When Ong moves on from secondary school to university, he wonders if the change in scenery will change his lack of academic motivation. He experiences the traditional teenage scourge of acne, dotingly pursues a pretty girl he refers to as “Special Someone,” and battles his constant foe, math class, all while using his experiences to poke fun at Filipino cultural norms and the Philippines’ deeply underfunded public education system. He skips school to watch movies at the local movie theater. As Ong grows older, his troubles with school grow. Ong is befuddled by his introduction to a chaotic, Filipino public school at age five, and deeply scared of terrifying, witch-like first primary teacher, who made a habit of physically lashing out at misbehaving students. ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! is told through a series of humorous anecdotes focusing on four phases: primary school, high school, university, and his adult working life. The autobiography’s long title is meant to be read phonetically, as "Aba, nakakabasa na pala ako?!" which when translated to English means, “Wow, I can actually read now?!” Bob Ong is Filipino, but the name is a pseudonym and his true identity is unconfirmed, though several contemporary Filipino authors have been proposed. The book is written in Tagalog, the language of the Philippine Islands. ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! is an autobiography detailing author Bob Ong’s school days, from his experiences on his first day of primacy school to his disastrous university experience and culminating with his entry into the education sector himself, as a teacher.
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