"Whiteman's Burden" And American Schooling Mission In The Philippines

After Spanish-American War, according to the Treaty of Paris which signed in 1898, American took over Spain as the new sovereign state in the Philippines. In the Philippines, American established a set of colonial system which was full of American color. As a unique piece of colonies in American history, The Philippines bore the imprint of American rule in every aspect, such as politics,economy,education system and social life and so on. This paper selects the early stage of American schooling policy in the Philippines as research emphases and American teacher there as an object. Through introducing the background of sending teachers to Philippine on mission between 1898-1910, their construction and development, analyzing American colonialists' "Whiteman's burden" doctrine which based on the concept of "Manifest Destiny", to elaborate the far-reaching influence of American schooling policy mode on the education policy and its formulation and implementation in the Philippines, as well as American colonial ideology at that time and even in the future.This paper first introduces the origin of sending teachers on mission to Philippines, analyzing the political context of its coming in the late 19th century, using the representative teaching staff between 1898-1910—American solider teacher and civilian teacher as research subject, by presenting large amounts of historical facts, including their work,life and social activities, to overview the development and social alteration of Philippine education system in this period, analyze the concrete manifestation and effect of American teachers' personal sense of mission,social and national policy on education and social movement in the Philippines. In the mean time, this paper objectively evaluates American influence on the civic education and future education system in the Philippines as well as its diplomatic strategy to third world country.