after much procrastination: interviews

At long last. After so much procrastination Weng and I had been doing last year, we both started out our year by reminding ourselves to start doing something (or else we don't graduate on april, or else I will be having problems with my scholarship).

We started calling and faxing letters to the different schools last week asking for an interview with the professors teaching journalism ethics, as well as a copy of the course syllabus.

By Monday, we were able to schedule two interviews for today, one of the two ethics professors from University of Santo Tomas and from Manila Times School of Journalism.

What I noticed with the two interviews is that the professors are quite defensive every time we ask them of the details discussed in their syllabus, as if we were the panel, as if we were going to downgrade their teaching as we compare it with the UP method of teachign ethics.

Come to think of it, what we really wanted was just to explore how ethics is being taught and how each school incorporates the philosophies adhered by the university in the subject.

Maybe we should note that, to explain precisely what this thesis aims to do.

Anyway, based on the two interviews, ethics is not differentiated with morals and being legal. And maybe, noticing this, we should also be asking directly how the professors define ethics.

To add another personal note here, I found it difficult to be objective when I quite disagree with the statements giving by the professors. Whereas in UP we were allowed to question what people tells us, it is quite awkward to assert the same aggressiveness to people who are not used to such behavior.

For example, I asked the UST professor if she was allowed to make her own syllabus because it was her, a very credible and experienced journalist in matters of ethics, and such a privilege is not given to most professors. She looked at me wide-eyed and jumped into another topic. It was then I realized that I have been quite tactless.

However, having to interview a professor that is obviously defensive and rather vague in most of her answers, we were very tempted to ask the questions in a direct way. Seeing that Weng was sort of making transitions to a topic, I would instantly ask tactlessly.

Come to think of it, Weng had always been the more agressive one. If I would allow myself to be filled with bitterness again, I would know who are to blame for the change in me, especially if some people actually comends the way I ask questions.

Then again, there's no use blaming anyone. The question is, how do I safeguard myself of not offending the professors when I ask very direct question.