Teaching for Democracy: Education and Public Policy in the Philippines, 1898-1915

FAIN: FB-51443-05

Judith Rosenberg Raftery
California State University, Chico Foundation (Chico, CA 95929-0001)

My book-length historical study of United States education policy in the Philippines, 1898 to 1915, focuses on state and nation building through the lives of five individuals. I explore the manner in which American officials attempted to construct Filipino nationality in two critical ways: 1) through teaching of the English language and 2) by providing a cultural and historical tradition based on American models. As Roosevelt's, Taft's, and Wilson's administrators envisioned a revised Philippine nation, gender and religious issues took on critical importance. What transpired, who exerted influence, and who decided policy had more to do with American politics in the Philippines and in the United States than it did with education.