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It was on August 23,1901 when U.S.S Thomas, a naval ship from U.S sent 500 American teachers to the Philippines aiming to establish English as a medium of instruction whose appellation Thomasites. Thomasites are distinguished as either a normal or college graduation or an equivalent (Brown 1903:247). They are in charge of teaching or training the local teachers and are obliged to devote at least 1 hour of their time to instruct the methods of the language. (Philippine Journal of Linguistics Vol.25, No.s 1 and 2, June and December 1994). Despite the lack of experience to conduct classes some Thomasites surprisingly did give students desire to attend classes. With its success on implementing the English language with its short years of stay it is regarded as the greatest contribution of American imperialism in the Philippines. These American soldier teachers were now replaced by Filipino Teachers. Philippines being recognized as one of the most largest English speaking country is now in question about its competitiveness . Recently, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) released the result where Philippines ranked 79th in reading with an average of 340 against the OECD average of 487, the focus of this year's PISA was reading. (Rappler, Philippines) There are a lot of factors that lead to these results. First, is the number of students that can be accommodated by one school. For example, in a public school the teacher - pupil ratio is 1:45 or higher which is supposedly 1:35 in accordance to House Bill 437 or An Act Regulating Class Size thereof, which proposes that a "class to be handled by one teacher shall be fixed at a standard size of 35 learners, with a maximum of no more than 50students." (Manila Bulletin 2018, Article). Second, the distance of the school from home. In some remote areas of the Philippines, there are documented cases of the distance of school to home which affects the students ability to make interaction with other students. Third, the funds that should be used for the improvement of the facilities, maintenance, learning resources for teaching and non teaching personnel. With the overpopulation happening in the Philippine classrooms, facilities are not enough and cannot sustain the huge amount of students enrolling in public schools. And lastly, 21st century learning, as the technology advances through, the level of consciousness is also rising. In some, remote areas in the Philippines, reading materials are not enough and other teachers still halt on traditional way of teaching. Digital- age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication and high productivity are 21st century skills that are categorized in four types.(English Curriculum Reform in the Philippines: Issues and Challenges from a 21st Century Learning Perspective). These skills will help students to be diverse culturally, to be more informed on important matters. It will also be beneficial to teachers as they will provide a more conducive learning environment to the students. With these old recurring problems every year experienced in the Philippines, government should be more proactive, more committed in establishing a good education system in the Philippines.
