In its early years, the architect of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila’s (University of the City of Manila) academic program was Dr. Benito F. Reyes, its first president and one-time Mayor Antonio Villegas’ mentor. He had a different idea than most academicians about how to shape his students’ minds and hearts. The thrust of Pamantasan’s education was not only to create intellectual giants but also to produce graduates with a strong moral compass. As the first scholars of Pamantasan, more than 500 of us had more than the regular load of classes every semester to accommodate ethics, philosophy, Pilipino, and the humanities, not to mention vocational courses, in addition to the regular courses of an associate degree. As you can imagine, many of my schoolmates were unhappy and questioned the practical value of these courses in finding a job and earning a lucrative livelihood.
Dr. Reyes had a deeper grasp of what compelled his poor students to strive for success: freedom from want and a better life. He knew that the road to material success for us would be full of pitfalls, the temptation for easy money, and corruption. Raised in poverty and surrounded by the ugliness of slums, he doubted the fortitude of our parents in raising morally upright children. His academic agenda was to ground us in Philosophy and Ethics, and, for added measure, the Pilipino language and literature, and even folk dance for Physical Education, to inspire us to love our country and culture. We used a book he wrote as a reference in our class in logic and introduced us to Western Philosophy and Ethics.
” … our education reinforced many of the values our parents taught and prepared us to meet the world on our terms. Not for naught, Dr. Reyes’s efforts had a lasting influence on us whether we worked in the private or government sectors or on our own.”
Many of us were undersocialized and rough around the edges, so he used the humanities to socialize and refine our manners. Since many of us couldn’t afford to visit art museums, he borrowed works of art by Filipino artists and hung them in the hallways by his office, hoping to expose our spirits to the finer world of arts. He organized free concerts held on our campus by well-known Filipino artists. The highlight of the week was called Friday’s Coffee Hour, a sort of cultural event to interact and socialize with faculty members and special guests, and a brief speech from him, which often turned into a lecture. I couldn’t wait to join for the complimentary refreshments and snacks.
He took our moral education seriously. When one of us misbehaved, he called for an assembly where he lectured us about civility. One memorable incident was when one of us ripped a page from an encyclopedia, one of the few prized possessions of our small library, to take home for homework. He expressed his anger and disappointment over the juvenile behavior unbecoming of us scholars.
He believed the cycle of poverty among the poor was caused by bad upbringing. Poverty contributes to crime and other social problems, and one way to break the chain is through education and moral and ethical education. Our youth and lack of experience failed to grasp the deeper logic he had in mind for us.
Like Socrates, he believed early moral education is the key to right living, which he thought many of us probably missed. Unbeknownst to him, many of us from poor families had good parents, poor but morally upright parents. They made sacrifices to support our quest for education the best they could. He didn’t know that we were especially gifted with resilience in our genes. Nevertheless, our education reinforced many of the values our parents taught and prepared us to meet the world on our own terms.
Not for naught, Dr. Reyes’s efforts had a lasting influence on us whether we worked in the private or government sectors or on our own.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Fernando B. Perfas is an addiction specialist who has written several books and articles on the subject. He currently provides training and consulting services to various government and non-government drug treatment agencies regarding drug treatment and prevention approaches. He can be reached at fbperfas@gmail.com.
