User:RightCowLeftCoast/sandbox/Pensionado Act

The Pensionado Act is Act Number 854 of the Philippine Commission. Passed by Congress, it established a scholarship program for Filipinos to attend school in the United States, it was the largest program until the Fullbright program was established in 1948. Students of this scholarship program were known as pensionados. In 1943, the program ended.

Background
During the Spanish era of the Philippines, education outside of those provided by religious institutions, were not generally available to the average Filipino until after 1863. Following the Spanish-American War in the late 19th century, Filipinos became nationals of the United States. At the behest of American Soldiers, well to do families began to send their children to the United States for education; one example was Ramon Jose Lascon, who went on to earn his Ph.D. at Georgetown University at the age of 20. This followed a trend of well to do families sending students to the United States, with Chinese students first coming to the United States beginning in 1847, and Japanese students coming to the United States beginning in 1866.

The first school established by the United States in the Philippines was on Corregidor, and in March 1900 the Philippine Commission began to pass legislation to provide for public education, including secondary education in each provincial capital beginning in 1902. However, there were a lack of educators, with many Soldiers taking up the task of becoming teachers. This problem was first addressed by the Thomasites arrival in 1901; these teachers from the United States were also tasked to train Filipinos to become teachers, however schools continued to have a shortage of educators.

Directed by then-Governor General William Howard Taft, more was to be done to foster goodwill between Filipinos and Americans; In August 26, 1903, Act 854 was passed. Initially envisioned by Professor Bernard Moses in July 1900, the program was to pacify Filipino opposition following the Philippine-American War, as well as prepare the islands for self-governance, by showing the difference between Spain and the United States through direct exposure. Additionally, the program was to expose the United States to "the best and brightest Filipino youths" to "make a favorable impression" of the Philippines in the United States.

Enactment
The program was initially overseen by David Prescott Barrows, the Philippines' director of education at the time. In its first year, there were twenty thousand applicants, of which a hundred were selected. These early pensionados were chosen from the wealthy and elite class of Filipinos. Prior to taking college courses, the initial pensionados attended high school in the continental United States for the purpose of language and culture acclimation. In some areas of the United States, the pensionados were some of the first Filipinos to immigrate to those areas. As much as a quarter of the initial batch of pensionados went to school in the Chicago region.

As the program continued, the number of pensionados steadily increased, with there being 180 pensionados in 1907, and 209 in 1912. Among the pensionados were some of the first Filipino nursing students to come to the United States. In 1921, the Philippine government had allotted ₱472,000 of their budget for supporting 111 pensionados, 13 of whom were working on achieving a doctoral degree.

Schools attended
Pensionados went on to attend many colleges and universities, including the following:
 * California Christian College
 * Columbia University
 * Cornell University
 * Drexel Institute
 * Harvard University
 * Indiana University
 * Los Angeles Junior College
 * Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 * Oberlin College
 * San Diego Normal School
 * Stanford University
 * State Normal School
 * University of California
 * University of California, Los Angeles
 * University of Chicago
 * University of Illinois
 * University of Michigan
 * University of Southern California
 * University of Washington
 * Woodbury College

Impact
From 1903, until 1938, pensionados studied in the United States, with the majority returning to the Philippines. These former students would go on to serve within the government established in the islands by the United States; this was a scholarship requirement, and had to be at least 18 months of government service. Before returning to the Philippines, pensionados began student-run newspapers, which were part of the beginning of media geared specifically to the Filipino diaspora in the United States.

Known as "fountain pen boys", by 1920 nearly five thousand pensionados had attended American schools, receiving post-secondary education. In 1922 alone, there were almost 900 Filipinos attending college in the United States. Due to the Great Depression funding for the program was reduced. By 1938, around fourteen thousand pensionados had received their education in the United States, some going onto important positions upon returning to the Philippines.

Upon returning to the Philippines, they were sometimes called "American boys", and faced discrimination by other Filipinos. This discrimination was due to the view that the returning pensionados "legitimated U.S. colonial rule in the Philippines". Some of the returning pensionados would go on to help the development of Filipino nationalism.

A majority of the returning pensionados were assigned as educators, with some later becoming superintendents. For instance University of Michigan alum Esteba Adaba, became the director of education for the Philippines under the Roxas Administration; he would go on to become a Philippine senator. Another pensionado Jorge Bocobo, a University of Indiana alum, went on to become a President of the University of the Philippines. For those pensionados who studied nursing, they would establish nursing schools, whose students would go on to immigrate around the world to fill nursing shortages. Others went on to be successful in fields outside of education, and would move on to become part of the "governing elite". Examples of these pensionados include Secretary of Finance Antonio de las Alas, Senator Camilo Osias, Major General Carlos P. Romulo, writer Bienvenido Santos, and Chief Justice José Abad Santos. When architects began to be registered in the Philippines in 1921, a pensionado was the second to be registered.

Other students
Due to the success of the returning pensionados, it enticed others to immigrate to the United States, including non-pensionados who self-financed their attempt to receive higher education, including some veterans of the United States Navy. By the 1920s, these self-financed students outnumbered the pensionados. The aspiration of education advancement became a dominant theme for those Filipinos coming to the United States.

Some of these students would go on to fund their education as domestic workers, with some attending Chapman College and the University of Southern California, with a few earning graduate degrees; Others attempted to fund their education by working as farmworkers; one of these immigrants who were part of this group of students was Philip Vera Cruz. Many of these self-funding students would not return to the Philippines, settling in the United States; one example is Llamas Rosario, who earned graduate degrees from Columbia University and New York University, and went on to found the Filipino Pioneer, a newspaper published in Stockton, California. Along with those who immigrated to the United States without educational aspirations, these Filipinos started the second wave of immigration to the United States. Those who remained, who had completed their education, found that they would not be hired in their trained industries due to racial discrimination. In additional, laws bared Filipinos from professional employment, such as the ones in California.

Similar programs
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, the Japanese government also sponsored students to study in Japan, with two groups being sent Japan in 1943 and 1944. In total there were a total of 51 students who studied in Japan under the program, referred to as "Nantoku" ナントク.

Inspired legislation
In the early 21st century other legislating sharing the name of the act, were introduced in the Senate of the Philippines. In 2010, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago submitted the "Pensionado Act of 2010", which remained in committee. In 2017, Senator Sonny Angara submitted "Pensionado Act of 2017" which is in committee of the current Philippine Senate.