PARADOXICAL
The faith chroniclesTuesday, November 25, 2025
Wake Up! We are not the 51st State of America!
Wake Up. We are not Americans.
In the history of Philippine education, the American influence, through the teachers called Thomasites, is routinely upheld as a harbinger of something good, even revolutionary.
And to some extent, that is a valid assessment.
After all, while the concept of universal education did not originate from them -- the Spaniards had already introduced a semblance of it in the 1880s or so, although not of the compulsory, secular kind today -- the Americans were largely responsible for introducing free, compulsory universal public education.
However, not a lot of Filipinos are aware that, while the American colonialists of 1900s gave us full-blown public education and infrastructure as we know it today, that legacy is tainted by the motive of self-preservation. That's only a natural thing for a colonialist to do.
The bigger problem is most of us are not even aware of how deep the American impact is.
We were taught the basics, but only so that we would become their steady labor supply.
They didn't teach us to become managers, administrators, entrepreneurs, not because they forgot or were negligent, but they did it on purpose.
But even when we are nowadays into Management 101 and Entrepreneurship 101, the ill effects are still in force.
There is almost zero interest in our local histories. We deem these unimportant.
We are ashamed of our own indigenous culture because we think it is backward and inferior. We even disparage our current culture as 'mongrel,' and thus impure, not worthy of serious study.
Look at how we name things dearest to us, things that are aspirational in nature.
Notice the names of our exclusive villages, many of our streets, even our taxis in our cities.
Notice the names we give our kids.
Double-check the first names or nicknames we give ourselves. How do you call yourself again? How about your pet dog or cat?
The American impact is felt even in the most minute details.
Notice who our columnists quote as authoritative sources. Very telling. Note who our writers imitate and uphold as being part of the literary canon.
Take a good note of even the decors inside our houses, or our preferred Christmas tunes (filled with snow, sled, holly, mistletoe, reindeer...).
Who are our top idols in showbiz, sports, film, comic books? What kind of movies do we watch? Whose fashion sense do we imitate the most? What books do we attach the highest sense of prestige to? Which books do we deem best of all time?
Evidence strongly suggest we remain under the spell of America -- WASP America, that is.
We Filipinos remain to be little brown Americans all this time.
Maybe a big factor is that America is easy to love. Who doesn't love Micky Mouse? I have no problem with loving things American. I myself am a big fan of so many American things.
The problem right now partly lies within us, in unknowingly internalizing the colonizer's biases and rejections.
The winds of change, however, are slowly blowing. There is hope.
But the change is painfully slow because of the lack of awareness of how deep we have been duped.
Guys, wake up. We are not Americans. We are Filipinos.
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