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.

536 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

ing of work, forms to indicate when a person is to read a document,
to whom he is going to pass it next, what he is to do with it, and so on.
Whereas the Bureau accounts for property and funds and does its
"paper work" effectively it ignores fundamental problems of child accounting. The type of organization and the method of administration
in the Philippines have resulted in a great amount of "paper work"
that must be done by school men. The burden which this puts upon
the men in the field is treated in the section dealing with the human
aspects of administration. Two outstanding defects of the work of
collecting information by the central office are notable, in addition to
the mere clogging magnitude of it. In the first place sorts of information which are indispensable for determining administrative procedure are not collected. The accounting system for funds is notably
effective. But the more important aspects of child accounting, checks
upon returns for money spent, in terms of educational results and the
like are overlooked. The Bureau is meticulous in administering money.
Every safeguard is provided to prevent the misuse of funds and of
materials. Every person in the system must give strict and frequent
account for every item of school property entrusted to his care. But
no such effective safeguards have been thrown about the discharge of
educational responsibilities.
In its proper place in this report is discussed the tremendous social
and economic waste represented by non-promotion, elimination, and the
repetition of grades by pupils. The progress of a penny from tax
collector to the person who finally spends it is traced and guarded.
But of pupil progress through schools-age progress-no systematic
record is kept and no special study has ever been made. The curriculum, which represents the mode of application of teacher and pupil
energy, has never been fitted to social needs of the Islands, as is proved
by the failure of pupils to progress through the grades in a satisfactory
manner. There has been no periodic junking of outworn educational
practices as there is a yearly destruction of outworn school equipment.
Again, reports collected do not appear to be carefully and fruitfully interpreted and used for purposes of administrative planning.
This situation arises from the fact that filing clerks can be cheaply
hired while only adequate salaries which the Bureau has not been able
to offer in recent years, will attract technically trained and able persons.
The Director of Education cannot be expected to read all of the reports
which come to the Bureau. There should be people in his office who
examine reports, interpret the data and plan procedures, and go to the
Director with the condensed results of their work, for advice, approval
and revision.