Education in the

Philippines During
the American Rule
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

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.

Instruction in English language, and

American history, lead to forming of a
national identity and Filipino nationalism.
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.
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 United States rule
were:
Philippine Normal School in 1901 ( Philippine Normal
University) and other normal schools throughout the country
such as Silliman University (1901),
Central Philippine University (1905),
Negros Oriental High School (1902),
St. Paul University Dumaguete (1904),
Cebu Normal School (1915) also a university at present,
Filamer Christian University (1904),
Iloilo Normal School in 1902 (now West Visayas State
University) and Zamboanga Normal School in 1904 (now
Western Mindanao State University) ;
National University (1901);
University of Manila (1914);
Philippine Women's University (1919); and
Far Eastern University (1933).
 Examples of vocational schools are: the
Philippine Nautical School, Philippine School of
Arts and Trades (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

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.

More American teachers followed the

Thomasites in 1902, making a total of about
1,074 stationed in the Philippines.
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.

George Counts, a Yale professor and a

member of the Commission wrote on 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.
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."
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.
 THANK YOU
AND
MORE POWER

BY : ALVIN E. ESCALICAS