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The Pensionado Act of 1903 (or Act 854) refers to the law which allowed qualified Filipino students to study in the United States. Passed on 26 August 1903 by Governor General William Howard Taft's government through the Philippine Commission, this act provided funds for such students, called Pensionados, to acquire their college degrees at American schools. 103 students comprised the first wave of pensionados.
Image: The first Pensionados at the St. Louis Exposition in 1903.
These students were called Pensionados since they were scholars studying at the expense of the colonial government. They mainly earned degrees in government and administration since the idea of the program was to educate the students the U.S. Government system, so that upon their return in the Philippines, they would administer the government in the same fashion.
During the first decade of the American occupation, most of the pensionados were women from the elite class (the same class who had access to better education in the late Spanish period). However, under the American educational system, educational opportunities in the Philippines became more democratic that many of the later pensionados were promising Filipinos who were not necessarily wealthy.
By 1912, there were already 209 Filipino students who graduated from American college and academic institutions. While many returned home to complete the terms of their education and occupy prominent positions in the academe, government and the public sector, some returned to the United States before the outbreak of World War II; and began the early wave of Filipino migrations.
Find more similar projects at the master project page, Families of the Philippines.
The Pensionados
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