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

41

of teaching reading and conversational English must be radically improved if a satisfactory mastery of the language is to be developed.
Chapter I presents elaborate evidence to substantiate this conclusion.
Comparison of Filipino and American attainments show that the former lag two or three years behind the latter. When the great preponderance of Filipino children leave the school after three to four years
attendance upon it they have about as much reading ability as a typical
second-grade child in America. Furthermore, the oral tests prove that
their command of spoken English is about as limited.
The hopeful phase of the results is found in the success of a few conspicuous school systems. In these the high attainments of the children
in reading give real promise that the graduates of the primary schools
throughout the Islands can develop practical control of the English
language. The Commission explored the causes of the success of these
unusual schools. They lie in the fact that in these schools reading consists chiefly in systematic instruction in silent, meaningful reading. In
most Filipino schools at the present time emphasis on meaningless oral
pronunciation in the primary grades prevents training in thought-getting,
and training in thought-getting should be the principal objective of instruction in reading. Filipino children cannot be taught to read connected English discourse well by the present methods of instruction.
Current instruction consists almost totally of oral pronunciation of words
and sentences. Evidence has been amassed to prove that the children
in most schools receive very little training in getting meaning from the
printed page. Nevertheless, the eyes of both teacher and pupil must
be focussed on meaning-not as at present on mechanical pronunciation.
To bring about the desired result three changes must be made in the
conduct of reading in the schools. First, there must be a very large
increase in the amount of silent reading. The meagerness of the reading material is shown by the fact that the books of the first four grades
have been read aloud by one of the research assistants in 12 hours.
The fact that 12 hours of reading are spread over four school years
is illustrative of the need for a radical expansion of the content of the
reading books which are given to the children.
The second change needed in reading instruction is in the character
of the material in the reading books. It must be changed to fit the
interests and abilities of children who are adolescent and preadolescent,
and it must be adapted to the needs of children living in the Philippines.
The books now used in the schools are cast from American models.
These very books are now used as textbooks by American children
in the United States. The Philippine edition is but a slight modification. The whole course of study, reading books included, reflects