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…

By: jefferson faudan

jefferson faudan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:56:49 +0000

education per say can be the basis as to how intellectual a person can be…but often, it’s the smart ones who makes good in life…

i see a lot of graduates working in minimum wage business conglomerates… and quite a few who earn more than life’s worth… and most of the time, these are people who kinda’ shove education aside… it doesn’t mean they’re dumb… they’re simply plain ass smart with “diskarte” in life…

By: clara

clara — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:29:02 +0000

Oh yeah, I recall my elementary school years. My attitude in 5th grade (in Elementary School through High School actually) was always one of, “You’ve been given a great deal, so people expect a great deal from you”. So, I was the typical over-achiever – active in sports, active in clubs, active in class, top 3% of the class. My goal was to make it to a top tier Liberal Arts college in the US and I made it. It was in college however, that all the $HIT hit the fan so to speak. Drinking, parties, and just plain old having fun made me lose my way a little bit – just enough that I graduated with a very “average” GPA and resume. Subsequently, I had trouble finding an exemplary first job – and that woke me up. Since then, I’ve had to dig deep to work hard, transfer into a better company, get accepted into a top-tier B-school and do well in the said B-schoo so I could take over the family business and eventually start my own.

It seems that it doesn’t matter what your circumstances/attitude is in 5th grade – or even 10th grade or 1st year college; what makes the difference is the goals that you set for yourself and the drive that you have to achieve those goals; you can be the smartest person born to this Earth, the most gorgeous or even the luckiest, but if you don’t have the drive to make something of what you’ve been given then it’s not likely to produce much either.

By: Edwin D.

Edwin D. — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:59:05 +0000

I did okey in my Catholic school years including as a 5th grader (high 80’s and low 90’s) and got my state college degree and now living the average middle class life here in the States.

By: Dew

Dew — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:50:49 +0000

Apicio,

Forget about beauty being only skin deep, fact is it’s only in the eye of the holder. I’ll take luck over all the rest. :-0

By: elektra king

elektra king — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:25:12 +0000

to ragamuffin girl, you can visit the shops (i think about 3 shops carry UP shirts) at the old but still reliable SC (shopping center) adjacent to the Infirmary (remember the “infirmatay”)…. if i can remember shirts retail from 200-300 pesos, depending on the size, color or design/print.