Notes from the North

By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

April 23,2006

Note: Relative to “Harrowing experience”  the following essay appeared in the Zigzag Weekly of April 23,2006. Just in case you wonder how come the foregoing column could be written at all despite  the contents of the second column, I personally do not know what exactly happened. All I was told by an in-law was that she had received a phone call on April 25,2006 from a BSU College of Nursing faculty member friend telling her to inform us to make Aglaia report to the school because they have decided to lower the cutoff to 97 as some of those who qualified were not reporting. The caller took care to say  that the development had nothing to do with the adverse publicity. I was and I still am tempted to suspect otherwise though. Whatever the truth, I can say now that the belated decision of the college to accommodate Aglaia as well as my decision to castigate the university publicly have been vindicated by her passing the board exams.      

The Benguet State University (BSU) owes my family especially my younger daughter Aglaia an apology. Due to what now looks like a lack of coordination and meeting of minds between the College of Nursing and the Registrar’s Office, we have been dealt a most expensive and cruel joke. I assume  it will take sometime before we can fully put the episode behind us. 

Desiring to enroll in the highly regarded nursing department of the BSU, Aglaia took the admission test of the university sometime in March. Early this month, we learned that she garnered a percentile of 97.80 which, according to the Registrar’s Office, meant she is a candidate for admission in the College of Nursing. The  person on the other end of the line told me that she should report to the school before April 19 for evaluation. When I asked what she should bring, the person said just her Form 138.

That information from the Registrar’s Office made the family’s hope that Aglaia would qualify soar because she has good grades. In fact, she ranked fourth in a batch of 89. Barring any other means of testing her worthiness to enter the BSU College of Nursing, I told myself that my daughter is practically enrolled in one of the best nursing colleges in the region.

Since Aglaia does not still know her way around in the city, I took a leave from my work for a day and accompanied her to the BSU on April 11. While waiting for the strike of 8 AM, we went through the list of qualifiers for the other courses and found that her name does not appear in the two alternative courses. I figured that must be because she is listed in Nursing. The man at the counter told us to proceed to the Office of the Dean of the College of Nursing where the lady who attended to us looked at the card of Aglaia and then gave us a small checklist of the enrolment requirements which xerox copies she said we should submit before the day ended. Since the Registrar employee I talked to on the phone did not say anything about birth certificates, we did not have it so I texted my elder daughter Pia to email it which she did. When we finally submitted the requirements, the lady said that Aglaia should return on the April 19 when the final list will be made available so that whether she makes it or not, she will be told what to do next.

I must mention that during the visit to BSU, I saw a notice for the second admission test for the College of Nursing scheduled on April 12.

As April 19 approached, our excitement heightened. Little did we know that it was going to be a very sad day for the family. It was good we did not follow the instruction of the lady at the Office of the Dean to report on that day because the relative we sent to look at the list texted that Aglaia’s name was not in it and that the cutoff was 98. We were crushed and mad.

I called the Office of the Dean and a lady who does not want to be identified told me the following among others: the college admits 150 Nursing freshmen a year and those who got 98 up were already 160 but they have to accommodate them all otherwise those who got 98 who will be bumped off will cry foul; that it was not the College of Nursing which set 95 as the cutoff for the college but the Registrar’s Office; that they have been advising the Registrar’s Office to send Nursing hopefuls to the college for prequalification before they take the exams so that when they pass the exam, there will be no need for further evaluation which would simplify things; that just like us, they too are victims of the fiasco. I was unable to follow her answer as to why they still have to conduct another exam when there were already enough passers in the first exams. I heard her clearly though when she said that there are some years when they conduct as many as three entrance exams.

The person at the Registrar’s Office who took my call said that supposedly, the April 12 exams should be the only exams for the College of Nursing and that aspiring nursing students should not have taken the general entrance exams. He admitted it was their office which set the 95 cutoff for Nursing. His tone was apologetic.

In fairness, I do not think that the peddling of false hopes to the examinees who got 95 to 97.99 and their relatives was intentional and attended with malice. But the result was the same: deep disappointment and wasted money and time. The university should determine the persons responsible and sanction them. Stupidity should never be countenanced in a reputable institution of learning like the BSU.

By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

September 19,2010

 (Note: for a background of this essay, read “An Expensive Joke”)

This is about the episode of anguish I went through on account of my younger daughter’s taking the nursing licensure exams last July.

The ordeal was triggered by several texts messages from Aglaia Marie on the first day of so far the toughest test in her life.  In the first text minutes before they entered the examination room, she  informed us that she was so nervous she was near tears. My wife said that that the feeling of Aglaia Marie was but natural when one comes face to face with a difficult test. But me I just couldn’t dismiss it like ordinary jitters. I asked myself why should she be scared when she graduated  not exactly at the bottom of the class from  the second best nursing school in the region? On top of that, she also reviewed in one of the most expensive review centers in Baguio City. Now here she is losing her composure in the face of the board exams. Did I read the text right?

The second which arrived  around  past 11 announced that she just finished the first set but that the bad news was that she had to erase and replace some answers. That sent shivers down my spine because as though I had heard that erasure ruins the whole answer sheet when it’s a computer doing the checking. If that happens to my daughter, then the whole expense for the review goes down the drain as she gets a zero for one-fourth of the total items. I was tempted to call her to ask if they did not tell them in review school that erasing is a nono but told myself it was the wrong time to chide her.  

Aglaia  Marie was not about to run out of scary news. Late in the afternoon, she texted that she just finished the second set and this time no more erasures. However, she said that she was sure of only 10 answers. I was flabbergasted. How could she now pass the exams when she gets only 10 correct answers out of a set of 100 or so items? Even if she got perfect scores in the last two sets the second day of the exams, she will never make it, I tell myself.

What remained of my hopes that she would still be saved by a miracle were all but dashed when the following evening when she got home from the testing center she told Florence on the phone that all her answers were “basta” wrong. When Florence asked her where all the things she learned in school went, she replied that she did not know. As though that was not enough, she informed that when her classmates invited her to eat someplace to celebrate the completion of the exams, she declined because she felt so stressed.  That brought back to my mind what kept me from being in the full spirit of the occasion during the graduation rites on April 28. As I looked at the nursing graduates, I told myself that very soon, they will go separate ways: some will pass the board and proceed to pursue their dreams while the dumb or unlucky members of the class will have to nurse their wounds and try again. I was praying then that my child will not be among the latter but with all what she has been telling us on the cellphone before, during and after the exams, it appears that God did not hear my petitions on graduation day. She herself seems to know that she did not pass the exams, I was telling myself.  

Some days later, I cheered up a little bit when she said that she is thinking of reviewing for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). That seemed to indicate that she presumed to have passed the board.  Without meaning to hurt her, I said that she would have no practical use of the qualification unless she first passes the board. What I did not tell her was that I was afraid she would not pass two exams in a row because it would be more difficult to bounce back from a double whammy. I was relieved she did not insist.

I was happy that at the end of July, Aglaia  Marie came home.  I wanted her to be home when the results are released so that if she does not make it – by that time  I had already almost succeeded in inuring myself to the idea that she failed – we will be around to comfort and assist her. I was already ready with my gesture and dialogue. Once the devastating information reaches us, I will touch her hand or hug her then gently say that she will review for the next exams. Then silence. No word about her act of erasing the answers or where what she learned in school and review center went. That could wait when she fails in her third try. In the meantime, I was determined to be a good father and be a soothing presence in the nadir of the young life of my daughter.

 I never mentioned the examinations in the first three weeks of August except to ask when the results will likely be released to which she replied that it could be in the end of August or in early September. As the time drew nearer, my anxiety and anguish were mixed with some excitement and a little hope that contrary to all my fears and Aglaia Marie’s own, she will make it.

 With trepidation, I watched Aglaia Marie display her framed graduation picture in the living room beside that of her sister Pia Ursula. Then she had her other graduation photos printed and fixed in an album which she left underneath the living room table. I interpreted her act to mean that she was hopeful she passed the  board but at the same time, I was also asking myself how she would react to the graduation photos when the calamity takes place. Would she still be able to bear looking at them? As for myself, in courses with board exams like nursing, graduations photos sans proof of  acceptance by the profession only serve to remind one of one’s failure to make the grade. You do not display them. You keep them out of sight. 

 Thus I will always cherish the scene around 4 PM of August 27 when I went home to send my stories for the week as there was no Internet signal at the office. As I was removing my shoes outside the door, Aglaia Marie opened the door and told me “Pa, pimmasaak.” I understood it right away but still asked how she found out. She then led me to the computer and scrolled the list to her name. I thought I never would hear her say those two words and never would see her name in that list – this year anyway.

To end this tale, I want to express my thanks to the Benguet State University  specifically the College of Nursing for having adequately prepared my daughter for the toughest test of her life so far. All but two of Batch 2010 made it in their first try.