Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

EDUCATIONAL SECTION

191

obssessed with one great desire and nothing will make us normal and content except the realization of this fundamental
wish-national self-realization.
In our contact with Americans, vigorous and efficient producers we have naturally learned to change somewhat our
standards of values. We now realize more than ever the importance of material and economic development to a people, the
need of roads and bridges, sanitation and schools, but all these
things will remain secondary to the supreme aspiration-the
achievement of independence or national self-realization, for on
this depends our self-respect. For it, our people have fought
and died in the past, and for it the present generation is willing
to sacrifice their material well-being.
In the meantime, and confident that America's promise of
granting us independence will be kept, we should consider some
of the great problems that will confront an independent Philippines. In education, what problems will confront us?
Before any other oriental people, ours committed themselves
to the democratic system of social organization and the republican form of government, and it is to be presumed that an
independent Philippines will continue the democratic social
organization and re-establish a republican form of government.
Democracy has, as its essential basis, an enlightened population
which in turn is dependent upon universal education. We
believe, therefore, that the most fundamental educational problem that an independent Philippines will have to face is the
eradication, within five or at most ten years, of illiteracy in our
country. After ascertaining the total amount of funds from
our municipalities, provinces, and the insular government available for education, we shall have to undertake this task. We
must devote our available resources to the education of all
children of school age and of all illiterate adults, giving to all
as good an education as our resources will permit. It may
be necessary, to carry out this policy, to enact a law compelling
all children between the ages of seven and eleven to attend the
primary schools and all illiterate adults between the ages of
eighteen and fifty to attend night schools organized for them.