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.

56 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

this department. The special supervisors should have charge of
the rural, normal, academic, and household-arts education of secondary
grade. The great function of this department should be to provide
the necessary leadership in the development of the various types of high
schools. The supervisors should spend most of their time in the
provinces stimulating, counseling, and encouraging the principals and
teachers. In this way, rather than by means of an elaborate system
of reports, the secondary schools should be kept in touch with the central
office.
The different forms of secondary education should be supported in
different ways. The principle to be followed is that of social need and
the present condition of the secondary schools. Since there is little
popular interest in the rural high school, it would be very difficult to
secure adequate support for this school from provincial or local funds.
The Board therefore recommends that at the outset this institution
be supported from insular sources. As rapidly, however, as local interest can be developed, the burden should be thrown upon the province.
Because of the great need for well-trained teachers, and because this
problem is one of general rather than local concern, the normal school
should also be supported largely out of insular revenues. The support
of the academic school, on the other hand, should be thrown entirely
on the province or the region served. Insular funds are needed for
other purposes. While a portion of the cost of this institution should,
perhaps, be borne by taxation, the major source of revenue should be
tuition charges.
One word of caution regarding the changes suggested should be given
at this point. The Board does not contemplate the immediate
establishment of the system, of secondary schools here outlined. Some
of the changes may be brought about at once. But the fundamental
shift in emphasis in secondary education, which is the great need, will
require time. Before developing new plans for the new type of rural
high school proposed, the existing agricultural and farm schools should
be made to function. Some of the defects in the present secondary
schools may be traced directly to the desire to expand too rapidly.
Immediate steps for the development of the new forms of secondary
education should be taken at once, but results can come but slowly.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
That the wealth of the Archipelago is agricultural; that by far the
larger proportion of the population engaged in gainful occupation is in
agricultural pursuits; and that the greater part of the population lives in
communities that are essentially rural, are basal facts. That there is