An old friend from Xavier U gave this friendly reminder on the common use of "batch" instead of "class" among Filipinos. A Xavier Awardee, Jose Nilo Binongo teaches at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
It's always great to hear news about Ateneo's 150th Anniversary. It's
great that many people are involved in celebrating Ateneo's long
tradition in educating for excellence. But please let's stop referring
to ourselves as "Batch '84." It's OK to ask, "Ka-batch ba tayo?" as
the word "batch" has become part of our Tagalog vocabulary. However,
let's not use that expression in English. For a university that, for
decades, takes pride in the quality of its English program, it's
surprising this expression has remained uncorrected. Can we start
calling ourselves "Class of 1984" instead?
After doing some investigative work, I learned that only the Indians
(i.e., those who live in India) share this expression with Filipinos.
Native speakers of English -- British & Irish, American, Canadian,
Australian or New Zealander -- don't use the word "batch" to refer to
a group of people graduating in the same year. And I have to agree
with the native speakers, not with the Indians. Calling ourselves
"Batch '84" is degrading; it reminds one of a manufacturing process.
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