PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
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Philippine School of Arts and Trades, the Philippine School of Commerce, the Philippine Nautical School, the Central Luzon Agricultural School, and others, one- fails to notice, among the young men who flock from all parts of the Archipelago, any essential differences between the so-called "tribes" of the Philippines. The Filipino- students, no matter from what province they come, demonstrate the same essential characteristics, harbour the same traditions, and manifest the same national aspira- tions. The names Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Bicol, etc, are mere geographical expressions.
RELIGION
The Philippines is the only Christian country in the Far East to-day. Ministers- of the Gospel accompanied the Spanish military forces. Three centuries of ceaseless and painstaking efforts on the part of these ministers converted the natives to Catholi- cism, which soon became widely spread. Many churches built in Manila and throughout the provinces are impressive structures of massive masonry, and some of them are famous for their architecture and interior decorations.
In the year 1901 an Independent Filipino Church was organized by secession from the Roman Catholic Church. The religious dogmas promulgated and followed" by this new denomination are practically identical with those observed by the Churchi of Rome. The mass is sung either in Latin or in the native dialects. Protestantism came to the Philippines immediately after American occupation. The Protestants- established missions and spread thair doctrine throughout the Archipelago. The inhabitants of Mindanao, the Moros, are, as their names signify, Mohammedans. A very limited number of them have been converted to Christianity. Among the pagan inhabitants of the mountains, such as the Ifugaos, the Igorots and the Bontocs, may be found very primitive religious ideas.
EDUCATION AND LITERACY
Public education in the Philippines is free, secular and co-educational, and the principal aim is the spread of literacy on the basis of a common language-at present,- the English. The Bureau of Education maintains a complete system of public educa- tion. Public elementary and high schools are distributed throughout the Islands. Six insular schools for special education are also maintained in Manila. The enrolment of students in the public schools is increasing every year, being at present 923,062. With the object of extending elementary education to all children of school age, the Philippine Legislature made available within five years the sum of P30,000,000 in addition to the regular annual appropriations for the Bureau of Education. Private schools, patterned after the public schools, besides the old Spanish schools and colleges which still survive, have sprung up in the Philippines in recent years. Practically all these offer instruction in English, and even the old Spanish schools and colleges have included English in their curricula. Upon graduating from the high schools, the students are admitted to higher institutions of learning, foremost among which is the University of the Philippines, established and maintained by the Philippine Government.
Sixty-six per cent, of the people of the Islands, ten years of age or over, can read and write. The census taken in 1903 showed that only twenty and two-tenths per cent, of the people could read and write. There is an increase, therefore, of forty-five and eight-tenths per cent. in the literacy of the people from 1903 to 1918, showing the remarkable progress attained by the modern educational system.
LANGUAGES
English and Spanish are both used as official languages and are widely spoken in the Islands. The Spanish language was first introduced when the Spaniards took possession of the Islands. The English language is becoming the dominant language in the Philippines, being now spoken by a rapidly increasing portion of the popula tion. This is especially true of the younger generation, as English is taught in all the public schools. English is also becoming the commercial language in the Islands, and is bound to be the common language of the Filipinos in the future, the adoption of any of the native dialects, or of a new native Philippine tongue founded on these existing dialects, for the national language of the people being considered almost wholly impracticable. There are six established native dialects with some printed literature, namely, the Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Bicol, Pangasinan and Pampangan.. Newspapers are published in English and Spanish, although in many places period- icals may be found written in the principal native dialects.
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