The Philippine Experiences of an American Teacher: A Narrative of Work and Travel in the Philippine Islands

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C. Scribner's sons, 1918 - Education - 344 pages
 

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Page 330 - I have . . . referred to the incompetency and ignorance of many of the justices of the peace. Instead of "many" I could have said " most," and might even have employed a stronger term. . . . Sometimes, and only too frequently, in addition to their ignorance these justices are found to be either grossly dishonest or else under the influence of a sharp and tricky secretary...
Page 162 - Philippines is concerned with a people whose lack of exactness, especially in their mental processes, Is a conspicuous racial fault. The Filipino has an instinctive and intense reluctance to admit ignorance. This characteristic has often earned him an otherwise undeserved reputation for unreliability or dishonesty. He fails to appreciate the desirability of accuracy. Training in science, properly given, will develop a new respect for exactness and a conception of the inexpediency of misstatement,...
Page 330 - With these men the motto in all too many cases is, "a public office is a public graft," and they prey upon the poor people of the country like wild beasts. . . I trust I may not be charged with drawing too lurid a picture of this evil. My endeavor is to state only facts as they have come to my knowledge, not only during the last year, but in several years' previous experience in these Islands.
Page 163 - ... observation and reasoning about facts observed. Especial difficulty lies in overcoming the tendency of the Filipino pupil to learn merely by rote. The science studies largely eliminate the use of this method in that they require answers as the fruit of reasoning rather than of memory. Filipino boys and girls are quite alike in their enthusiasm for work which is out of doors, away from the printed page, and concerns things which they can handle, which they have seen every day, and which have very...
Page 163 - Their pedagogical purpose on the other hand is to induce accurate first-hand observation and reasoning about facts observed. Especial difficulty lies in overcoming the tendency of the Filipino pupil to learn merely by rote. The science studies largely eliminate the use of this method in that they require answers as the fruit of reasoning rather than of memory. Filipino...
Page 32 - ... with which we were at length furnished, were sufficiently large for our purpose ; and as soon as we were comfortably settled, we commenced instructing our royal pupils. They studied English, French, composition and drawing; and the hours we were engaged with them were from between seven and eight till ten, in the morning ; and from three to five in the afternoon. The princesses differed much in their abilities and dispositions. The elder sometimes appeared to think the difficulty of acquiring...
Page 163 - Islands is taken up, including the municipal and provincial codes, the instructions of President McKinley to the Philippine Commission, and the Act of Congress of July, 1902. The young citizens composing the class are organized successively into a municipal council, a provincial board and a legislative assembly...
Page 99 - They have written plays and staged them, arranged athletic contests, aided unjustly oppressed peasants to secure justice, fought bandits, persuaded the natives to build trails and bridges, exercised a judicious influence in local politics; in short, fulfilled, officially and unofficially, a variety of functions foreign to the position of a school-teacher in America, but of the utmost advantage in securing the loyalty of the inhabitants to the sovereignty of the United States, and implanting the ideals...
Page 330 - ... will at an early date take steps to reform the present justice-of-the-peace system. The demand for this is universal. After talking with the judges of the courts of first instance from the provinces and the traveling representatives of this office, as well as with some of the provincial governors, I am convinced that no one who has not been in the provinces and come in actual contact with the people and with the operations of the justice courts can form any adequate conception of the extent of...

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