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Welcome
to the Search for a Humble Atenean!
Introduction
Before
we begin, we would like to acknowledge that, yes,
we did realize that our
chances of success were about as likely as Ateneo winning the 65th
UAAP basketball championship. Yes, the outlook was pretty
bleak, but we were giving it a shot... after all, Ateneo did
win.
So
we set about with the same determination. By hook or by crook,
we were going to find one
humble Atenean.
In
retrospect, we should have realized that lightning does not strike
twice. Ateneo had won the basketball championship. The
chances of finding a humble Atenean had just dropped from minimal to
zero. Like we said, this realization came in retrospect... we
didn't consider that when
we started.
Methodology
We
set about to find our rarest of specimens wherever we could.
We conducted a survey. We interviewed Ateneans. We
interviewed non-Ateneans (that was a mistake!) We observed
Ateneans behaving in work situations, social situations and even
internet situations.
Note:
If you are just reading this because you want to know the story of
our success, forget it.
You might as well just click here
and spend your time on more worthwhile endeavors.
Surveys:
We sampled 25 Ateneans to understand their perception of
themselves. Each Atenean answered ten (10) items similar to
the one below. Their answers were then tallied. We were
prepared to declare any Atenean who "distinguished"
himself as our Humble Atenean. Sadly, this method
resulted in no humble Ateneans.
Sample
Item: I am
one of the most humble persons I know (1 - Disagree, 9 - Agree):
□1
□2
□3
□4
□5
□6
□7
□8
□9
Interviews:
We interviewed ten (10) Ateneans from all walks of life.
Without meaning to preempt the results (and in any case, you already
know what they are), we would just like to state here that the end
of each interview was like the lifting of a damp and oppressive
fog. Boy, these Ateneans do enjoy listening to their own
voices.
We
also interviewed four (4) non-Ateneans. We had intended to
interview ten (10) but the extremely negative response we received
from the first four was enough to convince us that this would not
contribute to our efforts. We initially thought that by
interviewing persons who had been accepted into Ateneo (they had
to show us their acceptance letters), we would be able to avoid
the anti-Ateneo sentiment that results from such a rejection.
We came away with the conclusion that anti-Ateneo sentiment has far
more to do with Ateneans than enrollment policies.
Observation:
We unleashed our group of seven (7) researchers -- spies, if you
prefer that term -- into the real world in the hopes of capturing live
evidence of Atenean Humility. Our researchers situated
themselves close to the Ateneans in their work places and observed
them over a minimum period of three (3) weeks.
We
also instructed our observers to identify and interact with Ateneans
at many social functions.
Finally,
we observed the interaction of Ateneans over the internet through
the use of "forwarded e-mails" and internet forums (such
as pinoyexchange.com, pinoycentral.com and atenista.net). In
some cases, we asked known agitators to start discussions which we
had hoped would uncover their apparently well-hidden humility.
For
the Love of God... Why!?!
Good
question. Why would anyone want to invest so much time and
effort into what may end up a wild goose chase? Simple, our
group had grown tired of listening to all the arguments based on the
Atenean Arrogance Stereotype. We decided that if we could find
one Humble Atenean, we would move on to more interesting
ideas... By now you can probably tell that we have too much
time, money and fanaticism with regard to alma maters.
So...
on to the Search!
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