Mohammad, Putri Shanen J.

November 23, 2016

11509376 KASPIL2
A53
American Period
Debate Evaluation

The colonization era wherein the Americans ruled had ruled over the Philippines was a

great and bad time for the Filipinos. It was the time wherein in we had grown as a dependent nation

to the United States, however we had developed our own system of government during the time

of our dependency. Since the Philippines was dependent exclusively to the United States, there

was no real industrialization in the hands of Filipino capital because most of the earnings of the

Philippines go to the US’s benefit. The reason for this is because in colonization a nation does not

plan to colonize another nation for the benefit of the colonized nation but for the benefit of the

colonizer’s nation, it is to acquire the lacking resources or needs of the colonizer’s nation. In this

view, the United States had conquered the Philippines in order for their own nation to prosper.

However, the mode or tool that the United States had used to conquer the Philippines had been

one of the many things that the Filipinos had benefitted from, which is education. It was during

the time of the American Era that education was not limited to the elites and influential families in

the Philippines. During this period was also when the literacy rates in the Philippines had risen,

and because of this Filipinos became more intellectual that the United States had allowed the

Philippines to create and maintain its own Commonwealth system under the supervision of the

United States. Furthermore, this was also the period wherein the Philippines was granted

independency to become its own nation. However, due to the strong influence that the Americans

have left on the Filipinos, it has created a mindset within the Filipinos that anything other than

Philippine culture in better. For example, the liking of the Filipinos towards having whiter skin or
the liking of foreign brands and merchandise rather than local brand, some mistake this for colonial

mentality when it is not. The further definition of colonial mentality is the feeling of superiority

over other cultures and the feeling of inferiority over one’s culture. Using this definition, colonial

mentality is only considered as colonial mentality when one feels inferior to its own culture and

not because of the personal desires or likes of a person. The period of the American colonization

was period was both a time of achievements and failures. Nonetheless, its after affects are still

evident in present day Philippines, and that the events that happened during that period has helped

the Filipinos to grow and improve as a nation in both a negative and positive aspect.