Colonialism can sometimes bring the best out of a country. Developed countries bring in their ideas and policies. The Philippines were forever changed on March 17th, 1521. On this day the Philippines was first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan. He claimed the land for Spain. On February 13th, 1565 the Spanish first started to colonize the Philippines. In 1902, the Americans took control of the Philippines. They had control until 1942 when Japan started their occupation. Finally, in 1945 the Philippines were finally free after Japan surrendered. As far as education, the Philippines have a similar educational system to the United States. They have elementary education for students from ages 6-12 and then secondary education from 12-17. After that they have colleges and universities as well as vocational and technical schools. Students are also given options all throughout their time in school. They have the option to take classes like art, music, physical education, and health. These choices can make a huge difference for Filipino students, as they can find ways to express themselves if they please. These ideals of expression were very popular all over western Europe.
This picture shows a library in the Philippines that was made by the Spanish
Europe practically colonized the entire world at different times. Because of this their educational system has been spread around to lots of countries and is considered mainstream. Before Europe colonized these countries around the world, they were much less developed than Europe itself. During the time of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Asia was just starting to use colleges and universities to teach higher education for students. Because most of Asia was new to this and Spain was not, the Philippines emerged as one of the most educated countries in all of Asia. They had the most prestigious colleges and universities. Many would argue that the Spanish colonization gave the Philippines an advantage. However, the Philippines still rebelled against the Spanish. On May 22nd, 1565 “many locals were unhappy with the Spanish colonizing their country so a party of 16 led by Chief Dagami of Gabi planned to get rid of Miguel López de Legazpi.” This could be because of the changing education. Yes, the education was better and put the Philippines ahead of most of their Asian counterparts, but it took away from their culture. The Spanish were Roman Catholics and that’s what they instilled in the new Philippines educational system. Now only private schools teach religion. “Private school students may select subjects from a wider curriculum including religious instruction in the dogma of their choice.” They also required that all of the Filipinos learn Spanish in school. This could have changed the language that the Filipinos originally spoke. Some schools even required Latin to be taught to all students.
The Philippines were also doing really well when it had to do with pharmacy and medicine. These pharmaceutical and medicinal schools were popping up all over and lots of students attended them. Lots of books were written about Filipino plants and their properties, and many sought after them. Before colonization the people of the Philippines learned mostly about how to work and very little about academics. They also learned almost everything strictly from their parents. This type of educational system was sure to keep the Philippines from development. They were sure to be stuck in place for years to come. However, the Spanish really changed all of that when they arrived bring new ideas and knowledge. Students soon learned to read, write, and solve math. However, at first only the elite were offered this higher form of education. The Educational Decree of 1863 changed this. It allowed for almost all students to get this higher education. This was really helpful to the Philippines. Now the Filipino youth have a literacy rate of 97% for males and 98.5% for females. This is most likely a huge improvement to what it would have been if they had never been colonized by the Spanish. The colonization really led to some huge improvements in education. Even though the Philippines were against the colonization, in the long run it probably helped them. It jumpstarted their development.
This chart shows the statistics for education in the Philippines from 2008-2012
The Spanish colonization may have led to higher education for the Philippines, but it was still pretty controlled. During the American occupation, hundreds of teachers were sent from the United States over to the Philippines. This may have led to the most prosperous education that the Philippines had. Students were offered an opportunity to learn in multiple different fields. The American occupation also helped the Philippines develop their current form of education based on grades. Their system is very similar to ours. The Americans also enforced that “Religion was not included in the curriculum of the schools.” The Philippines benefitted from this because they did not have to spend time learning Catholicism, like they did from the Spanish. They did not want to spend time learning about a religion that they did not practice. Because of this lack of religion in education, lots of religions were culturally introduced to the Philippines. This led to a change in Filipino culture as some of the population were picking up new religions, such as Protestantism.
Americans also influenced many Filipinos to want to complete the entirety of their schooling. This means completion of elementary education through college. The American occupation also brought the Philippines freedom in terms of what they can teach and even their media. They are still one of the most “free” countries, in Asia, in that regard. One of the original reasons that the American occupation took place is because we wanted to be allies with the Philippines. We wanted to provide them with a higher education so that they would be a more valuable ally to us. We also wanted them to understand and adapt to our culture so that they could work well with us.
For a short while the Japanese had control of the Philippines. They did not have a huge impact on education, but more on the workforce. They just wanted the Philippines to help them with World War II. The Japanese stopped teaching english and spread elementary and vocational education. They tried to develop the love for work so that Filipinos would help provide work for the war effort. After the short occupation of the Philippines, the Japanese were forced out by a force combining both Filipinos and Americans. This brought back the American values already instilled in the Philippines. This fight back with the Americans can prove that the Philippines liked and appreciated the way that the United States influenced their education. The Japanese had enforced a poor educational system, while the American system was one of the best at the time. This may prove that the American occupation was a good thing for the Philippines, based on morals and education. They seemed to have liked what the Americans were doing, both educationally and culturally. The Spanish colonization was widely unpopular in the Philippines because of the fact that they tried to change the Filipino culture into something it’s not. The Americans gave the Philippines a lot more freedom and allowed them to pick what they wanted to do, in regards to their culture. This video quickly shows an overview of educational change throughout the history of the Philippines.
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