Filipino Americans in higher education

Filipino Americans in Higher Education started to take place as early as 1903 because of the Pensionado Act, which was made by William Alexander Sutherland, who served as Governor William Howard Taft’s translator in the Philippines. The Pensionado Act gave Filipinos, usually wealthy and educated, the opportunity to study abroad in the United States if selected. As Filipinos benefit from the Pensionado Act and more of them studied in the United States, they would be accustomed to American culture and incorporate it back home in the Philippines. Most of the Filipinos in the Pensionado Act specialized in different subjects such as science, medical, law, social science, education, and religion. As Filipinos made their impact in higher education overseas, they distributed their knowledge back home and made an impact in the United States.
History
Filipinos, during the Spanish colonial rule, did not receive proper education as the main goal for the Spaniards were to spread Christianity in the Philippines. Only about 0.10% of the Philippine population were educated at that time. The Philippines lacked a universal language as eighty different languages and dialects were spoken. With a small population of Filipinos educated, most of the elite would live in metropolitan area of Manila. Filipina women were not given equal opportunities to obtain education compared to Filipino men. If lucky, Filipinas were limited to learn some primary education in Spanish institutions. Filipinas were given the opportunity to study in higher education in 1879 at the School of Midwifery at the University of Saint Thomas. If Filipinas wanted to specialize in health-care during Spanish colonization, they could only specialized in midwifery.
During the Filipino-American War in 1901, the American military decided to change their agenda from educating Filipinos on how weapons work to educating them the English language with books and the use of the chalkboard. Their approach of teaching Filipinos were different from the Spanish since the native Filipinos were converting into Catholicism than being educated until the Spaniards gave up their rule in the Philippines. The Americans wanted to educate Filipinos with how Americans educated their students in schools at the United States.
The Pensionado Act
The word, Pensionado, originated from Spanish. It means to receive a pension from the government. As the Pensionado Act started in 1903, the purpose was to send Filipinos abroad to the United States. Filipinos, which were 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 so they could use their knowledge on U.S. civilization and share their knowledge back in the Philippines. Americans found that the Pensionado Act helped spread their culture and their American ideals overseas.
In the first year of the program, it had about 20,000 applicants with only a hundred of Filipinos, all men, selected to study abroad in the United States. About forty boys and eight girls were chosen each year in 1904 and 1905. Students were spread across the United States to study higher education in different states from east coast across the west coast.
Education in the Philippines (1965-1981)
With Ferdinand Marcos being president in the Philippine from 1965-1981, labor in the Philippines was not stable. To make sure Filipinos enhanced labor forces and the Philippine economy, Filipinos were informed by the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education (PCSPE) that education was important to make the labor force stronger. With the stress of education by the commission, school hours would increase in the Philippines as they would increase the use of English in classrooms along with longer hours in math and science. Despite that, Asian Americans and Filipino Americans face similarities and differences regarding their experience in higher education. Factors within determining their higher education path could include family matters and socioeconomic status.

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