The Evils of Americanized Education

The critical analysis I made from this weeks experiences from is that Filipinos living in America and the Philippines have been stripped of their nationalism by the Americanized educational system by the use of English as the primary language of instruction. Filipino American’s have also been stripped of their identity in the United States. The educational curriculum used perpetuates colonial mentality and alienation by lack of inclusion of their history in the curriculum.

Prior to American colonization, access to education was not granted to all Filipinos. According to Constantino (1982) in his article, The Miseducation of the Filipino, “educational opportunities were limited so that learning became the possession of the chosen few (p. 187).” These chosen ones, the Ilustrados, were highly privileged and elite. Our visit to Intramuros clarified the juxtaposition between the elite and the masses. The city was walled off to keep out people who weren’t involved in governance or elite. China town on the other hand, which is adjacent to Intramuros, is full of poverty. The Ilustrados and their involvement in the Propaganda Movement seeking reform of Spanish governance of the Philippines, illustrates that they too were captives of Spanish colonialism (Constantino 1982).

When the United States colonized the Philippines, they used a precedent that had been set while colonizing American Indians as a model for colonizing Filipinos (Paulet 2007). In her article, To Change the World: The Use of American Indian Education in the Philippines, Paulet (2007) states that American’s used, “education to transform the cultures of their subjects (p. 174),” which was justified by viewing Filipinos as, “a child-like people (p. 181),” unable to govern themselves (Paulet 2007). From our experience in Arnis this week, it is clear that this sentiment is untrue. However, unlike the Spanish, the U. S. used education to mollify their colonial subjects under the guise of benevolence. They employed rhetoric to regard themselves as compassionate while they were trying to control Filipinos and still be regarded in a positive light.

Furthermore, Constantino (1982) expresses that education was used, “as a weapon of wars of colonial conquest (p. 178).” Education was not only used to pacify people, but Constantine (1982) argues that it was the use of English to educate that is, “the most vital problem that has plagued Philippine education (p. 186).” The use of English has had several negative consequences that act as barriers to effective education of Filipinos. First, as a foreign language, it obstructs instruction because the students of foreign languages tend to memorize the language and in the process loose contextual understanding. Second, it also hinders the mastery of their language, Tagalog. According to Constantino (1982) Filipinos do not, “ have mastery of their native tongue because of the deliberate neglect of those responsible for the education of the citizens of the nation (p. 189).”

Both of the aforementioned ramifications combined with an Americanized curriculum, led to the formation of a nation without any nationalism. The American education system colonized the minds of Filipinos and detached them from their national and individual identities as Filipino. Colonial mentality was evident in our roundtable discussion about the implications of Duterte’s presidency, at Ateneo University. According to Richard Heydarian (2016), it was the masses that voted Duterte into office, because he gave a voice to their situation. Since then, he has violated the human rights of the many by killing and arresting drug addicts extra-judicially and not providing due process to the victims or their families. There has been no push back. People are choosing to believe what he says instead of the reality of what he’s done. This is exactly the same thing that happened with American colonization and the sentiment that still exist today about the US because it is still perpetuated through the educational system. Our visit to the Philippine Women’s University and the conversation we had following the movie viewing also illustrated to me that colonial mentality, acquired through education, is still present in Filipino youth today.

Colonial mentality is also affecting Filipino Americans. According to Third Andresen (2012) in his article, Knowledge Construction, Transformative Academic Knowledge and Filipino American Identity and Experience, colonial mentality is, “one of the greatest issues facing the Filipino American community (p. 77).” Identity formation begins at a young age and is influenced by school, society, media and literature (Andresen 2012). Filipino American’s are taught, from a young age, a Euro-centric curriculum in school where their culture is absent. This can lead to a, “diffuse identity, wherein people of color are formally educated to embrace Euro-centric cultural and historical perspective (Andresen 2012 p. 67).” This develops a tendency to feel inferior and shamed about oneself and ones cultural identity.

In order to analyze this phenomenon and the psychological repercussions, David and Sumie Okazaki (2006) conducted a study called The Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) for Filipino Americans: Scale Construction and Psychological Implications. Okazaki (2006) has, “ conceptualized CM among Filipino Americans as a form of internalized oppression,” that, “involves an automatic and uncritical rejection of anything Filipino and automatic and uncritical preference for anything American (p. 241).” They hypothesize that this can lead to low collective self-esteem and psychological health (Okazaki 2006). One way of deconstruction the colonial mind and internalization for Filipino Americans is through, “multicultural education and knowledge construction (Andresen 2012 p. 82).” Inclusion in curriculum could be crucial in reducing disidentification and colonial mentality, increasing nationalism and positively effecting psychological wellbeing. My question is, is it possible that integration of multicultural education will have the same positive benefits for Filipinos or is more needed to decolonize their minds and education system?

References

Andresen, T. (2012). Knowledge Construction, transformative academic knowledge and Filipino American identity and experience, In E. Bonus & D. Maramba, (Eds.) The “other” students: Filipino Americans, education and power. (pp. 65-87). Charlotte, NC: IAP.

Constantino, R. (1982). Miseducation of Filipinos. In I In A.V. Shaw & L.H Francia, Vestiges of War. (pp. 177-192). New York: New York Press.

David, E.J.R., & Okazaki, S. (2006). The Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) for Filipino Americans: Scale construction and psychological implications: A review and recommendation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53 (1), pp, 1-16.

Heydarian, R. (2016). Roundtable Discussion. Ateneo University.

Paulet, A. (2007). To Change the World: The use of American Indian Education in the Philippines. History of Educational Quaterly, 47 (2), 173-202.