The ridiculous and the facts

It is truly ridiculous to see someone attacking me for trying to help students—a clear and simple fact. The fact is I never labeled Ms. M as being a politician but as being associated, connected, and supporting the politics of the CNMI by figuratively asking us to “let it be” with the scholarships. Where did she learn civics and government?

Fact, I never said or accused Ms. M of anything other than figuratively asking me and others to “let it be” and forget about the scholarship money. Civics and even the law dictates that if you have money coming to you from a contractual agreement that you have a right to speak-up and even protest. So it is ridiculous for someone to complain about something that is truly the right thing to do because to do nothing is what got us in this social, economic, and political nightmare we are presently living out.

Fact, Ms. M only mentioned her success and never mentioned any of her hardships when comparing herself with other students, which was not a fair comparison as it led me to believe she was better off financially. So I will have to change my interpretation from arrogance to self-serving as it was about how she made it and not others. I do want to take this opportunity to offer kudos to Ms. M and her husband for pursuing higher education degrees and to offer an apology. But what I would really like to know is when and if her husband intends to return and fulfill their obligation to the CNMI? I say this because there is a two-edged sword on this issue. Many students don’t have any intention of returning and the other side of this two edge sword is that it was just reported only 42 of 208 returning scholars find jobs, which tells me the government is not transitioning these scholars into the workforce as alien workers are forced to leave.

It is ridiculous to say the student’s contracts are not in violation when the checks were due in January and it is now June—even without a time being stipulated I’m sure any judge will agree this time frame is beyond “reasonable.” Fact, I also never placed the blame on the CNMI or SHEFFA office but on the governor which is why the protest is in front of his office –duh! So Ms. M needs to get her facts straight.

Fact, I never said the government made the students decision but was a big part of the consideration in the decision of students—so I hope Ms. M understands this sentence in English. I’m sure most if not all the students in college have the same drives as Ms. M as we are all the same but we are not all in the same socioeconomic position. So it is ridiculous for Ms. M to expect everyone to follow her same path. She should consider herself lucky and fortunate to have gotten this far and thanking God instead of helping the government to “let it be” and telling students and parents to give up on our own government—this is why I asked where did she learn her civics and government?

It is a well known fact and ridiculous to assert in any form that going to college is a risk. We drill a college education into our children starting in their formative years because we know education pays off eventually every time. The things Ms. M call risk are avenues for getting a college education and the whole purpose of the scholarships was to prevent our students from having to go down the roads of a high or low-paying loan and having a high debt.

Now she is telling students to just “let it be” and forget about the scholarships and don’t do anything about it, which is beyond ridiculous its Ma-tapang!

As for taking constructive criticism, the author would do herself some good to take this constructive and objective reply to heart. What is really needed is a “Repatriation Program” to monitor scholarship recipients and assist the on-island and off-island students with returning to the CNMI once they have completed their degree. No one in government is really doing the necessary homework to make the scholarship programs and the transition to U.S. labor successful—that’s the real epic center of the problem beyond funding.

PS: I’m trying to help students and someone wants to throw rocks at me and I didn’t even mention a name because it is not about the person. But I have found that many locals use this name-calling tactic to purposely invoke disrespect not knowing it will not deter me and it only serves to help the cause. It also shows they are not professionals or objective but bias and only focusing on the messenger and not the message, which is the main reason I am able to keep saying I told you so