Critic the mis-education of renato constantino

HI - DIA Prof. CALILUNG, FROILAN C Researcher: Mirfallah, seyed mohammad. March, 14 ,2007

Introduction: America is the country that bring educational system to Philippine maybe the believes that they do that for more colonizing the Philippine but by some reason isn't relay true or that affect something else.. something that give chance to Philippine for making its future.. “"The Mis education of the Filipino," historian Renato Constantino wrote about the ambitions of United States colonial education in the Philippines. Constantino asserts that the educational system created in the Philippines by the United States government was never intended to promote democracy, freedom, and equality. Rather, the system of education was established as means to pacify the Filipino people with "the overriding objective of preserving and expanding American control."1 Constantino wrote that a truly emancipatory and democratic educational system could only emerge from a broad based people's movement that was dedicated to the needs of its people and expressive of their aspirations. His first paragraph testifies to this belief”1 "Education is a vital weapon of a people striving for economic emancipation, political independence, and cultural renascence. We are such a people. Philippine education, therefore, must produce Filipinos who are aware of their country's problems, who understand the basic solution to these problems, and who care enough and have enough to work and sacrifice for their country's salvation." but i want to shoe that we can see the other side of that... this miseducation was not really mis- education... by some reason that i wrote in this paper i want to show that American education changes the life of Filipino people by teaching them.. and prepare them for the future. By learning them.. international language.. teaching them some another thing like engineering and etc.

1:http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=71

American Educational system: “Education became very important for the Filipinos. This was something that the Americans gave importance to, The spread of democracy and formation of good citizens including the rights and responsibilities of the people were the focus of American education in the country. Education allowed the Americans to spread or share their culture, particularly the English language, to the Filipinos. The American government wanted to give everyone the chance to study so they built public schools for the Filipinos. Volunteer Filipino soldiers became the first teachers of the Filipinos. Part of their mission was to build classrooms in every place where they were assigned. The Filipino 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 came from the ship they traveled on, the S.S. Thomas. This group became successful in their mission. 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. Many elementary and secondary schools were opened in cities and provinces. Normal, vocational, agricultural, and business schools were also opened. There were also colleges during the American period. Some of these colleges are: Philippine Normal School in 1901 (now a university); National University (1901);,University of Manila (1914); Philippine Women University (1919); and Far Eastern University (1933). Examples of vocational schools are: the Philippine Nautical School, Philippine School of Arts and Trades and the Central Luzon Agriculture School. The University of the Philippines was also founded in 1908. Religion was not included in the curriculum of the schools. The Americans also gave recognition to those students who excelled academically. They were sent to the U.S. to continue their studies and to become expert in their desired fields or professions. They were called "scholars" because the government covered all their expenses. In return, they were to teach or work in government offices after they finished their studies. There were successful Filipino scholars like Judge Jose Abad Santos, Francisco Benitez, Dr. Honoria Sison and Francisco Delgado. The government was not only concerned with the welfare of the youth. Formal education was also provided to those who were of age. Schools were also built in non-Catholic areas like Sulu, Mindanao, and the Mountain Provinces.

Attention was given to vocational and health practice. The knowledge of the Filipinos in reading and writing were very high during the American period.”1 as we can see at that the first public school in Philippine came from america .. by this we can result that in the past period of amirican we have no school in Philippine .. public school. And American by make the schools they give a chance to Filipino to make their world by education.. In Mis-education of renato constantino we can see that renato believes that ,American education was not fully nationalism in education.. and the first goal of education is in relation with American colonialism .we can see that believe in mis education of Filipino by renato constantino: “ they seem oblivious of the fact that the educational system and the philosophy of which they are the proud inheritors were valid only within the framework of American colonialism “ but as we can see in foundation of education by san mateol RA said that: “when the Americans decided that... democracy was to be their form of government b and for everyone . They also decided that they should provide education for everyone ..” we can understand that American education decided to be nationalism and provided to everyone... even all Filipino..people. Renato Constantino also believe that goals of American education is for more colonizing Philippine we can see that believe in page5 of mis-education of Filipino people: “the educational system was not established by the American for the sole purpose of saving the Filipinos from illiteracy and ignorance given the economic and political objectives of American occupation ,education hadto be consistent with these broad purpose of American colonial policy. The Filipinos had to be trained as citizens of an American colony” but as we can see in political legacy that American educational system in Philippine affect more in illiteracy of Filipino people: “ During the americanperiod the rate of literacy increased faster than the increase in population. According to the census of 1948 . two years after independence 59.8 percent of the population above ten years of age could read and write in some language or dialect (MRAF hand book cited v.2.p p956). 1: wikipedia. Free encyclopedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_education_during_america

“ the American teacher did not limit their activities in the class rooms.. the also taught the Filipinos mechanic of community building , engineering skills agricultural methods, and hygiene ...” (history of education by leonardo R.Estioko ;page 188) by that we can result that America bring education in different topic... and thats shows us... by the educational system that America bring to Philippine now Philippine can continue its way to make a better future.. . Culture: education and culture are in relationship together .. and every time that we talk about educational system we should talk about effective of that to culture. Renato Constantino in mis education of Filipino also talked about culture... h said” culturally the US has a vigorous and distinctly American culture. It is a nation whose cultural institution have develop freely indigenously ,without control or direction from foreign sources, whose ties to its cultural past are clear and proudly celebrated because no foreign power has imposed upon its people a wholesale inferiority complex , because no foreign culture has been superimposed upon it destroying, distorting its own past and alienation the people from their own cultural heritage” of course that American education affect to the culture of Philippine but... we should think that it affect good or bad... it changed bad things to good or make true thing to wrong way.. “Filipinos took education seriously which resulted to the high social status of some Filipinos. The Filipinos learned how to read, speak and write English in a short matter of time. The free exchange of goods between the United Stated and the Philippines ended when the U.S. Congress approved the Tydings-Mcduffie Law. Through the Homestead Act, the right to own any civil land up to 24 hectares was given to any Filipino. The Protestant religion was accepted by the Filipinos. The social status of Filipino Women during the American period. They were allowed to participate in politics, to work in the government, and to pursue their studies in college. Matters like health and cleanliness were improved. Transportation and communication in the Philippines were developed. The influence of the American culture brought about good and bad aspects to the Philippines. Many roads and bridges were constructed. New technologies were introduced to the country. These technologies helped the Philippines' industries and agriculture.”1 1:http://www.etravelpilipinas.com/about_philippines/philippine_culture.htm

health education: there is another thing about education... the health education: “out side the domain of political activity and self government the out standing American achievement the Philippine lay in public health and education . The control or eradication of the deadly epidermis diseases of tropics – smallpox , cholera -,leprosy bubonic plague beriberi, malaria , rinder past was made possible by the dedicated leadership of great American public health administration like Dr.victor G.Heiser as a result of their work the life expectancy of the Filipino rose steeply from 14 years in 1990 to 40 in 1940 and today is on of the highest in Asia.”1 colonial relationship by salvador p.lopez rentao constantino in mis-education of filipino refers to another problem of american education. He believes that by learning english, filipinos forget their own language ... “the most vital problem that has pluged Philippine education has been the question of language. Today ,experiments are still going on to find out whether it would be more effective to use the native language. This is indeed ridiculous since an individual cannot be more at home in any other language than his own in every sovereign country , the use of its own language in education is so natural no on thinks it could be otherwise. But there , so great has been our disorientation caused by our colonial education that the use of our own language is a controversial issue,with more Filipinos against than in favor...Filipinos believe they cannot survive without America , so in education education we believe no education can be true education unless it is based on proficiency in English.”2 “...it is indeed unfortunate that teaching in native language is given up to second grade only and the question of whether beyond this it should be English or Filipino is still unsettled. Many of our educational experts have written on the language problem , but there is an apparent timidity on the part of these expert to come out openly for the urgent need of remarkable result shown by the use of native language .Yet ,the deleterious effects of using English as the medium of instruction are many ad serious.”2 “... with Americana education the Filipino were not only forgetting their own language ; they were starting to become a new type of Americans”2 but we soul dent just seeing the negative side of this...there is an opposite side... that we can point to it... “English wa used as the medium of instruction ,education aimed at training Filipinos in democratic wa of life ,citizenship ,moral character and fundamental of vocational education. Ultimately ,the Filipinos were trained for self government reparatory to granting of independence after a ten years of transition period.” ------------------------1: Mis-education by renato constantino 2: colonial relationship by salvador p.lopez

maybe we we should think that learning English effect on native language and... makes it become forgotten but the real think is not that... in the American era we also have Tagalog lesson... “Filipinos who had their entire schooling during the American regime and learned their three r's in English maybe started by the thought that there could have been any other possible medium of instruction at the time considering the multiplicity of Filipino language. but there was Filipino children could have been taught to read and write in their own native language during the first four years of schooling reserving the teaching of Tagalog and English to the fifth grade and beyond” English now make the country to continue its way ... to being technological country because of English the international language. “English has done its work and will continue to do so far a little while more . its function however will likely change in to being the continuing link with constantly advancing technologies , trade,industry, and ideas the world out side . (the American colonial record page 127.) “perhaps the most important American cultural innovation was the introduction of English. Certainly it was the most successful, defined in terms of number of Filipinos who acquired a substantial level of proficiency in the language. American officials , however ,did not look upon the teaching of English as an end in itself . It was expected to provide a medium of communication which would not only be national in the horizontal sense – being intelligible throughout the length and breadth of the country , but from top of the bottom ,thus including most of nation,s citizens ...”(The political legacy of the united state) now Tagalog has not forgotten ...also it developing “The development of the national language of the Philippines is sketched from the initial selection of Tagalog toits standardisationand propagation asWikang Pambansa (national language), and its renaming as Pilipino, subsequently FILIPINO. The last phase of language development is the phase of cultivation which has many aspects.Usually the national language is cultivated as a language of imaginative literature, the mass media, a medium of instruction in the basic educational system, as the language of governance, and as a language of academic discourse. The last phase can be considered as a process of modernisation (through its use to thematise current realities and as a process of intellectualisation (as a medium of oral and written academic discourse)). The intellectualisationphase consists not only of lexical expansion (through modern terminologies for the disciplines)but likewise of stylisticdifferentiation(using syntactic devices for different types of prose discourse). Intellectualisation is examined as process and product and according to its inner (psychological) and outer (sociological) dimensions. Some theoretical insights from the Philippine experienceare discussed; theintellectualisation

of Filipino is unprecedented because it is an ongoing process that can be documented in detail through the corpus being generatedand should enrich the scholarly literature on this topic.“ (Andrew Gonzalez De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines)

conclusion: at the end i want to say that in American educational we can see the both side of that... negative side and opposite side... seeing to negative side isn't true.. however the goal of American education maybe colonizing but.. if we forget the colonial reason of American education... we still have something that real happened.. we should know that something that makes the future today in world is education . Education has a high place in development of a country ... a direct way to developing to have a develop society. What ever if the education becomes from America to Philippine and maybe we say that it makes the Philippine be colonizing from America but however that makes the Philippine educational . And now Philippine by having that can move to forward. We can see this in different position of education: education of books. education of health. Culture..and how to make a government. In position of language by learning English, today... a country can developing that know th international language. today is not the world of being alone. to day countries want to being global. And by international language they can do that... language makes a links between countries... technologies can be share to countries... by language.. and Philippine by learning of English , international language can move to this way... a way to development. it doesn't matter that the mind behind of educational system of America in Philippine what was.. now its matter that how its affect. good or bad.. make country acolonize from america... or makes the country to stand on its way. if a country want to standing on own steps... today can do that by developing it's educational system. now we can see thats in development countries... first of investing of countries... is on education... going to higher position of literacy makes the people of the country being conscious.

In the mis education of Filipino people by renato Constantino only we can see the negative side of educational system by American in Philippine but only by seeing the (MRAF hand book cited v.2.p p956) we can read “During the american period the rate of literacy increased faster than the increase in population. According to the census of 1948 . two years after independence 59.8 percent of the population above ten years of age could read and write in some language or dialect “ and thats just show us that American education effect on literacy increasing.. and increased that. Its alone is a way to development. A way that Philippine can move on it today... with having education and... English language. To make a better future.

References: 1:Constantino, Renato. "The Miseducation of the Filipino." Quezon City, Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1999 (5th print),

2: Leonardo R.estioko , “history of educaion” published by logos. 1Th 1994 print 3: Foundation of education by san mateol RA 4: wikipedia. Free encyclopedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_education_during_america 5: colonial relationship by salvador p.lopez 6: Andrew Gonzalez “Language Planning and Intellectualisation” De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines 7: MRAF hand book cited v.2.p p956 8: http://www.etravelpilipinas.com/