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.

380 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

in the past. When the educational needs of a people are considered,
the facts of geography cannot be ignored.
The materials dealing with Philippine history, institutions, and economic conditions might also be greatly improved. In no one of the
textbooks, which are used in these courses and which really determine
what is taught, is there a comprehensive description and interpretation of
Filipino life and culture. The volume used in the course on economic
conditions in the Philippines provides the nearest approach to the need
and is admirable in many respects. It contains a great fund of valuable information, but it is somewhat encyclopedic and deals with a
special field. The textbook in Philippine history is written from the
standpoint of a western observer who is interested in the Islands as
they have influenced the Occident. In this volume the Filipinos are
first discovered, and then their relations with the West, chiefly political
and military, are recounted. The book on Philippine Government is
likewise unsatisfactory as an instrument for training in citizenship. The
great emphasis is placed on government and particularly on the organization of the Insular Government. It throws little light on how this
Government functions, and much less light on the civic and social life
of the people. One seeking to learn of the life of,the Filipinos may
read all of these volumes in vain, for they describe but the shell in
which that life is lived.
In place of the present offering in history and social science the Commission would recommend a course in Filipino community life and
institutions in the first year, a course in the history of oriental civilization
in the second, a course in the development of western culture in the third,
and a course dealing with the fundamental social problems and the history
of the Philippines in the fourth year. The first course should acquaint the
pupil with the form and function of the basic human institutions found
in the community and with the ways in which they affect him and
others. Here the pupil should be made to see clearly the obligations
and duties imposed on the individual by the collective life. In the
second course should be given the wider oriental setting for interpreting
and understanding Filipino institutions and problems. In the third
course only the larger movements in the evolution of western institutions
should receive attention. The political and military features of history
should be greatly reduced and emphasis placed on those phases of
history that may help the pupil in understanding his own world. The
development of American civilization should receive particular attention. The work of the fourth year should aim at a critical appraisal
of Filipino life and institutions. The knowledge gained from the
earlier examination of community life, and the study of the evolution of
both oriental and occidental cultures, should be focussed on those major