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.

12 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

period of their history. Certain policies and practices have been given
trial. Should they be continued in the future, or should new policies
and practices be inaugurated? This is the large question which has
called the present survey into being; this is the large question which
the Board and Commission have sought to answer.
That an educational and social experiment of such scope and complexity is extraordinarily difficult to evaluate is obvious. Indeed, to pass
judgment on all of its phases is impossible. Generations must come and
go before its far-reaching effects can be observed or accurately gauged.
Its wider influence upon Filipino society and institutions cannot be
measured today. Being fully aware, therefore, of the magnitude of the
task the Commission has confined itself to those aspects of the experiment
which fall within the field of technical knowledge and upon which
evidence could be obtained. The more comprehensive evaluation must
await the passage of time. It is the function of the Survey to pass
judgment upon the more immediate purposes of the schools and the
educational practices through which the achievement of these purposes
is contemplated.
When the present experiment was begun the educational institutions
of the Islands reflected Spanish traditions. These traditions were those
of the Latin type of Continental Europe. Since the days of Magellan
and Legazpi, Spanish institutions had gradually filtered into the Archipelago. Even at the close of this period in Philippine history educational facilities were provided only for a small favored intelligencia.
The Church, after the Latin custom, made some slight provision for
the education of the masses; but this education included little beyond
the elements of religion. Although in legal form a common school
system existed, little was attempted; in the later years little was accomplished. At the close of the nineteenth century, except for this negative educational heritage, the way was clear for the great social
experiment about to begin.
With the coming of the Americans a system of education, embodying
the ideals of universality, practicality, and democracy, was brought
into the Islands. As the Spaniards brought their institutions when they
found their way into the Orient in the sixteenth century, so these
twentieth-century visitors from the West brought theirs. Under the
very guns of the American troops schools were established; wherever
the American flag went a school was found. As the church was the
symbol of the Spanish, so the school has been the symbol of American
civilization. And the people of the Islands have been no less eager
for the opportunities of education than they were for the services of the
Christian church.