The Founders of the American Public Education System and their Journey to the Philippines
- museomaritimo
- Sep 5, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 8, 2025
August 31, 2025 - Makati City, NCR, Philippines
Article by SM Floralde
One Saturday evening, while browsing the YouTube channel, I happened to come across some educational online content. It’s the newest online game show called “Bilyonaryo Quiz B: College Edition”. Excitedly, I began to watch this particular episode with a bit of nostalgia. (FYI, I was an avid viewer of “Game Ka Na Ba” and “Battle of the Brains” back in the 90s and early 2000s.) So, when the quiz master, Mr. David Celdran, asked an interesting question about Philippine history, it caught my attention, and I momentarily froze in time.
“Named for the ship that brought them to Manila in 1901, what group of teachers formed a major pillar of the American public school system in the Philippines?”
After a split second, I remembered what my high school history teacher taught me in her class. So, I held my breath and confidently uttered the answer - Thomasites! As the game show host confirmed it, I screamed for joy inside, knowing that I still have a good memory. At the same time, I wondered what their back story was. Since the last time I’d read about them was decades ago, I thought I would dig deeper to unfold the details of their noble journey to the country sometime in the early 20th century.
The Thomasites
The term “Thomasites” refers to some six hundred American teachers who arrived in the Philippines when the Filipino-American War had not yet concluded. According to Michigan University, they came “from all across the country and with different educational backgrounds.” Though a number of them only wanted to find work, some of them were “world-renowned professors at high-ranking universities looking for a challenge and an adventure.” Wholistically, Harvard University Press described them as “’a peaceful army of gentle pedagogues,’ whose only ‘ammunition’ would be schoolbooks, pencils, paper, and chalk.”
On July 23, 1901, the U.S.A.T. Thomas departed from San Francisco, California. “’[She] is manned with a crew of 286 men, is carrying 357 male teachers and about 200 female teachers, a few wives and about 30 children.’ The ship anchored in Honolulu, Hawaii, to restock and refuel. Many Thomasites took advantage of their mini vacation to explore the islands. Then, the ship continued across the Pacific Ocean and entered the Manila Harbor on August 21, 1901.” After they docked in Manila, “they were assigned their final teaching destinations.” The majority of these American educators “worked in the first two decades of the 20th century.” After finishing their job contract, some of them went back to America while others remain “to stay and further their personal relationships with the islands.”
But the question remains – why were they called the Thomasites?
The Ship
Aside from the historical identity of these pioneering educators, another aspect that really gravitated me to that Bilyonaryo Quiz B question was the mention of the ship “that brought them to Manila in 1901”. So, I wondered, what was that ship called? How did it come here, and where is it now?
To satisfy my curiosity, I conducted some research. According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, I found out that the ship that brought the largest group of American teachers to the country was the United States Army Transport Thomas, in short, U.S.A.T. Thomas. Built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, it was launched as “Persia”. Then bought by the Atlantic Transport Line, she was renamed “Minnewaska”. Moreover, she was not originally used for transporting teachers to the Philippines but was intended for battle service. Only when this ship served the Army Transport System (ATS) was she finally renamed “Thomas”.
On July 26, 1898, this American transport ship was purchased to transport American soldiers to their designated destination during the Spanish-American War. In July 1901, it departed San Francisco with about 557 teachers (357 males and 200 females) sent by the Philippine Commission to establish an education system in the Philippines.
As records showed, the last time this ship served with the American army was in March 1928. She was turned over to the United States Shipping Board for disposal and sold to the American Iron and Metal Company for scrapping in 1929. Though vanished from this mortal world forever, U.S.A.T. Thomas will be known in perpetuity as the ship after which Thomasites were named and the vessel that transported these trailblazing American teachers to the Philippines.
Historical Significance
As far as education is concerned, we are indebted to the Spanish colonizers for our first educational system. They built the first schools and universities in the country and introduced us to the knowledge of the Western world. The downside was, they mainly focused on religious instruction and the Spanish language. Access to education was limited, and mostly the Spanish colonists and the elite Filipino families benefited from this educational privilege during this period.
On the other hand, the Filipinos are grateful that the American occupiers modernized our education system and provided widespread access to schooling in English. With their pioneering efforts and guidance, the Filipinos would soon acquire their academic wisdom and become fluent in the English language. In the coming decades, the Thomasites would train their brown brothers and sisters to become teachers equipped with more knowledge and skills in educating our young learners who would soon become the political leaders, legislators, lawyers, engineers, architects, businessmen, and, best of all, the future educators of our country.
Doubltessly, their western-style education became the foundation for our country’s contemporary educational framework. In fact, based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, “Among [the] household population 5 years old and over, 63. 71 percent of them can speak English.” Thus, it is not surprising that we are now known as the fifth-largest English-speaking country in the world and are recognized as one of the 5 Asian countries with the highest English proficiency.
So, thank God for U.S.A.T. Thomas! If not for this historic vessel, our American educators would not have embarked on a journey from America and set foot on our land. And without the Thomasites, Filipinos wouldn’t be introduced to their pedagogical idea that revolutionized our public education.
References:
1. CulturEd Philippines. Thomasites. Philippines.michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu. https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/thomasites/
2. Bilyonaryo News Channel (2025, June 28). Bilyonaryo Quiz B: College Edition – Episode 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHiLeyvPppk
3. Dennis Edward Flake (2024, August 20). August 21, 1901: The arrival of the Thomasites. Inquirer.net.
4. Harvard University Press (2006, October 19). Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century. https://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2006/10/innocents_abroa.html
5. A Brief History of the Thomasites
6. Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 101019 USAT THOMAS sailing day scene, at Manila, Philippines, circa early 1920s. NHHC. https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-101000/NH-101019.html
7. Philippine Statistics Authority. EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FILIPINOS. psa.gov.ph.
8. Human Resources Online. 5 Asian countries with the highest English proficiency. Humanresourcesonline.net. https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/5-asian-countries-with-the-highest-english-proficiency
9. English Proficiency Index. EF.com. https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/5-asian-countries-with-the-highest-english-proficiency
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