15/12/2025
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๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐
๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐
๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐: ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐
The cracks in our nation's foundation run deepโformed by years of loyalty to incompetence. We have grown too comfortable applauding mediocrity: the loud over the capable, the visible over the worthy. We see it in classrooms and councils, where the spotlight favors confidence, not competence. The capable remain in the shadows, their quiet work forgotten.
In every organization, there are two kinds of leaders. The firstโagentic, confident, and outspoken owns the spotlight. The secondโquiet and consistentโworks in shadows, making sure everything runs. Yet it's always the loud ones who rise, rewarded by a system that mistakes visibility for value.
๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐โ๐, ๐๐๐
๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
This begins early. Someone gives a good speech and the crowd says, "Wow, now that's a leader." We clap and fawn, and a halo forms not from character but from charm. What we often miss is that trophies and titles don't equate to integrity. Leadership is not related to the number of medals you have, but it is associated with the weight of responsibility you take on. Leadership isn't about applause; it's about accountability.
True leaders are often unseen, the ones who listen before speaking, who solve problems effectively, who do what's right even when no one is watching. Unfortunately, in an award-obsessed model of thinking, we will miss these kinds of leaders. And sadly, the system often overlooks them, focusing on familiar names and decorated rรฉsumรฉs, even if the accomplishments have little relevance to leading and guiding people. In many respects, we have produced a culture that places greater importance on hand clapping than on heart healing. The result? The silent, capable students fade behind the shadows.
In this silence lies the tragedy. We begin teaching an entire generation that performance is leadership, that charisma is competence. The same bias that poisons national politics takes root in your classrooms. Before we know it, we have raised a new generation of leaders who know how to shine but not how to serve. And in these same classrooms, stories of quiet strength are often not told. Behind the noise of recognition are students whose struggles show what real leadership is all about: being unseen, uncelebrated, and very human.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐ฒ
In the inconspicuous isolation of a hospital room, Mdpn. Arkrey Borneo, a first-year maritime student from the Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation, found himself succumbing to the cold grip of dengue fever. The disease had drained the color from his skin, and each day his weariness increased. For about three weeks, the sounds of machines, not bells, filled his ears. Instead of studying formulas in class, he had learned to count the drops of liquid that dripped into the IV attached to his arm.
When he returned to school, the hallways were now louder and faster, and it felt like an unfamiliar zoo. He carried a backpack that weighed more than usual, but instead of notes, it was filled with medical certificates to prove that his absence was not due to laziness but rather his struggle for life. Some teachers expressed their sympathy and allowed him to make up for what he had missed, while one teacher did not care.
"How do I know," said the teacher, with his arms crossed, "that if I allow you to take your missed quizzes during your absence, many more of my other students will not simply use the same excuse? If I really want to be fair to everyone, I really should not allow you to. Just come back for finals...โ
He felt the words more strongly than a fever. Suddenly, fairness, a notion intended to advance justice, felt harsh. Arkrey became aware of his invisibility at that very moment. He wasn't the type of person who was called to the stage for speeches or medals, nor was he a scholar or student leader. Ordinary meant forgettable in this system, and he was ordinary.
Would the choice have been different if he had been a well-known figure, the kind of student teachers proudly mention or invite to host programs? Maybe not. Because compassion can occasionally be based on how well you shine in schools, just like in society at large.
One small decision or act of contempt can have far-reaching effects outside of the classroom. The silent threat of such systems is that they teach us things we never question. An invisible message that to be seen is to matter spreads among the other students when Arkrey and other students are ignored, not because they are not capable, but rather because they are not visible.
We are to blame for this butterfly effect. One unjust choice made in a classroom has an impact on how we select our leaders outside of it. We are raised to believe that a leader's value is determined by how well-known their name is, that popularity equates to performance, and that charisma equates to competence. From student councils to national elections, the cycle continues, with the focus determining who is in charge rather than the content.
However, this is not about assuming that all student leaders will run for office at some point. It's about identifying the flaw that is closest to usโthe one that was planted early, quietly nourished, and carried into adulthood. Every biased vote and every unnoticed act of quiet leadership becomes a seed that grows into the same kind of leaders we say we hate if schools reflect the society in which they are raised.
Perhaps the system is just repeating what it has learned and isn't broken at all. We are raised in classrooms that value presence over purpose, popularity over morality, and confidence over empathy. We instill in young brains the idea that being heard means being seen, and being silent means being lost. The pattern has already established itself by the time these students cast ballots: charm prevails, integrity fades.
The truth is that the nation's illness originates in our classrooms, where we define leadership and the people we choose to follow, rather than in government buildings. We require better leaders, those who lead with integrity, compassion, and braveryโnot louder ones, because true leadership doesnโt ask for attention. It earns respectโand lights the way for others to follow.
Words by | Earl Luiz Militar
Graphics by | Jason Polo
