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.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

547

4. ERECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF BUILDINGS.-In most divisions much of the superintendent's time is consumed with building problems. He must enforce the central office standards for new buildings.
This involves much special knowledge and great attention to detail and
is successful largely in proportion to the business and financial sense
of the individual. He must do a great deal at times to stimulate local
governments to transfer funds, or local communities to raise voluntary
contributions for buildings. Much of this work is necessarily done
through the supervising teachers but the ultimate responsibility is with the
superintendent. In cases of bad storms, the building work for a superintendent is enormous. Ilocos Sur, for example, in one storm lost
practically two-thirds of its buildings. The superintendent was faced
with the task of finding temporary quarters for all of these schools-and
with the tremendous task of reconstruction of the buildings which had
been destroyed and damaged.
5. REPORTS AND GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CENTRAL
OFFICE.-These take up a very great deal of the time and energy if
they are properly done. As pointed out elsewhere, the amount of work
involved in them is almost incomprehensible to an administrator in the
United States. Much of the work is done by the clerical force, but if
it is to be done at all accurately the superintendent must take charge
of it. The result is that reports from the division offices are either inaccurate or perfunctory when made by the clerical force or else they
consume a large amount of the superintendent's time.
The correspondence with the central office is very voluminous and
very time-consuming. Documents accumulate as many as twenty-six
and twenty-seven indorsements, and papers involving ten or more indorsements are not at all uncommon.
6. INVESTIGATING CHARGES AGAINST TEACHERS AND PUPILS.The Philippines have a very large number of cases of charges brought
against teachers and pupils for various things. They are frequently of
such a serious nature that they require exoneration of the teacher or his
immediate discharge from the service. The testimony is usually so involved and so contradictory, that getting at the truth is extremely difficult. The documents in a case may accumulate for months. The
superintendent has to investigate all these cases and advise the central
office. In particular, charges against teachers or pupils for immoral
conduct or against pupils for cheating and the like take a very great
deal of time.
7. TEACHERS' INSTITUTE.-This takes ordinarily three weeks of
the superintendent's time. Through these institutes, the many new and
untrained teachers who enter the service each year are given their only