Schools in Micronesia Prior to American Administration
Hezel, Francis X. (1984). "Schools in Micronesia Prior to American Administration". Pacific Studies. 8 (1): 95–111.
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Abstract: If there is any ubiquitous Western cultural legacy to be found in colonial countries around the world, it is the school. Micronesia is no exception: schools were introduced into its islands over three centuries ago with the advent of the first Europeans. The earliest of these schools were mission-run, both Catholic and Protestant, although this fact is sometimes overlooked by historians of education. Not until the present century, in actuality only in the past sixty years, did public education develop to any appreciable degree. Whether private or public, the education systems established in island Micronesia served the purposes of their foreign founders and taught alien ways and beliefs. Just as the missionaries used education to impart a new religious code, the colonial governments used it to institute political control by transmitting their language and values to Micronesians.
Yet, for all the colonial stigma that the school bears, it has become a permanent and indispensable part of the island cultures today. The institution has taken as deep root in Micronesian soil as the churches that first carried it there and the Western legal system that sustained it in later years. To be sure, it has been transformed in recent years as Micronesians have assumed virtual self-government and increasing authority over their own policies, but it remains a recognizable legacy of colonial days.
This article is an attempt to chronicle the various shapes and forms that schools in Micronesia took, the purposes that they served, and the transformations they underwent from the earliest years of Spanish colonization through Japanese rule to the eve of the American administration in the Trust Territory. Finally, it will highlight a few common themes related to the curriculum and mechanics of the school, its rationale at different periods in history, and its impact upon students and society.
