GenZ clout chaser is still out

Photoshopping images, plagiarizing academic work using search engines, downloading pirated films—anyone with internet access can execute tools for malicious purposes in mere seconds. Devoured by the pessimistic structure of social media, students in particular are obsessed with perfecting their superficial profiles in the virtual world.

As I scroll down my Facebook news feed, people post pictures and status updates they want to share about themselves.

But no matter how flawless their personal lives may seem, it is only a part of their reality—and I ought to remember that all of us have the autonomy to select the pieces of our facade, which I respect and acknowledge.

However, how does one discern the accuracy of online information given that tools are readily available for deception?

While thousands of (positive) likes, shares, and comments can be appealing to the eye, they cannot be a basis for validating the legitimacy of a post—I, a fact-checker, relearned this the hard way.

"No one (a young Filipino student) in their right mind would dare to fool the public by committing forgery for fame," I hesitantly convinced myself as I read through the contents of a viral Facebook post. With the harsh "cancel" culture,no kind of temporary social acceptance can prepare or repel the backlash of fraud.

My doubt soon dissipated when big names and leading news outlets recognized his made-up story. Similarly invited to a fancy event, we both enjoyed fully-funded and sponsored plane tickets (with our family), luxurious hotel accommodations, food, and an exclusive tour of the wealthiest city in the Philippines. And no trace of guilt can be seen in his demeanor, as he engaged with prominent people with his fake and sketchy persona.

TO make matters worse, he continues to accommodate interviews, and his family even invited a highly respected personality for a video message, to which the personality responded with great enthusiasm by visiting him personally at his own home. In disbelief, I, along with the personalities and persons involved in the event, were privately informed by a trusted affiliate about his deceit. It felt like a scene in a movie, and I was incredibly amused that he got this far—well, he almost conned everyone.

Devoid of his reality, I contemplated the motivation of his actions. This student revealed the defects of our generation’s exposure to technology and the pressure of leading an impossible aesthetic life. Like every Gen Z kid, he is also a victim of this era’s societal expectations to be self-absorbed by designing the system to profitably target our vulnerability.

Alarmingly, under our noses, students can perform similar practices if left without guidance. Tolerating Mr. Fake it until he "almost" makes it will not bode well if we are to set an example of digital ethics for the young generation. He, along with others, might still fool the netizens while avoiding the consequences, but just as fast and widespread their popularity gains, they are always one misstep away from a much swifter and fatal repercussion of hate and isolation that extends from one’s lifetime.

Essentials versus Extravagance

UnENDing Alteration of Classroom Essentials

Extravagance due to being

Indecisive – Looking up above the walls of a regular classroom in Compostela National High School, you are fronted by well-furnished walls of educational materials. Fostering a room filled with charts, info-graphics, personal necessities, and student records without a doubt helps in decorating and informing the students about the school and the education curriculum of the Philippines. Yet, in the past months of this school year, a fuss outbreaks that woke the dormant teachers as the Department of Education (DepEd) keeps on altering the requirements for the desired perfection towards Classroom Essentials.

Changing of the list of requirements helps keep on date to the new changes of the education system. However, this adds strain towards the educators from cost to physical work. This left the educators to bypass their wage as they needed to produce personally the essentials needed; from purchasing big tarpaulins to printing classroom and school guidelines with the use of countless bond papers and inks.

Adding up the physical work that the teachers and the students exert;

Paid Volunteerism

Education over monetization

Rooted in capitalism and incessant usage of money as a means of survival. Even attainment of education in public institutions’ still requires an ample amount of money just for learners to receive a bare minimum type of education — where resources are limited and instructional materials are inadequate.

Undeniable it is really exhausting to glue up the charts up above the walls and to find out later that the list of requirements are not the same anymore. Thus, means that the work of the educators and us students who helped needs to be removed or should be revised.

On top of that, most of the materials being posted are not that actually relevant to the students, more likely they don’t read and mind it, all just embodying the word beautification. Some materials are just falling apart and left untreated, ending up piling on trash bins, wasting pocket money.

Though, it is vital and more appealing to the eye when we see a well embellished classroom as it feels more engaging and fun to learn with, but the educators appeal that it needs to be EXACT and FINAL for cost and work needs time to earn and do.

It is antagonising how this immersion program should have allowed students to gain important knowledge and skills.. How can we hone our potential for our prospective possible job if this opportunity for us to learn is also a struggle for us to omit.

Work Immersion for grade 12 students is a prerequisite to comply in order to complete the 2 years Senior High School program of the Department of Education (Dep-Ed). It requires 800 hours equivalent to 10 days of On-the Job Training to comply within 2 weeks. . Some students with unstable financial resources just opted to choose the available workplace where there is no need to spend a penny — this screams how we are much conditioned to opt for the bare minimum because the system pushed us to do so. Years of debating whether the Senior High School is really beneficial or just added cost of money which is a burden to the majority mulls over the truth in these circumstances. Revival of in-person immersion year should have served as a gut process to cut off some slack to the learners and alleviate expenses as it is just a starting point of the once again new curriculum guide of Dep-Ed. However, this entails problem when it comes to finance as the students need to budget their allowances for the fare and other expenses.

It is undeniable in the whole country how most of the set-upped rules are anti-poor and pushed the margins in the society rendered powerless. Government owned education system should be served free and unconcealing, regardless of the status of students enrolled within these institutions.

It is the unreasonable persistence of the crappy system that tolerates this to resurface once again. Opposing the accustomed practices, students should be given an ease and cut-off requirements that sets them at cost.

As students walk down the hallways, they are under the watchful eyes of CCTV cameras, silently recording their every move and have left them feeling vulnerable and exposed about the incident beyond the supposed safety net and surveillance - recently, there have been numerous reports of stealing issues in CNHS (Compostela National High School), despite the presence of numerous CCTV cameras in the campus premises.

School administration had installed these cameras to deter theft and other criminal activities, however, I strongly believe that CCTVs are not useful enough since they are not effective in preventing incidents of theft.

According to the school institute, incidents of stealing have been happening in different parts of the school. Students have reported missing items such as phones, wallets, and valuable belongings.

It is such a sobering realization despite the school’s best efforts to prevent. It was clear that there is no easy solution to the problem of theft in schools. But, by working together and taking serious approach to security, it would surely dissolve the issue.