The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30
PUPILS IN THE PHILIPPINES.
THE NEW CHfLDREN SWARNING
7O IN(LF SANS SCHOOLS.
There Are About a Million and . Half OF
Them-EaSer TO Learn English and
Quick At Their Lessons and
Tidbits The Old spanish Punishment.

The United States is beginning census
Of the Philippines now. II il estimated
that these are about 500 900 people there.
II the estimate il correct, Uncle Sam took
over with the islands the task Of providing
for the education Of something like a mil
lion and half Of children, many Of whom
had never thought Of such a thing as going
to school
Some Of the children are little, savage
negritos, living away up in the mountain
forests. They have black skins and their
hair is kinky as that of an African. 9.
The nigritos are small race, many Of
them almost dwarfish. and they file their
teeth to a sharp point. They live mostly
by hunting and fishing and use spears and
bows and arrows IA weapons.
All that the children are taught is to
shoot an arrow, throw a spear. and fish in
the mountain streams But they are taught
these things very thoroughly and become
expert al such exercises almost as soon az
they can walk
Down in the sout hern islands are the
Moro children. living in the large island Of
Mindanao and in the Sulu Islands All Of
these, Uncle Sam has said. eventually shall
put on clothes like American children and
go to school,
The great bulk OF the inha bitants Of the
islands are not sava ges. but civilized people.
Their civilization Il not so high as that of
the United States, to be sure. but they
are civilized after a fashion and they had
schools in many places before the Ameri-
ca ma came,
Except in Manila. however, the schools
did not amount to much The most pro-
gressive people seem TO be the Tagalog
| on the Island of Luzon and. considering
the poor opportunities they had it is sur
prising how many Tagalog boys and girls
learned to read and write.
The children Of Luzon are thirsty for
knowledge. and, even In Spanish times,
many Of them used to go to Manila to CON-
plete their education. while those who had
a college course.
Uncle Sam has been building and buying
schoolhouses all over the islands and now
has 10000 children attending school every
day, which is probably three times az many
az ever went to school before in the history
Of the islands. In few years he hopes to
have a million pupils enrolled In his Philip
pine schools.
So eager are the children Of the Philip
pines to learn that in Manila and some other
large towns, night schools have been estab-
lished for the larger children who have
! to work during the day.
Besides the 10000 children. Uncle Sam
has 10000 grown-ups attending school In
| the islands. These Rrown-ups go to school
in order to learn English,
Before Dewey sailed into Manila Bay
| an English word was seldom heard spoken
from one end Of the islands to the other
but now you hear English everyw here
The children learn to speak the language
wish astonishing ease Gov Taft says that
in few years English will be the prevailing
language Of the Philippines
At first the teachers from the United
States found the same trouble that wa
] found In Porto Rico. The children insisted
On studying their lessons out loud, a. they