A First Glimpse of the Professors of Philippine Secondary Education in the Spanish Period, 1858–1898

Abstract

General histories of Philippine education written by Encarnacion Alzona and Evergisto Bazaco do not explain who the professors of secondary education during the Spanish colonial period were. They played a significant part in nineteenth-century Philippine life particularly when we consider that the larger number of educated Filipinos then did not go abroad to study and obtained their formation largely from these professors of secondary education. Yet there are hardly any available body of work that identifies them, their background and training, how they attained their status and most significantly, how they promoted change in light of political and educational reforms in Spain in the last half of the nineteenth century. Twelve pioneer professors before 1865 and selected professors from 1865–1898, some of whom were native secular clergy are given focus in this preliminary study. The idea of equality associated with the struggle for the secularization of parishes, eventually to blossom into a Filipino nationalist consciousness is the major legacy of these professors as proponents of reform and inimitable heralds of change.