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.

SECONDARY EDUCATION 339
in the general course. Although there is some evidence to indicate
that in the last two years the increase in the rate of growth has been
especially pronounced in certain of the vocational courses, the number
enrolled in these courses is so small as to make any general conclusions
regarding a decrease of interest in the academic course unsafe.
In the figure an effort has been made to project the course of
growth into the future. It is, of course, assumed that the tendencies
TABLE 38.-NUMBER OF PUPILS ENROLLED IN DIFFERENT CURRICULA OF THE PUBLIC
HIGH SCHOOL FROM 1903 TO 1924
Year General ometic Normal mer- Trade Farming Srve- Naut- Total
science cial Sue cal
1903............................. 450...................................... 450
1908........... 611........ 309 238 166.......... 1,324
1913........... 3,055 120 809 302 201 226....... 40 4,753
1918.......... 12,194 328 1,684 264 287 535 16 60 15,368
1919.......... 11,937 442 2,048 421 309 214 43 62 15,476
1920........... 14,244 423 1,843 344 266 137 40 58 17,356
1921........... 19,566 649 1,619 408 383 705 41 61 23,432
1922........... 26,101 804 2,653 403 588 844 59 59 31,511
1923........... 31,760 1,249 3,825 280 772 1,185 60 53 39,184
1924........... 35,083 2,411 6,301 597 1,122 1,805 67 43 47,419
of the past will continue in force. Under such conditions the number
of pupils enrolled in the high school will exceed 100,000 before 1930
and probably by about 1928. Moreover, the great majority of these
boys and girls will be taking the general course and will be looking
towards the clerical, commercial, official, and professional occupations.
That the per-pupil cost of secondary education will decrease cannot
be expected. If instruction were to be improved, as it certainly should,
the expenditures would increase more rapidly than the enrollment.
Thus at the end of a five-year period the expenditures on public secondary education would probably exceed P5,000,000. In the light
of all these facts we may now pass to a critical evaluation of the
present system of secondary education and ask whether the expected
expansion of the high-school population is socially desirable and worth
any large part of its cost.
EVALUATION OF PRESENT SYSTEM OF SECONDARY
EDUCATION
We are now in a position to attempt a general social evaluation
of the Philippine secondary-school system. This does not mean that
judgment will be passed at this point on the specific content of the
curriculum, the methods of instruction, or the details of administration.