Education in the Philippines during American rule

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
See also:
Oldest schools in the Philippines

During the United States colonial period of the Philippines (1898–1946), the United States government was in charge of providing education in the Philippines.

Public system of education

Silliman University in Dumaguete is the first American institution of higher learning to be founded in Asia[1]
Central Philippine University, founded by the American Baptists is the second American university in Asia.

Elwell S. Otis, as Military Governor, created the Department of Public Instruction.[3] Instruction in English language, and American history, Education was expected to lead to forming of a national identity and Filipino nationalism.[4] On January 20, 1901, Act No. 74 formalized the creation of the department.[5]

Every child from age 7 was required to register in schools located in their own town or province. The students were given free school materials. There were three levels of education during the American period. The "

Spanish period.

In some cases those students who excelled academically were sent to the U.S. to continue their studies and to become experts in their desired fields or professions. They were called "scholars" and "pensionados" because the government covered all their expenses.

Francisco Delgado
.

Many elementary and secondary schools from the Spanish era were recycled and new ones were opened in cities and provinces, among which there were normal,

Philippine Nautical School, Manila Trade School (1901, now Technological University of the Philippines) and the Central Luzon Agriculture School. The University of the Philippines
was also founded in 1908.

Schools were also built in remote areas like

Sulu, Mindanao, and the Mountain Provinces, where attention was given to vocational and health practice
.

Thomasites

Main article: Thomasites

In response to the teacher shortage resulting from the creation of a centralized public education system volunteer American soldiers became the first teachers of the Filipinos. Part of their mission was to build classrooms in every place where they were assigned. In response to the teacher shortage, the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of Public Instruction 1,000 teachers from the United States. They began to arrive in August 1901 aboard U.S. Army Transport (ASAT) ships named Sheridan and Thomas and came to be called Thomasites.[7]

The original batch of Thomasites was composed by 365 males and 165 females, who sailed from United States on July 23, 1901. The

U.S. government spent about $105,000 for the expedition.[8]
More American teachers followed the Thomasites in 1902, making a total of about 1,074 stationed in the Philippines.

Pensionado Act

Main article: Pensionado Act

The word pensionado originated with the Spanish language. It means to receive pension from the government. As the Pensionado Act started in 1903, the purpose was to "Educate and bind current and future Filipino leaders to the American colonial administration."

American culture
.

The United States government agreed to having Filipinos in the United States to acquire knowledge on Western culture and civilization. This program encouraged Filipinos to obtain education in the United States and return to the Philippines. The first year of the program there were about 20,000 applicants with only one hundred of Filipinos men ultimately selected to study abroad in the United States. About forty boys and eight girls were chosen each year in 1904 and 1905.[10] Students were spread across the United States to participate in higher education. ... The program, which ended in 1943 and sought to train future Philippine leaders in preparation for post-

Philippine culture.[11]

Criticisms

Monroe Commission on Philippine Education

The Monroe Commission on Philippine Education was created in 1925 with the aim of reporting on the effectiveness of the education in the Philippines during the period of

U.S. annexation. It was headed by Paul Monroe, who at the time was the Director of the International Institute of Teachers College, Columbia University
, and it was composed by a total of 23 education professionals, mostly from the U.S. and some from the Philippines. During 1925 the Commission visited schools all throughout the Philippines, interviewing a total of 32,000 pupils and 1,077 teachers. The commission found that in the 24 years since the U.S. education system had been established, 530,000 Filipinos had completed elementary school, 160,000 intermediate school, and 15,500 high school.

The Commission declared that although Filipino students were on the same level as their American counterparts in subjects like Math or Science, they lagged far behind in English-language related subjects.

handicapped because not only were they trying to learn new concepts in a foreign language but they were also being forced to do so from the point of view of a different culture, due to the fact that they were using materials originally designed for pupils in the United States.[12]

The report also informed that teacher training was inadequate and that 82 per cent of the pupils did not go beyond grade 4. Many of the problems identified were attributed to the attempt to impose an English-based education system in just one generation, concluding that "Upon leaving school, more than 99% of Filipinos will not speak English in their homes. Possibly, only 10% to 15% of the next generation will be able to use this language in their occupations. In fact, it will only be the government employees, and the professionals, who might make use of English."[13]

Other recommendations of the Commission asking for a "curtailment of the type of industrial work found on schools" and the elimination of the General Sales Department that had been set up to distribute the sale of items made in schools, pushed the implementation of several changes in the educational system to try to prioritize on the instruction of the pupils to be taught over the teaching of "industrial" education that until then had been focusing on the production of handicrafts such as basketry for boys and embroidery for girls, farming techniques, and other skills deemed favorable for the future of the pupils.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ "NHI Resolution No.7, Series 2002" Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. National Historical Institute. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
  2. ISBN 0-345-32816-7
  3. ^ Suri 2011, p. 108
  4. ^ Suri 2011, pp. 82–121
  5. ^ "AN ACT ESTABLISHING A DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND APPROPRIATING FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A NORMAL AND A TRADE SCHOOL IN MANILA, AND FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND MAINTENANCE OF AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL IN THE ISLAND OF NEGROS FOR THE YEAR NINETEEN HUNDRED AND ONE". Philippine Commissiondate=January 20, 1901 – via Philippine Supreme Court E-library.
  6. ^ "Pensionados". Filipino American Heritage Website. Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. 2008. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  7. ISBN 978-1-61735-846-3
    .
  8. ^ "The Thomasites:An Army Like No Other", News.Ops.gov.ph October 12, 2003 Archived May 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ISBN 978-0-313-38459-2
    .
  10. ^ Orosa, Mario. "The Philippine Pensionado Story." Journal (2007).
  11. ISBN 978-1-4833-6560-2
    .
  12. ^ Counts, George (October 1925). "Education in the Philippines". The Elementary School Journal (The University of Chicago Press): 26.
  13. ^ Monroe, Paul. A Survey of the Educational System of the Philippine Islands. Manila: Bureau of Printing. pp. 24–25.
  14. ISBN 978-0-299-23104-0
    .

Further reading

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Education_in_the_Philippines_during_American_rule&oldid=1185279929"