Bearers of Benevolence: The Thomasites and Public Education in the Philippines by Mary Racelis and Judy Celine Ick

A century ago the American colonial government in the Philippines created a wide-scale public education system throughout the islands. Bearers of Benevolence is an anthology of recollections, eyewitness accounts, and official documents from the participants in this historic undertaking--from soldier-teachers, authentic Thomasites, government beaurocrats, and Filipino students. Their voices speak of high hopes and hardships, self-satisfaction and sacrifice. This volume brings together a range of real-life responses to the official policy of "benevolent assimilation" and reveals its impact on individual lives. These are the stories of men and women in the early 20th century Philippines -- of Americans bearing benevolence to Filpinos and of Filipinos bearing benevolence-- and of both still assimilating the meaning of that experience 100 years later. "Hardships?...I think the only real hardship I endured during those first two years was the realization of the poverty and the meager outlooks, of the wholesale disease with no remendy, of the restraint, ignorance, and persecution in the lives of those poor little brown people. In the face of their hardships, my own privations sanke into insignificance. The work among the young people was most encouraging, the most satisfying I have ever been called upon to do, and I am very thankful that I was given an opportunity to share in it." -- Anna K. Donaldson, Thomasite, Iriga, Bicol 1901

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Published and exclusively distributed by Anvil Pub
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 2001
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 341 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9712711498
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9712711497
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces