The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-07
America IN The Philippines
VI MA7YVE THIRST FOR KNOWLFDCE

a0dress an audience composed OF ma.
tive students. made the abatement that
It - better to be GOOD farmer than
poor lawyer. He consequently learn
ed that he was being widely quoted by
those who heard him. and unanimously
condemned as conscienceless prevsri-
Gator Farmers are "tao" or genie
baja," and the Commentaries and pro-
fessional men are genie iiustrada."
OF all professions the law. leading to
political ONCE. 10 the highest. therefore
the lawyer IL the most fortunate OF
'uustradas." Why. srenes tile Fiji
pino school boy. should an American
fudge ssek TO get anyone to believe
that farmer OF any degree Of pros
perity 10 the equal Of the most BRIEF
less barristersf
When agricultural schools were OPP
ened the aristocratic young Filipinos,
who were directed to plant seeds and
TIL model fields. came to school the
second dav accompanied by their SER
wants. They informed the teachers
that they. had brought boys" to do
the planting and hoeing incident to
calming practical knowledge Of farm
ing. II the islanders should once be.
come imbued with the iiea Dr the dig.
nifty Of agriculture that caused the
Kandyan Kings OF ancient Ceylon to
put in part Of their time blowing. and
vhASti tHdAtS - shcAtuChJ
farmer or a Southern planter take
prides in his position, great result
might accrue There are plenty OF
broad acrcs in the isiSudse oi.sn TO oc4
cupation upon easy terms
In the domestic science schools.
which now form a part CT the system,
1t Is found that even the girls of
wealth and social position are keen to
learn how to become good houselSeep-
I'm
been dearth Of properly equipped
teachers for this department Women
with univers,fy training and facul,
ty for housewifery are somewhat diff
ficult to find In America. bur there are
now about nifty exponcnts of the art
OF making things that mother used to
make" teaching The Filipino girls the
mysteries OF success IN pie manufac-
ture and other forms OF cookery intis-
pensible in well regulated nome.
The girls subscribe heartily to lhs SEM
timent Of owen Meredith thar .'civil-
ICED man cannot live without cooks.s'
As every Filipino maiden aspires to
become the head of u honsehoid--pre-
ferably large ons--the few hfgh
schools where the kiichcn is the. class
room are crowded with students Theyi
are as ambitious 10 master the suhiect
OF cookery as are inc young men
learning trades IN the manrsi trains
ing schools. or those in the high
schools preparing themselves for pro-
LESSONS. &
: Public instruction in the Philippines
IL now organized under thirty-five
school divisions, the department of
city schools In Manila four insuIar
schools located IL Manila. and tho gov
eminent Of the Moro province. The .
most northerly school IL on the island (
n
Fornosa. The most NO itnerly one is
at Siasi In the Sulu Archipelago. The
distance between these geographical
limits Of American education III the Is
ands is more than l.6a9 miles. Be-
tween Batan and the southern shorts
Of the Sulu Sea there arc indeed many
sorts and conJitionJ Of men. Many
teachers occupy posts remote from
white settlements or the conveniences4
N civiliza ton. Of the thirty eight
school superintendent who lnre now
in the islands. thirty-four have sorv-
ed since the Blrsau OF Eaucation was
organized. a majority of the teachers
Ind their work attractive desot.s the
hardships.
There is no better illustration. Of
the interest the Filipnos take IN edu-
cation than the figures showing thes'
Increase in the number Of native teach 7
erB. Inc BUREAU OF 1tuuCatiou was
organized in 1901. In 1903 there we're
1000 native teachers. Reports for the
fiscal year ending June 80. 1903,
showed e.63s. Many OF these teach
Ars In attending the vacation assem-
bly," to perfect their education. have
to make sea voyages as long. in point
of time. as the trip from New-fork to-
Educators Insist that the good work
that may be done by the Bureau or
Education depends wholly upon ths
financial support given 1t. They de-
clare that much has been accomplish
ed despite the meagreness of the APP
There are now twice as
many teachers as there were in 1903 and
the average salary ia lower than IT.
was five years ago. although there has
been an advance in the standard OF
training. Filipino teachers are now
receiving upon the average, 80
month. And yet there comes from
some quarters the cry that money Is
being wasted in trying to educate the
omorrow---America In the PhiIip-
VIZ rsanc,tinr she Eraripfno.