Education in the Philippines

Carl Kaestle’s Pillars of the Republic focuses on the history of schooling. Kaestle writes about the common school movement in England, the Midwest, the South, and the American Northwest. Kaestle argues that common school systems, the tuition-based elementary school that served all children in the area, were continued and accepted due to the Americans’ commitment to the republican government, the assertiveness of native Protestant culture, and through the development of capitalism (1983, p. X).

Thomas Jefferson is one of Americas most known noble leaders. Who had a vision for public schooling in the new United States of America in Enlightment ideas yet restricted by his own understanding of race, gender, and class (Conant, J.B 1962). Jefferson trusted that a more "normal" social structure would suit the creating political attitudes of the nation. He envisioned a "meritocracy," in which instructed men would serve in public office. Since their education would at last be for the public great, Jefferson composed and presented a bill sketching out a plan for public schooling. As right on time as 1778, with the Revolutionary War in progress, Jefferson legislated for the general education of youth. His "Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge" would give three years of basic schooling for white youngsters in Virginia, (cited in Webb, 2006).

Another victory through the Treaty of Paris was the possession of the Philippines. Though the Filipino independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo had aided in the defeat of Spain in 1898, USA refused independence to the Islands and a vicious three year war ensued. A civil government was created after the capture of Aguinaldo under William Taft and this showed a drastic change in American foreign policy. They could no longer justify interference with the excuse of the islands being within its sphere of influence but McKinley argued that America had the role to “uplift and civilize and christianize [Filipinos] as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died." McKinley was either unaware or simply chose not to inform the people that, except for some Muslim tribesmen in the south, the Filipinos were Roman Catholics, and, therefore, already Christians. In reality, the annexation of the Philippines was the centerpiece of the "large policy" pushed by the imperialist cabal to enlist the United States in the ranks of the great powers.

Over the past (almost) hundred years, society and education have both changed drastically. Typically, the things that have happened in history, such as wars, technological advances, and changes in culture, changed education as a result. Some of these changes include popular culture in the 1920s, economic factors in the 1930s, military intervention in the 1940s, Sputnik in the 1950s, and racial issues in the 1960s. One theme of education is that it has gradually become more important over the years. Before high school diplomas could be rare, and today most high school graduates go to college in the United States.

Education over the years has changed drastically. Between the push for schools in the time of colonial American and the school reform starting in 1830, schools began to drastically improve over time. Both of these events from different time periods positively impacted areas of education, changing our world for the better. These impacts can still be felt in school systems today across the country.

Despite Congress’ failure to institute meaningful education reform following the Revolutionary War, a few American leaders began voicing support for a more extensive and structured public education system. One of the loudest voices was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson argued that democracy required all the citizens of a populace to have sufficient education so that they could be well informed and vote accordingly. Jefferson did not, however, want to infringe on the rights of parents or local communities to educate their children. Instead, he proposed that everyone could be educated in the way they saw fit as long as they passed certain national examinations. ((Jurgen Herbst, “Nineteenth-Century Schools between Community and State: The Cases of Prussia

Education received a huge investment doubling the expenditure of each student and a preschool program for students from low-income backgrounds. The president wanted education to be available to the masses regardless of their income which meant the poorest child had an opportunity to receive adequate education. In agreement with President Johnson each child considered as an American citizen needs the public provided education funded by the government when they need aid. Since education involved an individual child required the funds despite the school they attended. The classroom then became the new freedom where American youth would prepare for the modern world because they are the nation’s resources.

This article gives a very detailed rundown of the history of American education. It begins in the 18th century where “formal schooling was not widely available” and progresses up to modern education where every student attends a primary and secondary school. There are many comparisons between the centuries and decades that allow insight into the immense change that has occurred since the 1700s.

Ignore lol. The schooling in America today grew out of religion. Puritan settlers in New England established schools for students to immerse themselves in religious studies. Education during colonial times was not considered a necessity, but mothers who were literate, read to their children. In 1635, the first grammar latin school was established in Boston, set up as an educational institution for the higher class so boys could be prepared to take on leadership positions in the church and in the state. In 1642, Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first law in the New World requiring children to be taught to read and write. The English Puritans who founded Massachusetts believed that the well-being of individuals, along with the success of

wanted an empire. The Philippines was affected both positively and negatively during this time. The positive effects were that public schools, roads and railroads, and hospitals were able to created. The United States also helped the Filipinos when Japan was invading their area, along with that, they later helped them develop into an independent country (Imperialism in the Philippines Project). On the other hand, the Philippines was also affected negatively.

Conant’s interpretation of what he characterizes as the traditional American attitude toward Jefferson's selective principle in secondary and higher education is open to question. Conant advances the thesis that during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century the American people had refused the Jeffersonian selective principle that the scholarship features of his plan were passed by in almost complete silence. With the thoroughness characteristic of the trained scholar, James Bryant Conant traces the fate of Jeffersonian principles in the development of public education in the United States. This small work, delivered originally as a series of three lectures at the University of California, examines what Conant characterizes as Jefferson's four objectives or proposals for free schools in Virginia, and the influence of these proposals in the shaping of the American attitude toward public education. Jefferson's plan for Virginia envisioned first, a system of free elementary schooling for all children.

In the media or newspaper cartoons, Filipinos are shown sitting in a classroom being taught by Uncle Sam. The Filipinos in the United States were seen as uneducated people because of how the media portrayed them. In Asia the University of Santo Tomas is one of the oldest universities, and can be found in the Philippines, in fact it’s older than Harvard by more than two decades but that wasn’t enough to prove that Filipinos were highly educated people. According to the book “The FORBIDDEN

Another is that Filipinos have a culture of apathy and tend to use religion incorrectly and passively. People depend on religion and settle for what’s okay. In addition, the initial reaction of Filipinos to change is resistance, and this is why the country does not necessarily progress, or at least, progress at a continuous rate. Then, countries like Spain and Portugal only rode the “economic tiger” after “they realized that the only way to survive was change” (3.Y). Plus, according to another critic, the Philippines already had the experience of being under the parliamentary system during the time of Marcos which only resulted in a People Power Revolution. So why should the country bother going back to that? (4.Y)

Under the new regime agriculture developed rapidly, commerce and trade soared to unprecedented levels, transportation and communication were modernized, banking and currency improved, the manufacturing industries were transformed. As compared with the Spanish era, economic progress of the Philippines during the American era forged ahead with great strides. (291)

However, the idea of forcing the western culture on the original people failed. Also, the Spanish brought foreign diseases with them to the Filipinos. Such as smallpox and leprosy. Finally, under the Spanish rule, the Philippines became part of the Spanish monarchy. This made other countries refuse to trade with the Philippines. There were one thing that was successful in the Spanish colonization, this was the influence of the Spanish language. Once the Philippines knows about the Spanish language, it became the main (official) language in Philippines. Wasn't a long amount of time until they changed it again to Tagalog, their old