The Miseducation of the Filipino

EDUCATION
Vital weapon for economic emancipation, political independence and cultural renascence Produce Filipinos who are aware of countrys problems , understand basic solution to these, care enough and have courage to sacrifice for countrys salvation

Nationalism in Education
Filipino First Policy our goal: economic emancipation No comprehensive educational program has been advanced as a corollary, only techniques and tools for improved instruction Effect: a citizenry ignorant of our basic ills and apathetic to our national welfare

New Perspectives
The educational system and the philosophy were valid only within the framework of American colonialism Designed to correspond to the economic and political reality of American conquest

Capturing Minds
Most effective means of subjugating a people As long as feelings of resistance are in the hearts of the vanquished, no conqueror is secure (Japanese occupation) if they had stayed longer, minds would have been conditioned to suit the policies of Japanese imperialists

If it is the best means of conquest, then EDUCATION will serve as a weapon in wars of colonial conquest

American military authorities had to employ all means to pacify a people whose hopes for independence were being frustrated by the presence of another conqueror no measure could so quickly promote the pacification of the islands as EDUCATION

Beginnings of Colonial Education

Education of Filipinos under American instrument of colonial policy Young minds shaped to conform to American ideas to be good colonials Indigenous Filipino ideals slowly eroded to remove the last vestiges of resistance

Education
1. attracted the people to the new masters 2. Diluted their nationalism which had just succeeded in overthrowing a foreign power

... the immediate adoption of English in the Philippine schools subjected America to the charge of forcing the language of the conquerors upon a defenseless people.

The American Vice-Governor

Jones Act granted the Filipinos more autonomy the department of education was never entrusted to any Filipino up to 1935 No need of American overseers during the Commonwealth since a new generation of Filipino-Americans had already been produced

Cultural Assimilation: American culture as the goal of Filipino society

Whenever there was a conflict between American and Filipino interests, the schools guided us toward action and thought which could forward American interests

Goals of American Education

save the Filipinos from illiteracy and ignorance Filipinos had to be trained as citizens of an American colony Philippine education to preserve and expand American control - the pattern of education fostered and established certain attitudes on the governed

Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation

They came not as conquerors, but as friends To spread amongst us the boons of liberty and democracy The Philippines was theirs to protect and to guide - The Filipino people were still a conquered nation whose national life had to be woven into the pattern of American dominance

An Uprooted Race
English as the medium of instruction - separated Filipinos from their past and separated educated Filipinos from the masses - new language and a new way of life Learned no longer as Filipinos but as colonials - disoriented from nationalist goals to become good colonials and to live peacefully under the colonial order

Economic Attitudes
subtle approach free trade as gift of American altruism Lack of understanding of their economic motives success of education for colonials Change in consumption habits (duty-free)

How did you picture the Philippines when you were asked to draw it in grade school?

1. Strengthens the belief that the Philippines is essentially meant to be an agricultural country and we cannot change that. - apathy toward industrialization

2. The idealized picture of farm life overlooks the poverty and ignorance of backward farm communities. - there is no interest in revamping rural life no understanding of its economic problems - urgent need for basic agrarian reform

Western nations superior beings capable of manufacturing things Taught in school that we are primarily an agricultural country by geographical location.

* Colonialism has to be extirpated from their lives to be free, prosperous and happy!

Transplanting Political Institutions

Political parties more as tools of colonial rule and less as interpreters of the peoples will and ideals selfinterests first Indigenous institutions were disregarded Belief in freedom of the press?

Re-examination Demanded
Education must be seen as the making of man so that he may function most effectively and usefully within his own society FALLACY: educational goals should be the same everywhere (unless same political, cultural, economic level and goals)

Adoption of Western Values

U.S. Philippines Industrial Colonial economy Fully developed Tiny industrial base (economically) Backward & No foreign culture has been underdeveloped superimposed upon it People alienated from own Stresses internationalism & cultural heritage underplays nationalism

World brotherhood, without the firm foundation of nationalism = harmful results

Un-Filipino Filipinos
There is apathy because there is no nationalism in our hearts which will spur is to protect our own countrymen first.

We cannot progress without the help of foreign capital and foreign entrepreneurs. Non-nationalistic outlook SCHOOLS - little emphasis on nationalism

RESULT:
A citizenry naive and trusting in its relations with foreigners, ready to help aliens in the despoilation of our natural wealth. Colonial Education is to blame.

Centuries of colonial status as a grace from above rather than a scourge.

Is it any wonder that having regained our independence, we have forgotten to defend it?
Is it any wonder that when leaders on education try to teach us how to be free, majority of the people find it difficult to grasp those nationalistic principles?

American colonial education is EFFECTIVE!