English for the Filipinos.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7956, 20 October 1905, Page 2

English for the Filipinos.

Tli.-re niv in (be I'bilippinc.s about .1.211(1.(111(1 ch-ihlreii liMh-.vii -the agv ol six nn.i i'out-t|.,.|). The present en-I'olmwi-t is about ,'l(l(l.(li)(i i„ t| )( , scliools. as tlvere are not vnough scboolboiises or teachers foe a lar R «r| number. If the a Hen-da lire of .||)I)J 00(1 in tbe primary schools can tie sveuivd, if every ehil-,1 can -be g-iAen three years' ins-lnici ion in iliem.l ami if that can [,e kept, up for ten j years, there will >|, ( , ~,, illitera-t-o yoiiih among the ymnvgvr l''ilipiiios.| Tlie eoiniiiy- g-eueniti-on will be able* lo .speak, read, and write' Hie Kng-| lish lnngmvg.. witli a fair deg-i>'e of lliiaiicy, and will 'havu a dect-nt knowledge ol arithmetic and gvographv. The conversion of t-he Filipinos'into aa Knglish-speaking jieople -i. s the startling feature of the iirograninio. There will be no alien,pt to <biv,. out Spanish or any of the native' longui'A, but II any of tjitir, ulrajll .lie out. well and good. Kngl-ish will become the current standard speech of the arehfpela-go, which Spnnis-hj might have if (he! Spaniards bail had more enei'gy. The work of; niKliuctiun in the primary .schools is' I'ondiicted by Filipino teaebws. Many of them, after only a'few months of I'.nglish instruction, began teachin"I heir i.upil.s lOiiglisb. This would have been iniposs-ible if e|„. Filipinos who were selreied had not -bei'ii srbln lo pick i.p a ferei'g-ii language with mi.eh greater case than Ibe average American or Kuiop.-an. Luckily for I lie Filipinos, Knglish is an \. H sy langnage t-o learn. So it „ ray thai this audacious project of mak-; nig the I-'iliprnos an Knglish-speak-mg people will be carried out, and thai, thirty \ears- from now an American who goes to t'lw |l'hilip|iiues on pleasure or business will bi' in need of uu interpreter i.n no purl of t-h.t arcdvipelago.