Filipino American Lives

Chapter 5: "My Experience Is Atypical"

A Family of Scholars Chapter 5 "My Experience Is Atypical" PazJensen I was born in Manila in 1940, but I grew up and I had my elementary school and high school days in Davao, Mindanao. We went to Mindanao right after the war, because my mother felt that it was a good place to open up a private school. We had a private school and a bookstore. There were some stockholders, but it was mainly family owned. It was our money that was used to open up the school. So I was always in an environment ofeducation, helping with the school. Both my father and mother were among the first American-educated scholars. In fact, my mother was one ofthe students ofthe Thomasites.* She was one ofthe favorite students then. Because ofthat, she had many American books, and I read every book. I learned about Nancy Drew and Little Women and all that when I was in elementary school. When I first came to the United States, I was surprised that I knew more about U.S. history and U .S. literature than most average Americans. We were raised in a family that had books. English was our first language. It is typical of families in the Philippine, especially in Manila, that from the time they are little kids, they have been speaking English with their parents. Because the cultural thought is to get the child prepared for going to the United States, he has to be able to speak English. In the Philippines, one of the ways to advance is not to be a businessperson but to be an educated person. We believe that with a college degree, you can go anyplace, so education is a priority. I think almost every family in the Philippines has two major goals. Number one is to get a college de- *The Thomasites were the first group of Americans who came to teach in the Pllllippines. They arrived in 1901 on the S.S. Thomas, hence the name. Copyrighted Material 93 94 • Paz Jensen gree, to have a profession. And number two is to play music. You can see families all over the Philippines-they would be poor, they would have a nipa hut, with the grass-thatched roof, but they would have a piano or another musical instrument. My dad started out as a mathematics high school teacher at aJesuit school. But when one of his friends became a senator, he got a job working as a budget preparer in the budget office of the Philippine Senate. So we were separated; my mother and the children were in Mindanao, and my father was in Manila. My dad died when he was only fifty-two. The reason that he died early was because he was a gourmet cook. One day, when he was visiting us in Mindanao, he asked our houseboy to catch a frog that he saw, not realizing it was an orange and brown variety-the most poisonous. So within an hour after he ate that frog, he was dead. Women Role Models My family was matriarchal because my father was always away from home. But my mother's family and my grandmother's family were also matriarchal, because during the time that my great-grandmother was raising her family, there was a big epidemic and almost every man died in the town where they lived. So my great-grandmother raised the family by herself And so, that tradition was carried on and on. But even on my father's side, it was very matriarchal, which I believe is the case in the Philippines. For example, while her husband was president of the Philippines [1935-1944], Mrs. Manuel Luis Quezon was head of the Philippine Red Cross, and she ran the health and welfare system ofthe Philippines . So when I came to the States and I heard people talk about Susan B. Anthony and the fight for women's rights, it was a surprise to me that it was a big thing to have to fight for women's right to vote, because it was assumed that it was there in the Philippines. I think that's what makes us different from the typical Asian. Our society is not a patriarchal society. It has always been women dominated. You notice that there's a lot more Filipino women in politics and in philanthropy in the Philippines. More women actually than men. When I was growing up in the Philippines, women were...