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.

142 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

schools, children read fifteen to twenty little books in the first grade of
the school and correspondingly more in the upper grades. New movements in the social sciences of the intermediate grades have resulted in
basic reading materials totalling 1,500 pages per grade. "Text" materials of such volume are supplemented, indeed, are multiplied four-fold
by the reading of whole books-biographies, books of travel, fiction,
essays, etc. Recent American practice, we repeat, reveals a growing
consciousness of the central importance of providing a very large amount
of reading matter in the schools. It is our judgment that Philippine
theory and practice must be remodelled to recognize this proved psychological need.
Not only in amount of reading matter, but also in character of reading matter, is there an important need for improvement. The reading
materials of the primary grades are now designed/largely in terms of
the interests of little children of the ages of four to six or seven. A
fact of guiding importance in this particular is that the typical Filipino
child in the primary grades is nine to thirteen years of age. He is two
to three years older than his American brother and he enters school a
year later. Furthermore, he attends school much less regularly, and,
accordingly, becomes more and more retarded. As he moves through
the grades, his interests are correspondingly much more mature.
The lesson for the makers of reading curricula is very clear. Filipino
children must be given reading content which is of dynamic interest to
them at their stage of growth and in their own peculiar Philippine environment. The age-grade table in Chapter II shows that there are
200,000 children in the primary grades who are adolescent. They
must have an adolescent course of study. There are 150,000 more
who are preadolescent. They must have reading books adapted to
their maturity.
Furthermore, these children are living in an environment utterly unlike that of the American child. Nevertheless, their reading books are
thoroughly American, not Filipino. The textbooks used in the school
are cast on American lines from books which are actually American
models. In fact, the same books are used as textbooks by American
children in the United States. The Philippine edition is but a slight
modification.
The whole course of study, reading books included, having been
made by Americans, reflects American culture. Yet these hundreds
of thousands of children are Filipinos and live in the midst of a completely Filipino culture. Social customs are thoroughly unlike American customs; for example, the attitude of the people toward the family
and the relation of the individual to the family. Points of view bred
and passed on through scores of generations of social life ought to find