Espejo,

Merylle

Jane

J.

June 29, 2016

2012-50139
Ms. Audrey Mirasol

Affiliated vs. Unaffiliated: School Organizations Do More Harm Than Good

Way back 2012 when I enter college at University of the Philippines, there are a lot
of upperclassmen students encouraging freshmen to join their organization since
according to them it gives many benefits such as having an academic security,
more friends and being in. In my view it is not really essential to be affiliated with
different organizations for a student to graduate on time or even to graduate with
flying colors. Is only being affiliated a measurement of a true UP student?
Many believe that an organization is a college family; there are upperclassmen
students who are always there to help in terms of dealing different problems
especially academic difficulties. There are programs and tutorials which are
conducted by some of the professors who are alumni of the organization, group
studies, seminars, sports and etc. In these events, students have the opportunity to
meet new friends and to be in which means to be not an outsider and to be
somehow belong in the university. Organizations help students in their academic
fields by providing sample exams and lecture slides from previous students in a
specific subject and even from professors. I agree that joining an organization has
its benefits but I insist that it should not be a requirement or a measurement of
being a true UP student, for me, personal hard work, motivation, hope and
perseverance still matter.
Considering our block last semester, 8 only out of 30 fourth year BS Civil
Engineering students were unaffiliated to any organizations and I am one of those
independent students. This scenario gives a clear idea how college students are
very eager to join an organization, how they value and cherish the label affiliated.
Being an unaffiliated, I believe that academic achievement and self improvement
start within ones self. Personal hard work is one of the essential key to success, an

unaffiliated student tends to give more effort in achieving academic excellence

compared to affiliated one who only relies to his/her orgmates, sample exam and
group studies. Engaging in a group study before an exam is helpful since you will
learn new information and strategies in solving and answering the exam but I argue
that it is only effective if each student of the group study first on his/her own.
Individual studying helps students to review, understand and absorb the concepts
systematically; there are no distractions from others which might affect his/her
understanding. Studying individually develops a sense of self motivation, cheering
up own self to pursue and to try harder; being independent prevents peer
dependency which is one of the primary disadvantage of having an organization.
Since teenagers are in the stage of practicing to separate with their parents and
their childhood life, they are learning to know and mould their personality with the
help of their friends or peers; however in this process the concept of individual
identity was forgotten since teenagers are tend to rely on the behaviour of their
peers (Schickedanz 631-632). Because of this, teenagers would not be able to
improve and to know their own identity but the identity and beliefs of the peer
group. Instead of having their own identity and decisions, teenagers are likely to
conform to the peer actions and vices like drinking alcohol, smoking and etc. It also
affects self esteem because according to my affiliated friends, they are required to
pass their grades every end of the semester to their academic committee for their
academic performance to be monitored. But what happened to the confidentiality of
the students grade? We all know that comparison of grades within the organization
cannot be prevented and sometimes these habits may negatively affect the selfesteem of a student especially if he/she commits failing grades. What will happen to
his/her self-confidence? But there is nothing to worry about since there are brothers
and sisters in the org who will offer advice and help students to move on, however,
there are also orgmates who are bad influence and tease others whenever he/she
was caught studying seriously. Some affiliated students thought that studying and
reading a book is unnecessary since they are provided already

with different

resources like sample exams by their organization and it is easy to study even at
the night before the exam, this is known as cramming. Cramming can be described
by renting ideas and information instead of owning it (Houghton College, n.d.). In
other words, cramming creates only short term information because long terms
were achieved by fully studying, understanding and absorbing the lessons and its

concepts. Affiliated students promote cramming since most of their time was
allotted in attending org works, meetings, hang outs and events and since they are
fully committed to their organization, it is their priority rather than giving time for a
serious and long hour of studying. According to my affiliated batch mates, the most
time consuming part was the application process where approximately one
semester would likely suffered because there are different tasks that has to be
done, interviews and presentations etc. On the other hand, unaffiliated students
have a lot of freedom on their personal time, maybe it can be considered as the
best privilege which is to own and to be able to manage your own time. Unaffiliated
students can hang out with their friends, have a quality time with their family and
loved ones and have time for his/her self, where future planning and goal setting
happened and the most important is the time for serving and thanking God for the
everyday gift of life, blessings and guidance. Being in the ordinary class of the
society is probably one of the reasons why I am decided to be unaffiliated up to now
that I am already a graduating student. Participating in org events requires not only
an ample time but also extra money. Extra money is essential for various
contributions for organizations projects, meetings and after class hang outs. I chose
to be unaffiliated because I wanted to go back home immediately and to prevent
spending my parents money which I know that they have been worked hard for and
is reserved for my everyday regular expenses in school.
Many would say that unaffiliated students were introverts, anti-social and not
academically competent since they are passive students. Being one of these
students and considering my experiences, I can prove that this negative perception
is wrong, unaffiliated students are not anti-social or introverts the truth is they tend
to have more friends not only within a specific organization but also to others. I
concede that socializing is not bad however students must learn how to decide for
own self and do not only rely on their orgmates. Learning to be independent is an
essential attitude towards maturity and is the value that each student should
acquire after his/her college life. Yet some readers may challenge my view by
insisting that my experience was an isolated case only, I argue that it is not and it
really happens to unaffiliated students. For example, Jihan Pacer is a graduating
student of BS Civil Engineering program and one of my block mates, according to
her, she decided to be an unaffiliated since she noticed that most of the

organizations events starts after class hours and will end at probably ten or eleven
in the evening which is very hard for her because she is residing in Laguna, for her,
academics must be prioritized rather than other things. Another is John Kenneth
Musico, also a BSCE graduating student who chose to be an unaffiliated because like
Jihan he consumes two to three hours of travel to reach their house in Cavite. Being
unaffiliated does not affect the academic competency of Jihan and Kenneth, as a
matter of fact; they are candidates for summa cum laude and magna cum laude in
the next years graduation. These unaffiliated students are striving harder
compared to those affiliated since they know that they have no resources such as
sample exams, lecture slides and upperclassmen friends who will help and teach
them in their courses. In fact, there are affiliated students who decided to be
inactive since they later realized how time consuming being in an organization was,
one of my friends told me that he is already inactive to his organization since he
chose to prioritized his work as a student assistant in their dorm because it
somehow helps him to support his financial needs while studying. These are some
of the evidences why joining an organization in colleges should not be a compulsory.
According to Malcolm Muggeridge, a British journalist, media personality and a
satirist, Only dead fish swim with the stream. Likewise, Ralph Waldo Emerson, an
American essayist, lecturer and poet states To be yourself in a world that is
constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. The
essence of their arguments is relevant to our main issue, we all know that having an
organization is prevalent in our university however students must not just conform
to this, we should remember that we are not puppets of our society, we all have our
own decisions and right to choose the path which we are well-fitted in and
comfortable with. In reality, all degree programs in the university are difficult but
still each of us has the potential to become a laude through personal hard work,
motivation, hope and perseverance, characters not only a UP student should own
but other college students as well.

Bibliography:
College, Houghton. Academics: Procastiination and Cramming. 28 June 2016
<http://www.houghton.edu/academics/academic-resources/center-for-academicsuccess-and-advising/study-advisement/time-management/procrastination-andcramming/>.
Guillemets, Terri. Quotations about Conformity. 22 May 2016. 28 June 2016
<http://www.quotegarden.com/conformity.html>.
Pacer, Jihan and John Kenneth Musico. Personal stand about being unaffiliated
Merylle Jane Espejo. 28 June 2016.
Quotes about Conformity. 28 June 2016
<http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/conformity>.
Schickedanz, Judith A, Karen Hansen and Peggy D. Forsyth. Understanding Children.
California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1990.