My dream of owning my own school started in 1993. When I was working on my undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin, I received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the Philippines. While there, I became very aware of the inequity in education. As soon as my scholarship ended, I made a vow to go back and teach in the Philippines.

I came back one year later and began my teaching career. I was a young idealistic teacher who was out to change the Philippine educational system. However, I soon realized that the system was bigger than my enthusiasm and idealism. After two years, I left the Philippines dejected but not beaten. I knew that somehow I can do something to help. And since I know that I couldn’t beat the system from the outside, I have do it from the inside, thus the idea of starting my own school came to be.

This dream has been a long time comming. And thanks to my wife and my in-laws, it will finally happened. The school’s curriculum, educational model, vision and mission have been ready for quite sometime now and I was just waiting on securing the location and the building to get everything started. Now that the site is secured, phase two, renovation, can begin.

While one of the biggest obstacle is conquered, there are still many hurdles to face, like acquiring funding for renovation, materials, and staffing. The task seems daunting but it’s definitely exciting. I am confident that everything that needs to be accomplished to open the school will be accomplished.

I am confident because I have the support of my wife and my children. I am confident because I have the internet as my platform for raising funds. In addition to other funding means, I know that through the ads on my site and your donation, I will secure enough money to get the ball rolling.

So, this is the part where I ask for your help. Would you please make a donation and would you please continue to visit my site and be a part of this exciting journey. As my family and I go through the multiple stages of opening a school, I will make sure that you will become a part of our endeavor through regular posting updates.

Thank you for allowing me to share this moment with you. Hopefully in the future, you will be able to say that you were a part of the birth of one of the most influential educational model in the world.

It’s here again. It has begun and it’s turning ugly and fast. Cover your children’s eyes and ears because it will not be pretty.

What I am referring to is the political mudslinging. The 2008 primary season has been very subdued when  it comes to negative attacks. We were all riding the good wave of positive rhetoric and political civility. Unfortunately, now that the  race is nearing its climactic moment, we are seeing the candidates and their surrogates rolling up their sleeves and slinging mud at each other.

Here are two examples:

1. Barack Obama being called Barack Osama or his middle name being mentioned over and over again, Barack Hussien Obama, in order to raise anti-Islam sentiment without being too obvious. 

2. John McCain’s alleged involvement with a female lobbyist. While there is no accusation being thrown around, the suggestion of behavioral inappropriateness is obvious.

So it seems like nothing has changed. The candidate with less negative press will win. I thought this election was going to be different and that we will finally make our choice as confident voters and not as scared voters.

How can I keep telling my own children and my students to focus on positivity and civility if what they are going to see from this year’s election is a salvo of negativity?

Please American voters for the sake of my students and my children, do not let this happened. Show them that you are not stupid.

Your Fellow Citizen,

Chris

Are you for real? Are you really ready to elect a woman or a black man for president? Can you actually go beyond your racist and sexist attitudes and make the right choice?

Or,

Are you just teasing me, making me salivate over the prospect of a black man or a woman president? Are you sadistically getting my hopes up only to crush it during the General Election? 

Can I actually tell my inner city students that they too have a chance of becoming the President of the United States? Can Dr. King’s word finally ring true “…that they will be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin…?”

But

Honestly, I think that you are not ready yet. You still have a lot of issues to deal with. But then again, I woudn’t want to put anything pass you because you do have the tendency of surprising people or the tendency to prove people wrong; specially when you are told that you not capable of doing something as important as this election is.

So America, I urge you or better yet, I dare you to prove me wrong. Show me that you can live up to your potential of being the best nation on earth, where people are free and where justice and equality reign supreme.

Your Hopeful Citizen,

Chris

Yes, you are my best friend even though you don’t know that you are because I never told you that you are my best friend. I decided to write to you to let you know how much I admire you.

I admire you because you are a good person. Many people pretend to be good even though deep down inside that they are not. You never talk about being good you just do good things. While you never consider yourself as a man of God or faith, your actions show that you are.

I know enough people who preach and pronounce their love and obedience to Jesus but their actions contradict Jesus’ teachings. But you, for a person who doesn’t like religion or organized faith, you follow, albeit unintentionally, Jesus’ teachings religously. You are kind, giving, and merciful.

Best friend, I have tried to be like you but most of the times I fail. I can only succeed in emulating your examples when I know that I can gain something from my actions. While we share many characteristics in common, selflessness is not one of them. Your goodness is at the core of your being while mine is at the surface.

There were plenty of times when I witnessed you help other people and many times when you helped me with no questions asked and with  no pre-conditions.

I hope that someday my children can be like you. I hope that they can be good for the sake of being good. I often use you as an example when I teach my children how to be a good person because it will be disingenuous of me if I use myself as an example.

I use to wonder how you became the person you are. My questions were answered when I had the opportunity to meet you and spend sometime with your parents. You are who you are because you had good people to emulate.

So my bestfriend, I thank you again from being good. I hope that you and your spouse will have lots of children so that there will be more people like you in this world.

Your friend,

Chris