Closure.

Minsan nadadaanq lang ng pride eh. Pero may presyo ang lahat ng bagay. I don’t even mean price as money.

My last salary drawn in 2004, where I started my first job after university was the same amount you are ‘offering’ me in 2016. To travel for an hour, on a really bad schedule because I am a junior faculty, and not to even undergo proper employee orientation, without any proper place to stay in, in between classes. I talked to people about this, and they really think this is an investment really. That things will get better. 

When I was asked to work for xxx, I even consulted wit Dr Axx. He said strategically it’s a no-brainer. The more prestigious school will take me further, in life’s trajectories. But Uxxx gave me a cubicle. And the intellectual reign to design the module I am teaching. No turning back, really. There are times I think of that, i.e., whenever I prepare my lectures on Fukuyama’s State-building (American Government and Politics), or when I get my students to work on  an oral exam question on state capacity, or even Orwell’s 1984 (Contemporary World). Do you know how much I enjoyed that un-prestigious stint? Do you know how satisfying it is to learn that 1 of 10 students actually read a reading, and can tell you more about why some aspects of public administration is low specificity and high transaction volume? You have no idea? It’s because you just stuck with memorising the Philippine Constitution. In a class of 50, in a span of 1.5 hours, twice a week.