Wasted intelligence

We are a Third World country. Pollution is rampant, and so is corruption. Our streets are not safe, and unlike other Asian countries, we don’t exactly have the best international image, thanks to mishandled rescue efforts and a bloody hostage standoff right in our turf.

With our country’s negative reputation, one would think that it’s handled by the worst people: uneducated, illiterate individuals with no morals. But that’s not the case. Our politicians are some of the most intelligent people in the country. Many of them are graduates of premier law schools, like those at the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University. Some of them are products of top law schools abroad.

What does this say about our country and its leaders? Why is it that we remain a Third World country despite having highly educated people in our legislature and judiciary? To me, the answer is simple. Sometimes, one may not need the best education to succeed as a leader. Education isn’t everything. It’s simply a universal right that some take for granted and others completely disregard, and there’s definitely more to education than the things that one learns in school. You may graduate as valedictorian or summa cum laude of your batch, yet it’s what you do with the intelligence you have and the education you’ve earned in prestigious schools that matters. And that is something that our leaders apparently have yet to learn: how to apply their vast knowledge.

That is what makes our situation so devastatingly pitiful.

Our lawmakers are some of the smartest people in the country, and yet it seems they are clueless as to how to mold a progressive nation. Others have immense knowledge—and the worst personalities. We have yet to find the political leader that strikes a balance between brains and personality, and while waiting, we are forced to contend with supersmart people who can’t grasp the practical and emotional aspects of running a country. For shame.

So what can we, the youth, do? Should we be sitting ducks and continue to complain about our country’s miserable state, or should we take a stand and learn to use the gift of education for better, and not for worse?

I’ll leave the answer to you, my readers.

Colleen Elise Yu, 18, is a communication freshman at Ateneo de Manila University.