A CRITIQUE ON ACADEMIC THESES

 

THESIS (Plural Theses) Definition:  a dissertation embodying results of original research and especially substantiating a specific view especially: one written by a candidate for an academic degree. 2a : a proposition to be proved or one advanced without proof : a hypothesis.

 

Since the later part of the 80’s when the Philippine Civil Service Commission revised the Qualification Standards requiring the completion of a Master’s Degree (or having passed a Bar or Board examination) for Division Head positions in the bureaucracy, there was a mass enrollment in graduate schools which sadly has given rise to a number of diploma mills. 

 

A thesis is required for the completion of a Master’s Degree or a Dissertation for a Doctoral Degree. The same is now required, though of less exhaustive research, in undergraduate courses,  which usually are written by a team or group.  

 

Incidentally, snacks seem to have also become a part of thesis defenses, to be fair at the full instance of the candidates. A deluge of burgers and fries to speak of, litterali ad nauseam, if one has to sit in several sessions.  

 

So far I’ve edited/read only a handful of scholarly papers worthy of commendation. Many in the undergraduate courses by information technology students came up with practical and user-friendly system innovations.  The rest, the weekly assignments are far better in the University that I last attended.  

 

I’m not uninitiated to works that have no social bearing nor universality of impression worthy to be called a dissertation.   Many theses also dwell on topics on policies and procedures in his/her employment organization, usually on “degree of compliance”, that in some instances it boils down to a narration of office practices as a conclusion.

 

Copy paste is one ill that plague most theses, aggravated by not acknowledging the source or author.  Downloaded ideas are noticeable as air turbulence aboard an aircraft, a turbulent piece of writing by the author followed by “smooth flying” copy pasted, and so on. 

 

I see no problem of the use of the novel computer application, GRAMMARLY.  But does it have the heart and intellect to express precision in thoughts sought to be conveyed? 

 

What is irritating is the “STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM” part, although this is a universal term.  But what problem is there to assume when nothing is yet researched, proven, or established?  How can one conclude the existence of a problem at the very onset of the activity? 

 

The connotation of the term “problem” creates incongruity making it innately illogical to premise a thesis on a problem, when a state of affairs, policy, or processes as the subject of study may already be substantial and responsive.  An audacious conclusion of the existence of a problem without prior verification and analysis. 

 

A thesis statement is more appropriate following the title, where the essential idea of the paper is laid out.   This is more in consonance with “the gap sought to be bridged by the study”, maybe to analytically bridge the gap between the negative and positive perceptions of the matter under scrutiny. 

 

The current fad among researchers is the “impact of the pandemic in business activities, or on the educational system”.  

 

For a scholarly contemporary paper, why can’t research be done instead on : 

1. The legitimacy of the conclusion that Covid 19 has a greater effect on the so-called “vulnerable age” based on Covid 19 positive cases, as the statistics show fewer cases among Senior Citizens viz those above 18 years old and below 60 years of age.

2. What could be the most practical and . immediate strategy in “flattening the curve” without sacrificing the economy and day to say survival of the average income earners?

3. What are the economic, social, psychological, or political effects of community quarantine?

4. A review of the statistical presentation of COVID cases. Technically a “suspect”, “one with close contact with”, or “asymptomatic” are cases. The general classification but the classification may result in misnomers in terms of “recoveries”.  The question may be asked if there is no cure, why the recoveries?

 

 

Should theses and dissertation be strictly on a prescribed format, that may restrict the conveyancing of ideas as well as their understanding? Many prescribed formats are repetitive, like Chapter II already exhaustively discussed in Chapter I, which but supposed to be an overview.

 

The format should be reviewed and more importantly, theses and dissertation should not be for academic requirement compliance only but as an exercise of intellectual excellence

 

jaime e. masagca

#advocatusdiaboli

#chasinglightschasingdreams

A CONTEMPLATION ON LIFE'S UNCERTAINTIES

jaime e. masagca

#advocatusdiaboli

#chasinglightschasingdreams

 

It was not long ago that I attended a good neighbor’s funeral.  As mourners and friends one by one left the cemetery I decided to stay and visit the graves of my own friends and relatives. I also tarried to note the many whose deaths have not been announced in obituaries, as if they have come and left in silence after making their marks in this world.

 

Later I sat at a bench up a hill overlooking the graveyard to enjoy the cold afternoon breeze and for even a moment spend time with those who have once been with us, recalling how they have lived, touched our lives, and perhaps understand the reason why they have lived in this generation. 

 

It was so comforting to reflect and appreciate that life for contemporaries would be different without them.  Truly each one of us has a purpose for others that God chose us to be here at a precise period, that we should not choose to ignore and waste the opportunity given to serve others to the fullest, and perhaps to make a difference.

 

I left the dead in their silence just before darkness has completely devoured the light, but like the cold wind at dusk, a question lingers on my mind,  how well will I be remembered when I too had said goodbye?

 

Had I done enough? Or had I done enough to create misery, cheated, and oppressed as one had recently done even on his own kins whom he looked down on as “the needy”?  It’s a pity that he preferred money over family, relations, wealth over respect, and pseudo fame over morals by virtually stripping the clan of its filial identity.

 

Alas, like him many have not made use of the little time we are privileged to enjoy, but instead wasted it in life up a pedestal, looking down on others, unforgiving of trivial mistakes that others may commit.  While others act as if they owned God, or act as if they themselves are gods because of political patronage.  

 

It is not rare to meet people of this kind even at supermarket checkout counters.

 

Mark Anthony (William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 2) in his discourse on the murder of Julius Caesar said that “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar.”  And so let it also be with the proud and arrogant.

 

 

More importantly, then is how well or how meaningful one has lived his life, and the worth of a man is measured in his interment.  Life is as important as mortality and logically one cannot be divorced from the other.  We have the sole option for the world to remember us for our wickedness. 

 

To be human or be society’s nuisance is not a pre-destination.  There is no such thing as pre-destination as many claims, citing the role of Judas Iscariot in Christ’s passion.  Has it not that God has given us intellect and free will to course our own life?  

 

Death is a certainty and is in accordance with God’s plan.  But even in death, God respects man’s free will when to “cross the light”.   Man does not have the mandatory forty days to roam the earth after death as commonly believed.   Many souls of the departed stay long enough because of unfinished business, or just long enough to see that those left behind are doing fine.

 

It is hard to believe unless one may have experienced encounters with those who are gone.   The repentant thief may have been in paradise immediately upon his death as Jesus has promised, but others have lingered on.

 

Jesus may have known that Judas will betray Him but it was not pre-destination.  Only Jesus as God and man knew what is in every man’s heart. 

 

God knew each of us; what our strengths and weaknesses; abilities and limitations would be. He knew us in this way even before we were born.  "Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5).

 

So is Judas in hell?  Yes, the Pharisees were just waiting for the right time to arrest Jesus, which even prior they already attempted to kill Him only that Jesus has slipped away.  There was no need for Judas to betray Jesus. 

 

Taking one’s life is a manifestation of remorse, which would be absent if one has not acted of his own free will.

 

Thus Jesus prays for His apostles, “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.  While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition so that the Scripture would be fulfilled (John 17)”.

 

Like life, death and the afterlife have always been a mystery to many, and as an inevitable reality, death is certain all of us have to face at a stretch we know not when, while many see death as something that can be avoided or postponed.

 

The thought of one’s death is chilling, with the prospects of pain and struggles, and even of leaving a comfortable life or a family.

 

What bothers some, myself included, is the uncertainty of where to after? Death may be an adventure that no mortal has yet experienced but what lies ahead when we believe in hell and purgatory as much as we believe in heaven?  

 

Will we get to join the “banquet” or be thrown out in the dark where “there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth”? 

 

Even great minds and men of great talents have contemplated on death.

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer and Musician, 27 January 27, 1756 -  December 5, 1791)once wrote in his letter to Leopold Mozart, “As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relationships with this best and truest friend of mankind that death's image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling, and I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity...of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness. I never lie down at night without reflecting that —- young as I am — I may not live to see another day. Yet no one of all my acquaintances could say that in the company I am morose or disgruntled.”

 

In the same perspective, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer, March 6, 1475 - February 18, 1564) once wrote “If life pleases us, death, being made by the hands of the same Creator, should not displease us”, which perspective may perhaps have inspired him to portray in “Pieta” a youthful and serene countenance of the Blessed Virgin Mary contemplating on the lifeless body of her Son.

 

In sharp contrast to Mozart and Michelangelo’s resignation to man’s destiny, Dylan Thomas (Welsh poet, 1914–1953) wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

 

Unless we truly understand death, we can never expect to understand life, and unless we accept death we can never appreciate life.  It is unfortunate perhaps that many have considered death as a backdoor to escaping life’s realities or an exit from the harshness of inhumanities or to keep a code of honor as in some cultures.

 

One of my favorite songs, which I also love to play on the keyboard on idle nights is Don McLean's 1970s hit song Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), probably an allusion to the actual life of Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter, 1853 – 1890). 

 

The song’s lyrics which I have quoted here seem to describe the artist’s struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.   

 

MacLean attempts to show the incongruency of Vincent’s time with his genius, his passion, with his personal preferences.  “But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.”

 

 

“Now I understand what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
they did not know how

perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

 

-          Vincent, by Don McLean, 1970

 

 

 

VANISHING VALUES

An FB friend posted this which I find somewhat interesting, only that this idealism and integrity elicited by the time-honored Filipino value of "delicadeza" has ceased to be particularly in the bureaucracy. 

 

Sadly, even the rank and file has ceased to be idealist and accepted this "new norm". "Iyan na ang kalakaran ngayon. Palakasan at kapal ng mukha."

 

Thus she wrote:

 

“Many people in leadership positions believe that to be an effective leader, they must be the smartest person. If they are not, it will somehow send a signal to their staff that the leader is somehow inept.

' 
Some people tend to think a leader should have a complete set of skills, characteristics, and abilities to handle any problem, challenge, or opportunity that comes along but no one is an expert at everything...”

 

My view:

 

Political protégées may lobby and accept designations in the context that they need not be the best strategist, planner, or implementor but can always delegate, the nitty-gritty but pass on the blame to subordinates for any failure.

 

Many leaders no longer believe that they should have the best skills and capability to carry out the agency's mission and vision and introduce innovations. 

 

This is the very reason why inept leaders fortify themselves with equally or far more stupid people, with hostile biases against intelligent ones because of envy and insecurity, that activities under the guise of innovations are nothing than "pa bebe" and serve no purpose but lauded by the "palakpak" boys and girls.

 

We can judge the quality of leaders by the kind of people closely surrounding him/ her. That way, in the bureaucratic blind world the one-eyed is king, as the saying goes.

jaime e. masagca
#advocatusdiaboli
#chasinglightschasingdreams 

 

THE BONE OF CONTENTION

To believe or not to believe in “Usog, Namaligno” and its cure through “Tawas o Santigwar (Bikol)” and other paranormal occurrences.

 

But it’s real to those that have experienced its effects as even in these modern times sciences are yet to pierce many things.

 

Recently again I had to withstand the discomfort of sudden unexplained pain around the waist and stomach. It could easily be diagnosed as gall or kidney stones by the pain location. But “E pur si mouvi” (And yet it moves, to borrow Galileo Galilei's words after being forced to recant his claims that the earth moves around the sun). Indeed the pain moves from the waistline to the stomach area and then to where the lever is.  

 

Luckily this time it was not accompanied by nausea, vomiting, acute headache, or diarrhea, just a couple of strange periods of chilling minus the fever, then fever after the chilling.  My great fear is that the stress elicited by pains may affect the heart or other organs which will lead to really serious medical problems.

 

One night I felt so weak that I just fell down on the bathroom floor and nobody can lift me, that my wife thought I had a stroke but was relieved that I was answering coherently minus the garbled words.

 

A neighbor whom I asked to drive for me was awed by how I endured the pain for the last four days and did not require assistance. I was waiting to feel better which I only did shortly after I drank a hot concoction of guyabano (sour sop fruit) leaves as suggested by a former colleague as an emergency measure to relieve the pain, and also offered to ask somebody to perform a “santigwar” on me.

 

Santigwar is a Bicolano term that has no direct translation in Tagalog or English. But the practice is very much similar to TAWAS of the Tagalogs and other regions which is the folk practice of healing a person of illness or strange feelings or even state of mind caused by what supernatural beings did to them. 

 

Even illnesses, usually fever, caused by extreme fear, particularly among young children are often subjected to santigwar for healing.

 

Santigwar is determining what caused the malady and to heal in light cases.  In extreme cases, the procedure is BAWI, or to take back from the supernatural its possession or negative influence on the person being treated by way of the medicine man’s force, persuasion, and also bribe if necessary.  The bribe would usually consist of a pack of cigarettes, unsalted meat, soft drinks, or gin. 

 

The santigwar may even be done remotely (think of the cyber age), as we joke as online rather than “face to face” where the person subject of the treatment need not be physically present with the healer. The name or used clothing would suffice to create a link.

 

In the old days a “prinsa”, the pan-like tool used for ironing clothes, is used.  Burning charcoals are placed inside the pan and “tawas” (alum) is thrown in. When the alum cools down its shape determines what caused a person’s illness.

 

Some would wave a candle at you and let the wax fall on a basin of water until an image, supposed to be what caused the illness, is formed.

 

Most “para santigwar” today use a plate, trace a cross in the middle with oil, wave the plate over the subject as a security guard would whisk a metal detector, and hold it over a lighted candle. An image would appear.

 

I used to laugh at this procedure, though as a child my mother would take me to a para santigwar for treatment, but changed my perception when after my father’s death I cannot sleep for several weeks.  My body was so tired but my mind is wide awake.

 

After consulting doctors and still I was deprived of sleep, I had no alternative but to try a santigwar. Only after the session, I was able to sleep peacefully.

 

The same happened when I had this burning sensation after I hit a big cat that was peering at our window.  Without telling anyone what happened, the para santigwar asked me what I did to the cat.

 

Strange things happen without logical explanations. Through a SANTIGWAR, answers may be revealed.

 

The tawas is used to trace the sign of the cross on the patient's forehead and other suspicious or ailing parts of the body as prayers are being whispered (bulóng or oración). The alum is then placed on glowing embers, removed when it starts to crack, then transferred to a small basin of water.

 

In most cases, oil is spread thinly across a plate which is waived over a subject’s shoulders and head mumbles some prayers, and hold the oiled surface over a lighted candle.

 

In this case the “para santigwar” said I offended “somebody” in our kitchen. Clearly, enough in the image formed is the bone of the ham which I scraped off after New Year, as well as some strange creatures.

 

Somewhat serious as it took her 5 rituals to free me.

 

I’m feeling well now except for some weakness on the legs as I have not eaten a single solid meal from Saturday to Thursday, though a friend was laughing that after the session with the one that attended to my “usog” I was able to walk a total of about a kilometer of mountain trail to visit the Sto. Nino chapel he was telling me about.

All’s well that ends well, but thank you so much to the friends and relatives that took care of me, and sent messages of care, herbals, suggestions, and services. 

 

A word of caution though, one should be able to discern through when discomfort is caused by paranormal causes or is in need of immediate medical attention.

TRUST, CONFIDENCE, AND GOVERNANCE- Comparing a Pilot with a Presidential Candidate

It's been quiet on the other side after the deluge of red and green. The stillness in the front was punctuated only with the occasional burst of aimless fire as in moments before an unconditional surrender in battle.

 

I can't help but comment on the parallelism made in national governance with piloting an aircraft that rests on the trust and confidence of the First Officer.

 

Nobody can disagree with the comparison. Anyway, it's purely on the choice of the passenger. Anyway, it's his RISK, so long as the entire nation is dragged into disaster.

 

The point is, that aircraft pilots need special training and high skills to fly the appropriate aircraft.  We just can't heed the call "it's a fine day for flying, let's go". 

 

Certainly, a pilot for rotary-wing aircraft can't be given clearance to fly a fixed-wing aircraft, even a light one. More so that training hours are required for each type of aircraft.

 

What is not understandable is at what points the writer rests his trust in the supposed pilot for the Republic.

 

In summary, the "trusted pilot" mentioned has no clear indication as to conformity with the following analogies:

1.    A clear "Flight Plan", or simply the platform of governance. For safety, no plane can just take off and fly at any altitude and direction without ground control approval and monitoring.

2.   One cannot trust a pilot with fewer flying hours earned than a passenger or with other candidates or voters themselves. Being with the Legislative can't always be equated to executive competence.

3.   A pilot to trust can fly both on Visual (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).  The sky's not always clear with at least 3 statute miles of visibility.   Atmospheric conditions may suddenly change while on the flight. 

 

4. How can an untrained pilot deal with political storms such as threats of coup de'etat or a crucial shift in world politics?

 

5. A pilot should have above-average comprehension and communications skills to accurately communicate with ground control and other pilots.  

 

There's a great difference between the instructions "taxi into position" from "you are cleared for take-off". 

      

To taxi into position on an assigned runway doesn't mean immediate takeoff.  The reason why the standard instruction was revised to "taxi into position and hold”. 

6. In gist, who would trust a pilot suffering from  ECHOLALIA, or the state of repeating phrases and struggling to express even his/her own thoughts.

 

Without the foregoing, the pilot will be mostly on Auto-Pilot. Yes, nobody wants a "puppet " head of state. 

 

These are but a few reasons why we favor the red and green over the pink, or the man in a red horse, the Yormi, et al.

 

SANTIGWAR

SANTIGWAR is a Bicolano term that has no direct translation in Tagalog or English. But the practice is very much similar to TAWAS of the Tagalogs and other regions which is the folk practice of healing a person of illness or strange feelings or even state of mind caused by what supernatural beings did to them. 

 

Even illnesses, usually fever, caused by extreme fear, particularly among young children are often subjected to santigwar for healing.

 

Santigwar is determining what caused the malady and to heal in light cases.  In extreme cases, the procedure is BAWI, or to take back from the supernatural its possession of the person being treated by way of the medicine man’s force, persuasion, and also bribe.  The bribe would usually consist of a pack of cigarettes, unsalted meat, soft drinks, or gin. 

 

The santigwar may even be done remotely (think of the cyber age), where the person subject of the treatment need not be physically present with the healer. The name or used clothing would suffice to create a link.

 

In the old days a “prinsa”, the pan-like tool used for ironing clothes, is used.  Burning charcoals are placed inside the pan and “tawas” (alum) is thrown in. When the alum cools down its shape determines what caused a person’s illness.

 

Most “para santigwar” today use a plate, trace a cross in the middle with oil, wave the plate over the subject as a security guard would whisk a metal detector, and hold it over a lighted candle. An image would appear.

 

I used to laugh at this procedure, though as a child my mother would take me to a para santigwar for treatment, but changed my perception when after my father’s death I cannot sleep for several weeks.  My body was so tired but my mind is wide awake.

 

After consulting doctors and still I was deprived of sleep, I had no alternative but to try a santigwar. Only after the session that I slept peacefully.

 

The same happened when I had this burning sensation after I hit a big cat that was peering at our window.  Without telling anyone what happened, the para santigwar asked me what I did to the cat.

 

Strange things happen without logical explanations. Through a SANTIGWAR, answers may be revealed.

 

The tawas is used to trace the sign of the cross on the patient's forehead and other suspicious or ailing parts of the body as prayers are being whispered (bulóng or oración). The alum is then placed on glowing embers, removed when it starts to crack, then transferred to a small basin of water.