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

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It should be borne in mind, however, that new schools should be established only as the institution proves its worth and as a trained personnel
is made available. The great need in secondary education is not a
rapid growth of any kind but a change in the direction of growth.
THE ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOL
Besides the rural high school and the normal school, the Philippine
system of secondary education should include as one of its basic institutions the academic high school. The object of this school should be
to carry on the old tradition of secondary education. It should prepare
for college, the professions, and the intellectual life. To a careful consideration of the needs and procedures of the academic high school
this portion of the report will be devoted.
At the present time most of the secondary education in the Islands
is of an academic character. The regular high school is predominantly
a college preparatory institution. In its so-called general course, which
is really an academic curriculum, are enrolled more than 70 per
cent of the entire secondary school population. This course is supposed
to perform the function which the academic high school should perform.
Therefore, since an institution is already in existence which is really an
academic high school, and since it can be very readily adjusted to this
purpose, attention will be centered on the need for a modification and
improvement of the regular high school.
STANDARDS OF WORK
That the regular high school is not performing the function of the
academic school satisfactorily is apparent to the most casual observer.
Its crowded classes, its untrained teachers, its standards of work all
suggest an institution that is sacrificing quality to quantity. Over twothirds of those who enter fail to complete the course and therefore can
receive but a limited portions of the benefits of the school. And the
test of high-school seniors shows that the final product possesses a general
mastery of English, the instrument of thought and instruction, inferior to
that of the graduate of the elementary school in the United States.
If the academic high school is to achieve the purposes for which it may
be legitimately organized, high standards of work must be rigorously
maintained. In the rural high schools materials and methods of instruction must be adjusted to the needs of boys and girls who, whether they
receive special training or not, will engage in the occupation of farming.
Such a school, therefore, if it should set up standards that would exclude
all but a select few, would defeat its own ends. The situation in the
academic school is radically different. The aim of this school is not to
provide training for those who, regardless of their preparation, are to