Editorial and Official

Media

Part of Philippine Craftsman

Title: Editorial and Official
Language: English
Year: 1912
Rights
Fulltext: EDITORIAL AND OFFICIAL. THE school year 1912-13 opened in the month of June under most favorable conditions throughout the various school divisions of the Islands. A very live and intelligent interest is being shown by the people generally in the public school situation, as is evidenced by the flood of applicaTh~ ~clJ.eo~\~~ or tions for enrollment. In the higher grades, particularly, the number of requests for admission is greatly in excess of the maximum that can be enrolled to mutual advantage, and until such time as the Bureau of Education shall have more ample funds at its disposal it will not be practicable to accommodate more than a small percentage of the total school population. The special features now receiving attention in the public schools of the Philippines are making very heavy drains on the limited appropriations allowed the Bureau of Education; the industrial program, for instance, constantly requires more generous expenditures. All municipalities are being urged to reserve a stated proportion of their current revenues for future use in the construction of permanent school buildings in accordance with the standard plans now in the field. This reservation of funds necessarily results in a curtailment of some line of school activity. The number of pupils demanding instruction in the higher grades has operated toward a corresponding decrease in the size of the average class, which of course increases the per capita cost of education. It is not to be understood, however, that primary instruction is being neglected in favor of the more advanced classes. The endeavor is to impress upon the various municipalities the absolute necessity for providing adequate accommodations for the pupils of the lower grades. In cases of inability or refusal of municipalities to furnish reasonably good accommodations for primary grade schools, it is in most instances advisable to close the school. No further extension of primary school work will be contemplated until municipalities provide suitable buildings, insure regular attendance, and, as their maintenance is almost wholly dependent upon local municipal resources, guarantee sufficient funds for the efficient operation of such schools. Since extension of schools is not practicable at the present 11~2H-5 141 142 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTS.l1.4N time, the hope of additional improvement lies largely in the success of efforts now being made to secure the greatest possible regularity of attendance. In this connection attention is invited to the fact that although a decrease of 25,000 in the average daily attendance occurred for the school year 1911-12, as compared with the year 1910-11, the daily percentage of attendance shows an increase from 80 to 83 per cent. These figures indicate that the instruction given during the school year 1911-12 will be productive of far more beneficial results than that of the preceding year. It is expected that the insistence of division superintendents upon greater regularity of attendance will further increase the daily percentage of attendance this year, and thereby secure additional efficiency without any increase in operating expenses. The opening of the current school year marked an epoch in industrial instruction in the Philippine public schools. The entire superintending and teaching force is imbued with the feeling that industrial training is the foundation of lasting success for the educational system of these Islands. Teachers and pupils are keen for the work ahead of them and confident of the rewards which the present year will bring. Arbor Day first found a place in the school calendar in 1906, when Dr. David P. Barrows, then Director of Education, designated the last Saturday of July for its observance. On account of the difference in local climatic conditions. cliviArbor Dar. sion superintendents have for a number of years been permitted to observe either the first Saturday in August or the first Saturday in October. It often happens that planting is begun long before the day designated, and in some places it continues after the day has passed. Last year, two-thirds of the total number of trees were planted on Arbor Day itself. While the ultimate aim of Arbor Day is to develop character by teaching children to love flowers, trees, and birds-all nature in fact-this is accomplished by the most practical means. The planting of trees and shrubs to beautify the school grounds and other public places serves as a lesson in civic and home improvement and the conservation of those natural resources that mal<J:; a country both prosperous and beautiful. Tree planting is accompanied by appropriate exercises which enlist the interest of the general public and impress upon the minds of the people the lessons to be learned. After the trees EDITORIAL AND OPI<'ICIAL 143 are planted, teachers and pupils are encouraged to give close attention to their protection and care. At first, large numbers of trees were planted and left without any particular attention; the result was that only a few survived. The tendency every. where now is to reduce the total number planted and to increase the percentage of surviving trees. Certain divisions have already observed Arbor Day for 1912. Since figures will not be available for some time, only those for the previous year can be mentioned. Last year 2,537 schools throughout the Islands observed the day. The total number of trees planted during the entire year was approximately 350,000, of which 230,000 were planted on Arbor Day. Of these, 200,000 were reported as living at the close of the school year. Jt will be interesting to note that of the grand total 160,000 were fruit trees and 55,000 were shade trees, leaving the balance of 135,000 distributed among other varieties. More than half the trees were planted at the homes of pupils. When Arbor Day was originally designated by the Director of Education, it was the intention that the restoration and pres· ervation of the town plaza should be taken into consideration primarily. This has been outgrown and present plans include the planting of trees by school children about their homes and along the public roads and streets, as well as in and about the town plaza. Furthermore it is desired that the active interest of the general public be enlisted, and that the people be encour· aged to follow the example set by the children and plant trees for themselves. If it were possible to carry these plans to a successful issue, the results secured in a few years would be almost past calculation. The number of trees planted can have little significance if the trees are not given careful attention afterwards. The problem is to follow up the passing enthusiasm of Arbor Day plantings with such watchfulness and cultivation as may be necessary to insure that the largest possible number of trees survive. In order that this industrial magazine may in the fullest possible measure serve the interests of the public schools, its con· tents should treat of the subjects which are of most immediate importance. Superintendents and teachers are in· vi ted to submit for consideration industrial papers and notes for any one of the several departments of the magazine. Material submitted may include complete papers on various industrial activities; briefer notes discuss· ing experiments, inventions, scientific work, commercial state. 144 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN ments, special processes in the preparation of a material or the fabrication of an article, terminology, designs, suggestions and recommendations, exhibits and contests, statistics, comparisons, general statements of industrial accomplishments, references and reviews. Wherever it seems desirable, articles should be illustrated with properly named photographs and drawings; in fact, good photographs of industrial work, even unaccompanied by any writing other than descriptive titles, will be very acceptable. l\'laterial should be typewritten if possible, on one side of the paper only. In addition to the submission of prepared papers on various topics, suggestions and recommendations on points which need attention will frequently put this office in a position to secure articles from experts who are specially qualified to write upon those subjects. Teachers are requested to give this matter particular attention and to ask for information on any phase whatsoever of the industrial and economic conditions in the Islands. Due credit will be given for material which is accepted for publication. Artesian wells nre being sunk in a great many provinces and municipalities of the Philippine Islands. This represents a great hygienic and sanitary improvement over the conditions previously existing with relation to the obtaining Artesian wells. of a pure water supply. ln most instances the people have grasped the fact that their physical well-being is intimately related to the kind of water they drinkthe improved source is in consequence widely utilized. There is yet another aspect of the artesian wells that may have escaped attention in many places, and this is the utilization of the overflow or waste that is generally led away by an escape pipe or drain to some lower grade level in the proximity of the well. Why not make use of this overflow for some practical purpose, as for irrigation, let us say? This is beinl! done in six municipalities in Pangasinan Province, where channels or pipes lead the water to the school garden. Successful school gardens, especially during the dry months from January to May, may in this wise be counted upon with certainty. '· One school garden, that at San Carlos, has perfected a system of ditches and gates that enables the water to be conducted over more than half a hectare of ground with facility and convenience. EDITOR/ill .. AND OFFICIAL 145 A system of laterals from two or three mains carries the water to the edge of each garden plot. Connected walks raised to a level somewhat above that of the som·rounding ground run through the garden and adjoin the ditches. By hand the student takes water from the ditch, which is at arm's reach from almost any part of his plot. Gravity is the force utilized in the distribution of the water. No prettier picture can be conceived than that of water flowing through the ditches amid the growing vegetables as they approach maturity. All this appears to be the desideratum in this country where the extreme dryness of the period from January to May leaves the very painful impression on the mind of the observer, that sterility and aridity are prevalent conditions and not a transient state due to lack of water. Gardening for the school and home is largely a matter of obtaining an unfailing water supply. Where one exists that can be used, even at the expense of considerable work, it should be done. In its absence, time and thought should be given to its solution------€xisting streams and springs should be utilized and deep wells sunk through the efforts of pupils and townspeople. One town in this same province, Mangatarem, has utilized a mountain stream coming from a distance of between 4 and 5 kilometers. The garden was in a most flourishing state during the recent dry period of January-May.-L. R. S. Each mail brings to the editor's desk a mass of published matter from the United States and other parts of the world, which includes textbooks, reference books, magazines, bulletins, Eschangea, catalogues, pamphlets of various sorts, and reports Review•. dealing with s~hool work and to some extent with industrial work. The review of such papers as have been received has been of very real assistance; it has indicated the lines which industrial instruction is following in other places; but the greatest value of these publications to the Philippines lies in the suggestions which they offer and the inspiration which they give. The mission of THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN is found in its name. It is published first and always in the interest of the Philippine public schools, and it makes no attempt to associate itself with work in the United States except in so far as coOperation may prove of value here. It is a school magazine devoted entirely to industrial work and its field of enterprise will embrace 146 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN only those conditions which have a bearing on lhe industrial and economic welfare of the people of these Islands. The exchanges which are received at the editor's desk are reviewed with eagerness. As school journals, their contents are perused for the good of the Philippine schools. Where articles or items are found which may be of service in an industrial way for THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN they may be reprinted or reviewed, or used as references. HAND SPINNING AND WEAVING IN JAPAN. Hand-loom weaving is still carried on in Japan to a great extent. Official reports of the textile industry in Japan show that there are, at present, 400,000 dwellings containing about 800,000 looms worked by hand, employing, no doubt, some 800,000 persons. A reduction, however, is said to be gradually taking place, and the Japanese continue to advance experiments in making their own power looms. Practically all the hand looms are of Japanese manufacture, and they continue to compete successfully with the power loom on account of their cheapness. They can be purchased for about ·1~6 each, and they are so constructed that they take up very little space. About four.fifths of them are engaged on cotton goods, the others being mostly in silk, and silk and cotton; 95 per cent of those who manipulate them are women and girls, who alternate weaving with their ordinary domestic duties. In addition to weaving, yarns are also hand spun in the homes of the people, native cotton being mostly used for this work . But hand spinning will soon be doomed now, owing to the rapid development of efficiently equipped spinning mills, containing mostly rir.g frames. Since 1904 the spindleage of the coun. try has increased from 1,333,802 to over 2,100,000. 1n 1893 Japan consumed 192,188 bales of raw cotton, while last year 1,067,828 bales were used, which included 135,888 bales of American staples. This may seem a large quantity for the spindleage of the country, but it must be remembered that Japanese cotton mills run for twenty.two hours in the day. Wages, too, are low. Of the 92,000 operatives employed in the regular cotton mills, on day and night shifts, 74,000 are females, who are paid only an average of 30 centavos a day for adults and about 16 centavos a day for children. (From Posselt's Textile Journal, Vol. X, No. 4, April, 1912.) EDITORIAL AND OFPICIAL 147 "And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together." (Dean Swift.) While the Philippine schools are solving their difficulty of securing suitable industrial teachers by means of institutes, scholarship courses, and other special measures, it is interesting to know that the difficulty of supplying the demand for trained industrial teachers is now also strongly felt in the United States. Not only is there lack of qualified teachers for the more advanced scientific and technical work, but even for the simplest manual training, which is now receiving more and more attention in the grades. Teachers cannot be supplied. The inadequacy of the purely academic training or of the mere rule of thumb skill as a preparation for industrial teaching has been clearly demon· strated. At least two institutions in the United States are making special preparation to meet this emergency; these are the Carnegie School of Technology at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and the School of Practical Arts, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. A bill has been pending in the Congress of the United States which is contemplating the annual appropriation of J"28,000,000 to be expended in coOperating with the several States for the promotion of instruction in agriculture, trades, industries, and home economics in the secondary schools; in the training of teachers for these vocational schools and for other publicly controlled institutions; in maintaining extension departments of the State agricultural colleges; and in maintaining branches of the State agricultural experimental stations. Under the proposed plan, the administration of this movement will be carried on under several different branches of the Federal Government. Here is a portion of the great movement now felt in the United States toward industrial instruction. Some States are requiring the passing of an examination in agriculture before granting teachers' licenses; agricultural high schools are being established; and all over the land the movement is to break away from the old tendency to consider the classical and professional education as the only training which would make for a successful life. 148 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN In most foreign countries, particularly in the Tropics, the term "industrial education" is understood to mean either agricultural or technical instruction; no attempt is made, while the pupil is studying in the common schools, to train him in any useful industry. After his academic training, the student who is nble to do so may enter an agricultural or technical school where he will learn scientific agriculture or engineering, or will receive advanced and technical trade training. Manifestly, such a school cannot be for the common people. In the United States the industrial training given in the grades has frequently been in the nature of paper cutting, stick laying, and play work; in the secondary and preparatory schools, manual training has been meager; the higher institutions have provided more generously for agricultural and technical instruction. More recently, however, many excellent industrial schools of an intermediate character, whose aim is to prepare the common boy for earning a livelihood through the trades, have been established. This would seem to be along the more practical lines which, though almost unknown to the rest of the world, have been operating so successfully in Germany, Switzerland, and other parts of Europe, and which have had a great part to play in the industrial revival of those countries during the last half century. The Bureau of Education recently received from Marshall Field & Co., Chicago, Illinois, embroidery goods for the purpose of comparing the work done in our schools with that of other lands. This shipment consisted of marked patterns on night gowns and towels, and of a dozen embroidered handkerchiefs together with a dozen blank handkerchiefs on which similar patterns were to be executed. The \vork was finished recently and forwarded to the Director of Education, who is now in the United States and who will deliver it personally to Marshall Field & Co. The stamped designs were very beautifully executed in the Manila schools. The handkerchiefs were worked out in the Province of Sorsogon and as a whole compare most favorably with the originals from which they were made. Many of them are of even better workmanship than the handkerchiefs submitted by. Marshall Field & Co. "Time spent in the cultivation of fields passes pleasantly." -Ovid.