A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

BOARD OF EDUCATIONAL SURVEY REPORT 91

telligence about health matters must grow out of the instruction in hygiene
and sanitation which should be given in every grade of elementary and
secondary schools, and in the university. Academic courses in anatomy
or physiology contribute little of value to the practical aspects of healthful
living. The great object of instruction in this field is the promotion in
pupils of health habits and skills, and the development of attitudes favor.
able to sanitary surroundings and wholesome practices. The study of
hygiene will give instruction in how to live; physiology will show why the
rules of hygiene are valid; but practice must develop the actual healthful
modes of living. The teaching of sanitation may well use the sanitary
equipment of the school for laboratory purposes. Such use might incidentally so center attention on the condition of this equipment that it
would receive a degree of care which is not now given it. In full
realization of the contribution which public education has already made
to improvement of health conditions in the Islands, the Board emphasizes the necessity for more specific direction of instruction toward the
improvement of children's habits and attitudes.
In a degree, true in no other tropical country, interest and participation
in athletics and games have come to play a part in Philippine life. This
has come about as a direct result of the public-school program. Vigorous bodily activity accompanied by the state of mind which goes with
play is essential to organic development and proper functioning. Moreover, organized play gives opportunity for development of essential moral
values. Experience has shown that people need instruction in play as
well as in work in order to live fully. The public schools have from
the beginning attempted to give this instruction. Athletic contests were
organized to add interest in physical development through the incentive
of competition, and to extend the interest in athletics to persons beyond
the direct influence of the school.
The tendency toward formalization of school work shows itself in
physical education as elsewhere in the schools observed by the Survey
Commission. Playing children are not easily mechanized. Calisthenics
on the other hand, although satisfying few of the needs of children for
physical exercise, are readily shaped to a standard pattern. They now
occupy too much of the time set aside for recreation and physical training in the school program. That children are not learning to play is
indicated not only by the small amount of play seen in the schools visited,
but also by the absence of play outside of school.
There is need of increased rigidity in enforcement of elegibility rules
for athletes. The honor of representing a school in a public contest
should be reserved for those who in turn do honor to the school by their
general scholastic record. Moreover, public athletic contests become of
questionable value when they encourage unusual privilege for athletes,