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 39
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given by one examiner to a paper will be exactly the same as that given
by another, irrespective of his knowledge of the field. In fact, great
economies have been made possible in the correction of examinations,
the scoring now being done by clerks.
The tests used by the Commission in measuring the results of instruction in Philippine schools were prepared from some of the best
of the modern tests described in the foregoing paragraphs. These tests
have been used very widely in the United States and are regarded as
the most comprehensive and the most thoroughly standardized measures
of school attainment. They were, however, modified by members of
the Commission and verified by the Philippine research associates of the
Commission, to fit the educational conditions of the Philippine Islands.
There can be no doubt that an adequate measure of the work of the
schools is available in the test results. Altogether 223,710 tests of
school achievement and of mental ability were given on twelve islands, in
twenty-four of the forty-eight provinces and in forty-five municipalities.
The findings from this extensive testing program can be interpreted
properly only on the light of the fullest appreciation of the difficulties
which have confronted the school officials, and children.
At no time in the school career of the Filipino child does he encounter
the single task of studying in his mother tongue. He is compelled to
master the complicated refinement of an unphoneticlanguage in which
rhythm, stress, and syllabication play a dominant role in conveying
the more subtle shadings of meaning. It is a point of very great importance that, in this respect, the Filipino dialects are almost totally
unlike the language in which the children must learn to do their school
work.
Not only must the Filipino child learn to read, write, and speak this
difficult second language but he must accomplish it under untrained
and partially-educated teachers who themselves have never developed
an adequate command of the language. It is a fact of striking importance that the rank and file of Filipino teachers have less than a
second year high-school education and that few have ever had intimate
and prolonged contact with English as it is spoken in the United States.
This lack of skill on the part of the teachers is crucial. Spoken English
in the schools will never rise above the level of the English of those
who set the models.
The learning of a foreign language proceeds by imitation. If Filipino children are to succeed in mastering the language, an accurate
model of speech must be set, and systematic ear training in discrimination of the spoken language must be given.
A third obstacle in the way of success is the fact that this difficult
second language has to be learned after children have spent seven