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We are called to do more than just be empathetic. 

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We are called to do more than just be empathetic. 

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The most important thing I learned in this course is honestly just the more rational side of the problems we see everyday. We are all aware of the systemic problems that we see in society but as much as we can say that we are against inequality in all ways, we should be better allies and actually do learn the reasoning behind these problems. Through the course, I was able to know more about how inequality in terms of class occurs through studying economic concepts as well as different perspectives.

In terms of the NSTP tie-up, I feel that an important part of allyship is also immersing one's self in communities. I feel that even though the online will always leave me unsatisfied, I was still able to come to know the communities and partner institution I was assigned to. Through this, we gain their knowledge and form actual concrete images of the people who do suffer from inequality caused by those in power. I feel as if I am more motivated to go back into volunteering and activism after as I see that we are called to be more than just an ear for their stories. We must be an active participant in the struggle for equality and learn from the people who experience these injustices to become better allies in their fight.

For feedback on the course and instructor, I'd like to first say thank you! Thank you so much sir for being an accommodating prof to deadline extensions as well as providing time for consultations and constructive comments to improve our. My one comment would be to lessen the workload a little as it was hard to juggle the course with my other subjects since junior year is always just packed!

Other than that, I have no more comments. Thank you so much sir and I hope you get to enjoy the summer and find the time to also unwind :)

- Neale Christian Tiu :)

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Helping out those in need of it the most means fulfilling our greatest purpose as human beings.

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Helping out those in need of it the most means fulfilling our greatest purpose as human beings.

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I found it worthwhile being able to spend time with the lovely people of our sector. It was an honor being able to take part in their lives even for just a few meetings, to learn about them and their situation, and to be able to assist in what little ways we could. I learned a lot about others and myself. I was reminded that education is an important thing that should be accessible to everyone, no exceptions. I will continue to do my best to do the best I can. I will work hard through my education in order to one day be more capable of helping others.

-Julio Laudico

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I think that the best one-sentence summary I could come up with all that I have learned in this course is that I have become more aware of my duties and responsibilities, not only just as a student, but as a member of the society. While economics is a subject that I generally do not dabble in as I am more inclined in the hard sciences and mathematics, I have come to appreciate what the course had to offer as I saw how equally important societal institutions play a role in the development and welfare of each and every person. The fact that we were also somehow able to apply what we have learned in real-life situations through our online engagements in NSTP also encouraged me to take this course seriously, rather than just taking this course for the completion of my program. Furthermore, I also believe that having had the opportunity to practice what we have learned further instilled in me of my responsibilities as a student and a future worker for the community. While recognizing my own pursuits and interests in medicine, I should, as always, keep in mind the general well-being and value of others.

All that being said, I would suggest that future students who would be taking this course free themselves of their thoughts of taking this course only as a requirement of the university. Granted that we all have had our initial impressions, these are but our own. We should actively and consciously think of others when taking this course as it is not only for our own.

- Jeanne Alcartado

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The greatest learning for me is that there are various ways to look at or define a problem in society - such as poverty -, and subsequently there is no one singular way to solve it. Growing up, I'm sure many of us may have had lofty dreams of becoming a super rich person and ending world-hunger for example. But these are only surface-level solutions if we don't target the systems in place that continue to keep our fellow citizens in the impoverished positions they are in. Solving the problem requires looking into it much more deeply, and – as we learnt in NSTP – working side by side with the community.

For feedback sir, I believe there were some requirements that could have been integrated better with NSTP in order to - as intended - lighten the workload. Additionally, I agree with a previously mentioned comment that the variety of groupings made it quite confusing and difficult. Moving forward, maybe having one or two groupings only throughout the semester would be easier. Aside from that, I appreciate the considerations you always gave us sir and I am grateful for this past semester. Thank you sir!

- Dani Hernandez

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I learned that it is important to learn about the issues that are specific to a community in order to be able to address them accordingly. This can be done by immersing one's self into a community, having a conversation with the community and being open-minded to the community. Theory is important, but truly learning about sustainability and development can only be fully done with exposure to the community.

NSTP comes into play here because this is where we are exposed to the community. In our engagement, it is important to pay attention to the people in the community especially given how distant and distracting the online setting can be. It's important to engage with the community and live in the moment, as to establish a relationship with the people in the community. That way, learning can be maximized, and helping the community will be more catered to what they need, and not what we assume the community needs.

I learned that the demotivation and the disinterest I have had in learning is partially due to how distant online learning can be. Being able to experience FLEX classes helped me connect to the course more. On that note, I'd like to thank you po sir for always being warm and engaging. It is really inspiring to learn from a teacher that makes a lot of effort to connect to the class and to have a little banter with us.

I hope to see you around po sir. Thank you so much po for this semester!

- Kal Sabido

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The world is more complicated than I thought.

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The world is more complicated than I thought.

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The world is more complicated than I thought. There are no direct solutions to problems as you have to take various factors into consideration. Solving the contemporary problems of the world or the Philippines takes a knowledgeable leader who has seen the various conditions and heard various perspectives of all people from different walks of life.

This course is suitable to be partnered with NSTP as the lessons we learned here are directly applicable to our partnered institutions. With NSTP partnering students with different sectors, we were able to see how SOCSCI concepts were applicable in real-life situations.

I would like to take this chance to thank you Sir! Thank you for staying consistent throughout this semester and showing compassion to us students, especially with the challenges we face outside of the academe. Thank you for holding FLEX classes for us. It was nice to enter and learn on the campus again. If I have to give a recommendation, that is the school have to provide quality mics during onsite classes since it's hard to hear professors talking with a mask on. Nevertheless, it was still an insightful experience. Thank you, Sir Charlon!

- Nicole Anne Reyes

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I would have to say that my greatest learning from this course would have to be that it is so easy to create issues for the country, but it takes twice or even thrice the effort to develop the country. One wrong move can have catastrophic consequences; an example would be the building of the Kaliwa Dam where it has displaced over 100,000 people as well as threatened their livelihood and habitats. The simple plan of creating this infrastructure has caused several damages that would take years to gain back. We can liken this to the domino effect: One push can cause all the bricks to fall down, but to put them back up again, you would need to do it piece by piece — and development of a country is the same. Given this learning, I realized how careful we must all be about our actions, and understand that even our individual actions contribute to the lives of others. To tie this in with NSTP, I saw that they were the ones experiencing the consequences of our actions, and by engaging with them, we have only begun to put one domino back up, understanding that there is so much more that needs to be done not only for them, but for the development of their community and our country.

In all honesty, there was a time where I really struggled in this course as the requirements were quite heavy (especially the Midterms). It was a bit lengthy to accomplish given the time frame and the depth of research that needed to be accomplished. However, I did enjoy the course itself. I was able to learn something new, something that is worth exploring further — and the way the topics were taught was very interesting, as well as timely given the current state of the world. A possible recommendation would be to explore further the tie-in with NSTP, not in the form of having to submit a paper, but to create and implement a program that would be of benefit to the partner community (in relation their development). I do understand the importance of our papers, but hopefully in the future, this course will be able to help provide a bigger impact on the partner communities (aside from the online engagements).

Finally, I just want to personally thank you po Sir for this semester! I was able to learn so much from our classes. Hope to see you around campus po!

- Audrey

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We need to look beyond what we think we know and understand by being with who we want to serve.

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We need to look beyond what we think we know and understand by being with who we want to serve.

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I'd say this would summarize everything I learned this semester as we looked at the different aspects that is involved in development. I used to always think economics was about income and all other financial aspects. But through the course I learned that there really is more to that which is the human capital aspect. It is through looking at what us humans need that will actually contribute to development and not just focus on income and all the like. Lastly, I learned to keep an open mind. Although the modules had lots of concepts presented, I understood them best through the conversations shared during class. In the end, I really enjoyed this class and look forward to using what I learned once I am out working in the world.

By: Trini Daco

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My greatest learning from this course is that there is no one 'silver bullet' that will instantly end all of society's woes and problems. All of society's ills are multi-faceted and complicated. Moreover, the causes of these problems are equally intertwined, with the roots of many economic problems lying in the intersection between history, psychology, and politics. Thus, we need to look at these multi-faceted problems with equally intersectional perspectives. With all of this in mind, it is imperative that we implement this at every level of trying to improve the holistic development of our nation—whether it is in helping design interventions for young children that are struggling with online class, or looking at macroeconomic problems.

As for feedback on the course itself, I have to say that there were several times where I struggled with information overload what with all the new concepts and the paradigms in every module. I also echo the sentiment mentioned in earlier posts that there were a little too much groupings in the class. This resulted in me, at times, not knowing who I was working with. Nevertheless, I appreciate all of the learnings from the course, and I think that the current socio-political climate of the country begs the need for courses like this to help form a more holistic view of sustainable development and social engagement for students in the Ateneo.

Thank you so much for the semester, sir!!!

- Juan Jacinto

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My greatest learning from this course is that development is not just about altering economies or structures, but it is about changing people’s lives for the better. I think that in learning multiple approaches on issues that we encounter, I was able to see how there was no single approach that would solve all our problems. This is greatly attributed to how we are all different and how each person, community, and country all have their own specific needs that cannot be solved in a vacuum. No matter how well certain solutions work for others, it might not benefit everyone else which makes it important to be sensitive and critical to the needs of others. Tying this with NSTP, I learned that listening to people really gives you better insight on how you can help them. I feel like many times, we tend to overlook the narratives of minorities when trying to find solutions to help them. However, I learned that there is more power in the narratives of the community rather than the books or readings we have in class.

As a whole, I think that the workload of the course seemed too heavy at times since there were multiple time-consuming requirements that seemed hard to accomplish in such a short period of time. However, I am still extremely grateful that I was able to have a fruitful NSTP and SocSc experience despite the online setting. I was really able to learn how to be critical of the information I receive and how I could be more open-minded to different approaches. I found myself enjoying recitation in class because I had a great desire to learn about the topics. With that, I’d like to thank you sir for giving me this opportunity to learn so much from you and from this course. Thank you for always being kind and generous especially when I’d message you for extensions or ask for multiple clarifications. Thank you for doing your best to teach us despite some difficulties with internet connection or jingles playing in the background. I really appreciate all the hard work you do for us and I hope to see you again soon on campus!

- Irelle

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For me, learning about the different systemic issues that continue to impoverish our country has given me a wider perspective about how our society works and general knowledge about what changes need to happen if we want a  better nation for everyone. Connecting this course with NSTP has given us an opportunity to get a glimpse of the reality of certain communities and how they're being affected by concepts and variables that we discussed in Socsci 13.

For this course, I greatly appreciate the consideration and feedbacks from the instructor for all the deliverables. But I admit that the workload was very challenging. Online learning has forced me to change my study habits and be more organized. For future students, it would absolutely be helpful to listen to and take notes from lectures and engage in the activities during the synchronous sessions.

To end this, I would like to thank sir for being very kind during this semester and trying to make the lectures lighthearted in some way. Your passion for this field was very evident in your teaching and it was inspiring, so thank you sir!

-Cristelle

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While we've discussed several topics within the last few months, I think that one thing I've come to appreciate would be the complexity of the different issues we come across. From the issues with the sector of education that we've been exposed to in our NSTP engagements, we've seen how poverty and different power dynamics also come into play. Digging deeper, we are able to see structures with several unaddressed gaps causing the issue along with frameworks that help us evaluate whatever we might not have considered initially. In seeing how issues are interdisciplinary, we are able to mix different perspectives in order to find common ground.

Regarding the course, I think it would be best to say that I was quite overwhelmed with the workload. Although I think I was able to complete all of the assessments without compromising my own standard, it was difficult to take pauses since it was heavily focused on papers with heavy research required prior to completion. I think one thing I've realized about myself was that I might prefer individual outputs more considering the several group papers we've had, but I acknowledge that this might be due to difficulties in adjusting to the time difference. To future students, I think that the course was fun overall but they should definitely prepare for what's to come. However, I do appreciate how engaging the sessions were despite only being able to attend a few times. The videos were also a good way to introduce the lesson as it was usually quite short but were effectively able to express the bulk of the lesson. I think you were a great professor and that your knowledge of economics definitely radiated through the corners of our screen. Thank you very much for the semester, sir!
-Rev

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My greatest learning from this course is that development does not work in a vacuum. There are always specific/overarching socioeconomic contexts, practical sustainability implications, supporting/flawed invisible structures, and stakeholder dynamics to consider before taking action. Even in NSTP, it was made clear to us how getting to know the narratives and current capabilities of the community would direct us to learn their needs and go about addressing these in a meaningful way.

As for the overall course, I loved how we could explore so many different interpretations of basic data points and patterns, especially when these would be connected to the country's real life situation instead of some abstract monetary concept. The downside of the course was that it was so heavy on writing and group works at every point of the semester with barely room for breaks. The intensity of the requirements to some degree revealed to me that I could survive such a workload, but I do not think I'd want to repeat the experience anytime soon. Still, I think the material was taught well and I appreciate how approachable and understanding you were with deadlines, Sir Charlon! Thank you for the sem!

- Mella

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Because of the complexity of the world and the problems that arise from it, I learned the harsh reality that  having the right intention is not enough to solve complex world problems because there are many variables that need to be considered. However, the most valuable lesson I learned in this course is that although all world issues are complicated, having your heart in the right place is a mandatory first step in solving such problems.

I found this course to be heavy on requirements, specifically the amount of bulky papers that were submitted. Regardless, I was able to learn many concepts that enabled me to view the world in different perspectives.

-Dwayne

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I found the course undoubtedly insightful and relevant to our current context. If I were to summarize my greatest learning, it would be that not everything is black and white. Through this class, I saw that the intersectionality of the many issues we face in this country (and globally) and the different perspectives that allow us to understand more behind why these issues exist today. I found that NSTP and SocSc had meshed well with each other in terms what we were learning in both classes, which only further stressed the relevance of the course content.

I did struggle in the course because technical terms and concepts in economics was something new to me, but Sir Mayo was able to explain these ideas in a way in which I could understand. A recommendation I would give to students taking this course in the future would be to really put in the effort to connect the ideas shared in this class with the “real world,” or what we see as Filipinos on a daily basis. I was able to use concepts from the class in discourse with family which proved to help us understand each other better.

- Nika

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One of my most significant learnings from this course would be the different lenses/perspectives we can use to understand the different economic issues that the Philippines experiences. Honestly, I am not such a big fan of economics (mainly because I find it too technical ;_;) but this course made me understand it in the simplest way possible. In a micro perspective, this also helped me understand the context of our partner community in NSTP especially since we have learned how economics and poverty play hand-in-hand.

As for my feedback on this course, I honestly found it a little challenging because of the workload which I found to be heavy. However, it was a very interesting class and the insights brought in every session made the difficulty bearable! Thank you sir for this semester (and for your patience and understanding on deadlines hehe), I wish to see you soon on campus!! :) - Maddie

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“Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.” - Karl Popper

In light of all the theories and concepts we learned and the struggle it took to learn them, I feel like this sentence captures the value of all I had to endure this semester. The amount of theories and perspectives presented by this course overwhelmed me to the point of questioning whether it was all necessary. After a while though, I could see the results: headlines in the news became easier to make sense of, narratives from our NSTP partners became easier to piece together and relate to broader socio-economic issues, and problems relating to development became easier to grasp and be viewed with the hope that they can eventually be overcome.

Regarding feedback on the class itself, I feel like the number of different group configurations was an unnecessarily difficult challenge to cope with 😅 I also feel like the midterm requirement was the most difficult output I ever had to work on for a midterm—but on the plus side, going through it made me realize that I am capable of more than I originally thought possible. So I would recommend to any student wishing to take this course in the future to buckle up, because this is not for the faint of heart, but the fruits are worth it!

For you sir, I would just like to say thank you for the semester! I learned a lot from this class and wish you all the best!

- Shao

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My biggest takeaway would be the multiple perspectives we tackled in approaching development, emphasizing that solutions must be done holistically because there is no one root cause for the issues we face in our development but rather an interconnected web of issues that must be addressed as a whole.

I think this is one of the better suited courses to tie in with NSTP, as it equips us with ways to better understand the roots and how to form solutions to issues that we encounter in our NSTP engagements. I really appreciate that we were able to hold onsite classes for this course as well since it is easier for me to focus and gain motivation onsite than online, and it was nice to see classmates that I've only been interacting with online.

-Zoe

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This course and NSTP taught me a lot of what it means when we say that we want to see development in our community. One of those ways that has greatly pressed me is the importance of education as something we should all invest in, not just monetarily, but as a means for everyone to find their potential so that they can uplift themselves and the greater society as a whole. Undoubtedly, I thank this course for helping me discern what I want to do in the future-- as someone in the education sector of the country.

Regarding feedback for this course, I did enjoy the flow of both asynchronous and synchronous classes. Asynchronously, the content was comprehensive enough that I am able to add it with my own insights for both SocSci and NSTP assignments. Synchronously, I always enjoyed attending classes for the lectures and the creative questions that made us think further (though I admit that I would often take time to speak up early on in class because I would adjust with the time difference here in india).  Nonetheless, I really enjoyed and cherish this class. Really do hope to meet everyone face-to-face real soon!

- Gillie

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The most valuable things I've learned from this course involve the multiple ways we can understand the issues that the Philippines faces while also finding ways to improve its current situation. With something like poverty, it's easy just to say "give the poor some money", and leave it at that. This course has shown that the flaws in the very structure of the economy leave many households deprived of needs and income. There are no simple solutions to these kinds of issues, and many of them lie within policies and government priorities.

As for the course itself, I found that while the workload was heavy at times, everything felt purposeful and helped deepen my understanding of economics and the challenges we face as a developing country. I'd also say that you've been a great professor and the lectures you conducted regarding the modules were well done. Thank you for this semester!
- Therese

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For me, my greatest learning from this course and NSTP would be that it is not simple or helpful to approach the concept of poverty through one lens only. Rather, it would be more productive to consider several different aspects in understanding this particular phenomenon.

As for feedback regarding this course, I would say that I found this class very interesting because I was able to look at the concept of poverty and economics through a different lens, one that is much easier to grasp. That said, I'd like to thank you for your insights and for facilitating this class well. I wish I could've joined the face-to-face class for this course, but nonetheless, I hope to see you around campus soon! :)

- Faye