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.

40 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES
to nine years in perfecting a totally different set of vocal habits. Fifty
per cent of Filipino school children are more than nine years of age
when they enter school. For nine years these children have been
surrounded constantly by a language whose characteristics are thoroughly unlike those of English. Whereas English is a highly staccato
and accented language, stress being continually employed in conveying
the refined shades of meaning, the Tagalog, Ilocano, Visayan, and
other dialects are dominated by a singing unstressed monotone.,
A fourth difficulty besets the path of Filipino teachers and pupils.
During the years in which children are struggling with the new language
twenty-five hours a week, their efforts are being combated constantly
by the pervasive influence of the dialect with which they are surrounded
in all of their out-of-school hours. Outside of the school, the only
language used in any considerable way is the dialect. Not more than
1 or 2 per cent of all the homes in the Philippines use English as
the chief means of communication. The chapter which reports the
detailed results of the tests elaborates upon the difficulties that the
Filipino child faces in perfecting a new and complicated set of vocal
habits. Enough has been said here to give a background for comprehending the results of the extensive testing program which the Commission carried out.
Under the existing handicaps, what has been the success of the quarter
century of effort of the Philippine school system? Do Filipino children
learn to use the English language well enough to guarantee facility
in its use in adult life?
The answer to this fundamental question is fairly clear and direct:
In a few conspicuous school systems Filipino children, on leaving school,
read and write English well enough to give promise that it will be of
real service in adult life. The success of these schools proves conclusively that even under the existing difficulties the objective can be
reached. However, in the great body of Filipino schools the present
methods of teaching reading are so deficient that children have so little
skill in reading English on leaving the school that there is little guarantee
of a functional control over the language in adult life.
A dominating factor in this connection is the factor of the holding
power of the school. This is discussed in Chapter II. Children stay
in school on the average less than three years. They enter at a very
mature age and repeat grades so frequently that only half of the children
move regularly through the grades. This has great significance for the
development of the ability to read, write, or speak English. Officials
of the school system must face frankly the fact that children must be
kept in school at least four years, if possible five years, and methods