Education in the Philippines during American

rule

Pensionado Act[edit]
Main article: Pensionado Act
The word pensionado originated with the Spanish language. It means to receive a 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."[1] Filipinos, mostly males, that
were sponsored by the act were able to continue their education abroad and learn about 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.[2] 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-World War II independence, also fostered beliefs in the supremacy of U.S. institutions,
language, and white culture as compared to traditional Philippine culture.[3]

Public system of education[edit]

Education became a very important issue for the United States colonial government, since it allowed
it to spread their cultural values, particularly the English language, to the Filipino people.[5] Instruction
in English language, and American history, lead to forming of a national identity and Filipino
nationalism.[6]
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 "elementary" level consisted of four primary years and 3 intermediate years. The
"secondary" or high school level consisted of four years; and the third was the "college" or tertiary
level. Religion was not part of the curriculum of the schools as it had been during 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.[7] In return, they were to teach or
work in government offices after they finished their studies. Some examples of these successful
Filipino scholars were Judge José Abad Santos, Francisco Benitez, Dr. Honoria Sison and 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, vocational, agricultural, and
business schools. Among the most important colleges during American rule were: Philippine Normal
School in 1901 (now Philippine Normal University) and other normal schools throughout the country
such as Colegio Filipino (1900, now National University), Silliman Institute (1901, now Silliman
University, Iloilo Normal School (1902, now West Visayas State University), Cebu Normal School
(1902, now Cebu Normal University, Negros Oriental High School (1902), Capiz Home School
(1904, now Filamer Christian University, the Echague Farm School (1918, now the Isabela State
University) St. Paul College of Dumaguete (1904, now St. Paul University Dumaguete), Zamboanga
Normal School in 1904 (now Western Mindanao State University), Jaro Industrial School (1905,
now Central Philippine University), Instituto de Manila (1913, now University of Manila), Philippine
Women's College (1919, now Philippine Women's University), and Institute of Accountancy (1928,
now Far Eastern University. Examples of vocational schools are: the 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[edit]
Main article: Thomasites
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. The American soldiers stopped teaching
only when a group of teachers from the U.S. came to the Philippines in June 1901. They came
aboard the ship "Sheridan." In August 1901, 600 teachers called Thomasites arrived. Their name
derived from the ship they traveled on, the USS Thomas.
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.

Criticisms[edit]
Monroe Commission on Philippine Education[edit]
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. George Counts, a Yale professor and a member of the Commission wrote in 1925 in The
Elementary School Journal that "Half of the children were outside the reach of schools. Pupil
performance was generally low in subjects that relied on English, although the achievement in Math
and Science was at par with the average performance of American school children..." Counts also
described the Filipino children of the 1920s as 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.[9]
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."[10]
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.[11]