Reading Renato Constantino’s essay entitled “The Miseducation of the Filipinos” gives me an impression that there’s much more to what we see in these days about the educational system in the Philippines.
There are many concepts presented by the author that has been taken for granted by the leaders, curriculum planners and other key players in the education system in the country. It is evident that no educator has come up with an educational system that is nationalist.
The author emphasizes in the essay that the educational system is patterned in the American educational system which worked in the beginning. But in the end, after we gain our own independence, the context of the educational system no longer worked because it is good only for American framework.
Filipinos were conquered by the Americans through education. Constantino reiterated that capturing the mind is the best means of conquest. Thus, Filipinos were educated by the Americans to become good colonials. Filipinos were taught to write, read, speak in English; Filipinos became literate, but were brain washed and became strangers to their native land; to the culture and history of their own country.
Education was established based on the American framework by the Americans not just for the purpose of educating the Filipinos but also to preserve and control their control to our country.
Filipinos were disoriented to their nationalist goals because they had to become good colonials. The use of English as medium of instruction caused division among the Filipinos; educated were separated from the masses. “They had to forget their past and unlearn nationalist virtue in order to live peacefully, if not comfortably, under the colonial order.” Filipinos learned the lives of the American Heroes, sang American Songs and forgot about their past, their culture and from where they belong. They live their life