The 4-H Clubs: a suggestion for the Philippines

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: The 4-H Clubs: a suggestion for the Philippines
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXV (No. 7) July 1949
Year: 1949
Rights
Fulltext: men, — thore who have lost all sense of rectitude and honor and have become hopelessly corrupt; thieves and robbers and bandits and kidnappers; and the al most passionless killers. There is no salvaging of the latter, especially. The police, the courts, the execu tioner can only deal summarily with them. Instructions to that effect should go out from the Central Government. The traditional law’s de lays should not be permitted to obstruct swift justice, especially in those cases where killers are caught redhanded and there can be no doubt of their guilt. There should be no foolish sentimentality, no truck ling to “influence,” no leniency. Judicial mercjr is misplaced in the case of those who themselves showed no mercy in the shooting down of their victims. A lawyer told us that a man came into his office some time ago who had been sentenced to from three to seventeen years’ imprisonment for murder. Now, after three years, he was out. And he was packing a .45! How was it that this man was given a license to carry a gun? Why was he loose at all? The news papers recently reported after a shooting affray be tween two notorious Tondo gangsters, that both men were licensed to carry guns! Such a state of affairs amounts to official complicity in murder. The country needs a clean-up not only of crimi nals but in the official agencies whose function it is to deal with criminals. And it should begin at the top and go down to the bottom of the whole hierarchy. The 4-H Clubs A Suggestion for the Philippines since its inception We, in the Philippines, who are vitally concerned in the improvement of the conditions under which the younger generation is being brought up throughout our rural areas, should take an interest in a remarkable youth organization in the United States which, __ in 1914, has helped to develop, physically, mentally, and morally, over 10,000,000 young citizens, and has also increased farm incomes, raised standards of living, and added greatly to the satisfactions of country life. We refer to the 4-H Clubs, for rural boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 20. The insignia of the clubs is a four-leafed clover with an H in each leaf, standing for head, heart, hands, and health. The movement has spread not only throughout the United States but to Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, and is also being developed in many foreign countries. It appears to be well suited to Philippine conditions and needs, too. The 4-H Club work is a part of the national agricultural extension system organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with State colleges of agriculture and the county extension or ganizations under the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 and other acts of Congress and of the State legislatures. The Clubs are usually organized and conducted under the immediate supervision of county extension agents cooperatively employed by the Department, the colleges, and the county governments. Clergymen, teachers, and other professional men and women, to gether with outstanding farmers and homemakers play an important part as local leaders in the devel opment of the work which now, in the United States alone, reaches some 2,000,000 rural young people each year. A club member does a piece of work each year which demonstrates or teaches “the better way in homemaking or agriculture” in somewhat the same manner as the school and home “projects” presently conducted in the Philippines by the public schools. The main difference appears to be that the Amer ican movement stresses the club idea as well as the individual effort. And each individual project is giv en more importance than it is here through the fact that each member keeps a record of costs, labor, and results; explains the work to others; takes part in an annual exhibit, and writes a final report which sum marizes the years’ work and often recounts the changed attitudes experienced through the activity undertaken. According to a guidebook published for local leaders by the Department of Agriculture, the 4-H Club work provides opportunities for voluntary part icipation in programs, built on needs and interests, through which rural boys and girls are — 1. Developing talents for greater usefulness. 2. Joining with friends for work, fun, and fellowship. 3. Learning to live in a changing world. 4. Choosing a way to earn a living. 6. Producing food and other products for home and market. 6. Creating better homes for better living. 7. Conserving nature’s resources for security and hap piness. 8. Building health for a strong America. 9. Sharing responsibilities for community improvement. The Smith-Lever Act declared the purpose under lying Federal aid to the Extension Service to be: “...to aid in diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture and home economics and to encourage the ap plication of the same... That cooperative agricultural ex tension work shall consist of the giving of instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending or resident in said colleges... and imparting to such persons information on said subjects through field demonstrations, publications, and otherwise.’’ The distinctive educational objectives of the 4-H Clubs are to help rural boys and girls develop desir able ideals and standards for farming, homemaking, community life, and citizenship; to afford them tech nical instruction; to give them an opportunity to learn by doing; to teach them the value of research and develop a scientific attitude toward their prob lems; to train them in cooperative action; to develop in them habits of healthful living; to provide them direction in the intelligent use of leisure; to arouse in them worthy ambitions and a desire to continue to learn; to teach them and to demonstrate methods designed to improve practices in agriculture and homemaking. The aim is to increase their sense of responsibility; to give them a view of agriculture as a basic industry and of homemaking as a worthy occupation; to increase their accomplishments and, through associated effort, better assist in the solving of rural problems; all so they may live fuller and richer and more useful lives. Club activities include team demonstrations; work in judging; special club days; dramatics, page ants, and music; tours and nature hikes; camps; ex hibits; club events at state agricultural colleges; spe cial ceremonies, etc. Some of the projects involve gardening and the raising of various crops, the feeding and handling of young farm animals, farm-machinery maintenance, home-ground development, home-improvement, home sanitation, planting of flowers, shrubs, and trees, problems in soil-conservation, problems in forestry, 280 problems in entomology, wildlife studies, sewing and dress-making, cooking and baking, carpentry, elec trical work, etc. A report on secondary school education in the Philippines was recently submitted to the Govern ment by a committee of schoolmen headed by Dr. Pe dro T. Orata, of the National Commission on Educa tional, Scientific, and Cultural Matters. This report recommended that the secondary school curriculum provide for just such practical activities as are com prised in the work of the 4-H Clubs. This would be a move in the right direction, but we believe that the club-form of organization might well be adopted here for this could include young people both in and out side the high schools as well as grade-school pupils. And if the cooperation of our Department of Agri cultural and * Natural Resources could be obtain ed, and also that of the College of Agriculture, the College of Forestry, and the various regional agricul tural and farm schools, and, in addition to that, of those numerous private persons who now serve as local leaders in the Boy Scout and the Girl Scout or ganizations, then something might soon be accomp lished in the betterment of conditions in our rural communities. Favorable Aspects of the Philippine Economy PERHAPS a certain pessimism about the future prosperity of the Philippines may serve as a stimulus to better efforts, but to dwell on the unfavorable signs, without at the same time noting the favorable signs, tends to aggravate conditions by frightening people away from new ventures and from, the expansion of existing enterprises. There are abundant favorable signs and factors, both economic and social, which point to a steadily growing prosperity for as long a period in the future as may be prudently contemplated. Rehabilitation. Let us start with this nation of close to 20,000,000 people. After passing through a period of enemy occupation, with unprecedented destruction of lives and property, and universal de moralization of economic, social, and spiritual pat- ' terns, the Philippines today is a pretty fine countrycompared with the rest of the world. Without wait ing for government aid, private initiative on the part of all elements started rehabilitation immediately after liberation. Using such scrap materials as were available, homes and places of business sprang up. A shanty town, perhaps; but that was far better than a ghost town. Rehabilitation has continued as rapidly as supplies of goods became available, and nearly all of it through the private in'tiative of tens of thousands of little men who did not wait for the Government to help them, men who have re-established their lives on a livable basis through their own efforts. A nation which can go through the ordeal which the Philippines passed through, and reach the degree of reconstruction to be seen today, shows survival qualities of the highest order. In this lies the greatest promise for continued and growing prosperity. Peace and Order. Each year since 1945 has seen a steady improvement in the peace and order picture. When one looks back to 1900, and recalls that it took eight years for the “guerrillas-turned-bandit” to be brought under control and restored to peaceful pur suits, the present-day situation, involving ten times the number under arms, shows that amazing progress is being made. The Philippine nation has shown a steady re covery from the emotional shock suffered by practical ly all the inhabitants, who e:ther witnessed or heard at first hand of the horrible atrocities committed against their immediate families, relatives, and friends. A nation less embued with the fatalistic philosophy of life would have shown a far more serious dislocation of behavior patterns than we have witness ed here. Filipino Participation in Trade. Consumer goods are now abundant. The shelves of the merchants are once more filled. The amateur merchants who lacked aptitude for mercantile pursuits are being eliminated in the present buyer’s market, yet very many Fili pinos for the first time entering the commercial field, have demonstrated their ability, and are still in busi ness as permanent assets to the community. This broadening of the base of trade and distribution and the increase in the number of Filipinos participating in it, through free competition is indeed a wholesome sign. It gives us a more business-m:nded community, with greatei * powei * ovei- the body politic. Industrial Progress. New industries have mul tiplied rapidly, not big industries alone. Thousands of small new industrial establishments have been set up which in the aggregate have a marked effect on the national economy. The experience of the wai’ years developed a large class of resourceful men and women who had to improvise to survive, and these are the pioneers who are now establishing small industries everywhere. Several large new industries have also strengthened the national economy: modern plywood plants, a steel-window factory, plastics factories, rub ber-processing plants, a nail factory, a modern glass bottle plant, and various othei' establishments in the heavy-industry field have created new jobs and in creased national self-sufficiency. Despite the un certain groping which is sure to characterize some of the new industrialization efforts, the people as a whole are now more industrially minded, and this augurs well foi * future progress and prosperity. The sugai- industry by next year is expected to be back to full capacity. This will go far toward com pensating foi- reduced United States windfall pay ments. Trade Balance. Imports continue far in excess of exports. Yet one-third of our imports continue to be imports needed to replace items destroyed by the war. Discounting this class of commodities, imports and ex ports approach a balance. Increased exports during the coming years, together with continuing United States disbursements in the Philippines, should give us a favorable balance of payments sufficient to com 282