Essay
A Scholar of the Nation—this is the title that comes with every student or graduate of the country’s premier state university, the University of the Philippines. I first came upon this title when I was in my third year, at a time when I was being pressured by everyone around me—parents, teachers, and friends—to decide on what I will do with my life. Not soon from then, I would have to graduate from high school and choose whether to get a job or continue studying at a higher level of education.
It was then that I heard about the University of the Philippines and its students who are called “Scholars of the Nation”. As time passed, I gradually developed a stereotypical image of a scholar of the nation to be the perfect student—one who enjoys reading, loves studying, and excels in everything—in short, they were everything I was not. I thought highly of the Scholars of the Nation, even more so when I started to make it my goal to become one of them; however, knowing that I was so different from what they are, I had to study harder than I had.
A year passed, and I studied as hard as I could to prepare for the UPCAT. That single admission test will decide if I can achieve my goal and obtain the privilege of having the title I most yearned for, a Scholar of the Nation. When the day of the UPCAT arrived, I was both nervous and excited as I will finally have the chance to determine whether my yearlong effort to study paid off or not. Afterwards, there was still the agonizing five-month wait until the results are posted; I grew more and more restless as January drew nearer. On the day of the results itself, I prepared myself for the worst… only to see my name on the list of passers. At first, I thought I was just imagining things, but my name was really there! No words could express the happiness I felt as I realized that I was on my way to being a Scholar of the Nation. Months after I received the good news of passing the UPCAT, I finally enrolled in the University of the Philippines Diliman, the UP system’s flagship campus. On paper, at least, I was finally a Scholar of the Nation. As a freshman in the university, I was so proud to have become a Scholar of the Nation, something I had once only dreamed to be. I was excited to become like the image of a Scholar of the Nation in my head.
As I mentioned above, a Scholar of the Nation is expected to excel in academics. In what I experienced this past few months, this is very true. In a typical day of a Scholar of the Nation, there are “terror” professors, thick reams of reading assignments that have to be understood overnight, stressful reports and presentations, complicated equations and graphs, tedious laboratory experiments, surprise quizzes, and many more. I must admit that my education in high school wasn’t enough. There are many lessons assumed to have been taught to us that I only encountered now. As a student of UP, I have to be responsible to catch up on the lessons and study what I don’t understand on my own. Spoonfeeding is non-existent in the university.
Diligence, resourcefulness, resilience, flexibility, and many more— these are just some of the values a Scholar of the Nation is taught while in college that will prepare him or her for the future. But after only two months in the university with my fellow students, I realized that being a Scholar of the Nation meant so much more than just being the perfect student.
Many times in entering the campus, I pass through University Avenue, and greeting me is the Oblation statue. The iconic symbol of the University of the Philippines, it is a statue of a naked man looking towards the sky and stretching out his arms. The first thing that came into my mind when I looked at the statue was the infamous “Oblation Run,” in which student-members of a certain fraternity would run naked around the campus to protest against a current political or economical situation. However, I have recently found out that the Oblation characterized what a Scholar of the Nation is. Oble definitely grabs attention— he greets visitors to the campus naked with only a fig leaf as cover, after all. I interpreted this as freedom. From an opinion on a random topic on pop culture to a stand on a relevant socio-political issue, Scholars of the Nation are known for making their voices heard. Aside from that, I also believe that Oble, with his arms spread out and his head turned towards the sky, symbolizes selfless offering of one’s self to the country. A Scholar of the Nation is passionate in utilizing his or her skills and talents in serving the country and its people.
Now, I ask myself: what defines a Scholar of the Nation? My high school self would quickly answer something along the lines of a “perfect student”. But as I look back on the short amount of time I spent here in the university, I realize that description isn’t enough. Yes, a Scholar of the Nation is expected to be an outstanding student; after all, he or she has the opportunity of learning from and among great minds. But more than that, a Scholar of the Nation is given the responsibility to seek out the inadequate and make changes to improve it. A Scholar of the Nation is a catalyst for the betterment of the nation, serving the country with honor and excellence.
