What A UP Student is Not

What a UP Student is Not

Before I continue writing this blog, I want to greet everyone in UP a big HELLO! I just want to tell you that when I wrote this blog, I dug up all my experiences in order to make a realistic and presentable material. I dedicate this blog to my school, the University of the Philippines High School in Cebu (Char!). I promised to set all my wackiness aside, and reveal my serious side (thunder, lightning and mocking laughter). Joke, joke, joke!

The truth is, ‘What a UP student is not’ is a topic that maybe a UPian would care little about. I think the UP populace is heterogeneous. You see different characteristics, some endearing, some frustrating, and some even shocking! Contrary to popular belief, it seems to me that, there is no ‘typical’ UP student. A UP student may indeed possess many positive traits. However, there are also many negative traits that can be attributed to a UP student. Nevertheless, no matter how difficult this topic is for me, I tried to come up with a few characteristics that may differentiate a UPian (high school and college students) from a non-UPian (all levels also). I just hope you would agree with my choices.

FIRST, UPians don’t speak for their rights?

On the contrary! A non-UPian would possibly let other people trample on their rights, but definitely not UP students. In fact, the above statement would just send people’s eyebrows up. Don’t speak for their rights? I don’t think so. As you can see, youth groups and organizations are probably found in all schools and universities. However, what differentiates UP from other schools is that, these organizations are easily mobilized into dialogues, fora or rallies. These are venues where students can openly express their sentiments, whether pro or against administration or national policies that seem oppressive to students’ welfare. Aaah, what freedom of expression! There are very few schools that tolerate these kinds of activities. What happens then is that non-UP students become apathetic and no longer care whether their rights have been violated or not. Maybe because the repression imposed by the school has led to unawareness on the part of the students of what their rights are as students. Contemplate on this my dear schoolmates. Are you apathetic? If yes, maybe you are in the wrong school.

SECOND, UPians don’t try their best to achieve their goals?

Now that’s funny. How can anybody think that? A non-UP student may easily give up their dreams and goals especially when achieving these becomes difficult. For a UP student, passing the UPHSAT or UPCAT is a goal in itself. Many dreamed of entering the premier state university of the Philippines but only a few can be accommodated. Passing the UP entrance exams never stops a UP student from dreaming on or achieving higher goals.

A non-UPian may be contented with a passing grade or “so-so” performance in school. He or she may shrug off a few failing marks thinking, “there’s always next year or next semester”. Why sacrifice my social life or sleep by studying or by “burning the midnight candle?” It doesn’t matter to them if they have low or failing grades, anyway “my parents can afford to pay the tuition”. UPians on the other hand, have to make many sacrifices to achieve their goals. Break time is sometimes sacrificed. For example, when there is an upcoming test, the room is soooo silent. Why? Of course, all are studying (or so it seemed to me). They have to study and study hard to pass the exams. A failing mark wouldn’t look good especially if your future plan is to take the UPCAT or graduate with honors.

A non-UPian may be contented with a high school diploma. “My parents do not have the financial capacity to send me to college. I’ll just look for work in the department store or production line or better yet, I’ll apply abroad as a domestic helper.” Well, these are still goals in themselves but if you are a UP student, will you be contented with these goals? If your answer is yes, you may transfer to another school where you don’t have to make a lot of sacrifices.

Insect Mating and Sexual Behaviors

Insects are very interesting creatures. Yet, we seem to take them for granted. Maybe because they are often tiny and inconspicuous. I’ve learned from my mother (who takes special interests in aquatic insects) that insects are very important to the food chain, hence to the balance in nature. Aside from this, some have very interesting behaviors, which would put us humans to shame. Here are some of the facts I have encountered while browsing through my mother’s notes.




Do you know that SEX is not a necessity to insects? This is because some insects exhibit parthenogenesis or egg production without sexual fertilization (i.e. aphids), while one species of coccid exhibit hermaphroditism or self-fertilization of eggs. We humans might think, where’s the fun in these activities? Well, unlike humans, insects use instinct in order to cope with the realities of life. Reproducing without sex is quite advantageous. For some insects, having sex will cost them a lot, such as:



Cost of meiosis – this means sacrificing half of the genotype
Cost of recombination – may result to dangerous or lethal homozygosities (abnormalities and death)
Cost of mating – time and effort in finding a suitable mate
Cost of producing males – when in fact a parthenogenetic female is likely to produce twice as many daughters and four times as many granddaughters as the average sexual female

But again, not having sex could be boring even to insects. So, most insects still use sex in reproduction. Why? What are the advantages of having sex? READ ON HUMANS AND LEARN! Having sex in reproduction is not only fun but more importantly results to diversity or “variable” offspring, which may be better able to survive in the “new” or changing environment.

Insects are quite wise (it makes me wonder, are we descendants of insects?). They have pre- and post-mating strategies to enhance chances of successful mating. Here are some unique strategies (I don’t know if we humans can adopt these strategies):

Mosquitoes practice female monogamy induced by male accessory gland substance – after mating, male mosquitoes secrete a hormone that reduces the sexual receptivity of the just-mated female

Dual function of the damselfly penis, which are sperm removal and transfer – transfers sperm and removes sperm deposited by ‘preceding’ male

damselfly penis

Male bedbugs (Afrocimex spp.) possess structures that mimic female genitalia – rival males who mount these “female mimics” just waste their sperm

Many species exhibit prolonged copulation (a form of mate guarding) such as the damselflies and dragonflies

Enallagma exulans in copula

Of course, like humans, insects also undergo a period of courtship before mating. Here are some of the “devious” ways on how the male insects choose and catch the attention of the females.

Adaptive female-mimicking behavior in a scorpionfly – males use prey in courtship è offers prey to a female, then (if she accepts) mates with her; male strategies to obtain prey:

Some steal prey from other males (‘victims’ must wait longer before copulating)

Deceptive transvestism – some males act like females (landing near another male that has a prey item & lowering wings as receptive females do) to obtain a prey item

Choice for high fecundity or fertility – male tend to choose larger females; larger females can often produce more eggs and offspring (e.g., mormon crickets)

Female chooses males with increased fecundity, (may select males that court most vigorously, since ‘vigor’ is correlated with sperm supply)

You can be amazed by the criteria an insect sets in choosing a mate. Here are some of the “surprising” facts about an insect’s choice for immediate gains and/or parental ability:

Females tend to accept only males with insect prey above a certain size; possible benefits of such a preference
Male mates while female eats, so a larger insect means that female eats longer, therefore, copulation is longer & this helps ensure fertilization of eggs

More food from a male means less hunting by the female; less hunting means a reduced risk of being caught by a predator (i.e., spider's web)

Males that bring larger prey may be of higher quality

Now tell me, does size really matter? Definitely not when it comes to mating, courtship and sex. Look at the amazing style of these tiny insects. After reading this Blog, I’m sure you will never take insects for granted. In fact you may look at them with awe.

THE MOST ENDANGERED BIRD IN THE WORLD

I want to share with you guys some facts that may open our eyes a bit on what is happening to our environment. Do you know that the Philippines is home to a wide array of plant and animal species? According to Dr. Lawrence Heaney of the University of Chicago who has conducted field researches and training programs in the Philippines, the Philippines is like the Galapagos Islands multiplied tenfold. More than 510 species of land mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians exist only in the Philippines.

Here’s more. Are you a fan of the noontime game show Game Ka Na Ba? If yes, maybe you had seen one episode of the original GKNB where the million-peso question was (translated in English): “Where in the Philippines would you find the most endangered bird in the world, Dicaeum quadricolor?” I remembered hearing my mother, who was also watching the show, answering “Cebu”. Unfortunately, the male contestant did not hear my mother’s answer, otherwise, he could have won one million pesos. Instead he answered “Palawan”. Of course he was wrong and my mother was right!

The Cebu flowerpecker, Dicaeum quadricolor, is considered critically endangered. The 10-centimeter-long bird has been presumed extinct since 1905. Historical records show that specimens were collected from Toledo and Cebu City in periods earlier than 1950. It was reported as rediscovered on February 1982 in Tabunan, a remnant patch of forest at Central Cebu National Park. This led to a wave of conservation interests in the site. The Tabunan forest is also home to the largest known stand of Cebu Black Shama bird or “siloy” and Cebu Cinnamon Tree.

The Tabunan forest is the only home of the Cebu flowerpecker and its area has shrunk to a mere 185 hectares of forested land. Tabunan is one of the largest remaining fragments of original forest left on Cebu. It is probably the last hope for some of Cebu’s few remaining unique wildlife treasures.

The Cebu flowerpecker is much similar to the other Philippine flowerpeckers if not for its four colors (hence the name quadricolor). The bird has a grayish-white underbelly, black back with a bright red, triangular patch and a green rump. It is also distinguishable from the other flowerpeckers through its chirping.

Intensive fieldwork since then has confirmed only four birds in existence – two adult males, an adult female and an unidentified juvenile. The Cebu flowerpecker has virtually never been studied because it is so rare, but it appears to be breeding in Cebu, particularly, the Tabunan forest. This species of bird is considered to be ‘strictly confined to forest’. Recent observations indicate that it is associated only with tall, closed–canopy conditions. The forest at Tabunan, which lies in a thin-segmented strip on a steep and very uneven, west-facing limestone hillside, barely possesses any closed-canopy areas. This is because much of it has been selectively (but heavily) logged, affected by landslides, and because of the angle of the slope on which it stands.

Cebu flowerpecker feeds on small fruits (berries) in the canopy of a forest tree. This is first observed in December 1992 as a male species was noted feeding on a fruit in the canopy of a tree, confirming the assertion that its food is fruit and suggesting, along with the stoutness of the bill the species is a canopy frugivore (fruit eater).

Not much has been studied on the reproductive and breeding behavior of this avian species. Most, if not all, of the characteristics being described are observed not in captivity but in the natural habitat of the Cebu flowerpecker. A study in captivity of this bird has some constraints basically because they only number a few and they may not survive out from their natural place. Breeding was reported in the month of June by F.S Bourns and D.C Worcester, possibly on the basis of four young birds (three males, one female) they collected in June and July 1992 and described in their notes. Observations of four birds apparently with bright pink legs (possibly a seasonal character), chasing each other very actively, and at least one of them, a singing male, in March 1993, suggest breeding-season ebullience. Due to the bird’s rarity, no substantial study has been made in the reproductive cycle of such species.

REACTION TO MAX SCHULMAN’S “LOVE IS A FALLACY ”

Max Schulman’s story “Love is a Fallacy” is one of the funniest “love” stories I’ve read so far. Its contents range from dumb to dumber but definitely fun to funnier events where the reader at the end eventually says, “I told you so! or Who’s dumb now?” So how would you describe a stupid or dumb person? Stupid people, as what most of us think, are easy to fool (gullible) and easy to bribe. Looking at these descriptions closely, I realize – wait a minute, a lot of people I know fit these descriptions sometimes (especially now that elections are fast approaching)!

On the other hand, the one taking advantage in the story is known as a man of intellect. He easily thought of a devious way to get Polly, the girl he had long coveted. He wanted this pretty girl to be his girlfriend. Unfortunately, he thought that she has nothing between her ears except looks. His arrogance made him think that he can rub some of his intelligence to the girl he “snatched” from his roommate, make her worthy to become his wife, a proper hostess for his many mansions, and a suitable mother for his well-heeled children. Love has never been in the picture for this intelligent young man. He had “illusions of grandeur” when he thought he can “make” a perfect woman – comparing himself to Pygmalion, the principal character in the Greek mythology ‘Pygmalion and Galatea’.

To begin Polly’s transformation, the intelligent young man introduced to the girl some topics in logic. As expected, the first night was kind of hopeless. He thought Polly had a “logic-proof head”. But then again, he never gave up. I think, he looked at the daunting task of improving Polly’s intelligence as a challenge. At this point in the story, I thought the intelligent young man, was not as intelligent as I thought he was at the beginning of the story. I found myself thinking, “haven’t you got common sense? Stop trying and start quitting!!” His argument that it is easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart girl beautiful, is quite unintelligent. Why not use his intelligence and look for a pretty as well as smart girl? This way, he did not have to spend a lot of time and energy trying to “transform” her to the perfect woman.

As I read on, I realized it was just as well that he had made up his mind to make Polly his “perfect” girl (instead of listening to my inner ravings) because the events became more interesting and funny. One glimmer of hope I saw was that Polly seemed genuinely interested in the topics. However, as expected, Polly took the teachings in logic quite literally. Based on Polly’s reactions to the examples given by the intelligent young man in trying to explain the topics, I quickly concluded that, ahhh, she’s hopeless and she hadn’t absorbed anything at all.

Then my perceptions about Polly changed when I reached the part of the Poisoning the Well. Hmmm, she’s not as hopeless as it seemed. The more I read on, the more interesting the twists of events. In fact every logic topic that the intelligent young man taught Polly bounced back into his face when he tried to ask her to go steady with him. I thought, ha ha ha, look what you did kid – all the effort you exerted, all the manipulations, still the girl ditched you at the end. Good for you! You got what you deserved! So now, who’s stupid?

The story is really quite funny, seeing the narrator’s efforts wasted. It shows us how different people perceive love differently. I think the most important lesson here is: do not be so arrogant or proud to think that you are the intelligent one and anyone who thinks and acts contrary to what you think and how you act are dumb or stupid. This is because intelligent people may act or think stupid at times and not all “seemingly” stupid people think or act stupid at all times, especially when it comes to affairs of the heart. Another lesson is that: never take advantage of the dumb for you may come out looking dumber in the end. Lesson number three: perhaps having a raccoon coat is not such a bad idea…after all it won Polly’s heart rather than logic! Saying that love is a fallacy is rather, in Polly’s words, a “hasty generalization”. Maybe for Polly, love is equivalent to a raccoon coat. Who are we to decide for her?

A SUMMARY OF MAX SCHULMAN’S “LOVE IS A FALLACY ”

Max Schulman’s “Love is a fallacy” is about a story of, well, a story of stupidity. It’s a story of how a very intelligent young man took advantage of a roommate’s stupidity in order to get the girl (who’s very pretty but quite empty-headed as well) he wanted, but only to get frustrated in the end.

Petey Bellows (the stupid roommate) wanted a raccoon coat so as to be one of the “Big Men” on Campus (meaning, one who’s “in”). The narrator (the intelligent young man), remembered that his dad had a raccoon coat at home. He made a suggestion to his roommate, his father’s raccoon coat in exchange for Petey’s current date, Polly Espy. The intelligent young man wanted Polly as his girlfriend, and eventually his wife.

Polly is almost perfect, beautiful and gracious. She has an erectness of carriage, an ease of bearing, with poise that clearly indicates the best of breeding. Her table manners are exquisite. He had seen her at the Kozy Kampus Korner eating the specialty of the house—a sandwich that contained scraps of pot roast, gravy, chopped nuts, and a dipper of sauerkraut—without even getting her fingers moist. But!! There’s a big but. She is not intelligent, not even close. However, the narrator is determined to get the girl and planned to teach her some logic to smarten her up.

Smart as he was, he eventually got Petey ‘s girl, Polly in exchange for the raccoon coat. He taught the girl some logic – i.e. Dicto Simpliciter, Post Hoc, Contradictory Premises, Ad Misericordiam, Hypothesis Contrary to Fact, and Poisoning the Well. The girl was, at least, interested about this “stuff”. At the end of the sessions, he told the girl that he loved her and asked her to go steady with him. The girl said no since she had already promised to go steady with Petey Bellows. The intelligent young man went in a fit of rage and began blabbing criticizing Petey. Polly surprisingly applied his teachings about logic to counteract his criticisms. This really got him at the peak of his rage, and demanded an explanation of why she wanted to go steady with “dumb” Petey. Not surprisingly, Polly answered, “Of course, he’s got a raccoon coat!”