The school as the nucleus of cooperative work

Title

Creator

Osias, Camilo

Language

English

Year

1916

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

34 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN Bureau of Education has taken a very active part. Members of the Bureau have organized forces to fight cholera, locusts, and rinderpest. And all the while the schools were the chief medium through which information on the various campaigns reached the public. And this is as it should be. The schoolhouse is best fitted to be the rallying place for the community. It performs its best function only as it serves the needs of the community in the broadest possible manner. Every movement which has for its purpose the welfare, improvement, and uplift of the community may very properly use the public school building to promote its cause. THE SCHOOL AS THE NUCLEUS OF COOPERATIVE WORK. By Camil o Osias, Division Superintendent of Schools, Mindoro. In the Philippine Islands, the school is the institution of greatest efficacy in social reconstruction. Recent years have brought to it enlarged responsibility and increased efficiency. The school has led in many movements of far-reaching significance, and it has become the social center. The school is a proper nucleus for cooperative work. In the industrial and agricultural development of the country it has taken a prominent place. The Bureau of Education, working jointly with other bureaus of the Government, has contributed greatly to the development of agriculture by the courses it offers in the agricultural schools under its control; by the gardening courses in the primary and intermediate schools; and by such activities as garden days and corn demonstrations. It also has influenced homes in many respects through its courses in domestic science, housekeeping, and hygiene and sanitation, and through the teaching of subjects that conduce to proper conduct and right living. Special vocational schools have been organized in the hope that they might be instrumental not only in preparing the pupils and students for definite vocations, but also for the development of household industries. As specific examples of schools under the Bureau of Education which have been and are instrumental in preparing students for definite callings, mention may be made of some of the most prominent. The Munoz Agricultural School is exercising a powerful influence in Nueva Ecija, and generally in the development of settlement farm schools through the employment of its graduates as teachers. The farm schools of Indang, Cavite, and Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, have done much to influence the pupils and OTHER ASPECTS OF COOPERATION 35 the people of their communities in poultry raising, gardening, and farming. The Batac Farm School has been so influential in spreading the culture of mulberries that today there is a possibility of the development of silk production in Ilocos Norte. The Philippine School of Arts and Trades is sending out many artisans and trade workers. The Philippine Normal School has supplied a large number of the Filipino teachers now in the public schools. The Director of Education in a recent letter to division superintendents has authorized the placing of the public schools at the disposal of cooperative agricultural societies, where such societies desire to make use of the school buildings. The schools have cooperated efficiently with the Bureau of Agriculture in encouraging the pupils and the people to secure seeds and plants from the experiment stations. Notable among the schools that have influenced the people* is the School of Household Industries for women, at Manila, which is turning out graduates skilled in particular lines of household industry, such as lace making, embroidery, and sewing. These graduates, given proper supervision and incentive, should benefit their home communities in extending household industries. The school will soon be the center of greatest influence in each community for the development and extension of industrial activities in the Philippine Islands. At the last session of the Philippine Legislature, a law was enacted authorizing the Bureau of Education to establish a sales division and provincial industrial sales departments. Such departments, without attempting to compete with private enterprises, will in all probability prove beneficial in aiding the people to engage in profitable industrial enterprises and in finding markets for the output of the schools and the community. While stress has been placed upon the fact that the school in its industrial activities is the nucleus of cooperative work, there are promising opportunities for cooperation in other ways. The past few years have brought about a considerable improvement in the establishment and enlargement of school libraries. In many respects these answer the purpose of public libraries not only for the school people, but for the outside population. The school is becoming more truly a social center not only among the civilized people of the Philippines but also among the backward tribes. A notable example of this is the Villar Farm Settlement School of Zambales. At that place there has developed a Negrito community consisting of people who, up to the establishment of the school, had been nomadic in their mode of THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN living and who had never made any attempt to live in groups. Schools of this nature have been established in Camarines and Bataan, and are exercising strong influence in the upbuilding of Negrito communities. Often the school building is the most imposing and spacious building available in a community, and, naturally, the people look to it as the proper place for meetings of great community significance and of far-reaching influence. The school is an institution consciously established for the promotion of social welfare. Its authorities are nonpartisan in politics and, consequently, they are in a position to bring together the various elements in the community. A free educational system is an institution of democracy and its benefits are open to all the members of the community. The possibilities of the school as a nucleus for cooperative work are immense. TRADE SCHOOLS AND COOPERATION. By H. K. Pinker t on, Principal, Trade School, Albay. There is not the cooperation among the several members of the Government who have to do with the industrial department that there should be, nor that there will be when they more nearly approach a common understanding of the scope and problems of the department, and of the immediate needs of the locality in which the particular unit is operating. Still, in some places the cooperation of provincial treasurers, district auditors, and engineers with trade-school principals is quite satisfactory. In order to secure the cooperation of the provincial treasurer, it is necessary to show him that the trade school, while true to its name of school, is in another sense a repair shop or a small manufacturing establishment for the province; that the treas-. urer stands in the relative position of president; and that the principal is as the superintendent of this business establishment. It is necessary on the part of the trade school to do good work, to do it reasonably, and to guarantee the product. The lack of thoroughness that is apparent in some schools is largely responsible for the provincial treasurer’s want of faith in the school. Good equipment must be had, and, while some companies make articles that are classified under names that fulfil the conditions, it is not always the machine that answers to the name that is suited to the conditions in the trade school. For instance, there is a well-known company making mortising machines; it elaborates on the advantages of the hollow chisel

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