Comments on: Are Mediocre 5th Graders Likely to Retire Comfortably at Age 40?

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:57:05 +0000

Rafael, Doug Flutie was a classmate. :)

By: Rafael Castillo

Rafael Castillo — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:57:26 +0000

@MM: Regarding Filipino/Tagalog, I guess I was a lucky Fil-Am growing up in the US in that my parents only spoke to me in Tagalog. Thus I was half-fluent at an early age. I had complete understanding but extreme difficulty speaking. It wasn’t until I attended Med School in Manila that I was forced to learn spoken Tagalog.

And speaking as a fellow Boston Alum, I can tell you that the rise of our alma mater from the early 80s when you were there, to it’s current position as a Top-25 American University is absolutely ridiculous. I graduated in the top 10 of my HS Class with decent SAT scores. I worked at the Admissions office my 4 years there and still have contacts with them; and I can honestly say that if I applied now with my same grades/scores as I did in 1996, I have a feeling that I wouldn’t be accepted. They’ve gotten so selective. This you can attribute to Father Monan & Doug Flutie.

By: Creeps

Creeps — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:02:20 +0000

hey fried neurons,i studied in JASMS manila too. and had the same no tagalog rule. maybe we were classmates then.

By: Blaise

Blaise — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:49:39 +0000

I believe that people get what they expect… So I only expect (as in focus) on the positive things. It has always worked out for the best…

By: dragon

dragon — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:15:42 +0000

5th grade was the first time ever that I got a “line of 7″ –79 to be exact– for social studies (I think, before they turned it into AP). I do remember the feeling still: shock! The teacher’s reason for giving me this was because I was “talkative”. To prove that my so-called attitude had nothing to do with it, the following quarter, she only managed to give me 86 despite the stellar quizzes & exams because she said, I had a 79 before that…figure that one out.

I wasn’t an over achiever–more of happy go lucky (not mischievous). I hardly opened books to study but always turned in homeworks. My grades were from low 80’s to mid 90’s (without studying). My late mom was a former teacher so her only wish was for all her kids to go up on stage for a medal. Got tired of the nagging so in 4th grade I kind of focused a bit more. Gave her the medal, never to be repeated. This was the same all the way to college (premed Bio). I only opened books because I was missing some lessons or because everyone else were doing so.

BTW, not much of a problem with Pilipino, Social Studies (we didn’t have AP-my age shows) though Math gave me a hard time. Trigo, Geom & Stat were my faves!

I don’t consider myself a financial winner but successful in life, having gone through so many (personal) battles and triumphs…