Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

As Christmas vacation draws near, I remember how a vacation wasn't really a vacation. Instead, people had to prepare either for the unit or periodical tests. I can't speak much now because I'm neither teaching nor studying in school. I could also remember why I hated the Civics and Culture class. It tends to keep speaking about Pinoy Pride--as if it really helped. Sure, Filipinos do have the right to be proud of the achievements of successful Filipinos abroad. Are the schools teaching us Filipinos to really ask why more Filipinos succeed abroad? Are the schools just teaching them to have their Pinoy Pride going on? Even worse, the Civics and Culture subject seems to teach that the Filipino First Policy is a good thing. The Philippine education system really sucks. As an MBA graduate, I even wonder if I should still attack MBA to my username or not. Sure, I didn't buy the degree via Recto. However, I only learned alternative ways of stock investment online than in school

It's sad that I only knew Charlie Munger died at 99 years old days after he died, late last month. I didn't know about him until the pandemic made me watch more business videos. It's a shame that business schools have become too theoretical than practical. I'm now going to discuss this Munger quote which I found while he was still living. His partner, Warren Buffett mentions that it's best to hang out with people who are better and smarter than one's self . I should've spent my life hanging out with people who are better than me back in high school, than keep getting mad. In fact, a lot of my high school quarrels were also rooted in me hating people who were better at mathematics than I was. This quote by Buffett makes me think again, "Could this be why the lousy Filipino First Policy exists?"  I'd agree that counterproductive than envy. Why do you think some people join Communist or Socialist groups hating the rich? I blame envy for that. One

Some time ago, I wrote an article using @successpictures to portray a toxic view of menial labor . As November is about to end, I was looking at some good and bad things that happened this 2023. I'm not going to spill them out, to respect the privacy of the people involved. I was also looking at the toxic positivity common in the Philippines. One of these involves the attitude where people say, "If it's bitter, just add sugar." (read here ). The illustration that I just got may actually be funny but it can be annoying. You have a wise old man selling his invention of the wheel. Unfortunately, two idiots are too "busy" dragging their cargo with a square wheel . The idea may sound funny because one might remember some cartoon shows they watched. Maybe, it was a gag show in the 1990s for all the 1990s children, out there like myself.  I faced some people on Facebook who are too stubborn about system change. I try to ask for their sources and they can only give

As I try to criticize the old way of teaching Chinese, I also recall why I didn't like studying it. I had an interest in learning the language but the approach was too much memorization. One of the many problems was turning children into robots and parrots . Eventually, I lost learning because getting a high grade was the end of it all. I compare that to the arcade experience where a game never ends. If you've played many arcade games   in the 1980s--you may realize that the games are only focused on getting a high score rather than learning a curve. It would be different if people started talking about what they learned in studying the ethnic Chinese language (華語, read as Huáyǔ). What interest was there anyway if we only compared scores? I had a lot of what's called boi seng in Amoy (failing mark) because I didn't like to study because of extreme memorization .  I found this basic conversation on how Boi Toi (termed as question or 問題, read as Wèntí in Mandarin) should&

Back in my day, I remember we kept memorizing what was called bon toi (written as 问题, Wèntí in Mandarin) without understanding them. I hated memorizing those. I guess another reason was to parrot what one can't understand. We had the biak diam too which is Hokkien for oral recitation. Memorizing the question and answer (written as 问题和答案, Wèntí hé dá'àn in Mandarin) would actually not be so tedious if Chinese was taught as a second language. My bizarre idea is to think about having only one bon toi but there are five answers to memorize.  Memorizing (and understanding) why some don't want to learn Chinese These five reasons (above) have to be memorized in both Chinese and English. The teacher (老师, Lǎoshī) would say the question,  "不学中文的最大借口是什么？" (Bù xué zhōngwén de zuìdà jièkǒu shì shénme?). The question can't be answered  until  the student actually translated it as, "What are the top excuses not to learn Chinese?"  The student will evaluate them fro

Faculty of Medicine Some time ago, I wrote about the problem of grades over learning education . It's a good thing that someone I knew who graduated summa cum laude from a very difficult course, did remain humble. It's unlike Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel who shouted he was a cum laude in a middle of an argument. The same person posted on his wall talking about the thoughts of why students cheat. I could remember the whole statement that teachers would make, "Your grades will determine your future! If your grades in math and science suck, just take HRM!" Such statements show the Philippines' bad education system (read here ). Why the statement "A good grade is a sign of good character." may often be misunderstood I'm going to stress out my frustrations. I guess it's easy to take what educator Jonathan Gochuico said about not romanticizing bad grades, saying character is better. Maybe, he could be partly wrong but I believe that a good grade (which sh