Caught at the Crossroads and a Catch 22...


In my last blog, I stated that while I believe in order for Filipino's to retain their culture they should be taught in their native tongue before being taught in English, I do not believe that being taught in English is necessarily a bad thing because globalization demands the use of English to be competitive in the global market. After reading the "The Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) for Filipino Americans: Scale Construction and Psychological Implications" by E.J.R David and Sumie Okazaki my thoughts on the effects of learning English have changed. Unfortunately I don't have a solution and regretfully have to say that I see the Filipino American and Filipino being caught in a "Catch 22" - "damned if we do, damned if we don't" scenario. David and Okazaki explain that colonial mentality affects social identity by making the Filipino American feel that he is part of an inferior culture and that these feelings of inferiority may lead to psychological and mental illness such as depression (p. 242). In fact, Filipino youths have one of the highest rates of suicide ideations and attempts (p. 241). Since social and economic status can be related to depression and mental illness it is no surprise that many Filipinos have to deal with these issues when considering that the average individual income of a Filipino American is not much above minimum wage. When coupled with the affects of colonial mentality which are feelings that one's ethnic group is inferior, that they are individually inferior and that they themselves need to change their identity the chance of mental illness increases (p. 248, 50). After learning this my opinion is that learning English in Filipino schools can increase colonial mentality which can sequentially increase mental illness and psychological struggles. I have realized a very dangerous implication of implementing the use of the English language in schools as a result of learning about the Filipino American experience back home in the United States. However, I find myself unable to offer a solution that will end colonial mentality yet also keep Filipino's competitive in the global market. As I said, it is a "Catch 22". Many Filipinos however are attempting to find ways to address this issue and we learned about these efforts in discussion with a group called Anakbayan as well as when we attended a protest against the current President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III.

The protest we attended was filled with signs, chants and music all channeled towards a collective energy of resentment against President Aquino's policies. In additionon to this there was a symbolic burning of a papier-mache rotten egg with the President's face on it. What was particularly interesting to me about this experience was that a lot of the protest was directed towards government corruption and the failed promises of Aquino. Our protests back home are directed towards similar issues, however ours are not in the deep midst of slums and poverty as they are here and that is what intrigued me - the fact that we have similar problems with our governments yet the people here are so much worse off. The music that we heard was rap, reggae and punk influenced rock or a blending of the three. All three genres of music have their roots in artistic representation of ways that people would cope with oppression, which of course made the songs perfect for the protest. In light of the idea of music and oppression, it is now to an article by Michael Viola relating the article "The Miseducation of the Filipino" with music, specifically that of the hip hop group "The Blue Scholars".

Think of Justin Bieber or Katy Perry versus Tupac Shakur, Rage Against the Machine or Bob Marley. Its pretty obvious how and why these individual artists pursued the paths that they did - some have faced social adversity and others haven't. The Blue Scholars, a group who has faced adversity as members of the Filipino community, write music that addresses the ways in which a capitalist system serves the interests of the elite and is accepted as common sense (p. 3). When this common sense becomes the common sense of the masses, semi-skilled labor is created in abundance in the Philippines as well as the United States and this reality corresponds with the low income levels of many Filipino Americans as mentioned above (Viola). A cycle of inadequate education, moving to the States, low paying jobs and feelings of inferiority can now be seen at home and away from home. Viola mentions that Hip Hop has evolved from Jazz music and Blues music. I studied blues guitar for a little while in high school and learned that the blues came from songs that African Americans sang while working on plantations with such low wages that they were essentially "legal slaves". I like to look to the 1960's when there was a blending of black and white music which was fueled and by, and also helped to fuel, the civil rights movement and counter culture era. This was a time of change and the music that came out of this era reflected a new era of open-mindedness and compassion for humanity. Music is the international language and even though I couldn't understand the language that the vocalists were speaking in I could feel what they were saying, I could feel that they were singing against something. What I'm getting at is that people's oppression is heard in music and sometimes it is the power of music that can unite people to address that oppression. Geological, of the Blue Scholars, is a member of the group Anakbayan which proposes communism as a way to eradicate poverty and create equality in the Philippines.

While I can see, theoretically, how communism could work I can't picture how it is economically or legally feasible. A proposal that thoroughly explains how a communist system could regulate itself and not collapse over a long period of time is probably the only way I could be convinced that it is the solution. There are simply to many uncertainties such as how will the government be free of corruption and able to finance such an endeavor? Also when it comes to Marxism, to educate the masses on communism one can't just pass around the Communist Manifesto - the language of it is incredibly hard to understand and I think any person from the working class and even those who are educated such as myself would have a hard time understanding it. While I'm sure this challenge in creating understandable material for the purpose of persuasion has been considered, convincing the masses to let go of what they are currently doing in order to eventually have something better is no easy task. The poor people's problem is immediate - hunger and lack of adequate housing. For the masses to be mobilized they are going to need to be taken care of in some way and provided for because if they do away with the current system the possibility that they might lose these basic needs exists. If this happens then they will have nothing and will not have a foundation to be mobilized from. This will require a lot of money to pay for food, shelter and education and I would like to know how such funds will be accumulated without the support of the few who hold all the wealth and the government. Aside from this challenge I wonder how it will be possible to change a system by using a system. How is the current constitution going to be used to write a new one or at least an amended one? Will a candidate from the Communist Party be elected and then implement new rules? How will the military be involved or not involved?

Rebounding back to blues music in which a singer like Robert Johnson speaks of being caught at the crossroads when deciding his fate by selling his soul to the devil, the Philippines are presently at a crossroads of having to make many decisions and challenges revolving around maintaining identity, creating a new system that works for all citizens all while staying afloat amidst the world economy. It would be great if a country such as the Philippines could simply cur our from the world market and do what is best for their people but I feel the economies are to intertwined to achieve this immediately.

To close this off I would like to revert back to the first reading in which David and Okazaki mention that Filipino American's do not always strive to adopt the dominant culture (well off white Americans) (p. 249). This of course is a good thing but what troubles me about it is that the dominant culture is being sold every where, in magazines, in media and in malls and especially here in Manila. This means that the producer (imperialists and their lasting legacy in certain corporations) are benefiting by selling superiority which creates feelings of inferiority. What I wonder is whether the consumer has the choice to buy into this or not to buy into it and if they choose to not buy into it can they survive with ? Finally, at the bottom of all this I see improper and exploited education systems as the problem but I also see proper and purposeful education systems as the solution. While the purpose, to educate people to be all they can be and not to be a meaningless part of the system that feeds off of exploited labor, is clear, the process in getting there is not. However, the process is imaginable and therefore attainable even though the Philippines is currently caught at the cross roads and although I hate to say it, but any move that revolutionaries make whether with education or through the government will bring repercussions which leaves them damned if they do and damned if they don't.