MARGINS: The Gaps in UP’s Imbalanced Great Equalizer
by Aldea Rhae Martillano
Outside the margins of this page exist the shrinking margins of the space occupied by marginalized underprivileged students who view UP as a necessity rather than an accessory. While UP recently added the word “service” to their motto, UPCAT, the so-called “great equalizer” is a flawed and tilted slippery slope that keeps the bottom at the bottom. What exactly does it mean to have rich kids be UP’s majority?
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Learning has become a privilege. Education will always provide the vulnerable a voice, and it’s time we let them learn how to use it. When a person who isn’t rich gets into UP, they are more like exceptions — and that’s a problem when it’s about a basic right called education. The barrier of entry to anything and everything will always be different depending on your salary bracket. Why, then, do we continue to approach the problem as if they’re equal?
The rich being UP’s majority is the manifestation of a problem larger than all of us, but it’s also the taking advantage of an already broken system. We must recognize and acknowledge the unequal nature of UPCAT so that action can be taken to equalize the playing field. Even if we manage to bring public institutions’ standards up to par, the rich will still have an advantage because they’re not burdened by a breadwinner’s duties or a poor person’s lifestyle and are able to pursue more and better resources. A poor person, even if given relatively equal resources, will never have equal opportunity to use them. Survival takes priority. Privilege will always exist.
UP has limited slots, and the value of a slot is the difference between a better resume and a family’s continued survival. It’s not just the fact that rich people take up a large chunk of the space that could’ve been allocated to capable underprivileged students, it’s also that their continued existence in the institution burdens others. So many spaces and resources are skewed and made to cater towards their needs (i.e., review centers, etc.), either as rich people or the majority demographic, which disregards and displaces the others. Removing their market, consisting of the upper echelon, would incentivize them to adjust to wider audiences.
UP must challenge its definitions of a promising student and create balance in UPCAT, as a matter of equity. UP must make space and adjust its margins, because the rich have become landlords who make tenants of the poor in an area originally created for the masses. Even if the blame does not fall only on UP due to a lack of government support, changing UPCAT is still necessary so long as the rich’s advantage remains.
Dissecting and deconstructing a system’s every bone, organ, and muscle at the same time requires structural reforms that will strain the Philippines’ limited capacity and resources, leaving us with half-finished cadavers that don’t address urgent needs. There is no magical utopia where we can instantly create a perfect system and society, but we can probably strive towards a better one. Change starts small because change can start here — in UP.
