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Show ft i j FILIPINOS BEING MADE AMERICANS That the American school teacher is dotng a great work for the Filipinos Fili-pinos is made evident bv a statement state-ment made by I O Muerman, formerly for-merly superintendent of schools at t.'ebu, P 1 Mr .Muerman describes entertain -ly the remarkable educational advance ad-vance in the islands since the day the first American teachere disembarked disem-barked from thf United States transport trans-port Thomas a dozen years ago Unhampered Un-hampered by academic tradition, and face to face with problems of education edu-cation that were as big as civilization itself these educators and those who followed them hu- gradually developed devel-oped a sstcm of Filipino schools under un-der Filipino teachers that is rapidly rapid-ly transforming the social and industrial indus-trial life of the islands. Compulsory industrial training, fit- ( ted for the needs of everyday Filipino Filipi-no life, is Ihe most distinctive fea-I fea-I ture of the island schools. The Americans Amer-icans have carefully studied the possibilities pos-sibilities of the valuable raw materials mate-rials abundantly at hand in the islands, isl-ands, and are able to show the Fill-' piuos how to make the most of them Every Filipino school boy is required to do a certain amount of work wltu native woods and fibers; every one: must learn to till the soil by actually actual-ly doing It in the school garden and I In a plat of his own; and every Filipino Fili-pino school girl is taught certain essentials of sewing and other home making arts. All the children in the schools are obliged to pass through I 'this period of elementary training In the everyday tasks of life. Most Significant In the scheme of industrial education is the recent cs- j tabllshment of the Philippine school i of household Industries. Two nun- dred women from different parts of i ho islands wore brought together at Manila, shown how to adapt their native na-tive skill in embroidery' and lace making mak-ing to the demands of foreign markets, mar-kets, and then sent back to their homes to form centers of industrial progress In their own communities The government has established a sales agency to dispose of the commodities com-modities thus produced, and bo far tho demand has greatly exceeded the supply. One Filipino woman who was trained in the now r herd has SOU women working under her and Is receiving re-ceiving from firms In the United States orders for thousands of embroidered em-broidered shirt waists and handkerchief handker-chief 'ihe beautiful pina cloth, made from pineapple, 16 one product to which special attention Is paid. Before Be-fore the American came this cloth sold for from 10 to 60 cents a yard, the demand for it is now such that it brings from $1 50 to $3 a yard. I "The hardest thine American teachers teach-ers In the Philippines bave to contend con-tend with." says Mr Muerman, "is the American sp rit of hustle and bustle Tbo American Is In too much haste He wants to get everything done at once He tries to overturn in a few weeks the traditions of centuries ud yet, coming into a country where the ideal tends to be that of manana neer do today what you can by any possibility put of till tomorrow he has really made astonishing headway in transforming the Philippines Into a country of todav, where things move with something like American hurry. The old folks shake their heads and 6igh for the good old time but the young people, boys and pirl-alike pirl-alike are glad to take advantage of the more efficient methods They plaj American games and accept the educational opportunities offered them with equal adaptability, and it is I through them that the new Filipino civilization is making its way irrc- sistlhly " nrt . |