Tuesday, January 10, 2012

UP vs. UST Entrance Exams: What Netizens Have in Mind

Why Should You Think Before You Click? Here's a concrete example:

TBYC - a campaign worth passing on from one mouth to another. Peace to everyone.

Fresh from YahooNews Philippines: Here is the LINK.

The fallout from a status update on Facebook continues to rage online as an administrator of a fan page of the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) posted a negative comment about the University of Santo Tomas Entrance Test (USTET).

After UST released the results of its entrance test on Monday, the UPCAT Facebook fan page posted a status update reading, “Lumabas na pala ang results ng USTET, walang thrill kasi madali lang naman nun. Last week pa ng February ang results ng UPCAT – walang kasing hirap kaya sulit ang paghihintay! ;)”

The post was immediately flooded with comments, gained hundreds of “likes” and was shared multiple times.

However, following comments that deemed the post offensive, the UPCAT fan page deleted the post and issued an apology.

"Humihingi po kami ng paumanhin sa kung anuman po ang aming nasabi sa page na ito. Hindi naman po namin intensyong makasakit ng iba o ng kung anu pa man at alam po namin na nasa amin po ang pagkakamali dahil hindi namin inisip ng mabuti ang kakalabasan ng mga salitang aming binitiwan. Sa huli ay buong puso po kaming humihingi ng paumanhin sa lahat,” the UPCAT administrator posted on its page.

It also clarified that the Facebook page is not an official account of the University of the Philippines and does not speak in behalf of the institution.
“Ang page ng UPCAT ay unang ginawa para lamang sa isang proyekto sa Comm 3. Ngunit dahil sa dami ng taong nag-like ng page na ito ay naging isa itong aktibong komunidad na nagbibigay ng impormasyon tungkol sa UPCAT para matulungan ang mga susunod na magiging iskolar ng bayan,” the administrator posted.

More reactions from users

Still, Facebook users continued to vent.

Virgilio Enrico Del Castillo said of the post , “to who ever is managing this account, remember that you have 8000+ people who will see what you have posted. Please be educated on what you are sharing to people. please think of the repercussions of your actions. think before you click, right?”

Others appreciated how the fan page administrator quickly took down the post and admitted their mistake.

Aaron Bjorn Godfrey Ong said the post undermined the credibility of the USTET but added, “Nonetheless, I'm happy that the UPCAT FB fanpage Administrators quickly apologized. This shows how humble and sincere the Administrator.”

In an article in The Varsitarian, the official student publication of UST, admission officials said they are confident of the quality of USTET and saw no need to revise the test despite criticisms that it is less rigorous than the exams given by other leading universities.

'Stop the hate'

Meanwhile, another Facebook user, Rex Jonnard Villafuerte Aguilar, noted, “Ako naman, I studied in both Universities (UP and UST) so wala naman bearing kung pumasa ka ng UPCAT or ng USTET, at the end of the day, iisipin mo pa din na swerte ka pa din kasi nakapag-aral ka sa magagandang pamantasan and bigyan halaga mo na para saan at nakapag-aral ka.

“Nonsense naman kasi if we still keep on comparing and comparing yung level ng exams sa UP and sa UST. Tandaan: Wala sa pamantasan ang sukatan ng pagiging magaling, nasa mag-aaral pa din!” he added.

The administrators updated its status requesting Facebook users to refrain from posting negative comments on the fan page regarding the issue.

“The UPCAT page is trying its very best to let UST and its students know that we are very sorry of our actions. This will not go anywhere if we keep bashing each other, but will just make this issue even bigger. If you think that what you will say will further increase the aggravations of both sides, I humbly plead you to not post it here since it will just defer the intention of peace between both sides,” it said.

God bless everyone!

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