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

487

ployed. The posture of school children will remain a problem until
this fundamental view is understood and acted upon.
TIME FOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION.-The time requirement for physical education is reasonable and wise. The schedule given on page
80 of the manual is highly desirable but is not followed. Instead of
conducting physical education classes throughout most of the school
day and making adequate use of the play spaces available, all the
children in all schools, except in Manila, have their morning session in
physical education at the same time. This period is made to serve the
purpose of exhibition and parade.
The distribution of time to the different activities as given on pages
82 and 83 of the manual is generally well made. The exception is
the time devoted to calisthenics in the primary grades. If some of the
activities selected are to be continued they should be given less time.
At present, this distribution does not actually obtain in all schools.
More time is given to calisthenics and marching and less time to games
and group athletics.
MARCHING.-Marching in the school should be used for the purpose
of educating the children to move quickly and efficiently as a group
from place to place. The manual says, "Marching trains the pupils
in discipline, in respect for order, in appreciation of united execution and
of teamwork." An inquiring person might be justified in asking whether or not it secures self-discipline or a military type of obedience good
only during the time of drill; whether or not the respect for order persists to the extent that orderliness is sought in the home, on the streets,
and at the public markets; and whether or not the united execution and
teamwork is a kind of cooperation ever called for in ordinary social
experience. Surely something of this fetish infected one school where
at the beginning of the afternoon session, although all the children were
in their seats in the school, at the sound of a gong they had to march
from the room to the street, turn around and march in again. In another
school, where separate buildings are used, classes are required to march
from one building to another, rain or shine. To sit for an hour in wet
garments is hardly justified by the mythical "discipline" and "respect for
order."
CALISTHENICS.-In one elementary school there were observed 1,500
children doing different exercises to the same beat of the drum. This
characterizes the work in calisthenics: wholly unrelated activities
routinized.
The exercises used in the calisthenic periods are mainly of the arm and
leg type. Although the mass action is quite uniform, they are, never