reaction paper slash balahurang papel

I really don’t know how I was able to conceive such notion, but every time a teacher assigns a reaction paper, I always feel like it’s one of those joke papers I have to do, something I wouldn’t really take seriously.

Maybe it had something to do with that relate-it-to-yourself kind of approach you are expected to use in going about the paper. It isn’t like a diary that anyone would actually be honest, now would it? I mean, how can anyone actually appreciate a relate-it-to-yourself essay with no juicy gossips in it? Seriously.

At the same time, let’s not kid each other and be blatant to say that in any reaction paper, there is only one objective of the student, to try to verbalize what the professor actually wants to hear.

Say, if it’s a seminar sort of gathering, the most common entry would be “I’ve learned a lot of things regarding this field because blah, blah, blah and I will be using it for the rest of my life.”

If it’s a testimony, “I’m really inspired to what he/she said especially when he/she talked about blah, blah, blah,” then ending it with that sort of thought provoking, emotionally appealing sentence.

On the other hand, if it’s a talk done by the teacher himself/herself, most of what might come out in the paper are points of agreement and not of disagreement. For a simple-minded high school student, why would anyone dare to disagree if you’re only aim is to get good grades.

Talking about all those high school reaction papers reminds me how I used to sweet-talk and play around with words just to make it sound “good”.

Then, why do I have to do one again? There must be more to life than this. (Imagine the bumping of the head on the wall)

Then I ask, what is the essence of a written form? Why do I actually have to write all these reaction papers in the first place? For the teacher to find out if I was actually listening to what they were saying, if that’s the only purpose I need to achieve, it makes the paper quite superficial, wasting printer inks and white paper. Think of all the trees I’ve misuse for all these nonsense. (I know. Ma’am Rara has gotten into me. I’ve become conscious of the environment. Yes, me, the patron of Ate Gloria’s take-out-in-a-styro lunch and plactic-cupped iced tea. How ironic)

It rather brings me back to media as a whole. In one of our discussions in our thesis proposal, (god. Thesis. Don’t remind me) is media a source of information? Yes, of course. However, it is not completely a source of information since it contains a lot of trash as well especially in television (and yes, in less than a year, I’ll eventually be one of those people working in the network responsible for such trash. Depressing, I know)

This makes me go back to my question. What is the essence of media? What is the purpose that media must serve?

In simple terms, to be a source of information. But unless it’s as brightly colored as Barney, it would really never sell. (I really hate Barney, that singing purple dinosaur that suggests homosexuality to children, that goes for Tinky Winky as well. What is it with the color purple in the first place? Haha, me and my children’s show angst. I call for the revival of Batibot! bwahaha)

Sell. Ratings. Business. (which reminds me of my very own business-minded, profit-oriented, marketing organization, the student council. angst. angst. angst) All these concepts deviate the media for serving its true purpose, just like that wasted reaction paper. Every space is power, and must therefore be used with responsibility. (reminds me of Spiderman. And being the Marvel fan that I am, I hate the third movie, bad)

If you had the opportunity to reach thousands of people, what will tell them? Will you say to them what they want to hear? Or what they needed to hear which will also serve the very essence of media, to make use of the space and serve its very purpose. (talk about good use of space. I just love Conrado de Quiros’ three previous columns. click here)

The reaction paper is a joke paper because I chose it to be.

Instead, make it a chance to address the issues that I think should be critical about, to be able not to conform to what everyone else is doing, to flop but make every sense of space I use up.

The reaction paper is what I want it to be; the media is what its practitioners want it to be, and never what the people wants to see, a choice and never a trap. A stage play will never be “poor” because of its audience; it’s the people who worked in it.

(Apologies for the side comments. I’m actually having fun with this. Then again, I still have to do my reaction paper. I really needed to convince myself to make good of it, now do I. Hate you Sir for this)