Editorial and Official

Media

Part of Philippine Craftsman

Title: Editorial and Official
Year: 1912
Rights
Fulltext: EDITORIAL AND OFFICIAL. THE Bureau of Education has held a yearly exposition of articles fabricated in the public schools of the Philippines from and including 1907. The original purpose of these exhibits was to inform the public of the work being done in the schools in carrying out the industrial policy of the Bureau. l\lore recently exhibits haYe been held for the purpose of imprO\'The cun!va.t ing the standard of the industrial work rather by El<hlb!t. comparison, by giving teachers an opportunity to inspect the product of the schools in all parts of the Islands. More than six hundred teachers visited the exhibit at the First Philippine Exposition, held in 1912, carrying back to their home provinces sample articles and new ideas to be applied to the improvement of the work of their own pupils. These yearly exhibits have also continued to serve the purpose of acquainting the commercial community with the possibilities of industries for the homes of the people, and have brought the merchant in touch with the producer. Since 1907 all articles submitted have been for sale; this plan was adopted at first because of the desire of the public to purchase, and later to test the quality and salability of the work and fix prices on new Jines that may have developed during the year. The results of these sales have been very satisfactory; they have served as a guide in experimentations with new industries in the schools. In addition to this, the Bureau has now adopted the plan of selecting certain of the best made articles from the exposition and of using them later for exhibit purposes in the Industrial Museum attached to the General Office, and in traveling and display exhibits both in the Philippines and in the United States. Plans are already well under way for the exhibit which will be held in Manila in connection with the Carnival of 1913, during the first nine days of February. In preparing for this undertaking, the schools have been advised to follow the plan, which in many provinces proved so successful last year, of holding preliminary exhibits in the barrios, municipal centers, and provincial capitals. From these displays the best articles were set 427 428 THE PHIUPPJXE CRAFTSMAN aside to be sent on to the next higher exhibit, the final selection in the provincial capitals being for the Insular exhibits at l\lanila. It is evident that the preliminary exhibits held in the barrio and municipal schools, reaching as they do the great mass of pupils and parents, should be made as interesting and instructive as possible. In some respects these intermediate exhibits are similar in character to the country fairs in the United States, in connection with which the schools hold athletic and forensic conte~ts. But in so far as the barrio or village exhibits are concerned, the Philippine schools are probably unique. In these the work is brought before the masses-those who are to be most benefited by the extension of industries into the homes, through the medium of the schools. The success of all school industrial exhibits held in the provinces will depend in a very great measure upon the enthusiasm shown by the school authorities and their success in interesting the pupils and parents in these activities. The Bureau of Education Exhibit for 1913 will be very similar to that of 1912; but it will have a broader significance. Every school coming under the administration of the Bureau of Education with classes in the third grade or above will be expected to furnish a certain amount of industrial work, based on the number of pupils in the school in comparison with the total number of pupils in the province. It is estimated that the Exhibit of 1913 will have a total value of 1"'50,000, and will mark a distinct advance in all lines of industrial work.-L. P. One of the surest evidences that we of the Philippines have done something worth while-and done it at an opportune timein the way of shaping the curriculum of our schools so as to meet the needs of the people is the note of dissatisfaction which seems to be felt all over the Educational Thought. United States in regard to the system of education in vogue there. That the system, which is as yet mostly purely academic, needs radical revision is evidenced by the fact than not only educational journals, but" the magnzines generally, are taking the matter up and making it the subject of searching inquiry and criticism. In the September number of THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN we commented upon the trend of educational thought in the United States, as revealed in the utterances of two distinguished educators at the 1912 meeting of the National Educational Association. The Forum EDITORIAL AND OFFICIAL 429 for September contains an article by Edward M. Weyer on "What the Schools do not Teach," in which the author points out the inadequacy of the existing system of instruction, although without definitely suggesting any remedy for the defects. He confines himself rather to a statement of what the people are thinking and cites some opinions decidedly at variance with each other. One paragraph of the article is rather striking: "The vast majority of our people regard education as a process of receiving knowledge; a few hope that some day it may be made a process of acquiring ability. The popular clamor is for a system that may speedily bring every child to a state of preparedness for commencing his training in some industrial pursuit; the teaching, many hold, should be made entire]~· vocational after the child has reached his fourteenth year. By way of contrast to this opinion, one of the foremost psychologists of this country assured the writer that he would be satisfied if each of his own children, by the age of fourteen, could saw a board straight, and drive a nail well and that he believed this test would be indicative of true attainment, for the knowledge taught in the schools up to that age would be later forgotten and it could be learned much more rapidly for the first time after that age." In The World's Work for August, Frederick T. Gates, chairman of the General Education Board, arraigns the existing system of education in the rural schools of several of the states and paints a picture of "The Country School of To-morrow." He speaks of the "vast, various, costly educational systems of a Christian people, unrelated in any effective way to the earthly life and needs of those for whom it exists" and then outlines his vision of the remedy. Taking the congressional township, six miles square, as the rural school unit, he says : "We shall need a group of school buildings, • • • ample grounds, many acres, • • • since our school in its aim includes everybody, old as well as young; it is to be in session all the year round, and everyone shall have something yet to learn always before him. Every industry in the district finds place in ou1· cuniculum. E very kitchen, barn, dairy, shop, is a laboratory for our school. The growing- crops, the orchards, the vineyards, the gardens, the forests, the streams, the domestic animals, nay, even the tools of every farm, are part of our scientific equipment. The horizon forms the walls of our museum of natura! history and the sky its roof, and a ll the life within is materia! and specimen for our study. • • • Our schools will no longer resemble in their methods and their discipline institutions of penal servitude. They will not be, as now, places of forced confinement, accompanied by physical and mental torture, during six hours of t he day." Under the capt ion of "Training Head and Hands" the editor of The Satw·day Erening Post (September 28) also pays his respects to the antiquated system of education, pointing out the 430 THE PIJJLJPPI.VE CRAFTSMA,\" fact that all over the States boys have been leaving school long before graduation because mere academic instruction no longer interests them, and how, particularly at Lansing, Michigan, and Hartford, Connecticut, there has been effected "a coOperative arrangement between schools and various shops in the city whereby boys can earn something, learn a trade under actual shop conditions, and still receive textbook instruction." "These small but valuable experiments point in the direction we must go. The vast waste and inefficiency of the old educational system are more apparent and become more clearly understood eve1·y day. In the end we must educate boys and girls for the needs of American. society as it e:rists to-day, and not according to purely theoretical requirements whose only validity rests U}!On a state of society that existed a hundred years ago when education was an m·islocratic intereet." The great majority of us who, twelve years ago, were actively concerned in implanting the American system of education in the Philippines had been brought up under the old purely academic regime, and naturally our first efforts here were directed along similar lines. However, it soon became apparent to both educator and onlooker that the system was deficient. True, one of the earliest official acts of those responsible for the trend of educational affairs was to provide for a school of arts and trades; but the necessity of carrying industrial training as an integral part of the curriculum in all the schools did not sink in until some four or five years later. Fortunately for all, we were not hampered by any embarrassing precedents; and we were particularly free from a species of tyranny, well-intentioned withal, exercised by some educators in the States who seem to lose sight of the actual daily-life needs of society in their efforts to make of the lower schools mere feeders to the classical or semi-classical colleges and universities. With a free hand and a clear field for experiment and investigation, every teacher and school official who had a real interest in his work met the situation squarely and became an active corrector of untoward educational tendencies. We do not claim to have reached the zenith of excellence, but we are confident that the Philippine Bureau of Education has been moving in the right direction. The results of a few years of effort and observation warrant us in contemplating with illst pride the following phases of our cul'l'iculum: An hour (or more) of industrial training for each pupil daily throughout the four years of the pl'imary course; the special courses in trades, farm ing, and housekeeping and household arts for intermediate EDITORIAL AND OPP!C!AL 431 g1·ades; the requirement that even in the general (academic) intermediate course no boy is graduated without having had a year each in handweaving, gardening, and woodworking, and no girl, without having had three years in housekeeping and household arts; the Philippine School of Arts and Trades, as well as the dozen or more similar institutions in the provinces; the various school farms and the hundreds of school and home gardens throughout the Islands; the department of industrial training in the Philippine Normal School, where every candidate for graduation is required to become proficient in one or more lines of minor industries of the Islands. The recent establishment of a Government sales agency and of a school of household industries for adult women is also significant in this connection in that it indicates the intention upon the part of those in authority to extend governmental influence, protection, and assistance into the field of economicoeducational endeavor even beyond the point where the child "leaves school" in the ordinary sense of the expression. To the matter of governmental intervention in the field of industry, ably discussed by the Sales Agent in his "First Annual Report" (1912), is clearly traceable the remarkable thrift and prosperity enjoyed by practically all the countries of Northern Europe, in spite of the extreme density of theit· population; and it was undoubted]}' something of this sort that Mr. Gates had in mind when he painted his picture of "The Country School of Tomorrow." Verily, the old order changeth-J. D. DEHUFF. NOT£.-See the notes in the September number of The PHILIPPINE CRAFTS· MAN on this same subject. Particular attention is invited to the article on the System of Apprentice Instruction in The Manila Bureau of Printing, which appears as the leading article in this issue of THE CRAFTSMAN. This paper deals with a branch of industrial trainThe Apprentice ing which is in most countries directly under the th;~~;~:ror ~~~~~:~P~~~~o~~e ~z;~e~:r·P::f:l~~~: ~~r~ ~:r:~; commercial and trade basis by the above~mentioned Bureau, which comes, nevertheless, under the Department of Public Instruction, to which the Bureau of Education also belongs. The apprentice system furnishes profitable employment to hundreds of deserving young men in a trade 432 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN which has a big future before it in the Philippines. The Manila Bureau of P rinting is the only thoroughly equipped institution of its kind in the Orient. The time should not be far distant when the young men who have receh·ed their training in this educational institution will be needed in all parts of the Islands to supply the increasing demand for the product of the printer's art in this age of enlightenment and progress. Incidentally, it may not be amiss to remark that, inasmuch as the Bureau of P rinting has no branch in any other part of the Islands, with the exception of the summer office operated in connection with the Baguio program, future years may develop a need for courses in the printing arts in other centers, which may then be properly established as departments of provincial trade schools. The apprentices who are the subject of this discussion are almost without exception public school boys. To those who have been following the issues of the present volume of THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN, their work needs no introduction. Any number of this magazine, or of the numerous other periodicals and various publications of the Philippine Government, may be taken as a sample of their handiwork, produced under the conditions described in this month's leader. We believe that the craftsmanship displayed in this present paper on the System of Apprentice l nstruction is a rather unusual evidence of the efficiency of the system employed and a tribute to the intelligence and skill of the Filipino young men on whom that system depends. This discussion is closely related to the studies in vocational guidance which are now being carried on by the Bureau of Education. With the exception of the past five years, the1·e has been a nautical school in the Philippines eYer since 1820. It was called the "Escuela NaUtica" or "Academia de Pilotaje." It appears The Nautical to have been es~ablished by the 1\.Ianila Board Deputrnent or the of Commerce, Which expended from Its own funds o~h!~~,P~:~ ~~~;:!. ~t~e1~r!·;~~fZ~?0to0~~~ ~~e~~=:~\e~~:.h~~~:~c:~ text-books and methods were introduced. The requirements for admission were necessarily low. It was necessary for the applicant to read and write, and to have a good knowledge of arithmetic and geography. With such requirements many students were able to entet· the school with an education equivalent only to EDITORIAL AND OF'F'JCIAL 433 our present primary course. During the last four years of its existence, the average enrollment was a trifle above one hundred. Up to the time of its close in March, 1907, a total of fifty-seven cadets were graduated. For a number of years there had been agitation for a training ship for the use of the school. This vessel was never furnished, however, and the question of practical training on ship board was never satisfactorily settled. There was also considerable question as to whether the school should remain under the Bureau of Education or be transferred to the Bureau of Navigation. The appropriations for its support were uncertain. Due to certain misunderstandings, the students entered upon a school strike which led the Government to close the school in 1907. The fact that this school was in existence for more than eighty years and that it was supported in part by the :\'Ianila Board of Commerce shows that the school must have been answering a real need. The bills passed last year by the Philippine Legislature with respect to the reestablishment of this school and the recent petition of the Shipowners' Association for the reopening of the nautical school show that the lack of such a school has been keenly felt. At present there is a dearth of licensed ship's officers for the coastwise trade. Shipowners are frequently compelled to take officers who have passed the required examination but who do not have all of the qualifications desired. In order to improve this state of affairs and to provide a sufficient number of trained men to fill the vacancies caused by the steady development of the interisland shipping, the reestablishment of the nautical school has been practically decided upon. Many friends of this measure strongly urged the provision of a training ship for this purpose. The great cost of maintaining such a ship, however, removes it from consideration, at least for the present. The following plan of instruction will probably be followed. The school is to be a department of the Philippine School of Arts a'nd Trades, and it will open next June. The mathematics and English are to be taught by teachers of the Bureau of Education, and all subjects relating to seamanship will be handled by experienced officers detailed from the Bureau of Navigation and the Bureau of Customs. A two years' theoretical course will thus be given. The long vacation will be spent upo·n interisland vessels. Upon completion of the theoretical course, the cadets will be given eighteen months' practical training upon vessels belonging to the Bureau 434 T HE PHIUPPINE CRAFTSMAN of Navigation and to the members of the Shipowners' Association. After this practical experience, stude·nts will be given an examination for licenses as ship's officers, and if successful, will be given every possible assistance in securing employment, both by the Government and by the association. Applicants for admission to this school must be between the ages of 18 and 23 years. They must have completed the intermediate course of instruction, or its equivalent, and must come well recommended both as to ability and moral character. In addition, a physical examination will be required. All expenses for board and lodging must be paid by students themselves while attending the school. During their instruction on ship board, they will be allowed board and 'P'15 per month, this arrangement being guaranteed by the Shipowners' Association. The beginning class will be limited to forty students and these will be selected according to their records for scholarship, application, character, and physical condition. The opportunities offered for graduates from this school are excellent. Employment is regular and promotions are steady, depending, of course, upon individual ability. The shipping in the Philippine Islands is increasing rapidly, and, owing to the fact that this country consists of thousands of islands, it is bound to continue to develop. Nor are the opportunities limited to this country. A capable officer can secure employment in any part of the world, and his r ise to eminence in his profession has no limitations except those of his own nbility.-W. W. M. The JouTnal of Education for September 19 notes that the August number of a very popular magazine says "the public school is a momentous failure," among the charges being the assertion that "only seven children in a hundred from the elementary grades ever go to the high school." The JoU?·nal promises that the number for October 3 will contain "an interesting exposure of these glaring misstatements." common Schoot. Even if it is a fact that only seven children in or ~~~~:!:try. a hundred from the elementary grades ever go on into the high school, just why that fact should be a source of worry to anybody is not quite clear. And most certainly such a statement could not constitute a serious cha.~.·ge against the public schools. It is manifestly not given to every child to have the benefit, often a doubtful one withal, of a high school education; and any system of economy or philosophy which EDITORIAL AND OPFICIAL 435 presupposes high school training for every child is, in our opinion, all wrong. "Common schools the hope of our country" is a motto about as old as the United States. Let us "take the cash" of the elementary school and "let the credit" of the higher institutions go. For purely financial reasons, hundreds of thousands of children are unable to continue in school ..tfter finishing the elementary grades; and if those children have been given such instruction as may enable them to read, write, compute, live decently, and have a due and active respect for the nobility of honest toil, no charge of failure will lie against the public schooi.-J. D. D. The National Education Association, at its annual meeting in Chicago in July, 1912, adopted the following resolutions: "Resolved, That this Association places itself on record as favoring such changes in the courses of study in our elementary and secondary schools, together with such changes in methods of instruction as shall make it possible to assist the pupil in the ready application of such knowledge as he may acquire to actual life conditions. "Resolved, That this Association earnestly urges upon the educational people of this country, as well as upon others who are engaged in social work, the necessity for definite progress along the line of vocational guidance for youth; and that such guidance be carried on under the direct control of a vocational adviser, or expert who shall be appointed by, and subject to, the control of a council of laymen in the several local communities; and be it further "Resolved, That the courses of study in our elementary schools 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." For there is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, in Work. Were he never so benighted, forgetful of his high calling, there is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works. In idleness alone is there perpetual despair. Work, never so Mammonish, is in communication with Nature; the real desire to get Work done with itself leads one more and more to truth, to Nature's appointments and regulations, which are truth.THOMAS CARLYLE.