Some dreams never come true

Jane is a public high school standout. She marched her way to success no less by graduating as the class valedictorian of their batch. And now, she is very much exited to go to college and finish a degree.

This enthusiasm widely grew as an array of scholarship offers from different colleges and universities is marching their way into her hands. And all she needs to do is to sit freely, relax and choose among the variety of goods she can walk away for free.

However, still she is in doubt. She ponders on a choice whether or not to continue her studies. For big problem is about to become very evident.

Though she may have been a recipient of innumerable awards and recognitions in her grade school and high school days but still she cannot erase the truth that her family is poor.

Her father is a trisikad drayber and her mother is a labandera. Even if both of her parents are earning, she fears that it might not be enough to send her to college. It might not even be enough in financing their daily needs.

She has to make a decision. Will she go for the scholarship and set aside her family's financial limitation? Or will she choose n easy way out by skipping college and finding a job? At the end, it is likely to be expected she will have to go for the right choice.

For obvious reasons, Jane is mentally handicapped by a reality she cannot escape from. They are poor and education is getting highly commercialized.

This is a familiar story of students who took an early knockout from their hopes of becoming a college graduate. Though it sounds easy to say but certainly it was not easy for Jane to say "I quit" to school even if she greatly wanted it.

Her parents are earning only P200 a day. Even if it seems big enough to support her, she has to share it with her four other siblings who also go to school.

Indeed, education is most likely equal to money. It is the highest grossing business at far. Or how else would we dub a situation where a student have to pay a huge amount of money and study for four years just to earn a piece of paper known to us as "diploma"? Is it fair?

We think it's not. Though it's right to say that earning a diploma is not a guarantee that we have learned everything we need but it is a requirement no less.

A college degree is our passport for a white-collar job. And whether we like it or not, companies and institutions prefer a college graduate rather than a high school standout.

This could be the pity fate waiting for Jane. Her dreams of becoming a teacher someday might be sidelined for good. It may sound contradicting to what we always preach that poverty is not a hindrance to success but what other choice we may have if it's financial deprivation that puts us into jail box.

What can we do if we have to pay a minimum amount of P1000 (one thousand pesos) just to enroll? What can we do if school projects and contributions force us to pay in full? What can we do if during exams where a standing "No Permit, No Exam" policy requires us to pay in a deadline? What else can we do if we have no money?

Yes, we may have the intellect capacity to compete in big schools and universities but still cannot deny the truth that education has become a stern commodity. WE may have the dreams and the will but what is the worth of it if our pockets are empty and crying no less.

Unless if it rains money: Hope will never come free to a hopeless heart.