Lola Bats story 9: Kung siguro ako'y nag-aral, matalino din ako
Lola Bats was always happy to learn that her grandkids were finishing school or were handling things that were high tech to her. She was also always willing to learn how to use the latest gadgets. We all thought that if provided with internet connection, Lola Bats would be able to find a way to communicate with all her kids and grandkids living abroad.
When faced with a technology she hadn't handled yet, she'd always go: Kung siguro ako'y nag-aral, matalino rin ako.
And then she'd continue talking about her going to school with a copy of the Liwayway magazine instead of notebooks and pencils. Liwayway is a magazine which started publication in the 1920s; its early days was when Lola Bats was starting to learn how to read. The magazine has seen Tagalog literature develop (for instance, the series "Kuwento ni Lola Basyang" was published in the magazine).
She never realised that she really was intelligent. She only finished first grade but she and Lolo Bats (who finished sixth grade, I think), despite the lack of education, were able to set up an ice cream business, a bakery, and a public jeepney business in my dad's youth. More importantly, they were able send all their children to school.
Lola would then talk about how their friends and neighbours used to see them as parents. Many of them laughed at my grandparents, saying that Lola and Lola were raising "soft" kids by keeping them in school until they finish college. Their neighbours' children, for example, were already working as hired hands in the sugarcane farms before they were 18 years old and thereby contributing to the family income early on.
Lola's response to those who laughed at her and Lolo Bats: Para na akong bingi.
That great instinct of hers (and of Lolo's) led to a pharmacist, a nurse, a medical doctor, and three entrepreneurs. She definitely did not have regrets.
When faced with a technology she hadn't handled yet, she'd always go: Kung siguro ako'y nag-aral, matalino rin ako.
And then she'd continue talking about her going to school with a copy of the Liwayway magazine instead of notebooks and pencils. Liwayway is a magazine which started publication in the 1920s; its early days was when Lola Bats was starting to learn how to read. The magazine has seen Tagalog literature develop (for instance, the series "Kuwento ni Lola Basyang" was published in the magazine).
She never realised that she really was intelligent. She only finished first grade but she and Lolo Bats (who finished sixth grade, I think), despite the lack of education, were able to set up an ice cream business, a bakery, and a public jeepney business in my dad's youth. More importantly, they were able send all their children to school.
Lola would then talk about how their friends and neighbours used to see them as parents. Many of them laughed at my grandparents, saying that Lola and Lola were raising "soft" kids by keeping them in school until they finish college. Their neighbours' children, for example, were already working as hired hands in the sugarcane farms before they were 18 years old and thereby contributing to the family income early on.
Lola's response to those who laughed at her and Lolo Bats: Para na akong bingi.
That great instinct of hers (and of Lolo's) led to a pharmacist, a nurse, a medical doctor, and three entrepreneurs. She definitely did not have regrets.
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