Book Three

PART VII: EDUCATION

CHAPTER XIX

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION-SPANISH PERIOD

During the Spanish regime all schools were under the control of the Church. They were, indeed, primarily schools of religion. The friars were thinking of indoctrinating their students as Roman Catholics, and shaped nearly all studies to this end. "In the first stage of their civilization," wrote a Dominican friar, "education in the Philippines was based exclusively on religion." Semper wrote in 1869: "In the provinces every village has its public schools in which instruction is obligatory; but, besides reading and writing, only Christian doctrine and church music are taught."

IN SPANISH TIMES

There were no public schools, such as those to which Semper refers, until 1863, when a royal decree established primary education throughout the Philippines. "This project has in view," runs the decree, "the necessity of disseminating, as far as possible, instruction in the Holy Catholic faith, in the mother tongue, and in the elementary branches of the knowledge of life. . . and considering that the basis of all education is the solid diffusion of our holy religion through its ministers, it establishes a normal school in charge of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. . . . The immediate supervision of said schools is entrusted to the parish priests, who are given sufficient power to make it efficient, and instruction

in Christian doctrine and morals is placed under the exclusive direction of the prelates . . .

Even the reading lessons were religious. Witness some of the text books: "The catechism of Astete, and the catechism of Fleury shall be used for reading." The Spaniards meant the Filipinos to have religion if schools could give it to them. Fundamentally their entire educational viewpoint was religiocentric; and usually it followed the law of least effort-the smallest possible dose of general education and the largest possible dose of dogma.

By the year 1892 there were more public schools in the Philippines teaching religion as the principal subject than there were in 1918. The 1918 Census found only 1,365 schools which are teaching any religion as against 2,143 in 1892. As far back as 1866 there were reported 230,358 children attending primary school and receiving religious instruction as the chief daily study. To-day there are less than 75,000 students in all religious schools. This means that over three times as many children were receiving daily religious instruction in the year 1866 in the Philippines as were receiving such instruction in 1918. Even if we add the 63,627 enrolled in the Sunday schools of the Islands (which is not, of course, fair, since they study but once a week), we are still far below the figure of the year 1866.

To put it more strikingly:

Some of the Provisions of the Decree of 1863 are as follows:

"Article I. Instruction for natives shall be confined for the present to elementary primary instruction, and shall include:

"1. Christian doctrine and principles of ethics and sacred history, suitable for children.

"2.
"3. Writing.

Reading.

4.

Practical instruction in the Spanish language, principles of Spanish grammar, and orthography.

"5. Principles of arithmetic, which shall include the four rules for figures, common fractions, decimal fractions, and instruction in the metric system and its equivalents in ordinary weights and measures.

"6. General geography and history of Spain.

"7. Practical agriculture as applied to the products of the country. "8. Rules of deportment.

"9. Vocal music."

It will prove interesting to modern teachers that the salaries for male teachers ranged from eight to twenty pesos ($4 to $10) while "school mistresses shall enjoy (italics not found in original decree) a monthly salary of eight pesos if they hold certificates, and of six pesos otherwise." But teachers received many presents, often p100 or more from the parents of a single child.

In the Spanish regime 100% of the school children received daily religious instruction. In the present regime something over 10% receive such daily instruction. So far as statistics show, there is no provision for the daily religious instruction of 89% of the students of the Philippines. One must ask, in all seriousness, what will be the net result of this failure to give any real religious training to four fifths of the youth of the Philippines? How can one believe in causation without expecting that, a generation hence, unless this present drift stops, these Islands will be four-fifths irreligious?

This is stated, not in any sense as a condemnation of modern education, but only in order to place the problem squarely before the religious forces of the Islands. They need to see clearly that in this regime the spiritual fate of the Philippines depends upon unaided private effort. Centuries of experience in Europe, America and the Philippines, have proven that the teaching of religion must be kept out of the hands of the government.

Strenuous efforts are being made by Roman Catholic orders on the one hand and by Protestant missions and Filipino churches on the other, to reach the young generation. Some of these movements, like the Sunday school, young people's conferences, and annual Bible courses, are gathering great momentum, and may, in time, meet the need in something like an adequate way.

Perhaps it is unnecessary to say what is everywhere recognized, that, outside the realm of religion, the public school system is incomparably better in this period than it was in Spanish times. Even those merits which one finds in the printed plans of those days were largely paper merits and were seldom as good as they sounded. The plan outlined in 1863, which was mentioned above, reads well and was meant well; that it was not carried out was the fault of the friars. "The Spanish Government," writes Tomas G. del Rosario," "was really anxious that all Filipinos should speak the Spanish language, as it is understood that the use of a common language is the only thing that can preserve and

1903 Census-vol. III, p. 594.

unite in constant friendship, people of different races. Nevertheless, the monastic orders were always decidedly opposed to the Spanish language being spoken in Philippine territory, because their interests would have been greatly injured if such language had become general throughout the archipelago, as from that time they would have ceased to be intermediaries between the people and the authorities, and would no longer have been required by either, which would have reduced their great influence with both parties . . . as a consequence, the Spanish language did not become general, and due to the diversity of dialects in the country and the lack of books in these dialects, education went along a hard and difficult path." In like vein writes the historian, Jagor, "It is true that the teacher is required to teach Spanish to his pupils, but he himself does not understand it, and furthermore the officials themselves do not know the native languages. This system of affairs can not be changed by the parish priests, nor do they desire to do so, as it contributes to the increase of their influence."

This statement was not true of the Jesuit Fathers. After their expulsion from the Islands in 1769 they lost all selfish reasons for desiring the permanent ignorance of the masses. They stayed away for ninety years. After their return (about the middle of the year 1859) they showed great interest in general education, many of them having acquired modern ideas during their enforced expatriation. They at once established a primary school, which grew rapidly, and in 1865 this school was recognized as a college under the title of "Municipal Atheneum of Manila." The Jesuits "took special care to have their pupils speak Spanish correctly, forbidding the use of any other language in their colleges-all of which was diametrically opposite to the system pursued by the friars in their educational institutions." Because of their interest in primary education the Jesuit fathers were given charge of the Government Normal School, which had been established in 1863 for the education of male primary teachers.

4

'Jagor, "Reisen in de Philippinen," Berlin 1873.

The "Ateneo de Manila" now has an enrollment of 1,200 students of various ages.

One must not place too much blame on the friars for their attitude toward education. They merely remained stagnant while the remainder of the world moved ahead. The Spanish Government and the Jesuits were attempting to keep up with the procession in educational matters, while the friar orders found the old order of things exceeding pleasant, and instinctively revolted against a change in the status quo.

It may prove startling to some readers to learn that when Spain occupied the Philippines, the world in general was still opposed to universal education. For example Governor Berkeley of Virginia said in 1670, "I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and brought libels against the best government. God keep us from both."

That was Virginia fifty-one years after the establishment of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila! Most of the nations of Christendom have taken gigantic strides since those days; and the misfortune of the friars was that they were belated minds, seeking to preserve the ancient era of privilege, caste, and autocracy, in a day when "God tumbled the minds of men out of their beds . . . and forced a forward march." No hindrance to progress is more difficult to overcome than the "back-number" mind bulwarked by his religion; the type is not confined, to be sure, to any church, nor to past centuries.

The friars did not oppose all education; for certain classes, including their children, they desired nothing less than the best. They desired Spaniards, and the sons and daughters of Spaniards, to receive a liberal education. Hence the Dominican friars established the college of Santo Tomas for the privileged classes two hundred years before primary education was established by royal decree.

Santo Tomas began as a school in 1605 and was founded as a college in 1619. It is therefore the oldest college under the American flag. "Fray Baltizar Fort, its first rector, proceeded to the inauguration of its studies by giving fellow