Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-07-20

Teaching Filipino Children.


matching pennies, until 1t came their
turn to say the numerous prayers.
NV first work was to obtain a cen
sus of my district, and, since l was
the only American in town, the Fill
pino teacher accompanied me as in
terpreter. for we were able to con-
verse with each other in most ques-
tionable Spanish. l found some 200
children within a radius OF two miles
of the school-house, who were sup
posed to be attending school, but who,
AS vet. had never entered the building.
I took the authority in my own
hands, and after several conferences
with the head man of the village sue
ceeded in convincing him that a com
pulsory school law was necessary. III
then became my duty to herd these
Youngsters every morning. The local
school board, regarding one teacher
as quite sufficient for the instruction
of 200 children, quickly dismissed my
Filipino assistant. Regularly, at 1880
each day, l mounted my pony, and,
riding to the door of each shack ii
the district, commanded every child
to 'Vamoose escuela," or "go to
school," The president had fixed a
fine of a dollar in gold upon any one
who disregarded my summons, so that
after a month of this arduous work l
found that l had my little colony well
in hand.
And now a little as to the scheol
itself. The opening exercises consist
ed of singing and marching. or sing
ing the young natives were passion
ately fond, and almost every child in
the village knew the greater part OF
our national hymns, knew the words
but fortunately not the meaning, for IN
that case fear that much OF the vim
would have been lacking. A strict
edict had been published by the gov
eminent forbidding the teaching by
Americans of religion in any form.
although the native priest was allowed
the privilege of entering each school
one hour a week for religious instruc-
ton. But how can l make them learn
English? kept recurring TO my mind,
and troubled me for several days, as
I struggled with some OF the older
scholars through a page or two OF
Baldwin's primer, where it tells OF the
ripe strawberries and the snowballs,
and the pretty red and black sleds, all
Greek to these dusky natives of the
tropics. 1t was then that / thought
of the kindergarten system, and am
sure that my classes in that line would
have amused not a few Of you. But
they were original and amusing, and
stood the test. l used books merely
for a pastime, to point out pretty
mixtures. to illustrate the names OF
colors, and so on. Every morning, !
had an inspection, and any little fell
low who was caught with dirty hands
or ears was Obliged to go home and
wash them, the greatest possible
punishment l could inflict upon him.
This would please the rest OF the
school immensely, and / soon found
that an inspection was unnecessary.
Previous to this the great question
which is today puzzling many OF our
large universities, namely, that OF CO
education, was wholly unknown in
my town, and l must confess that /
am an offender in introducing IL.
Never before had the girls been
taught at all. The school was divided
with the girls upon one side and the
boys upon the other, and the rivalry
to Guido each other soon grew great.
Picking out three of the brightest
pupils from each side, | made them
my assistants,-in fact, made them
almost a part of my household, they
being free to come and eat with me,
to talk. and to learn various little
things, which they were only too eager
to impart TO their companions, in play.
In the school, names of objects were
learned from the objects themselves.
The children soon learned by expert