The history of colonization, American education, and the influence of white colonists were the main factors that attracted Filipino immigrants to the United States. The public school system is one of the ways that America colonized the Philippines. Filipino students were not only infused by the English language, but they were also taught the idea that America is better than any other country.
The history of colonization, American education, and the influence of white colonists were the main factors that attracted Filipino immigrants to the United States. The public school system is one of the ways that America colonized the Philippines. Filipino students were not only infused by the English language, but they were also taught the idea that America is better than any other country.
The history of colonization, American education, and the influence of white colonists were the main factors that attracted Filipino immigrants to the United States. The public school system is one of the ways that America colonized the Philippines. Filipino students were not only infused by the English language, but they were also taught the idea that America is better than any other country.
Paper 1 Professor: R. Kim TA: Somera, Dennis 4/20/2015 A Historical Product That Has to Be Historically, the Philippines have been colonized by America, then Japan, and America again. Sadly, their lives were doomed by the history of colonization. The famous Filipino writer, Carlos Bulosan, described his experiences during his childhood in his book, America Is in the Heart(Bulosan, 29). When he was five, he started to help his family make money just for a living. He stated that he had no childhood, and he left home to work at 13 years old. He did farm work, fixed roads, was a servant, and fished. However, he still could not even feed his belly everyday. These are experiences that not only happened in his life, but also in most Filipinos lives. The poor quality of life has been a significant factor to push Filipinos to America. However, the most important factors are the pull factors from the colonizing country, America, which significantly influence the Filipino immigrants. The history of colonization, American education, and the influence of white colonists were the main factors that attracted Filipino immigrants to the United States. Before 1946, the independence year of the Philippines, the Philippines had been colonized by America for half of a century. American colonization deeply influenced the worldview of Filipinos,
especially their view of America. On the one hand, America claimed to
be a new world of democracy, independence, liberty and equity, without racial and class distinctions. On the other hand, America stated that it played a peaceful role in Foreign Affairs, and would like to take in people who needed any help, like political asylum. With this alluring preaching, America built a beautiful new world for the colonized country, and the Filipinos were forced to accept all of Americas claims. Under this severe brainwashing influence, Filipinos started to dream about living in a perfect country. The public school system is one of the ways that America colonized the Philippines. They used English as the teaching language. All courses and institutions were an imitation of American education. Filipino students were not only infused by the English language, but they were also taught the idea that America is better than any other country. Consequently, Filipinos had been assimilated as America wished. Under the American style of education, Filipinos tried very hard to get an education from the public school. For example, in his book, America Is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan mentioned that his father sold their land just to let one of his older brothers finish his high school studies (Bulosan, #). His whole family was so proud of his brother because he graduated from an American style school and became a teacher. Furthermore, not only did his brother accept the American education, but he also taught it to his family members. He was the
megaphone for American education after he became a teacher. He
taught his brothers to read Robinson Crusoe. He wanted to tell his brothers that in America, you could achieve your American dream through hard work like Robinson. Carlos Bulosan, also in his book, told a story about a boy named Delmacio. He was a houseboy for an American teacher in one of the citys schools and he was also one of her pupils. He told Bulosan that he was going to America, so he was trying to learn English because he thought English was the best weapon for him to go to America. When he taught Bulosan how to speak English in exchange for doing some housework, he said, dont swallow your words. Blow them out like the Americans(69). Bulosan repeated after him, thinking of America, the dream country. This education from the American teacher let Delmacio forget he was a servant and he longed to the American dream. These stories reflect the phenomenon that the Philippines had been brainwashed by the influential so-called American education. They idolized the wonderful and mystery country. In addition to the influence from the colonizing country, there was another important influence from local white families. Their privileged lives proved that America is a good country, as they so often claimed. They provided opportunities for Filipinos to learn about the good side of America. Like the story of the houseboy, Delmacio, mentioned in the previous paragraph, Bulosan also worked for a white
American, Miss Mary Strandon, by a coincidence. One day, he heard a
story about Abraham Lincoln that a poor boy became a president of the United states! (Buloson, 70). He was fascinated by the story, so he asked Miss Strandon and she explained and told him other stories about America. He was not addicted by Abraham Lincoln, but the country that allowed a poor person to get a chance to be a president. She worked in a library and found Bulonsan had a passion for books so she got him a chance to be close with the books, and an opportunity to learn the American world. Everything from the books and stories told by Miss Strandon strengthened his belief about that dreamland, America. The local white people Bulonsan encountered in his youth further enforced and encouraged his hope to go to America and achieve his dreams. Today, most immigration from the Philippines is the result of these pull factors, and these same Filipinos affect the culture and history of America. However, what Filipinos failed to realize before their arrival to the United States was all of the racism and social opposition they would face for attempting to assimilate. As a result, they had to learn how to use their words and their writing pens as shields to defend them from social adversity. In the article San Francisco State University Third World Liberation Front Position, the author mentioned the the Philippine American collegiate endeavor (ASA1 Course pack, 9). The Filipino American students in the SF State
University actively support the Third World Liberation Front Position
and they made changes, so now Filipinos have a support group in the United States. No matter what America was actually like after Bulosan and other Filipinos arrived on the land, the image that they had was beautiful and attractive. The image that America created and diffused to Filipino people is the most significant factor that pulled Filipinos to immigrate. The history of American colonization settled the idea that America was better and stronger than any other country; the American style of education developed the idea and taught more about the democracy, independence, liberty, equality in America; and the local influence provided good opportunities for Filipinos to learn about America and build an idolization of the dreamland in Filipinos minds. In conclusion, poverty in the Philippines pushed people to move to America, but more importantly, the pull factors from history, education and white people have significantly influenced the Filipinos views of American, and consequently affected the immigration.
Reference Carlos Bulosan, (1946) America Is in the Heart: A personal History; University of Washington Press. San Francisco State University Third World Liberation Front Position, 1968, ASA 1 course pack