A Century Later, Palau Must Lead Its Own Learning

Dear Editor,

In the 21st century, the most powerful institution shaping our lives in Palau remains the one we inherited not created: the education system. Imported, imposed, and repurposed by four successive colonial powers, this system was never designed to cultivate leaders for Palau, but rather, to train compliant subjects for foreign interests. Over a hundred years later, it’s time we ask, what kind of education do we need to build a Palauan future?

Education in Palau did not begin with Spain, Germany, Japan, or the United States. Long before colonial flags were raised on our shores, Palauan’s practiced a deeply integrated system of education rooted in experience, observation, and communal responsibility. In cheldebechel, the village clubs, young people learned discipline, leadership, vocational skills, and identity through service and example. Memory, story, and practice were the curriculum.

Contrast that with the model brought by foreign powers. Spain introduced schooling to convert souls, not empower citizens. As early as 1697, missionaries viewed Palauans as “backward” and in need of Christian civilization. Germany followed with an emphasis on economic productivity and obedience. Palau’s first school was a school for policemen, to monitor plantations and enforce German authority. The Japanese further institutionalized schooling to serve their imperial goals. Their education aimed to make Micronesians “understand the Japanese and obey their orders,” focusing on moral indoctrination, not critical thinking. Only male students who conformed were rewarded with further education. Thinking Palauans were a threat to the empire; obedient workers were preferred. Then came the United States, promising democracy and self-determination, but delivering a curriculum almost indistinguishable from its predecessors. American schools stressed English, sewing, athletics, and Western values. Cultural pride and Palauan knowledge systems were marginalized. As Father Francis Hezel noted in 1977, American schools were intended “to Americanize” just as the Japanese schools were meant to Japanize. It is a system designed to make us forget that Palauan’s already had medicine, astronomy, carpentry, governance, and education systems, structured differently, but rooted in Palau. The tragedy is not just what was taught, but what was deliberately untaught: self-respect, cultural genius, and the power to define our own future.

Let us now ask the most important question: Education is supposed to do what? If for some ungodly reason you wake up tomorrow morning and only those 18 years old and under are alive, the question is: Can they maintain our customs, culture, language, stories, government, economy, politics, and understand globalization? If the answer is yes, then your educational system is good. If the answer is no, then your educational system is not good and needs to be re-evaluated.

The legacy of educational colonization is visible today. We wait for validation from foreign institutions. We send our brightest abroad, rarely asking how they might serve home. We imitate more than we innovate. We’ve trained generations to follow, not to lead. But it doesn’t have to remain this way. David Ramarui warned in 1979 that the Pacific must develop its own intellectual and economic capacities or risk being swept away by globalization. Roman Tmetuchl emphasized the need for education that plants seeds at home, not train our youth to leave it behind. Both saw education not as a path out, but a foundation for returning, restoring, and rising.

We must rethink the entire purpose of education in Palau. Not simply to fill jobs in someone else’s economy, but to build our own. Not just to produce skilled laborers, but wise leaders, cultural guardians, and critical thinkers. We must blend ancestral knowledge with global literacy, teaching the next generation how to navigate the world without forgetting who they are. Changing our schools begins with changing our mindset. We are not empty vessels waiting to be filled by others. We are overflowing with wisdom, if only we make space for it in our classrooms, policies, and leadership. Let us begin where we are. Let us teach what is ours. Let us lead with what we know.

Only then will education in Palau serve not as a memory of colonization, but as a vision for sovereignty.

Your Humble Servant

Al Kahalic