Social Engineering in Singapore: Educational Policies and Social Change, 1819-1972.

no other interpretations of Philippine society (see the essays "Nationalism and Partisan Scholarship" and "Intellectuals and Activists"). However unacceptable as scholarship, these essays probably do serve the purpose Constantino had in mind when he wrote most of them. He wanted to help raise public consciousness; to help Filipinos realize what even the rebelling masses— because of "their obsession with landownership and abuses of their landlords" (p. 76), for instance—had unfortunately failed to realize in the past: that the most fundamental cause of oppression is colonialism and neo-colonialism. The mechanisms of consciousness-raising are difficult to identify, but the expression of unconventional ideas in a persuasive rhetoric may be one. Indeed, at the time when most of these essays were written, Constantino's views were iconoclastic; several of them appeared in newspapers and magazines in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when the reading public could certainly use some shaking up. Constantino's work may still attract those unfamiliar with his thesis. This volume, however, will cause little stir among others—admirers and detractors alike—who already know his message. To them its value will be simply as a handy reference for sampling Renato Constantino.