Crime and Consequences

Indeed, with every action comes an equal but opposite reaction.

Our group has been pretty busy, trying to cram the case presentations (CPs) we were supposed to make for the entire semester down into just a few days. If it weren't for the fact that we would not be cleared to take the final exams if we didn't pass all six CPs, no one in our group would probably be working their butts right now. Haha. Ironic, really, considering during the semester we tried to avoid telling our CIs when it was CP week just to avoid making and passing CPs.

They are a hassle. My mom tells me the CPs we were supposed to make are useless. I am tempted to agree. I mean, in a group of ten, only half of the people actually do the work. The rest of the group are, well, "props." Most only rely on the industrious or smart group mates and this is where you see student parasitism in all its glory. In UPMin, I don't recall any incidents of this going on (maybe because we were very rarely grouped together there and besides, UP studes want to earn good grades so they do their share of the work). In Davao Doc, on the other hand, lots of students, being practically academic average Joes (or even less, sometimes) have learned to get by through leeching on to people whom they know will work to earn a high grade. It's annoying. But I guess that's what you get when you enroll in a private school that puts more emphasis on looking good than actually doing good.

Add to this CP cramming thing, there is also this problem with Ate Marj. She is one of our group mates, who, by sheer bad luck, is currently in the hot seat. She had been absent during the afternoon of our first day of 911 training. Our CI found out and he has been breathing down her neck ever since. It got to the point that Ate Marj became too afraid to come to during the second and third day of training in fear that our CI would humiliate her in front of three sections (we were three sections all in all being trained). And now, like some drawn-out drama, our supervisor is asking for a letter from someone in class who had "witnessed" that Ate Marj indeed suffered from hypertension that morning, leading to her absence in the afternoon.

Now this would have been the best way to close this chapter on the Ate-Marj-going-AWOL-during-911-training but there is a big problem: how do you prove that she actually had high blood pressure that morning? No one checked her BP. And she even informed Ate Lily that she was going home that day because her period was unusually heavy (not related to increased BP, now, is it?) Jazz, my other groupmate, told me that Ate Marj said she was not feeling well that lunchtime, probably due to her hypertension acting up. With this two opposing stories, I am not really sure if Ate Marj's reason for skipping the afternoon lectures was indeed due to a sudden surge in her BP. But I'll give her the benefit of the doubt anyway. And if that wasn't enough, when Ate Marj was called by the supervisor and Sir CI, Sir CI said 17 of her "close friends" verified that Ate Marj was habitually absent during classes, meaning her absence in 911 wasn't the first time she skipped class. Now, I do agree that Ate Marj does tend to skip classes (and me and my group were rather impressed how she never managed to get caught...until now that is) but I doubt 17 people "close" to her would actually leak this out to any CI. I mean, if this people were really "close" to her as Sir CI said, I doubt they'd rat her out. And I don't think Ate Marj has that many "close friends" in class to begin with. It leads me to believe that Sir CI may be stretching the truth on that one just a bit. I do think he interviewed one or two people in class, but I doubt he actually asked 17.

But really, this whole problem with Ate Marj skipping the 911 session would not have been blown out of proportion had she asked permission from sir that she go home because she was not feeling well. Had she asked and not gone home with telling any CI, maybe she wouldn't be in such deep trouble at the moment. And Sir CI, being somewhat stubborn, also has a bad habit of being tactless at times so it was understandable why Ate Marj decided to skip the entire 3 days training all together.

I didn't know there would be this much drama before the semester officially ends.