Editorial and Official

Media

Part of Philippine Craftsman

Title: Editorial and Official
Language: English
Year: 1912
Rights
Fulltext: EDITORIAL AND OFFICIAL. T HE United States Bureau of Education has published an article written by Dr. Thomas D. Wood, Professor of Physical Education in Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, on the physical defects of American school children. According to the findings of Dr. Wood, fully 75 per cent of the 20,000,000 school children in the United States need attention for physical defects which are prejudicial xe~ci:~!n~~t~ona to health and which are partially or entirely curSthool•. able. It appears that about 400,000 .are suffering from organic heart disease. Fully 1,000,000 have now, or have had, tuberculous disease of the lungs. About 1,000,000 have spinal curvature, flat foot or some other moderate deformity serious enough to interfere to some degree with health. Fully 1,000,000 have defective hearing. About 5,000,000 children have defective vision. An equal number are suffering from malnutrition, in many cases due in part at least to one or more of the other defects enumerated. Some 6,000,000 have defec· tive teeth which are interfering with health. Several millions of the children are afflicted with two or more of the defects mentioned above. School authorities and organizations which have interested themselves in public health have begun to understand the neceS· sity for taking steps to correct the physical deficiencies of school children insofar as they may be remedied. Alread:t' over 100 cities in the United States have organizations for the care of health in the public schools. The more enlightened communities have provided definitely for medical inspection of the public schools. No health survey of the Philippines has been made from which dPfinite conclusions could be drawn as to the physical defects of Filipino children. It is believed, however, that the situation here is fully as alarming as thb.t in the United States and that as fast as funds may be made available medical inspection should be provided. In Cebu Dr. Arlington Pond and Dr. Louis Schwartz have examined the eyes of the pupils in the public schools of the city and their reports show that 15 per cent of the children en· rolled in the primary grades are suffering from trachoma. In the 343 344 THE PH!UPPINE CR.4.FTSMAN intermediate and secondary classes 10 and 5 per cent respectively are suffering from this disease. ln i\1anila 3.35 per cent of the children in the public schools were found to be similarly afflicted. The most important national resource of any country is the health of its people, and it is very necessary that the schools be not only sanitary and healthful, but that every pupil be given every possible opportunity to escape weakness and disease, and to attain to the highest possible physical efficiency. Here is the field for that general physical training which means the physical welfare of the school children and of the nation.-J. D. D. It is of great interest to note a few of the most important reSO· lutions passed at the July convention of the National Education Association and thereby obtain a vantage point in the comparison of our own educational activities with the best and Voc&tJ:~~~.Guld- most recent educational movements in the United Stales. Inasmuch as the welfare of the community depends upon the health of the citizens, and the utilization of the play instinct is being more and more recognized, it was rf'solved that all school districts should secure grounds in proportion to the size of the building so as to provide a place for play and for instruction in gardening. ln our system the matter of adequate sites, of school gardens, and of school games has already passed the "resolving" stage and has been crystallized into definite form by administrative action. The association recognized the fact that liberal education has failed to meet the demand for greater practical efficiency on the part of the pupils and favored such changes as should assist the pupil in applying his knowledge to life conditions. It also admitted that vocational training was necessary and recommended that the Federal Government make an appropriation for the ultimate improvement of the home, shop, and farm through vocational training, and that the association appoint a committee to study the problems of vocational training. While Congress is being importuned to devote money for this purpose and while a committee is being appointed to study this question, the islands have been spending a large share of their school revenue on industrial work and have been working out the problems connecU:d therewith for several years past. · The association also urged the necessity of definite progress along the line of vocational guidance, that such guidance be carried on under lhe direct control of a vocational adviser, and that EDITORIAL AND OPFICIAL 345 courses of study be so enriched as to make it possible to discover the tastes, tendencies, and abilities of the child previous to the time when such vocational decisions are to be made. While our courses have been enriched along vocational lines, yet no concerted action has been taken in respect to vocational guidance. Considerable work has been accomplished by individual teachers and individual schools in advising pupils in respect to the vocations for which they seem best fitted, but the time is now ripe, here as well as in the United States, for a general movement toward the intelligent directing of pupils into vocations for which they shall be well adapted. In many cities, vocational guidance originated from the activities of teachers in securing suitable positions for their pupils upon leaving school. It has developed past that stage until now it concerns itself principally with advising both pupils and parents as to the best vocations for the children to enter. This entails the collection and distribution of data upon the different vocations and a plan for keeping in touch with pupils after they have entered their life work. It involves the enriching of the ,·ocational content of the courses of study and naturally carries with it, more or Jess, the correlated work of securing employment for pupils needing it. It is proposed to talte up this matter in the coming issues of the CRAFTSMAN by means of a general article covering the origin, development, and extent of the movement in the United States, to be followed by special articles on the Yarious vocations open to Filipino youths. These special articles will treat in detail the following features of the different vocations: the qualifications required, the nature of the work, the opportunities in respect to pay and advancement, and other points of value and interest. By means of these articles, teachers and parents will have valuable data in available form for use in guiding boys and girls into suitable vocations.-W. W. M. By a recent circular of the General Office, No. 97 of the current series, the attention of superintendents and teachers has been invited to the fundamental bases along which it is hoped to develop and strengthen one of the important The w::!;.orkinr industrial branChes now being taught in many of the primary schools. Between 1906 and the present time some 300 primary woodworking shops have been established in the various school divisions, Pangasinan Province being in the lead with 35 shops. Many of these shops are well 346 THE PHILIPPINE CRAJo'TS.llA.V organized and well equipped, accommodated in suitable quarters and directed by efficient teachers; but there are some which are deficient in one or all of these points. Circular No. 97 amplifies in many respects the official texts and circulars on the subject and gives more specific instructions relative to the essentials of the woodworking courses than were previously prescribed. Specific working directions are given for all the required exercises in the regular course, while in the list of subsidiary courses the making of tools for home use, the construction or school furniture, and the making of bamboo and rattan furniture are outlined in considerable detail. These latter are optional for such primary schools as are by location or otherwise specially prepared to give them with success. The adaptation of the course to the special needs and requirements of the many municipalities where it is expected to establish such courses and the varying conditions which there prevail should result in a general improvement in the character of the work which will hereafter be accomplished in this industrial branch. The range of work which may be accomplished under the provisions of this circular is very wide and diversified-from the more simple articles with an equipment costing forty or fifty pesos to the regular woodworking course, which requires an expenditure of more t han two hundred pesos for equipment, depending upon the number of pupils receiving instruction. 1t is considered inadvisable to establish any one of the woodworking courses unless sufficient funds will be available to maintain it. Plans made in this connection should take into definite consideration these points : suitable quarters, either constructed or rented for the purpose; sufficient equipment and materials; a properly qualified teacher; and financial resources adequate to support the type of woodworking course selected. When one of these essentials is lacking, it is almost certain to produce illy trained students and a lowering of the industrial standard. All the above points should be considered, one in relation to the other, and their proper balance and mutual interplay secured. Where this cannot be accomplished, it is preferable from every point of view to have pupils of Grades 1 I I and IV engage in some other line of industrial work. The purpose of the woodworking course has been emphasi~d in many official communications and publications in the past. A repetition of the reasons for its existence in our industrial program may not be out of place in this connection. The training of the mind, eye and hand through the use of tools is inEDITORIAL AND OPFJCJAL 347 ferior to none other; manual dexterity is highly developed and quickness of judgment is thoroughly acquired; and a knowledge of woods is obtained which will be invaluable from an economic standpoint. A knowledge of tools and their uses will be the key which will open countless opportunities to young men in the near future. Construction work of different classes is increas. ing to an extent hardly anticipated by those most interested in the industrial development of these Islands, and in minor or major capacities students pursuing primary shop work can become important factors in this industrial expansion.-L. R. S. There has for some time been a persistent demand on the part of the representatives of the F ilipino people for the estab· lishment of a nautical school. Such a school was in existence from 1898 to 1907, when it was closed. The Th~~!o~~te&t establishment of a nautical school with a training ship and a full course would throw such a finmlcial burden on the Government that its establishment is entirely out of the question at the present time. The Government, however, realizes that the demand of the people is a just one and has taken steps to provide the necessary instruction in connection with the Philippine School of Arts and Trades. Not all of the details of the plan have yet been worked out, but in general it may be said that only those candidates will be admitted who have completed the intermediate course of study. The nautical class will cover a period of two years, after which the student will be obliged to follow the sea for a year and a half before receiving papers qualifying him as a ship's officer. The course of study will follow in general the outline given below: l<'IRST YEAR. ~~;:;;ry J Applied formulas. English. Seamanship. Geog-raphy, Philippine. SECOND SEMESTEI!. Mathematics. English. Seamanship. Drawing. SECOND YEAR. FIRST Sni£ST£H. Trigonometry, applied. Seamanship. Navij:!:'ation and astronomy. Physics. SECOND SUIESTER. Drawing. Seamanship. Navigation and astronomy. Physics. 348 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTS.l!AN While the Bureau of Education will handle the academic instruction, the technical instJ·uction will be given by employees of the Bureaus of Navigation and Customs who will be detailed for this purpose. Later announcement will be made as to the time of openi11g of the school, which will probably be in June, 1913. However, since the demand for the school is urgent, it is possible that it will open the first week in January, 1913. "Two of the direct results of art instruction and manual training," as Professor Charles A. Bennett puts it, "are, first, power to do, and, second, ability to appreciate what is done by others.'' The only path to real state-community is to accustom the children from their earliest years to do their work not only for their own personal advantage but also for the advantage of their youthful companions. Only thus can we hope to develop the two great fundamental virtues of devotion to aims outside ourselves and of consideration for the interests of others. And only thus will it in all probability be possible to preserve our great modern constitutional states from the dangers that threaten them through their own industrial, economic, social and political development.-Dr. GEORG KERSCHENSTEINER, Director of Education, Munich, Germany. Trade schools in order to be a success must have a distinct individuality and a definite object of their own. They are neither, primarily, to quicken mentality nor to develop culture; those things wih come in the regular order. They are not to train mechanical and electrical engineers; the literary and technical schools are doing that very amply. They are not to develop foremen; leaders will develop themselves for they will forge ahead of their fellows by reason of their own ability. Trade schools should contain nothing which naturally leads away from the shop. They are to train workmen to do better work that they may earn a better living for themselves and their families. Trade schools should be more like the factory than the schoolroom. However, English and mathematics should be emphasized. They should be put in charge of craftsmen who can teach, rather than teachers who .are primitive mechanics. Make the instruction largely individuaL-C. W. C. BRE\'!Tff)S 349 The acquiring of knowledge and technical skill, and the building up of character, should go hand in hand. lndustrial education is more than giving the pupil the technique. It is only valuable to society when it instills in the pupil noble incentives in using this newly acquired power. With the awakening of his dormant powers and the discovery of his special aptitude along certain lines of work must come the increasing proper incentives in their use. To the alert, tactful instructor, the shop work offers many opportunities to eliminate those characteristics in the pupil which tend toward his failure as a citizen, workman and member of society; nnd to help the pupil cultivate those qualities of character which make for the welfare and high standing of our national life. To state briefly : (1) The pupils in the elementary grades should have instilled in their minds the value of their school studies. Concrete illustrative material, stereopticons, and visits to manufacturing plants and commercial centers are valuable aids. (2) The boys in the upper grammar grades should receive a concrete knowledge of the agricultural, industrial, and commeJ·cial world before they choose or attempt to specialize in any of the skilled vocations. Society will be the richer and the boy the happier for it. There will be less misfits in the agricultural, industrial, commercial and professional world. (3) Too early specialization on a vocation is unwise, because it would only fit the boy for low grade labor. The boy needs the firm foundation of a general industrial education for his future advancement and welfare. Society needs skilled and intelligent workers; the unskilled and low grade labor market is already overstocked with wo1 ·kers while the manufacturers are in need of more skilled workmen.-CHARLES l\IARTEN, Director of Industrial Arts, Cleveland, Ohio. "The best construction necessarily includes artistic elements, i. e. soundness of structure, propriety of material, suitability to purpose, good proportions, and good relationships." Manual training projects, to be successful, must be worked out with these ideas of construction in mind.-Dr. JAMES P. HANEY. That we do not have more trade schools, is not because we cannot afford them. The time is coming when we will find that we are too poor not to have them. Anything which makes a workman take pride in his handiwork makes for conservation. DEAN RUSSEL.