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.

34 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

the tests administered by the Commission that children must remain longer
in the schools than the four years that now include 82 per cent of
school attendance. If children are to be given a permanent hold on
modern education, five or six years of school attendance are essential.
Obviously a very much larger amount of tax support must be given
to the schools in time. Because of changing costs, rising standards of
living, and the reduced per-capita cost which follow from dealing with
larger numbers of children, and of economics in many other ways, a
reliable forecast of future expense is impossible.
The cost of one pupil in the high school equals that of four pupils
in the elementary schools. But the saving in public funds which may
accrue from supporting the academic high school by charges for tuition
should all be devoted to providing better and larger facilities for the
training of teachers and for the development of new forms of secondary
education. In fact, rural and vocational high schools will also in time
call for an amount of additional support that cannot be accurately
estimated.
The need in the near future for some large increase in the amount
of funds available for education is patent. That these funds cannot
all be supplied by the Insular Government is also clear. Fortunately,
both the people and the local government officials are in favor of more
generous local taxation for the support of schools. Means for developing
this source of school support are discussed and recommended in another
section of this report. By these means adequate support for universal
elementary education can be rapidly developed.
The task of the school system is to furnish the necessary trained
personnel. The Commission is wholly in favor of the extension of the
elementary-school system, as rapidly as trained personnel can be provided
to staff the schools. This is the most fundamental of all educational
needs. But without provision for properly-trained teachers, the extension of the school system to include all children not now in attendance
would be a waste of money and on the part of both the public and of
the children a self-deception. In other words, quality should not be
sacrificed to quantity; for in so doing, the past achievements as well as
-the present efficiency of the public-school system are most seriously
jeopardized.
ACADEMIC VERSUS SOCIAL EDUCATION
Closely related to the choice between quantity and quality as the
standard for judging the educational system is a conflict between the
need for a practical social education and the traditional academic one.
This problem is so clearly and succinctly stated in a report from a