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.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

481

Without guidance and direction these unfavorable results have occurred. The teachers place undue reliance upon calisthenic drill; the
recess period is used in part for a spectacular, time-consuming calisthenic
parade; children are required to spend, for "disciplinary purposes,"
several valuable minutes getting out of the building; the physical-education periods are frittered away in inefficient administrative procedure;
the relief periods are not generally used; in short, the time requirements
as given by the manual is misleading. The time allowed for physical
education is adequate and reasonable and should not be essentially
altered. However, it is not the time requirement in the manual that is
important; but rather the number of minutes a day that children engage
in big muscle activity. Too much emphasis on the form and too little
attention to the content is a striking defect of the program. Hence the
need for direction, help, and guidance of an expert kind.
THE PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM.-In a manual of 374 pages used
by untrained teachers, there is nothing said about the purpose of the
program. On page 81 there are fifteen lines given to a statement:
"Benefits derived from physical education." The many benefits promised are conditioned by the opening sentence: "Physical education
and play when effectively organized, when well supervised, and when
systematically directed will promote..." Since there is no direction,
little supervision, and practically no organization, the benefits promised
are placed in jeopardy by the very words of the manual. Actually,
of course, children get some good from games and sports even though
badly conducted; they also miss many desirable gains and invariably
learn much that is physically and socially harmful. It seems quite
clear that if physical education in the Filipino schools is to be conducted
by untrained teachers who are forced to rely upon a manual for direction as well as content, then that manual must give the teacher some help
in the "why" and "how" as well as in the "what to do."
The Twentieth Annual Report (1919) of the Director of Education,
mentions the difficulty presented in the use of the manual by untrained
teachers. It says: "However, it is now being planned to require as
many teachers as possible to study the new course in division normal institutes during the coming long vacation..." The subsequent reports
do not reveal the number of teachers trained nor the character of the
training. Judged by the results in the schools, the training given has
been entirely along formal lines in the calisthenic movements presented
in the manual. Judged by any undertaking of the basis of modern,
scientific, physical education and how to conduct a wholesome program,
they are still untrained.
Although the purpose is not stated in the manual the content gives
quite clearly the aim that guided its formation. This content will be
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