(july 01, 2003)


**note: this is the conclusion of my paper in socio 101 entitled:
"Conflict Analysis on Culture and Culture Transmission
in Philippine Science High School - Eastern Visayas Campus"


Struggle and conflict characterize our society. Our society is held together by the struggle and antagonism between two contradicting groups. And it is through this we could really understand the dynamics within the society.

We can never deny there is conflict in our society. Conflict between lovers, between rich and the poor, the powerful and the helpless, the capitalist and the masses, father and son, teacher and apprentice, and administrators and students. These antagonisms result into the rule of the dominant class and the oppression of the less dominating class. Conflict extends to every institution in the society. And with every conflict there is oppression and repression of the helpless and powerless. And through oppression, the greatest evil is done to a man: he is stripped off of his humanness – which is the ability to do things at his own way, at his own time, at his own place and at his own pace.

Oppression is rampant in the society. It is institutionalized in every sector of the society in order to protect the interests of the capitalists. Widespread confusion results from this oppression, as man becomes alienated from himself and from his surroundings. And through this alienation, man becomes an agent of oppression where he is able to multiply the oppression within the society.

Oppression starts from the school where the capatilistic ideologies are first imparted and inculcated to the eager young minds. After which, the students become blind of their oppression and become members of the workforce, where he works like a machine – he becomes such because he is stripped off from his humanness and wants.

Louise Althusser, French philosopher, argues that the educational system is ultimately shaped by the infrastructure and will therefore reflect the relations of production and serve the interest of the capitalist ruling class. And for the ruling class to survive, the “reproduction of labor is essential.” So, the role of education is to reproduce a workforce that has the necessary skills to become an efficient worker and to reproduce the ruling class ideology and the socialization of workers in terms of the ideologies. These processes would produce a technically efficient, submissive and obedient workforce.

Extending the Althusser view, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (both American economists) argue that the ruling class maintains an educational system that contributes to the reproduction of workers with the kinds of personalities, attitudes and outlooks which will fit them for their exploited status. From this, schools foster types of personal development compatible with the relationships of dominance and subordinancy in the economic sphere. They argue that, “The only significant penalized trait are precisely those which are incompatible with conformity to the hierarchical division of labor.” So, massive exploitation occurs in the society due to the low wages given to those who do not have the right attitude and outlook among the workforce.

PSHS-EVC, being a creation of the capitalism, is a major breeding ground of future workers of the ever-expanding workforce. The school, being a “house of oppression” manufactures students that are technically equipped, obedient and submissive. And the students being helpless against these forces, are unable to fight back because they are already alienated from his’ self. He no longer knows what he is and more importantly his wants.

PSHS-EVC, after an extensive analysis, has the following features: a very oppressive culture, a very forceful way of cultural transmission, and is comprised of students who don’t know of their exploited state.

What are the recommendations for the oppression to stop in the institution? One radical solution would be the deschooling of the students (as suggested by Ivan Illich). We should unmake what is done on the minds of the “young eager minds.” The answer lies on the abolition of the PSHS-EVC in particular and the present educational system, in general. In place of the schools, would be through learning webs and through “true apprenticeship of the skills.” Another solution, which is obvious, would be the abolition of the present economic system and the installation of a socialist economic system (as suggested by Karl Marx) where the people communally own everything and where everyone is involved in the education of the students. The third solution would be to do nothing about it because oppression of the people is inevitable and because there is nothing we could do about it.

There is no perfect solution to an imperfect problem. We should still examine closely the interaction between the two forces in order to have a much greater knowledge about their conflict and antagonism. My cause is not to cause rebellion nor mutiny among the students. Nor would I bring the masses into greater oppression. No I don’t have such grand dreams. All I want when I was making this study is to be able to add to the limited knowledge pool in conflict perspective here in the Philippines. Also, my aims in making this study are to make the people, especially the students, aware of their exploited state and to provide an alternative way of seeing things, on how things are and how things should be.

My love poems and love songs, written on a piece of paper blotted by tears falling like rain, are ready. Ready to be recited and sung. The flowers are also ready – neatly arranged by a florist/friend, and so are the candles, the handkerchief and the letter. I readied them all yesterday. Then, I asked myself, “Am I ready to face you again? Am I ready to go to the cemetery?”

Am I ready after many years of neglect and disregard? Am I ready to admit that it was also my fault? Am I ready to admit above your grave that I miss you so much? Am I ready to say my last goodbye? These are the questions bugging my convoluted mind at this very moment, questions that I shied away for the past years simply because I was afraid to answer them. I am scared because I do not know what answers I must give, because I do not know whether there are answers to these nagging questions. In fact I am too scared to admit that you are gone, too scared that I never visited your grave for three years, too scared to ask for forgiveness, too scared because I never said goodbye.

After three years, I am still in a state of shock and denial. How I wish that I was also there beside you on that night of your accident. But just like any tragic movies, the man would always be left behind, weeping and feeling sorry for himself, half-wishing that he may be taken by the lord at that very moment.

After three long years, I could not still accept that you are gone. I still believe that you also exist in this plane of existence. You may not have a body but your essence is still floating and soaring like air moving freely here, there and everywhere. I know you are always at my side, comforting me when I am depressed, lifting me up when I am down, and guiding me in every step I take. To me, you are not gone but simply everywhere. But alas, as I try to catch you and hug you, you slip away just like the air.

I admit a part of me died when you departed. A part of me went with you on your grave. I could not even recognize the face I see across the mirror, barely recognizing it as my own. A face in anguish and in disbelief, tormented by a love lost. A face void of expression, scarred by the abrupt loss. At that very moment, I ceased to live because your love was the only thing that sustains me. I became a hobo of sorts; just waiting for the time, waiting it to pass by as the world is running amok Time became my enemy as well, as I frantically counted the days passing by. Minutes became hours, hours became days, days became months and months became years. Each passing day became an ordeal, the pain becoming intolerable by the second. Now I understand Atlas’ situation, carrying the world above his shoulders.

I promised you that I will love you for the rest of my life. I’ve kept that promise for three years because I love you so much, so much that I was willing to love you even if you are gone. And I did my end of the bargain. At first it gave me strength but later on it became a curse hanging around my neck. For three long years, I became a broken man: weeping in my bed, hoping that someday I will be free from the curse that was my undoing; that someday I will be at peace with myself again. But you never gave me the peace I wanted dearly. You would always let me remember that dreary night. God knows how I wished that I was also there, trying to save you from three killer/ rapists, slicing their guts as I try to defend you from these soulless jackals. But fate would not let me. Fate would just not let me. Probably this is my destiny: to live my life full of pain and suffering.

My promise is the reason of this madness. My promise is the reason why I became a monster, a horror, a despicable creature waiting for time to pass by, a person who barely recognize himself, a soul shattered into pieces. Lest I become a walking zombie, I must free myself from the shackles of that promise. And if I fail to do so, my heart would always be a barren and desolate desert/wasteland: crying for rain, pleading for mercy, gasping for freedom.

But for God’s sake let me live again, let me breathe! Let me live my life again without the bondage of guilt! Allow me to break the promise for I am too suffering greatly. Because I do not want anymore to see my self rotting away into oblivion, wasting my life like some gold thrown at the middle of the ocean.

Now as I ready myself to visit you at your grave this all soul’s day, my only wish is that you accept my answers and peace offerings. And I hope you would also accept and understand that I will break the promise that I made before. Even if it is contrary to your wishes, I will leave the cemetery a broken man with a broken promise.