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.

BOARD OF EDUCATIONAL SURVEY REPORT 31

there should be vacation sessions of normal schools. The experience in
Cebu in 1924 and in 1925 indicates that such schools would be successful. In these summer sessions should be offered those courses from
the regular curriculum which would help teachers most directly in their
work. Every opportunity should be given for teachers to prove that
they had done the work of required courses. Upon presentation of
such proof, credit for the corresponding course should be given. If
these means be made available, it should be feasible to establish certain
minimum standards in terms of normal-school credits which, in order to
be eligible for teaching appointments, teachers not normal-school graduates must have to their credit by fixed dates. These opportunities
should be reserved for those who were in service when the new training requirements became effective. They should not be offered as short
cuts to persons wishing to become teachers without taking the four years
of normal-school training.
This recommendation constitutes a radical but not an impossible
change. For illustration of a school policy differing from that of the
Philippines, the program of the Republic of Poland may be cited.
After the establisment of the Republic growing out of the Great War,
Poland was faced with the problem of a large part of its people with
no schools and a majority of its population, both of adult and youth,
illiterate. Large portions of the country had been repeatedly devastated
by the war. Poland carries the burden of a great military establishment and of large foreign debts. Lest the permanency of the Republic
be jeopardized, its leaders clearly recognized that they must have an
educated population within twenty-five years.
The fundamental principle of Poland's educational policy, announced
and followed, is that no teacher shall be accepted in the Government
system unless equipped with either (1) a four-year teacher's professional training superimposed on a full elementary-school education; or
(2) graduation from a high school (gymnasium) plus one year of professional training. To make such a program feasible, within five years
after the close of the Great War (by 1923) 120 normal schools were
in operation and filled with students. The elementary-school system
is being extended no more rapidly than a professionally-trained body
of teachers can be created. The fact that Poland has a population
but 50 per cent larger than the Philippines and is faced with a diversified
language problem, as is the Philippines, makes the comparison of special
significance.
THE EXTENSION OF THE FACILITIES FOR EDUCATION
The third fundamental problem is that of the extension of the facilities
for education. A few facts essential to the appreciation of this problem
must be borne in mind. First, previous to the American regime, op