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

397

others expected to leave the profession altogether. Because of the
various conditions which have been discussed-lack of dignity of the position, the heavy routine tasks imposed, restraints placed upon the exercise
of initiative, insecurity of tenure, and inferior financial compensationthe position of the high-school principal in the Islands is not attractive.
If the problems of secondary education are ever to be vigorously
attacked, this position must be made attractive to men and women of
superior ability, training, and experience. Under existing conditions, no
system of secondary education could be efficiently administered.
PROPOSED CHANGES
There should be created in the Bureau of Education a department
of secondary education. The function of this department would be
that of studying the problems of secondary education and of providing
the necessary leadership for the development of the secondary schools
of the Islands. In creating this department five major appointments
should be made. At the head of this division should be the general
supervisor of secondary education whose duty it would be to coordinate
the various interests and activities of the department. Associated with
him should be four special supervisors who should be in immediate
charge of the four major types of secondary education; namely, the
rural high school, the normal school, the academic high school, and the
household arts curricula. The head of the department should be
chosen because of a broad training, experience, and interest in the
various phases of secondary education, and his associates because of
specific training, experience, and interest in the respective fields to which
they are assigned.
The greatest single danger to be avoided 'in making these appointments is in the selection of the general supervisor. The responsibility
for the selection of his associates and the other members of his staff
should be placed squarely on his shoulders. He will also play a large
part in shaping the policies of his department. Therefore, while he
should be interested in the academic side of education, he should have
a distinct bias for the new forms of secondary education which are
being proposed. Especially should he be interested in rural education
and the problems of rural life. The most difficult task to be performed
in the Philippine secondary school is that of shifting the emphasis from
the narrower academic to the broader social and vocational type of
education. To place in charge of the department of secondary education in the central office a man who conceives secondary education in
its conventional and traditional forms would be to destroy all hope of
evolving a secondary-school system adapted to the needs of the people.
The problem of the curriculum, the problem of selecting materials