TOMAS DEL ROSARIO COLLEGE

CITY OF BALANGA

GRADUATE SCHOOL

TOPIC: PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM DURING AMERICAN AND COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

COURSE: REORGANIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM (EDUC 210)

DISCUSSANT: Cherry Mae R. Dizon

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Carolina Violeta

REACTION PAPER ABOUT PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

DURING THE AMERICAN AND COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

During American Period, American soldiers or Thomasites are their first

teachers in the schools and the medium of their instruction is English and during this
time the Education should be universal and free for all regardless of sex, age,
religion and socio-economic status of the individual. It was also the means of giving
people an orientation towards a democratic way of life, citizenship, moral character
and fundamentals of vocational education. They established the public primary
school and intermediate school which provides free public education. Also,
established the University of the Philippines and Philippine Normal School was
founded to train teachers. They requires all provinces to maintain a provincial high
school and providing formal education which is Primary, Intermediate and Secondary
Education.

Educational goal during the American period is to promote democratic ideals

and way of life; formation of good citizens, including the rights and responsibilities of
people. This is one of the Americans’ way to train the Filipino in running the country
on their own. Americans want to maintain the good economy of the country when the
time comes that Filipinos manage the country and stand on their own.

Curricular structure and programs were patterned from the U.S. There were
3levels of education: Elementary level, Secondary or High school level, and College
orTertiary level. New subject areas were introduced to develop each Filipino
holistically to help their living and the beloved country as well.

Unlike in the time of the Spaniards, religion was not included in the curriculum
of the schools since it was not the primary goal of the Americans.. Normal,
vocational,agricultural, and business schools were also opened in order to impart
more knowledge to the Filipinos when it comes to their way of living.
 The spread of providing public education: it’s known that US spearheaded
more aggressively the provision and delivery of schooling paid by publiccoffers to
unheard-of-areas of the archipelago. During the US occupation, itbecame
fashionable to go to elementary and high school, and for the same togo to college.
This generally introduced the hazy idea behind spreadingenlightenment to majority
of the populace which up to now continues.

The introduction of the concept of “press freedom,” which still continues in

thecountry, through not a few journalists and media practitioners have died in the
course of duty lately. Consequently, and up to now, there’s particularly no other
country, at least Asia that maybe described as having a “freer” media, i.e. nosy and
rambunctious, than what can be seen in the Philippines (and it’s guaranteed in the
constitution)

The continuation on putting too much value on elitism among its leaders
plustheir influential relatives, although not spoken loudly in most sectors ofsociety.4.
The collaborative and dependent tendencies of the national Philippinegovernment
with the US government in certain areas of governance havealways been noted and
observed, especially if viewed by outsider. ThePhilippines continues to be a solid ally
of the US in Asia, in many years, evenup to these days, which gives some people
strong ideas that it’s still “colony” up to now.

During Commonwealth Period, all schools should develop moral character,

civic conscience, personal discipline and vocational efficiency. They used the
methods of memorization, recitation and socialized recitation. Philippine
Commonwealth was the name of the Philippines when it was still controlled by the
United States and Manuel L. Quezon was the first Filipino head an elected
government in the Philippines. In this period they established the Commonwealth
Acts which are: Commonwealth Act no. 1- National Defense Act; Preparatory military
training shall be given to the youth in the elementary grade school at the age of 10
“shall extend though college”, Commonwealth Act no. 80- office of adult education,
Commonwealth Act no. 589- singing of ceremonies and Republic Act no. 896- grade
7; one session; compulsory of completion elementary grades.

Education continued to receive from the Commonwealth government the

same attention that the Americans gave it. President Quezon created the National
Council of Education in 1936 as an advisory body on educational matters. The
council made important recommendations to further improve the educational system
in the Philippines. Most of these recommendations were accepted and carried out by
the government. The period of commonwealth (1935-1946) maybe considered as an
expansion in a sense that new courses were added in the curriculum such as
farming, trade, business, domestic science, etc. and reform in such a way that Grade
VII was eliminated and a two-year training was added right after high school which
was provided by collegiate normal schools that started operating in 1939.
 Under the Commonwealth, vocational and adult education were given
emphasis. It was also during the Commonwealth regime that an organized effort to
develop a common national language was stared in compliance with the mandate of
the 1935 constitution. To help counteract the American cultural influence among the
Filipinos, President Quezon greatly encouraged the revival of native culture as well
as desirable Filipino values. And to help strengthen the moral fibers of the Filipinos
and to foster love of country especially among the youth, President Quezon issued
his famous Code of Ethics which was required to be taught in all schools.

This topic is being discussed to know the history or past acts/education of the
Philippines and it is very important to recall it because it gives us a glimpse of the
past and we can learn from it. It also help us undestand how the past events or laws
shaped the present acts, educational system, and theories. Lastly, it will help us
appreciate the law today. For me, this topic is very fruitful and helpful for us most of
all to the young learners because it will help us to know what kind of educational
system we have in our past and present days and it will contribute better for the
improving of our educational system. We can learn good even bad from our past
acts and can apply it in our education today to have quality education.

As a future head of a school, this information will help me to manage my

future school in providing quality education for every learner. We may be in a more
developed era, but the ideas and way of learning form our ancestors will be a great
help to make every learner achieved their goals. Traditional way maybe out of tune,
but it will always be a way to unfold the hidden ability of a child in all times. This will
help us to understand how the past events shaped the present education systems,
theories and related phenomenon in the area of teacher education in particular and
education in general. It will also enable us to appreciate the importance of education
to mankind since time immemorial across the generations. By so doing, we will be
able to critically examine the fundamental part which education plays in the
transformation of society. Note that as a teacher, we are a change agent so learning
the history of education will prepare teachers in training to examine present trends
and dynamics in education, draw practical lessons from the past, avoid possible
mistakes, and initiate more viable plans for the benefit of society.