Stereotypes by Monica Pontejos

Hipsters, good-for-nothing Ateneans, future beggars of the Philippines, ang mga pasang-awa, and a directionless-bunch-of-students-who-are-in-college-for-the-sake-of-being-in-college: these are the overruling stereotypes against the School of Humanities students of the Ateneo; and taking it from the abovementioned labels, you could probably already tell that of all four schools, we are, what others would consider, “the underdogs”. As much as we are highly extolled for our exceptional artistic abilities, such as writing, drawing, graphic design, acting, singing, and everything else in between; we, in turn, are undermined for our relatively “dull” minds. If we are looking at a true-to-life scenario here, then one probably would not approach a School of Humanities student in the hope of disentangling out-of-this-world mathematical equations. Get the picture?

Prior to entering the Ateneo, I was utterly clueless on the stereotypes there were for each of the four schools — in all honesty; I didn’t even know (or rather, care) how many other schools existed. I deliberately chose to take up AB Interdisciplinary Studies because I felt that it was the closest thing I had to being a double major; as my block mates would say, to be an AB IS major is to have the “best of both worlds”. Know that I desired AB IS because I knew I would seek happiness in pursuing my interests in college. However, when I stepped into the university, I gradually came to realize that my course is notorious for:

• Being the athlete’s cop-out from taking up the most difficult of subjects
• The lost souls with no final destination in mind
• An easy course to get into, and is therefore your easy pass to becoming blue-blooded

In a nutshell, AB IS, or almost every course under the School of Humanities at that, is often perceived to be everything but prestigious and hopeful. So yes, deem me credible enough to be writing about stereotypes because if anything, I certainly know what it feels like to be labeled. 

I mean, who wouldn’t feel uneasy knowing that their future rests in and uncertainty all thanks to their college degree? We all want to be Bill Gates, swimming in pool of money. But every now and then, Jessie J knocks on my brain, and reminds me that it’s not about the money.

A few days ago, a friend told me, “They say it’s not about the money; but it is,” for a moment, I felt the need to agree with her as I envisioned a future me, begging on the streets, living on scraps of food; but then I said, “No, it’s not; because money can’t buy you happiness.” (Thank you, Jessie J. I still took those words from your song.)

More often than not, life is about what makes you happy. I’m not too sure about you but I would rather be a middle-class citizen of New York, transforming my innermost thoughts into words and sharing my passion with the world; than be filthy rich, sitting on a desk all day, talking to a piece of paper with a nonsensical Mathematical equation jotted on it, and telling it, “Go solve yourself.” As a BFA Creative Writing major, who also happens to be my friend, once tweeted, “It’s one thing to calculate figures using formulas, and it’s another to create an entire world.”

So stereotypes? Please, forget them. Because the only way to combat a stereotype is not to come up with even harsher words, but to prove to them that they have misjudged you. Completely.

 It’s not about belonging to a course beginning with the letters “AB” or “BFA” when others tell you it should not be so. Infuse your faith in the truth that wherever you are now, you are meant to be there; and know that no one can ever make you feel inferior without your consent. 

You are an artist, so live up to that title and dream BIG.

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Monica Pontejos is an AB Interdisciplinary Studies major in her second year, with tracks in Psychology and Management.