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.

258 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

much more time to reading rather than less time than is given in the
United States.
A library table in each room, equipped with odd copies of books
suited to the grade, gives opportunity for much practice in reading.
When children have finished the assigned seat work they should be
allowed to go to this table and read. This will prevent the great waste
of time during seat work or study periods. These library books should
not duplicate the supplementary sets in use in the grades.
Occasionally a language period can be spent profitably in having
children give a report on a book or story which has been read. Sometimes a reading period can be spent in having children read aloud to the
rest of the group a story they have specially enjoyed and have carefully
prepared. Provision should also be made for other seat-work material
to give additional practice in reading.
To secure sufficient practice for the development of reading habits
more time must be devoted to reading than is given at the present time.
As is shown in the following table, less time is given to reading in the
Philippines than in sixty representative cities of the United States.
NUMBER OF MINUTES GIVEN
TO READING
In theUnit-Per cent of In the Per cent ofi
ed States total time Philippines total time I
1,924 31 1,400 19
The Content of Readers.-Readers are now carefully examined to
see that their content is related to the needs and interests of children.
When children are reading in a foreign language, it is even more necessary that this be done. Many of the readers in the private schools
of the Philippines are woefully lacking in material related to the experience and interests of children. The form of the material is also
very bad and tends to increase the difficulties involved in teaching
children to form correct reading habits.
The Vocabulary of Readers.-The words used in reading material
must be largely those the child uses in his oral speech. The Commission was unable to check the vocabulary used in the readers with the
words most commonly used by the children out of school. No such
study has been made in the Philippines. It is strongly recommended
that this be done in the near future. A comparison, however, was
made with the words which Professor Thorndike found most frequently
used in writing in the United States. This was done because there
are certain experiences which are fairly universal with children and so,