To hell with these hallowed halls

Used to be whenever people presume I'm an ICAn, I'd feel a bit miffed. But after having taught in ICA for 2 years, I actually sometimes feel a tinge of regret that I hadn't studied there instead of Jubilee. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy my high school years in JCA (the last 2 years at least), and I love my high school friends to bits, but damn if I didn't get gypped of my tuition's worth in quality education. My ready response to "Diba ok ang Jubilee?" is a snort of derisive laughter. You only have to look at the website-- pathetic layout, atrocious grammar and all-- to get an idea of their standards of excellence. I don't know where this notion that Jubilee is a "good" school stems from, but as an alumna I've taken what little consolation and credit I can get out of it.

Until now.

My friend and high school classmate John Tan just told me about this shocking scandal involving a member of Jubilee's faculty and a 13-year-old student. The former isn't actually a teacher, but the school's scoutmaster. According to the diary entries of the girl, she and the scoutmaster have been carrying on an "affair", and I do not want to even imagine the details of the "intimate moments" they shared right on school premises. That is just SICK. It's outrageous enough that a 30-year-old man could take advantage of a preteen girl, but for someone who works in a school, where children are supposed to be SAFE (as I wrote in my last post), for a person to whom parents entrust their kids to do something this dastardly and disgusting is beyond reprehension. Scumbags like this should be castrated and sent to work on a chain gang in Basilan.

And why the hell did none of the teachers or administrators know what was going on?? It's their freakin' responsibility to keep an eye on their students, both inside and outside of the classrooms. What were they doing, literally sleeping on the job? Oh wait, that's probably right, because my teachers in Jubilee did nothing during break times but hole up in the faculty room and NAP. For all my griping about the MIC sisters' almost manic over-protectiveness over ICAns, I concede that at least they would never have let something like this happen on their eagle-eyed watch. I'm not saying the JCA administration and faculty are to fault for this ugly incident, but surely a more observant, involved teacher would have stumbled upon something. Students talk (oh boy do students talk), and gossip travels fast (a campus grapevine is more efficient than fiber-optic cables). To be totally ignorant of something this eyebrow-raising, you would have to be deaf, blind, or simply don't give a shit. And good teachers are supposed to give a shit.

I admit I've never been really proud of being a Jubilee alumna, but perhaps for the first time I'm actually ashamed to be one. It may not be fair to pin the blame on the school for one perverted scoutmaster's sins, but the blemish on the school's name can be partly assigned to their negligence. Is it any surprise then why my ready response to "Papaaralin mo ba ang anak mo sa Jubilee?" is also a snort of derision? I think I'll take my chances with the nuns.