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.

330 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES
form of education is not regarded as equally necessary for the girls.
Parents desire their daughter to become immediately useful; they wish
their son to have a career.
That this situation, however, is by no means permanent is shown
by a canvass of the change that has been taking place since the organization of the first high schools. In Table 32 this historical survey is
TABLE 32.-ENROLLMENT IN THE HIGH SCHOOL BY SEXES AT INTERVALS FROM
1903 TO 1924
Year Boys Girls Total Pefrcenae
of girls
1903........................................... 357 93 450 20.7
1908........................................... 1,084 240 1,324 18.1
1913........................................... 4,005 748 4,753 15.7
1918.......................................... 11,974 3,394 15,368 22.1
1919........................................... 11,588 3,888 15,476 25.1
1920........................................... 12,623 4,732 17,355 27.3
1921.......................................... 16,608 6,824 23,432 28.3
1922.......................................... 21,800 9,711 31,511 30.8
1923........................................... 26,435 12,749 39,184 32.5
1924.......................................... 31,115 16,304 47,419 34.4
presented. During the first ten years, curiously enough, the proportional representation of the girls decreased from 20.7 per cent to 15.7;
but since 1913 the attendance of girls has so increased that during
the second ten-year period their relative representation was more than
doubled. That this growing interest of girls in higher education,
reflecting as it does an improved status for women, is desirable, provided
that education is suited to their needs, is a proposition that is hardly
debatable. But, as we shall point out later, the present curriculum,
if it is to render genuine service, requires serious modification.
PERSISTENCE IN HIGH SCHOOL
The effectiveness of any educational institution is directly dependent
on its power to attract and hold those for whom it is designed. If such
an institution attracts no pupils, it obviously will not function. If after
attracting them it fails to hold them until the expected results of its
ministrations may be consummated, its functioning is seriously impaired.
If it attracts many who cannot profit from its program, it is wasting
its energies. Quite clearly, therefore, this question of the persistence in
high school of those who enter its doors as freshmen, is a question
of the first importance.
A very rough measure of persistence in high school is found by
noting the percentage of the total enrollment found in each year of the