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.

390 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

The teaching load in the high school is heavy. A well-qualified
teacher is required to teach six periods daily and to hold conferences or
engage in some sort of pupil supervision for at least one more period.
As a general rule a teacher in an American high school teaches but five
periods. Since the average number of pupils per teacher in the Filipino
high school is approximately fifty, as compared with less than 25
in the American school, the teaching load here is really excessive.
Moreover, the teacher of English, usually the American teacher, has
to carry the added burden of correcting one theme per week in English
composition from each pupil. Since three of the six classes are in composition, and since there are about 40 pupils in each class, this means
that 120 themes must be corrected each week. If the themes required
are worth the writing, and if the teacher does his work conscientiously,
the teaching load must be exceedingly heavy. That American teachers
in any numbers would ever remain long in a system with these requirements is very doubtful.
From the foregoing analysis it is obvious that the present teaching
staff of the high school is ill-equipped for its task. The ordinary
teacher is poorly trained on both the academic and the professional side
and he is relatively inexperienced. Provision for the training of the
Filipino teacher in the future should be made at the College of Education
of the University of the Philippines, and those who employ high-school
teachers should insist on superior academic and professional training.
The type of American teacher which should be engaged is discussed in
another chapter of this report. But the present situation is hardly to be
relieved until the teaching load is reduced, living conditions improved,
and the general administration of secondary education altered.
SUPPORT.-In concluding this discussion of the academic high school
a word should be said about means of support. In order to release
funds for other forms of secondary education and for elementary education, insular support of the academic school should be practically
withdrawn and its maintenance thrown largely on the province or region served. The major portion of the necessary funds should be
secured through tuition charges of from P30 to P50 per year. The
remainder of the cost of the schools should be taken from provincial
moneys. But, in order to keep the way to the college and the professions open to gifted boys and girls of the less favored classes, a limited
number of scholarships supported by insular funds should be established
in each high school. These scholarships would be given to the highest
ranking intermediate-school graduates in the areas to which they were
assigned.