In recent weeks, public attention has turned not only toward the actions of several high-ranking government officials, but also toward the responses issued by the schools and alumni associations to which these officials belong. Some institutions have spoken in defense of their graduates; others have expressed concern, disappointment, or calls for accountability. These developments have opened a broader and more reflective conversation.

What does it truly mean to be an alumnus? Is alumni membership merely a matter of institutional affiliation, school pride, and shared memories? Or does it carry a deeper moral and social dimension — an enduring responsibility to live out the values one’s school sought to impart?

These questions led me to reflect on my own formative years in Catholic education.

I spent my earliest school years — from kindergarten to grade four — at St. Mary’s Academy under the care and guidance of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) sisters. Thereafter, I completed grades five and six and my high school education at Don Bosco Technical Institute, where the Salesians of Don Bosco combined rigorous academics with technical-vocational instruction and a disciplined but nurturing approach to character formation.

Looking back now, I realize that before higher education sharpened the intellect, those earlier years quietly shaped the person.

At St. Mary’s Academy, the RVM sisters taught us that education was inseparable from faith, humility, discipline, and compassion. Their instruction was firm yet gentle, emphasizing respect for others, reverence for God, and simplicity in one’s conduct. We were encouraged to value silence, reflection, prayer, and kindness even in small daily acts.

After receiving my first holy communion in grade two, I learned how to be a sacristan, or altar boy, who would assist the priest while saying mass. In religion class, we were taught to be kind and considerate toward others, to give alms to the poor, and to assist the needy.

One learned from one’s teachers not through sermons but through observation: how they treated people, how they spoke softly but firmly, how they carried themselves with dignity and restraint. Their influence extended beyond the classroom into habits of behavior that would later prove invaluable in public life — civility, patience, and self-control among them.

At Don Bosco, the environment was different but equally formative. The Salesian spirit founded by Saint John Bosco emphasized reason, religion, and loving-kindness. The school believed in developing the whole person: mind, body, spirit, and practical capability. Beyond academics, sports, recreational and other extra-curricular activities were promoted and encouraged.

Academic instruction was further complemented by technical-vocational education. We learned not only mathematics, science, and literature, but also the dignity of labor, craftsmanship, punctuality, teamwork, and discipline in one’s chosen workshop, be it electronics, industrial drafting, machine shop, or printing technology.

In many ways, Don Bosco prepared young men not merely to pass examinations but to become responsible citizens capable of productive work and ethical leadership.

Equally important was the Salesian emphasis on joyful discipline. The priests and brothers did not govern primarily through fear or harshness but through presence, guidance, and community spirit. Students were encouraged to excel while remaining grounded. Competition existed, but arrogance was discouraged. Achievement mattered, but character mattered more.

Class standing was broadcast to one and all. On one wall of the school gymnasium where students lined up before attending the flag ceremony, there were large frames that listed the students in each homeroom alphabetically. Across each name was the student’s rank in terms of general average in each grading period.

When I eventually entered the University of the Philippines, and later, the Asian Institute of Management, I encountered intellectually demanding environments that broadened my perspectives and strengthened analytical thinking. Yet the foundations upon which those later experiences rested had already been laid much earlier.

The habits of discipline, respect, responsibility, and ethical awareness were formed not in graduate school case studies or university lectures, but during childhood and adolescence under educators who viewed teaching as a vocation rather than an occupation.

Of course, no school can fully determine the choices its graduates will eventually make. Human beings possess free will, and public life often subjects individuals to pressures, temptations, ambitions, and compromises far beyond the reach of any alma mater. It would therefore be unfair to place total responsibility upon schools for the failings of their alumni.

At the same time, educational institutions — especially those grounded in faith traditions — naturally feel invested in the public conduct of their graduates. Schools take pride not only in professional success but also in the ethical example set by former students. When alumni ascend to positions of national prominence, their actions inevitably reflect, fairly or unfairly, upon the institutions that helped shape them.

This explains why alumni associations and schools sometimes feel compelled to speak when controversies arise involving public officials among their graduates. Their reactions are not necessarily acts of self-righteousness or political intervention. Often, they are expressions of concern for the integrity of institutional values painstakingly nurtured across generations.

No institution possesses a monopoly on virtue. No alumnus perfectly embodies every value taught in school. In the end, being an alumnus means carrying more than a diploma or school colors. It means bearing within oneself traces of the people and institutions that helped shape one’s conscience long before titles, power, or public recognition arrived.

And perhaps that is the enduring challenge for all of us — not simply whether we bring honor to our schools, but whether we remain faithful to the values quietly planted in us during our earliest years of formation.

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