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.

16 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

enumerated endlessly. Such was their enthusiasm that we can
fearlessly say that where a patriot or a hero sprung up there
always appeared the beneficent and inspiring figure of a mother,
a wife, a daughter or a sister, ready to encourage and sustain
him. They were indeed nameless martyrs of a deep and genuine
patriotism who sacrificed themselves without hope of receiving
any reward, not even the recognition and gratitude of their
people.
Thus it is that patriotism is also inherent in the Filipino
woman. But patriotism, like any other emotions, needs to be
cultivated and encouraged and fortified so that it may reach its
acme of perfection. And the only priestess who keeps the key
to the sanctuary of the heart is the woman, and she is therefore
the only one called upon to mould the character and the heart
of men and the peoples to make of them patriots and heroes.
But unfortunately for our country woman has been and still
is considered by many as a mere decoration, a rare jewel to be
shown only on days of extraordinary feast and only for purely
ornamental purposes. And what is worse still is that her
education has been considered and still is considered by many
as merely secondary and without any importance. It is thus
that many persons are indifferent to the kind of education that
should be given her, whether it be of the altruistic or utilitarian
character. And what is more surprising is that the more she
is inclined to foreign things the better she appears to them.
Many fathers do not discriminate well in regard to her education. The nearest college, the most popular, the one that
makes more noise because of its more or less doubtful reputation, matters very little to them nor does it matter to them
whether the education of their daughters include the inculcation
of patriotic feelings in their character or whether in the life
during the period from eight to ten years which their daughters
spend in such colleges they are taught love of the home, interest in the welfare of the country and their countrymen, the
sacred desire to suffer in their sorrows and defeats and to glory
in their triumphs and rejoicings; nor does it matter to them
that in such institutions the love of the country that saw their
birth is encouraged or stultified.