One of the things that I really like about our School is the presence of many graffiti. And I'm not really one of those people who are fond of doing the writing, 'cause according to my high school teacher and with the help of my friend Philip, that's is called Barbarism. But as of the moment, I don't wanna call it that way. I think a graffiti is a creative expression of thought. It gives us different perspectives of people on things that possibly, they can't say straightforward and for any other reason. 

For the upcoming days, I'm going to share to you some of the interesting graffiti here in our school, most particularly those that I find in the College of Engineering, Arts and Sciences and also in the School of Engineering Technology. 

On the first day of our search for awesome graffiti in school, here's what I found. "Lisud ang COE?" Along with a couple of my friends, all we found are kinda nasty graffiti since those about love were covered by the new painted walls in colleges already. 

On Dress Code

I'm not a fan of dress code, and I'm blunt about that. I don't think it's necessary most especially in the context of a State U. Of course, I'm rational enough to understand that private schools like Sanitarium has to impose one since obviously, it's kinda in line with the fact that all of the students there are medical studes and the administration take it as part of their uniform. And I also consider that it's a reasonable reminder for flirty girls to not wear shorts in school and cave in their professor's vulnerabilities, only then to justify why shorts are called as such. And hands down to efficient private schools like Xavier who have successfully shown how their school uniforms complement the cleanliness of their campus. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should have a school uniform too 'cause I know it's going to be an overnight landmine digging a rage of financial complaints by tomorrow. What I'm saying is you can't have it both ways. You can't say that you allow it but only to a certain extent. Why do we allow the wearing of hijabs during board exams? It is because we respect differences in religious views and the state preserves that value. If the same state upholds freedom of choice and the exercise of that choice as long as no one is harmed, why do we allow a policy that constrains individual freedom of expression of the studentry?

Yes it is. A person's way of clothing himself is a way of self-expression. It's not claiming luxury to wear red hair in school if you want to, unless some hair colors can kill your seatmate or blind your professor. On that point, that would be a big harm and we don't want that too. And wearing earrings as a guy shouldn't  bother your teacher on becoming a good teacher, neither you becoming a member of the A-Team for topping the Dean's List, if your only goal is to look like a Japanese Pop Star. 

If you wanna go in school living under the theme, "Everyday is Korea!", in a perfect winter clothing match for a sunny afternoon, why would the school care? We call this school a world-class institution, but we don't allow borderless interests. It's when you attempt to homogenize expression inside the context of that learning institution that you begin hampering the exploration of a non-mainstream knowledge. Obviously because you look at students as students and not as individuals who have different affinities, interests and possibilities. 

When I went to UPLB last November for an exclusive tour on biotechnology, I saw this guy who looks like Bob Marley. He was so into his music with his earphones on, and  singing along 'Budotz' music while walking. And I'm not going to talk about the earphones because that's going to trap my stance in a deadlock. I'm talking about his long Rapunzelish hair that I kinda find cool. Who knows, right? Maybe the guy, that you think is a member of the ghetto rasta is the school's official OA. Over-Achiever. 

What if my pants, my only pants, were bitten by rats one night and I was left with no any other friggin' choice? Will the guards let me in, granting that I'm late for an Elay class, and the holes in my pants are not Dalmatian 101 designs, for God's sake? Unfortunately, they're not as considerate as they were. 

And I'm going to show you why their dress code is only based on the weather of the day. 

Wait. I'm not going to mention anymore how they allow sexy girls to get in only if they're sexy enough on their standards. I'm also not going to mention that the dress code is not being imposed to people who have cars. It's sad to think that there are no guards roaming around the campus to check if the dress code is being followed. I tell you, I change to sandos and wear earrings in campus, but it's totally fine. But it's the same security body that has guards everywhere to check if you're wearing an ID. 

So let me get into that. An ID is only necessary when there's a need for identification. Therefore, that's at most reasonable for IDs to be inspected at the gate. But why is UP and any other school in the Philippines not doing what IIT is doing - which is again, assigning guards to roam around and look for who's wearing the ID or not?

"What if giigang ko diri tungod sa ID sling? " Let's be open-minded guys. There are various reasons why a student can't wear his ID in school and we're just wasting pennies on paying a guard to do that. Or maybe it's just another profit-making scheme to collect 20 pesos every time someone  is caught not wearing the ID. 

What if I go for lunch for a while in IDS canteen at the midst of a stressful laboratory exercise  in Chemistry Department?  What if you have to bring something to a friend to CASS while your ID is in Physics Lab attached to your borrower's slip? Will these guards listen to these valid excuses? Or are we again up for an irrational policy that is mandated from an upperhand somewhere?

Why are we required to wear ID in the narrow Exit Gate? Isn't it their very own failure if they had let an outsider go inside the campus? "Nagkaguot na ang mga tao sa gamay na exit, inspectionun pa jud tagsa2 kung nag-wear ug ID. " Have you ever asked what they are looking for?

No ID, No Exit Policy. Only in our School, Our World-Class School - Creator of Unique and Creative School Policies.