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.

382 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

following subjects, which are some of the chapter headings, should be
treated in the two settings: Foods in the Home, Building Our Homes,
Lighting Our Homes, Heating Our Homes, Clothing and Its Care.
Even though Filipino supplements are added to some of these American
textbooks, they must always remain essentially unsatisfactory as educational instruments in the Islands. In the past dependence on textbooks written in the United States has been necessary, but the time
has arrived for the Bureau of Education to devote a share of its energies
to the selection and organization of suitable instructional materials.
A word should be said regarding the laboratory manuals. Through
examination of manuals and through observation of classroom work
the members of the Commission are convinced that too much of the
pupil's time in both biology and physics is devoted to the manual.
This may be due in part to the weight attached to this part of the work
by the University authorities in controlling admission. A manual with
beautiful drawings and perfect handwriting is a joy to look upon and
a type of objective evidence that the examiner can hardly pass by, but
real instruction in the science should not be sacrificed to the mechanics
of bookmaking. Especially in the course in biology is too much time
given to the manual. Pupils, so we have been told, often copy from
old manuals, and teachers of biology have been observed dictating to
the pupils the descriptive statements for their manuals. In at least
one case a teacher spent the period writing the appropriate statements
on the blackboard. The pupils copied these statements into notebooks,
and presumably at their leisure they copied them again into their manuals. Moreover, the drawings are often copied from the textbook and
in some instances the manual so directs the pupil. Such a procedure
merits only the most severe condemnation. The laboratory exercises
and manual should be completely subordinated to the purpose of
giving insight into the ways and laws of nature.
The Commission recommends that the offering in natural science for
the academic high school be slightly modified. The time allotted to
general science, which is apparently working very well, should be
increased to one full year. Thus the course in physical geography
would be entirely displaced. In the course in biology the subject of
heredity and genetics, which from the standpoint of human welfare
is perhaps the most important division of biology, should receive great
emphasis. At present this subject is given no attention whatever. If
possible, physics of a less abstract and more practical character should
be given. This course should be made elective, and in the larger