Newsmaker: Good luck to all “Balik Eskwela ” Students of Schoolyear 2008-09!
This coming schoolyear, the Philippines is expecting 13.9 million elementary students, 6.8 million high school students, and about 2.4 million undergrads to attend public and private schools. That’s a total of 23.1 million students in a country that has a population of 90 million. This means that 25% of our population is still at school. I hope that most, if not all, of them will be able to complete their formal education. Perhaps this was also on DepEd Sec Lapus’ mind as he announced the cancellation of the school uniform policy in public schools (to lessen school expenses) and he applauded G-Watch’s “Textbook Walk” (to monitor the distribution of textbooks).
But if the completion of formal education is not possible, I hope we can find some inspiration from drop-outs who have made it big, the most famous one being Bill Gates, who left Harvard in his junior year to start a software business-You may have heard of his company
- Bill Gates held the title of being the richest man in the world for 13 years. This year, he’s no.3 mainly because he now focuses his time and attention to others in need. Gates has donated about $800 million to charities. Someone like Gates makes me wonder whether Jesus’ “Parable of The Camel and the Eye of a Needle” applies to all rich people, even the generous ones.
On June 7, 2007, Gates received an honorary degree from Harvard and he delivered the graduation speech for the class of 2007. If you wanna be entertained and inspired, watch the videos below: (or click here for the text version)
Part 1 of 5
Part 2 of 5
Part 3 of 5
Part 4 of 5
Part 5 of 5
Quote of the Day:
“If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.” - Bill Gates
Life is Fun: Bill Gates Joke
Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Al Gore were in an airplane that crashed. They’re up in heaven, and God’s sitting on the great white throne. God addresses Al first.
“Al, what do you believe in?”
Al replies, “Well, I believe that the combustion engine is evil and that we need to save the world from CFCs and that if any more freon is used,the whole earth will become a greenhouse and we’ll all die.” God thinks for a second and says “Okay, I can live with that. Come and sit at my left.”
God then addresses Bill Clinton. “Bill, what do you believe in?”
Bill Clinton replies, “Well, I believe in power to the people. I think people should be able to make their own choices about things and that no one should ever be able to tell someone else what to do. I also believe in feeling people’s pain.” God thinks for a second and says “Okay, that sounds good. Come and sit at my right.”
God then address Bill Gates. “Bill Gates, what do you believe?”
Bill Gates said, “I believe you’re in my chair.”
The Power of the Word
To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes. - Psalm 123
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About this post:
This post is entitled Perlas. The information here is presented to you in bite-sized servings so that it’s quick and fun to read. It has four parts: 1) Newsmaker - news and views that matter to you; 2) Quote of the Day has history, quotes and biography tidbits; 3) Life is Fun gives you a healthy dose of medicinal laughter; 4) And lucky last, we have The Power of the Word which can serve as your daily spiritual bread. If you enjoyed reading this post, come back to this site every day and be sure to share Perlas with your friends.
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References:
Life is Fun:
http://www.pshrink.com/humor/BillGatesJokes.html






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