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.

138 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES
scores of the very old pupils are counter-balanced in our total group
by the high scores of the very young. The median scores of our master
groups, therefore, are thoroughly representative of Filipino practice and
are directly comparable to American median scores.
We have entered into this somewhat technical discussion because of
the importance of the conclusions from the statistical comparison of
Filipino and American achievements. We have analyzed the problem
in various ways and the same conclusion stands out clearly from each
analysis: Filipino achievements in reading are so deficient as to warrant
the most intensive analysis by the Bureau of Education.
The Testing of Adults Who Have Had a Complete Primary Education
Five Years After Leaving Schools, Proves the Value of Long
Residence in Schools.
The English language is taught in the Philippine schools in the hope
and expectation that enough skill will be developed in school to enable
pupils to use it successfully in adult life. No question, therefore, is more
important than the one on which the Commission attempted to obtain
data and to which we now turn: How well can adults read English
five years after they have left school?
To answer the question directly, the Commission tested with Test No.
I, paragraph reading, Test No. V, the arithmetic reasoning, Test No.
IX, dictation and spelling, and Part I of the Thorndike Intelligence
Examination, three groups of citizens from Malolos, Baliwag, and
Meycawayan in the Province of Bulacan. Bulacan was chosen primarily because English is used there very little in daily life. Practically
all of the people speak the same dialect-Tagalog. There is no necessity that the mass of the inhabitants use English. A good setting was
provided therefore in which to measure the fading out of linguistic skill
which had been developed in the school.
The testing of the adults in Bulacan is of special interest in another
connection. Persons who are familiar with the situation have pointed
out to the Commission that in this region, especially, there has been
much agitation, on patriotic grounds, against the use of English. In
presenting the tentative results obtained from a very tentative experiment,
the Commission wishes to point out the folly of this practice. It should
be realized, by the political and social leaders, that one of the strongest
influences toward building up a unified people is that of English as a
common language. Having in mind the gains due to the use of English
in the last quarter century, any other course than the continuation of
English appears to be bound to accentuate group antagonisms. This
does not mean that English should replace the common language of the
home but that under existing linguistic conditions, the continued use of