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.

60 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

particulars, therefore, the work is not now as well adapted to needs
as it was formerly. The development of the industrial subjects to keep
them adjusted to changing conditions and needs has not been followed
up. Some phases of the work have actually declined. This is true of
the boys' trade courses in the intermediate schools. In gardening and
agricultural club work, improvement has been made.
In the primary schools the courses for both boys and girls were
organized on the basis of the needs of children of ten to fifteen years
of age. Gradually, the pupils have become more nearly of normal
age. For these younger pupils the work as originally graded is often
too difficult. Recommendations are later made for readjusting and
regrading the courses for both boys and girls to meet the present conditions and needs of the various communities in the different provinces
of the Islands.
In the intermediate schools the trade courses earlier established met a
definite need in providing boys with an attractive form of manual work.
This helped to remove the aversion to manual labor as something degrading. The products of these schools were well made, and they
were readily sold. The desks and other furnishings made for school
and municipal buildings could usually be produced in these schools at
a great saving to the provinces. But for this skill in furniture making
there is as yet little demanded outside of the trade schools. Some work
in blacksmithing has been included in a few of the schools, and in still
fewer building construction has had a place. In general most of the
boys trained in these schools have been unable to find employment
after leaving the schools. The popularity of the work has largely disappeared. The equipment in many of the schools has not been kept up.
Compared with conditions of ten years ago, the work as a whole with
very few exceptions, has decreased in importance in the school system.
The exceptions observed are the key to the situation. The quality
that makes these exceptions is the successful attempt of the few schools
to adjust themselves to existing needs. Building construction is the one
practically universal occupation requiring men trained in the use of
woodworking tools in a specialized form. Cabinet making does not
give the training in structural forms required but it does give some of
the appropriate tool skills. General repair work, vehicle construction
and repair, automobile repair work, concrete construction, boat building, the work of the general mechanic for sugar centrals and coconut
shredding plants, and tractor operation and repair work are among
the occupations now requiring trained men. Most of the schools have
given no heed to these growing demands and have made no adaptation
of their work to meet them. In the section on industrial education,