SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. The PHILIPPINE COMMISSION: MANILA, P. 1., November 15, 1903. The secretary of public instruction begs leave to submit to the honorable the Philippine Commission, the second annual report of the work accomplished during the year ending October 15, 1903, unless otherwise stated, by those bureaus of the insular government under the executive control of the department of public instruction. PUBLIC INSTRUCTION UNDER SPANISH RULE. The history of the development of education in the Philippines is not at all uninteresting to the investigator if he enters upon its study with an impartial mind and a disposition to judge the results achieved by contemporaneous rather than present standards. It has been contended that the Filipino people had some educational advancement long before the first Spaniard set his foot in the Archipelago, but the proofs adduced to justify this conclusion rather prove the existence of relics of a decadent or dead civilization than the survival of a living and progressive one. Some of the tribes may have had alphabets, and here and there among them individuals might be found who could read and write, but the assertion that any of the peoples of the islands had advanced so far as to develop a literature is not sustained by any convincing evidence. If a literature, even of the simplest or plainest kind, ever existed in the Philippines prior to the advent of the Spanish, not a vestige of it now survives, and it is doubtful if an alphabet was extensively known or utilized by any of the Filipino tribes except the Moros. Among the Moros the Arabic alphabet was known and used from a time probably contemporaneous with their advent, and it is possible that their piratical invasions and settlements, having communicated to the gentler tribes of Luzon and the Visayas some information that thoughts and ideas could be conveyed by an orderly arrangement of conventional signs, gave rise to the tradition of an early literary advancement out of all proportion to the real state of the case. Writings may have existed at the time of the Spanish invasion, but in all probability they were of Moro origin, and could hardly be called literary productions if the Moro documents extant are to be considered as fair samples of the writings. of more primitive times. From all the evidence at hand it seems no more than just to conclude that learning made no real progress among the peoples of the Archipelago until after Spanish occupation, and that the first Spanish explorers encountered on their arrival not the beginning of a new intellectual advancement, but at most the inert remnants of a remote civilization of which the Filipinos may once have formed a part. The first expeditions sent out by Spain to the Philippine Islands, subsequent to their discovery by Magellan in 1521, evidently had no other object in view than the exploitation of the islands, and were moved by no purpose beneficial to the inhabitants of the newly discovered territory. In fact, they seem to have been inspired by no higher motive than gain and aggrandizement, and it is consequently not hard to understand how the first hardy adventurers of Spain speedily lost the confidence and good will of the people, which had been temporarily gained by gifts of little price and specious promises of no higher value. The conflicts which soon arose between the strangers and many of the chiefs united the various tribes against the common enemy, and Spain's first attempts to colonize the Philippines resulted in miserable failures. In this contingency, Philip II, King of Spain, had recourse to the influence of religion, which up to that time had never failed the country in its plans of spiritual conquest and colonization. Urdaneta was called from his convent to take joint command with Legaspi of the fourth. expedition to the Philippines, and large powers were given to him and the missionaries who accompanied him in dealing with the people. Fair treatment and the salutary restraint of Urdaneta on the excesses of the soldiery soon gained for the newcomers a place in the affections of the inhabitants, which quickly produced an accord advantageous alike to Spain and the dwellers in her new discoveries. From the very moment of their arrival, the missionaries, animated by the spirit of Christian zeal, sought to impress upon their new charges the truths of Christianity and to wean them from a fetich worship which hardly rose to the dignity of a religion. The bells, the lights, the touching chants of the church, the rich robes of the priestly service, the solemn and dignified demeanor of the celebrant, the rough soldiery that bent the knee in homage to the cross, and the pathetic history of the God-Man all appealed to the simple people of the Philippines. Their predispositions and emotions were favorable to the Christian cult, but, after all, nothing more than faith by impression had been created, and in order to produce faith by conviction a deeper knowledge of the new religion was required. It was necessary, therefore, to give some history of its foundation, of its beliefs and the reasons for them, of its mysteries, of its forms of worship, of the sacraments and their foundation, of the life and works of the holy men who died in the faith, and of the thousand and one things which go to make up the hold of religion on the souls of men, whether civilized or savage. To do this it was necessary to instruct native catechists, and to teach them to read and understand the catechism, that they in their turn might aid in spreading the light among their own people. This was the first real beginning of education in the Philippine Islands. At this period education had not reached among European peoples the importance it has now, and, while there were great universities in Spain, and the monastic orders were at once the source and refuge of instruction, it could not be said that even in Spain any considerable portion of the community, high or low, understood how to read or write. The missionaries, therefore, had no idea at first of creating in the Far East an educated and refined people. Their object was to make a good, not a learned, people, and consequently only so much instruction was imparted as was necessary to aid them in their work and to accomplish the purpose they had in view. Only such schools were established as the exigencies of religious instruction required, and no attempt was made to found schools of a more pretentious character until 1585, when Philip II ordered that a college should be established, under the direction of the Jesuits, for the instruction of the Spanish children of Manila in morals and Latin. The college so ordered to be founded was called St. Ignatius, but was not opened for the reception of students until 1595. The number of Spanish children who attended was small, and the purpose of the foundation was soon broadened so as to admit native children to the advantages extended to those of Spanish parentage. Pursuing their policy of keeping pace with the advancement of the students, the Jesuits added to the curriculum in 1601 a course of philosophy, and four years later the study of scholastic theology. The progress of this institution was so great that in 1621 it was raised to the grade of a pontifical university, and in 1653 the full dignity of a royal university was conferred upon it. The University of St. Ignatius continued in existence until May 17, 1768, when, the Jesuits having been expelled by royal decree of Charles III, the institution ceased to exist and the building and furniture became the property of the state. In the same year in which he directed the establishment of the College of St. Ignatius, Philip II ordered the founding of a college and seminary for the purpose of the study of Latin, the sciences, and buenos costumbres, but this order was not carried into effect for want of necessary funds, and it is doubtful if the hopes of the King of Spain in that regard would have ever been realized if it had not been for the testamentary disposition of Don Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, who bequeathed to the institution in 1610 a very considerable property, which made it possible to accomplish the royal wishes manifested twenty-six years before and to found the college and seminary of San José. With the explusion of the Jesuits this institution fell into the hands of the King of Spain, who thereafter exercised the patronate, direction, and administration of the college through a rector and administrator appointed by the governor-general of the islands. In 1875 the college was converted into a school of medicine and pharmacy and placed in charge of the father rector of the University of Santo Tomas, who was empowered to appoint an administrator to collect the rents. and care for the assets of the trust properties of the college. The College of Santo Tomas came into existence about the year 1611, and was established by the Order of St. Dominic for the purpose of giving gratuitous instruction to the sons of poor families. This college was the forerunner of the University of Santo Tomas, which was created in 1614 and confirmed as a royal pontifical university by royal decree of Philip IV in 1623. The colleges and schools of secondary instruction were more or less preparatory schools for this university and by it all were virtually ruled and controlled. The present attendance on the university is about 350. These foundations of learning were followed by the establishment of the Royal College of San Juan de Letran in 1640, and thereafter, for two hundred and nineteen years, nothing further seems to have been done to meet the demands for advanced instruction of boys and young men, if the creation of a nautical school in 1620 and an academy of drawing and painting in 1845, the results of private lay enterprise, are excepted. In December, 1859, the Jesuits returned to the Philippines and gave a new impulse to education by establishing, with the aid of the city of Manila, a municipal school called the "Ateneo de Manila." The Åteneo not only furnished primary instruction, but also gave to its students a course in mathematics, chemistry, physics, natural history, French and English. It began with 33 pupils, became a college in 1865, and has instructed since 1859 over 26,000 pupils. It now has an attendance of nearly 1,200 pupils. The Society of Jesus likewise founded in 1865 a normal school for the training of teachers in order to carry out the policy of the Spanish Government with reference to primary instruction. Although this school furnished a comparatively small number of teachers considering the attendance, as a school it was a success from the beginning. It is still in existence, has the best school building in the islands, and enjoys an attendance of some 600 pupils. In addition to these places of learning established for boys, schools for girls were established as follows: Beginning with 1872 and continuing until about 1890 seminaries were established for the education and training of priests in the archdiocese of Manila and the diocese of Nueva Segovia (Vigan), Cebu, Jaro, and Nueva Cáceres. Schools of secondary lay instruction were also established at Guinobatan in 1890, and at Bacolod, Negros, in 1892. The following figures show the enrollment in some of the educational centers for the year beginning 1886 and ending 1887: Universidad y Colegios de Sto. Tomas y Letran. Academias de Náutica, Pintura y Contabilidad Ateneo Municipal Escuelas privadas de Latinidad.. Escuela Normal de Maestros Seminario Conciliar de Manila Seminario Conciliar de Nueva Segovia Seminario Conciliar de Cebú Seminario Conciliar de Jaro.... Seminario Conciliar de Nueva Cáceres Total 1,985 644 273 833 443 52 418 304 400 660 6, 012 A study of the enrollment in the University of Santo Tomas, and in the colleges of Santo Tomas and San Juan de Letran, reveals the interesting fact that the total matriculation of 1,985 was made up of 123 peninsular Spaniards, 93 insular Spaniards, 180 Spanish mestizos, 1,381 Filipinos, and 208 Chinese mestizos. Primary instruction was confined to the schools and colleges in the |