Opportunity Costs

BY JASPER POWELL S. ESGUERRA

Four to 5 years have passed in our lives. How much difference did it make?

Many people say that college has its way of changing people’s lives. And I couldn’t agree more.We should all give ourselves a pat on the back for surviving the College of Engineering adventure alive.The past years have been undeniably tough. And I’m quite sure that for the majority of us, there has always been the question playing at the back of our minds whether we can make it or not.

Eventually, I got to discover that it was never a question of “Can I?” but a question of “Will I?” It was never a question of our abilities but rather a question of our determination, our passion, of how much we want it.But now, what? What lies after graduation? Life after college, according to some of my friends from previous batches, seems to give more uncertainties than our time spent here in the university. It’s because after college, we’re on our own, no longer limited by university rules.

Basically, there are several paths that we could take, but how do we know if we are where we’re supposed to be? I mean, after 4 to 5 years of enduring exams, feasibility studies, thesis, machine exercises, problem sets, and design projects, it would be a shame if we are unable to find a venue where we could channel the education we received into its envisioned purpose.

And actually, that’s the problem. We became too preoccupied with preparing for our own future that we forgot to imbibe to ourselves who we really should be.This is the point when we go back to the core of UP education – an ideology that is so important because it is what should set UP (University of the Philippines) Engineering apart from other engineering schools, something that we might have overlooked when we were too busy with our individual struggles.

I know you are already expecting this - the reminder of giving back to the country – to be an integral part of this speech. However, because we’re all analytical and critically-minded engineers in the making, I’ll make this as objective and as figure-based as possible. So, please lend me a few more minutes of your time.

Opportunity cost

Based on a study by Edita Tan from the UP School of Economics, the government has allocated a budget of P95,000 for each UP student in 2009 [a].That’s 95,000 for me, another 95,000 for my friend Diana Gernan, another 95,000 for my friend Lou Aguion, another 95,000 for Mico Panis, and the same goes for each one of you.

That is on an annual basis.Assuming the figure is the same throughout our stay in the university, the Filipino people would have spent around 400,000 to 500,000 pesos per student. And because nearly 800 of us are graduating today, that would total to nearly half a billion pesos spent for our batch alone to enjoy a subsidized yet the highest quality of education available in the country.

What is the opportunity cost?

That same half a billion pesos could have been used to augment the government’s Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program. That same half a billion pesos could have been used for DSWD’s (Department of Social Welfare and Development) supplemental feeding program, for the DOH (Department of Health) Health Facilities Enhancement Program, for the Department of Agriculture’s National Rice, Fisheries, Livestock Program, and so on and so forth.The government could have allotted that for something else. Imagine the thousands of Filipino people who could have benefited more from that half a billion pesos.

Why invest on us? Because the government believes that UP students could also be a long-term solution to poverty.

Dahil naniniwala ho ang taumbayan na pagka-graduate natin ng kolehiyo, mare-recognize natin na regardless of our degree and social status, tayong lahat ay may malaking utang [The people believe that when we graduate from college, we will recognize our debt to the country regardless of our degree, social status and tuition] – not a debt that we literally pay back, but a debt that we ought to pay forward by creating changes intended to benefit the future of our motherland, a responsibility given to our hands today as we leave the university.

And now as I speak, I recognize how ironic that at times, we still complain about our tuition -- about how some of us got re-bracketed from B to A -- when we do not even dare ask ourselves if we are worth every centavo that the Filipino people are spending on us.Wag naman sana natin isiping (Hopefully, we won’t think), “Balang araw, magbabayad din naman ako ng tax, eh, tax na mapupunta sa budget ng Pilipinas. Eh, di parang nakapagpaaral na rin ako ng UP student.” (One day, I will also pay my taxes and it will be funnelled into the national budget. That equates to supporting the education of a UP student.)

Well, if that’s going to be our thinking, then the greater opportunity cost would be our seats, the very space that we are occupying right now. Dahil kung hindi natin piniling mag-aral sa UP, baka may ibang nakaupo sa inuupuan natin na mas makakaintindi sa tunay na kalagayan ng ating bansa. (Because if we did not choose to study in UP, perhaps there would be another person sitting on our seats who can understand the plight of our country.)

This is because in the past days, I came to realize that UP education fails when we exit the university without the capability of thinking beyond ourselves.

Social responsibility: An inconvenient duty?

Social responsibility is such an inconvenient duty for almost all of us. Since we were young, we have been accustomed to believing that success is measured by how big we’ll make it in life. Even in the real world, much focus is given to technical feasibility and market profitability. Only a few give attention to social impact.

My closest friends know how difficult it was for me to come up with this speech because I was struggling to find a valuable message that I could impart to you. But maybe, all I really wanted to say is this: if we will it, then we can make our lives after college an adventure with the goal of affecting other people’s lives in pursuit of shaping, changing, and building this nation.

Oo, dahil bilang UP engineers, taglay natin ang kakayahang hubugin, baguhin, at buuin ang bansang ito. (True, because as UP engineers, we have the abilities to shape, change and build this country.)So that when we meet 40, 50 years from now, we will not ask each other the brand of cars we own, the retirement fee we’re getting, the number of children we’re able to send abroad for leisure and education.Instead, we will be asking ourselves, “How much difference have you made? Bayad ka na ba sa P500,000 na utang mo? (Have you paid your P500,000 debt?) ”Marami sa atin ang nakapagpa-picture, nagpapa-picture, o magpapa-picture kay Oble ngayong tapos na tayo ng kolehiyo. Sana’y wag lang natin limutin na kaya malapad na nakabuka ang kanyang mga braso ay dahil sinisimbolo nito ang walang pag-iimbot na pag-aalay ng sarili sa ating bansa. (Most of us had or will have our photos taken with the Oblation. Hopefully, we don’t forget that the outstretched arms of the oblation symbolizes the unselfish offering towards the country.)

Sabi nga ni Albus Dumbledore (to quote Albus Dumbledore), “Soon, we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” At hihiramin ko ho ito mula sa isang engineering organization (And I borrowed this from an engineering organization): “I urge you to do the right thing.”

Forty, 50 years from now, sana’y napatunayan na nating lahat tayo’y karapat-dapat sa edukasyong tinamasa natin dito sa UP. (Forty, 50 years from now, hopefully, we can prove that we are worthy of the education we received from UP.) - Rappler.com

Jasper Powell “Japê” S Esguerra graduated summa cum laude and was the class valedictorian of the UP Diliman College of Engineering in 2013. This piece comes from the graduation speech he delivered .