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Asians Are SmartIt's very disappointing, really. No, erase that. To say that I am disappointed implies that I was actually expecting something good. What's the right word then? humiliated? insulted? degraded? Well, whatever it is, I'm sure that it is bordering on those.
The above article was actually an eye opener for me. Pertinent portion of the article reads:
Last year, a friend left the Philippines and went to the United States. In his German class, the students were international. The professor asked who the Asians were and one by one the Asian students introduced themselves. And so it went, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Singaporeans etc. all raised their hands. Finally the professor calls this Filipino and asks,
Professor: Where are you from?
Filipino: Philippines
Professor: Oh, Filipinos are not Asians! They are Pacific Islanders! Because ASIANS ARE SMART… (italics supplied)
When I read the article, several thoughts came to my mind. For one, a part of me wants to shout at the professor (and anybody else who has a similar though about Filipinos). Really, it was unbecoming of him. He was a professor, after all. From his professional standing, I would have expected a much higher level of cultural sensitivity, more open-mindedness, and lastly, a little research. I agree with the author of the article (the article did not specify) that the best way to approach that statement is to say that the Philippines is part of the Association of South East
ASIAN Nations, as a matter of fact, one of the founders of it. And yes, we are not the only island in the pacific region. Thus, to say that the Philippines is not part of Asia and merely a pacific island (or archipelago, to be more precise) is erroneous. However, let me add a few things.
First and foremost, and since the article said that the event happened in the United States and from that I ASSUME that the professor is also an American (like all assumptions, it could be wrong), it would have helped a lot if the professor has looked into the role of the US on why the Philippines is like this in the first place.
The Filipino's colonial mentality is not innate to Filipinos. It was placed there, forced and reinforced through subsequent generations. The Americans, who had the control of our system of education have placed in the mind of the Filipino population that the United States is superior in all aspects--race, language, culture, politics, economy, etc. That concpet was ingrained in the minds of the Filipnos so that occupation of the Philippines will be easier for them. This method is also known as co-optation, and i believe that Renato Constantino's book "The Miseducation of the Filipinos" tackles this issue in lenght.
The US also played a large role in our economy during those days. As a matter of fact, the US had the monolopy of our foreign trades during the first few decades after the US subjugation of the Philippines. Our imports are 100% US products and we export our products to the US alone. No, there is no such thing as equal trading opportunity with the US back then. There is almost no protection for our importations while the US has high tariff rates for our exports. This is because the US wants to protect their local goods, specifically their agricultural goods, from Philippine agricultural products which are more superior given that they are from a tropical country. Since the start, our economy was not in a good shape because of this unequal trading. The book "An Economic History of the Philippines" by Onorfe Corpuz has a comprehensive discussion regarding this. Read it for more details.
I would have wanted to elaborate more, but i guess the above is enough to emphasize my point. The Philippines now is the product of its past. Whatever illness that the Philippine society has is a deep-rooted (but not innate) affliction caused by centuries of maltreatment (and miseducation) at the hands of foreign powers. When I read history books, I can't helped but sigh when an opportunity to develop our own government, culture, society and economy was lost because a foreign power has entered into the picture. You don't get what I mean? Look into your history book. Try to determine what lost opportunities I amm talking about. Let me emphasize that we were the first country in Asia to have a republican government. We were the first to have a bloodless revolution. we were the first... sigh...
Anyway, I also don't agree that Filipinos are not smart. FILIPINOS ARE SMART! We are not only smart, we are street-wise. Being a nurse and working abroad are not grounds to say that Filipinos are not smart. Working abroad in order to raise your family in a decent environament is not and should not be seen as a derogation of what you are. It is called being wise enough and strong enough to find means that are otherwise unavailable. That's what we are. We know how to survive. We know how to make both ends meet. We make do with what we have.
Moreover, having P.H.d's and M.A.s is not a measure of how smart a person is. It measures intelligence. Sure. I have no issues with that. I would have to agree that people with masterals and doctorates are intelligent. Moreover, they have means. Means that are oftenly unavaliable to an average Filipino, to a smart Filipino, and yes, even to intelligent Filipinos. Really, to judge the smartness of a person according to his roster of academic achievements is hasty and fallacious. A pedagogical institution is not the be-all and end-all of things. There are other aspects in life that are important, such as work, family, ethics, etc. I leave it up to you to think of other things.
In any case, we can't erase the fact that there are people out there who think just like the professor. Racial discrimination and ethnocentrism are real. They do not go away just by wishing. We can't also reason that we were exploited in the past and therefore, we have all the rights to stay this way, basking in the filth and shame. If my knowledge of history is right, it took only 50 years for South Korea to emerge from her war torn past. China is fast rising, eventhough it was subjected to so much miseries and economic inequalities wreak upon it by foreign powers. Last time i heard, India is rising too. Given these, I don't think that we can simply wallow in our miseries and cry foul for the past mistakes done to us all the time. At the end of the day, it is still up to us to prove them wrong. We were given two strong legs, let's use them.
Can it really come? The day when people will regret that they were not Filipinos??
