System’s constituent campuses. Only then may it be tabled before the UP Board of Regents. And so Astrid has taken to writing each of the campus chancellors, a task that may take longer than arguing a case before the Supreme Court.

* * *

Catch Linawin Natin, Monday at 11 p.m., with replays on Wednesday at 8 p.m., on IBC-13.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]