Report of the Federal Security Agency

The chief criticism of the school board as at present organized is its lack of power. The recommendatory power might be of considerable use under certain circumstances, but councils and presidentes cling to whatever power they have and are not going to share it with others unless obliged to do so. In a former paper the writer urged the necessity of giving some power either to the division superintendent or to the school board to order small repairs, etc., providing proper town authorities did not take action within sixty days after notice of need given. But as councils often elect their share of the school board from among themselves, with the ex officio member the presidente, in such cases the council controls the board.

Then

But even otherwise, so strong is the custom handed down from the Spanish Government, and so reluctant is any individual member of the council or of the school board to oppose the presidente openly, that the latter reigns supreme, more or less as he did when he was gobernadorcillo. The presidente is certainly the bellwether of the flock. His strength depends largely, of course, on his strength of character. If he is a strong man, he will lead the town. On the other hand, several examples have come to my notice where the presidente was a weak or passive man. leadership fell on one of the other municipal officers, e. g., the secretary or some member of the council who was independent enough to take the initiative. Again, outside officials, such as the governor, also according to Spanish custom in part, have too much influence with the presidentes and councilmen. The school board has undoubtedly been of some service, even with its recommendatory power in connection with the council. But its great service has been its forming a connecting link between the administration and the people. It has been a support to the teachers more than they realize, and has really done some little service toward stirring up interest in school affairs in the community, thereby increasing the attendance. The school board is usually composed of some of the best men in the community. The Filipinos have great repect for their wise men. Quite a number of ex-teachers have been elected presidente; many others are on the council. It is unfortunate that the division superintendent is unable to correspond with the boards to any great extent. The connection would be increased if I had a Filipino-Spanish clerk who could undertake this. He need not know any English.

The school board is a good step in the direction of creating civic interest in public affairs. Spontaneous individual initiative could scarcely be expected where all have depended on a so-called paternal government from time immemorial. The school board is a useful part of the larger scheme of the civil government for the educating of the native up to the point of being able to profit by local self-government.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS.

Attention is again called to the need of reform schools and schools for the deaf, dumb, and blind.

SUMMARY.

To sum up in a word: Popular education, on which the whole structure must naturally rest ultimately, has been strengthened and broadened. Steps have also been taken at the same time in the direction of higher education, especially in the preparation of Filipinos to teach their own people. The instruction in English is the cardinal point of the present system of education.

CHAPTER LI

STATISTICS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE KINDERGARTENS.

This Bureau has collected and published statistics of kindergartens at irregular intervals since 1873. During the period in which the kindergarten was in the experimental stage in this country information concerning the work was difficult to obtain. Prior to 1892 this Office did not attempt to tabulate separately the returns from public and from private kindergartens.

The growth of the kindergarten movement in the last thirty years may be shown in the following table, which gives the number of public and private kindergartens, the number of teachers, and the number of pupils, as actually reported to this Office for certain years beginning with 1873:

In 1892, as shown in the above table, there were 1,311 kindergartens reporting to this Office, with 2,535 teachers and 65,296 pupils. Nearly half these pupils, or 31,659, were in 459 public kindergartens in 137 cities. The remaining 33,637 pupils were in 852 private kindergartens. The Bureau had that year the names of 1,148 other private kindergartens from which no statistics could be obtained.

In 1898 the number of kindergartens reporting to this Office had increased to 2,884, with 5,764 teachers and 143,720 pupils. The public kindergartens had 95,867 of these pupils under 2,532 teachers in the 1,365 kindergartens of 189 cities. The number of private kindergartens reporting had increased to 1,519, with 3,232 teachers and 47,853 pupils. That year this Bureau had the names of 1,479 private kindergartens from which no information could be obtained.

In 1902 the number of kindergartens reporting had increased to 3,244, with 5,935 teachers and 205,432 pupils. The number of cities sustaining public kindergartens had increased to 289, the number of public kindergartens to 2,202, the number of teachers to 3,764, and the number of pupils in these public kindergartens to 151,552. On the other hand, the number of private kindergartens reporting had decreased to 1,042 and the number of private kindergarten teachers to 2,171, although the number of pupils had increased to 53,880. The Office had the names of 1,022 other private kindergartens still in existence from which no information could be obtained after repeated requests.

In the four years from 1898 to 1902 there had been an enormous growth of the public kindergarten, while the private kindergarten had scarcely held its own.

There had been a falling off of 477 in the number of private kindergartens reporting and a net loss of 934 in the number reported to be in operation. The remaining schools are undoubtedly stronger than ever, and the best teachers who gave up private work found wider fields of usefulness in the public kindergartens maintained in connection with city school systems.

Table 1 summarizes the statistics of all the kindergartens actually reporting to this Bureau in 1902. The number of cities of 4,000 population and over in which public kindergartens were maintained was 289. It will be noted that Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Indian Territory, North Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon are not represented. The 2,202 public kindergartens had 3,764 teachers and 151,552 pupils—65,834 boys and 67,414 girls. The names of the 289 cities, with the number of public kindergartens, teachers, and pupils in each, will be found in Table 11 of this chapter.

Table 1 also summarizes the statistics of the 1,042 private kindergartens actually reporting to this Office in 1902. There were 2,171 teachers and 53,880 pupils-25,758 boys and 28,122 girls. No private kindergartens were reported from West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, or Idaho. The combined statistics of the 3,244 public and private kindergartens actually reporting to this Office in 1902 are given in Table 2. There were 5,935 teachers and 205,432 pupils, or an average of nearly 35 pupils to the teacher. The number of boys was 91,592 and the number of girls 95,536.

As already stated, 1,022 private kindergartens known to be in existence failed to report any information after repeated requests from this Bureau. If it be assumed that these kindergartens had the average number of teachers and pupils, it may be estimated that the 1,022 kindergartens had 2,166 teachers and 52,052 pupils. Adding these figures to those actually reported, the estimated strength of private kindergartens in the United States would be 2,064 schools, 4,337 teachers, and 105,932 pupils. Combining these with the numbers reported for public kindergartens, the estimated number of kindergartens, public and private, is 4,266, with 8,101 teachers and 257,484 pupils. These estimates are shown in Table 3.

Table 4 is a financial summary of the 1,042 private kindergartens reporting. The total expenditure of 738 of these schools was $416,624.

Tables 5 to 10, inclusive, summarize the statistics of public and private kindergartens for each year for which information was collected from 1873 to 1898.

Table 12 is a list of kindergarten associations in the United States reported to this Office as in operation. Table 13 is a list of training schools and classes for kindergartners.

State or Territory.

TABLE 1.-Statistics of public and private kindergartens actually reporting for 1901–2.