Cooperation in the city schools

Title

Creator

Trimble, Paul C.

Language

English

Year

1916

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

OTHER ASPECTS OF COOPERATION 23 the school plant belongs to the people, and that under proper supervision it ought to be used in any reasonable way that will benefit parents and pupils, or the community in general. COOPERATION IN THE CITY SCHOOLS. By Pa ul C. Tr imbl e, formerly Chief Clerk, Department of SchoolB, Manila. No discussion of the work of the department of city schools in cooperation with other Departments of the Government or private agencies would be complete without mention of the fact that such cooperation is by no means a one-sided proposition. While the city schools are frequently called upon to help in worthy governmental and private activities, they are also assisted at frequent intervals by these same agencies. An example of friendly cooperation between different branches of the Government service, in which the department of city schools is directly concerned, is in connection with the industrial division of the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau of Prisons maintains a bamboo and rattan shop and turns out work of a very high quality. Many of the prisoners have acquired great skill in handling these materials. The city schools frequently send teachers to the industrial division of the Bureau of Prisons where, working with prisoners, they acquire proficiency in bamboo and rattan work and return to direct these courses in the intermediate school shops. In exchange for this service, a regular embroidery teacher is sent each afternoon to the Bureau of Prisons to instruct the women prisoners in fine needlework. The Philippine Bureau of Health, which has accomplished so much toward freeing the Islands from epidemics during the past years and in making Manila the healthiest city in the Far East, would probably never have been able to accomplish the work it has done without the assistance of the schools throughout the provinces and in Manila. During the dry season, it is sometimes necessary to turn into the Manila mains the water from the Santolan River which is not so free from contamination as that from the Montalban River. When this is done, information is sent out to every home in the city through the city schools. Children are advised to tell their parents not to use water unless it is boiled. Both infantile and adult death rates have been reduced through this means. In return for this assistance and for the assistance rendered by the city schools in stamping out epidemics, and in the dissemination of useful information regarding health in general, the Bureau of Health 24 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN cooperates with the city schools in the medical inspection and free medical treatment of school children. The Bureau of Agriculture has during the past two or three years inaugurated a comprehensive program of cooperative and extension work. Specialists have been brought from the United States and put in charge of this activity. Throughout the provinces demonstration plots are maintained for the instruction of farmers. Seed is furnished and instruction is offered to farmers with the provision that they carry out strictly the instruction of the Bureau of Agriculture with respect to planting and cultivating the crop. In Manila, this cooperation has taken a different form. Through the school gardens and home gardens, supervised by garden teachers in the city schools, the children are instructed in methods of seed testing, planting, cultivating, and marketing of garden products. Public opinion in Manila—where public opinion is of most moment—is materially influenced by this and similar educational campaigns of the Bureau of Agriculture. In the conduct of industrial work in the schools themselves, cooperation is seen at its best. During the past year it has been extemely difficult to secure sufficient dyestuffs to carry out color designs on Bureau of Education industrial models. A small quantity of various dyes was secured and, using the Meisic Primary School as a center, industrial teachers from all over the city gathered there on Saturday mornings, bringing industrial fibers and blue-print instructions with them. The small amount of dye which could be secured was thus made to do the maximum amount of work. This idea of the industrial supervisor of boys’ work has in a measure overcome the dye problem and cut down the cost of dyes throughout the schools. In cooperating and purchasing from school funds, the primary schools of the city have been able to secure in large quantities such industrial materials as rattan, buri, pandan, bamboo, and white abaca from nearby provinces at reduced rates. The charges on a small shipment of any one of these materials frequently is as high as the charge on a much larger quantity. By purchasing their materials together, better quotations are obtained and the trasportation charges are reduced. Aside from industrial work, there are also examples of cooperation in the city schools. During the past school year, superintendents from provinces near Manila have sent principals and teachers to observe for a few days at a time the methods employed in the city schools. Everything possible has been done to make these visits pleasant and profitable. Special obOTHER ASPECTS OF COOPERATION servation classes have been conducted for their benefit. These teachers upon return to their provinces after visits to city schools have conducted model classes, and have demonstrated the things which they learned while in Manila. In return, the city schools have been able to secure from these same provinces for the coming year the services of a large number of wellqualified teachers. COOPERATION BETWEEN THE SCHOOL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT. By Ler oy R. Sa w yer , Division Superintendent of Schools, Tayabas. The problem in cooperation between schools and local government is not so much concerning how the schools can help the local authorities, for in a hundred ways they have done this since their establishment. The phase of the matter that most demands the attention of teachers has to do with the help that the schools may reasonably expect from the local government in return for service rendered by the school and how that assistance can best be secured. A few examples from Tayabas will indicate something as to what has been done and what can be done. In August, 1915, the enrollment in the barrio school of Lagalag, Tiaong, was exceptionally poor. The teacher was unable to increase the attendance, so the supervising teacher asked the municipal president and the councilor of Lagalag to go with him to the barrio. They called a meeting of the people at which the president and the councilor explained just what was expected. As a result, on the following Monday the enrollment was more than doubled, and the attendance was fairly good during the rest of the year. In Pagbilao the president instructed each barrio teniente to have a display in connection with the school exhibition on Garden Day. Eleven barrios had exhibits of local products. Through the combined efforts of the public officials and of the schools, the day was made a notable success. In another municipality, at the beginning of the year which has just closed, the central school was to be enlarged and a new barrio building was to be erected. There was no money for either purpose; but the president was interested in school work and he had two buildings ready for occupancy at the opening of the term. The visits of the municipal president and councilmen, or of the provincial governor, are often of real encouragement to teachers. And the municipal health officer by his examination

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