The concept of highly revered universities — i.e. the Big Four — is not only found in the Philippines. In the United States, you have the Ivy League. In South Korea, you have SKY universities. Academic elitism is real, and it affects you.
It affected me too. I myself fell for this perception; I only applied to UPM, AdMU, DLSU + DLSHSI, and UST. I didn’t feel the need to apply to different universities, and neither did my parents. In fact, my classmates can attest that I was set on going to UPM or HSI.
Pondering on the why, however, makes me rethink my personal biases. It is definitely a trend that I only applied to the four schools with these names because even most of my senior high classmates only applied to schools limited to those as well.
Even with the uncertainty of being accepted or rejected, I was sure with these 4. If I didn’t pass any of these schools, at the time, I didn’t even consider applying to a different school. My backup plan was… to apply for reconsideration (recon).
From how I experienced university applications with myself and the people around me, it shows that wherever you go, there is an elitism toward what university you choose. Prevailing notions can even diagnose your job prospects whether you’re red, blue, green, yellow, or none of the above.
It’s not something you can easily recognize. Most times, it’s internalized. You can say that it doesn’t matter for you, but you know how deeply ingrained it is in Philippine society. For example, it’s easy to say you’d choose your dream course over your dream school, but would you really choose that dream course anywhere? Don’t you have a target school for that as well?
It’s about time that we dismantle this veneration towards only these schools. We praise it for quality education and prestige, but somewhere along the line, we forget that these things need not, and should not be exclusive. Quality education is not supposed to be restricted within four colors, within four systems.
But, dismantling this construct is not as easy as it sounds. It begins with addressing the root cause: the very education system. The Big Four is founded on a mechanism that allows the exclusivity of quality education. There needs to be a push for educational reform. One that is pro-student and pro-people.
Lobby for free, quality, and accessible education. This doesn’t lower the platform for the Big Four schools, but rather elevates it for all others.
