Thursday, April 10, 2008

Skirting Spain's School System


The sanctity of marriage and the preservation of the family are two of the most important pillars of the Roman Catholic faith. Surprisingly, in predominantly Roman Catholic Spain where 76% of the population have declared themselves Catholic, the marriage contract has less significance than a business contract. It has become a commodity that can be cashed in for a speedy divorce and traded for a college degree. Divorce has become a preferred option for securing their children's future.

The option to divorce is borne out of the need to gain more "underprivileged points" for a student coming from a single parent home. Thus, parents file for divorce where an Official Separation can be obtained within 3 weeks, to be subsequently followed by the legal divorce papers. The issue of quality of education and learning standards in Spain's government funded school system drives parents to get their children in state schools of their choice. The competition for garnering admission points forces them to the extreme of filing for divorce, even if they continue to live together as husband and wife.

At an alarming 50% rate of increase, the reason for divorce has been traced to the season of divorce - before the opening of the school year. A number of students have been dismissed when their "divorced parents" were found living together. Complaints from other parents have also unearthed the practice of divorce cases for the purpose of admission in state schools. Parent patrols have even been organized to check out the addresses given to determine if the parents live separately or in the same home. Normally, parents under-declared their income to get better points, but these have been trumped by single parent homes of divorced or officially separated couples. Some couples were seen filing for reconciliation after their child has been accepted for admission.

It's lack of government initiative in encouraging an educational system to provide enough schools, the decline in the teaching of religion which has become an elective, the relegation of the Spanish language as a second language in favor of local languages in some state schools, and the increase in number of immigrants who occupy low end jobs, that have spurred the tough competition for places in choice state schools. In addition, the streamlining of the divorce process has contributed to the divorce phenomenon because of its advantage in gaining admission points. A sham divorce is not a legal offense in Spain.

The remarkable creativity of the human mind in using laws and legal processes to deceptively secure undue advantage knows no limit. Parents are willing to trash their marriage in front of a judge, effectively making the marriage contract a worthless piece of paper. A degree is more important than the vows they signed in the presence of God. This is the kind of education and profound learning they are imparting to their college bound child: to cheat, lie, deceive and to justify these actions to get ahead and to earn more. No wonder religion has been demoted in Spanish schools, its values and principles are worthless, and its application and practice are irrelevant.

Haaarrrwwwwk..Twoooooooph...Ting!

12 comments:

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

Hey Shakadal,

What's up? There's nothing there! :-) --Durano, done!

Anonymous said...

It seems that the Spanish is a lot more practical than the Chinese. This year's host of the Olympics takes pride in being practical, to include the lavish care given to male offsprings and the "I dont give a damn" attitude but them falsely filing for divorce is something that is hardly mentioned in most writings. But the Spanish, on the other hand, has actually institutionalized it to the point that the government had actualy formed patrols to curve the practice. Wow!

Anonymous said...

Apologies for the incomplete post (above).

It seems that the Spanish is a lot more "practical" than the Chinese. This year's host of the Olympics takes pride in being practical, to include the lavish care given to male offsprings and the "I dont give a damn" attitude to female kids. But them falsely filing for divorce for financial gain is something that is hardly mentioned in most writings. But the Spanish, on the other hand, has actually institutionalized it to the point that the government had to actually form patrols to curve the practice. Wow!

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

Hi JD,

The Spaniards are being more commercialized in their attitude and foregoing the once highly held Religion in favor of securing opportunities for economic advancement.

Just goes to show you how creative people can be and also how getting ahead has gotten hold of behavioral patterns rather than getting it right. I guess this is brought about by hard times, and people are not prone to give up their comfort zones for the honorable way of doing things. :-)--Durano, done!

Artbeat said...

Hi Durano

Thanks for dropping by my blog and the kind words. I am not sure the Spanish are any different to many other countries when it comes to divorce. Though there are no incentives for divorced people in our country I am sure our divorce rate is camparable or worse in this country, Catholic or protestant it makes no difference.

There are however no incentives for people to divorce here, I would hate to see the divorce rate if there were.

In the past couples were taxed on a combined income which caused "divorce of convenience" when that law changed one would have thought the divorce rate would have dropped. Sadly I think it gets progressively worse as each year goes by.

The Fitness Diva said...

Whaaaaaaat? Wow. That's just sooooo corrupt!

Anonymous said...

Wow, never heard of that before -- obviously, the schools are now aware of what's going on...

French are quite well-known to cheat for benefits as well. Divorced parents living together... yeah, seen that in France, just to get more money!

Anonymous said...

Que horrrror!

Que barbaridad!


:-D

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

Hi Artbeat,

WELCOME!

The reason why I'm marking Spain's divorce practice to get school credits for their kids is because Roman Catholics are supposed to be valuing family and totally opposed to divorce.

Having divorce laws is already an aberration among Catholics - but using it to gain undue advantage or to advance self interest is totally without remorse.

If this is the practice, how can the priests continue to teach the principles and tenets of the faith? They can hardly be called Catholics.

That being said, divorce for convenience on the other hand, especially for non-Catholics, is not a strain on relationships within families. However, it could get them used to it and begin to develop other relationships! :-)

If there are no incentives and the divorce rate is still high, then that may signal a social problem being created with each break-up. The institution of Marriage may be judged as unrealistic in today's global conditions, and therefore considered irrelevant in one's life. That, is a sad development indeed! :-) --Durano, done!

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

Hi Fitness Diva,

That's not only corrupt, it's a total abandonment of being Catholic, in the sense of how the faith is supposed to be practiced.

As I mentioned to Artbeat, having divorce laws is bad enough, using it to deceive is something else.

Read other comments here, the practice of divorce for convenience or gain has been going on like it was normal! WoW! :-) --Durano, done!

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

Hi Zhu,

While it serves a noble purpose of committing fraud for the future of your child (or in the Catholic sense to sacrifice yourself to sin)it still doesn't go down easy because the larger crime (or sin) would have been committed against those who would be affected by the fraud (sin); which are the other students deprived of their proper places.

I've seen French films where these things are portrayed and I always found them funny. I thought that the French perspective on realities were more on the practical if it becomes very necessary for them to do so. I also thought these were exceptions. Are you saying that these are also prevalent practices to get more benefits and cash? WOW!
:-) -- Dyrano, done!

durano lawayan a.k.a. brad spit said...

Hi JC,

Que Horror talaga.

Imagine, were not only deprived of Family Planning, but we can't even manage to file a divorce law. Italy and Spain have very explicit laws on divorce with streamlined procedures for a quick and easy one, while we have to suffer many years and costly processes to get an annulment.

Just shows that Philippine politicians have no guts and will fight only for their own interests, not the people's. It's a reflection of the politicians' love for cockfighting, they identify with the "chicken" they are oh so very fond of. :-) --Durano, done!