ORGANIZED EFFORT OF LEGISLATION

ORGANIZED EFFORT OF LEGISLATION[In his preface to his bookLa instrucción primaria en Filipinas(Manila, 1894) Daniel Grifol y Aliaga, who occupied an official post in the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration, and was secretary of the administrative board on school questions in the Philippine Islands, speaks as follows.]Until the end of the year 1863,6when the memorable royal decree, which established a plan ofprimary education in Filipinas, arranged for the creation of schools of primary instruction in all the villages of the islands, and the creation of a normal school in Manila whence should graduate educated and religious teachers, who should take charge of those institutions, was dictated, it can be said that there had been no legislation in regard to primary instruction in these islands; for, although it is certain that orders directed for the purpose of obtaining the instruction of the natives, and very especially, the teaching of the beautiful Spanish language, are not lacking, some of those orders being contained in theLeyes de Indiasand in the edicts of good government [Bandos de Buen Gobierno], it is a fact that those orders are isolated regulations, without connection, and the product of the good desire which has always animated the monarchs of España and their worthy representatives in the archipelago, for the advance and prosperity of the archipelago, but without resting on a fixed foundation, for lack of elements so that such foundation might exist.7Before the above-mentioned epoch the reverend and devout8parish priests came to fill in great part, and voluntarily, the noble ends of propagating primary instruction through these remote regions, with the aid of the most advanced of their scholars themselves, who devoted themselves to the teaching of their fellow citizens, receiving scarcely any remuneration for their work and trouble, and without being regarded as teachers or having any certificate which accredited them as such.The above-mentioned royal decree of December 20, 1863, and the regulations of the same date, established and unfolded a true plan for primary instruction, which has served as a basis for the innumerable number of orders relative to the said department, which have been dictated from day to day, both by the government of the mother country and by the former superior civil government, by the general government, and by the General Division of Civil Administration of these islands, in order to attain the degree of perfection which this most important department of public administration—the foundationof the culture and the welfare of the villages—obtains in Filipinas today.That same accumulation of orders,9which have produced the rapid advancement of public instruction in this archipelago, has been the motive for a certain apparent confusion, which, in reality, does not exist, for there is observed in those orders an admirable harmony, which is explained if one bear in mind that they have all been dictated for one and the same end, with one desire, and for the same purpose: namely, that of obtaining the greatest advancement of education in this far-distant Spanish province, and that of benefiting the noble class of teachers.The confusion to which we refer, which, we repeat, is in its essential no more than apparent, must disappear from that moment in which all the orders in regard to the matter are methodically compiled, arranging them so that they might give as a resultant that harmonious whole of which we spoke before.So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doinga good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,10dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.

ORGANIZED EFFORT OF LEGISLATION[In his preface to his bookLa instrucción primaria en Filipinas(Manila, 1894) Daniel Grifol y Aliaga, who occupied an official post in the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration, and was secretary of the administrative board on school questions in the Philippine Islands, speaks as follows.]Until the end of the year 1863,6when the memorable royal decree, which established a plan ofprimary education in Filipinas, arranged for the creation of schools of primary instruction in all the villages of the islands, and the creation of a normal school in Manila whence should graduate educated and religious teachers, who should take charge of those institutions, was dictated, it can be said that there had been no legislation in regard to primary instruction in these islands; for, although it is certain that orders directed for the purpose of obtaining the instruction of the natives, and very especially, the teaching of the beautiful Spanish language, are not lacking, some of those orders being contained in theLeyes de Indiasand in the edicts of good government [Bandos de Buen Gobierno], it is a fact that those orders are isolated regulations, without connection, and the product of the good desire which has always animated the monarchs of España and their worthy representatives in the archipelago, for the advance and prosperity of the archipelago, but without resting on a fixed foundation, for lack of elements so that such foundation might exist.7Before the above-mentioned epoch the reverend and devout8parish priests came to fill in great part, and voluntarily, the noble ends of propagating primary instruction through these remote regions, with the aid of the most advanced of their scholars themselves, who devoted themselves to the teaching of their fellow citizens, receiving scarcely any remuneration for their work and trouble, and without being regarded as teachers or having any certificate which accredited them as such.The above-mentioned royal decree of December 20, 1863, and the regulations of the same date, established and unfolded a true plan for primary instruction, which has served as a basis for the innumerable number of orders relative to the said department, which have been dictated from day to day, both by the government of the mother country and by the former superior civil government, by the general government, and by the General Division of Civil Administration of these islands, in order to attain the degree of perfection which this most important department of public administration—the foundationof the culture and the welfare of the villages—obtains in Filipinas today.That same accumulation of orders,9which have produced the rapid advancement of public instruction in this archipelago, has been the motive for a certain apparent confusion, which, in reality, does not exist, for there is observed in those orders an admirable harmony, which is explained if one bear in mind that they have all been dictated for one and the same end, with one desire, and for the same purpose: namely, that of obtaining the greatest advancement of education in this far-distant Spanish province, and that of benefiting the noble class of teachers.The confusion to which we refer, which, we repeat, is in its essential no more than apparent, must disappear from that moment in which all the orders in regard to the matter are methodically compiled, arranging them so that they might give as a resultant that harmonious whole of which we spoke before.So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doinga good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,10dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.

ORGANIZED EFFORT OF LEGISLATION[In his preface to his bookLa instrucción primaria en Filipinas(Manila, 1894) Daniel Grifol y Aliaga, who occupied an official post in the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration, and was secretary of the administrative board on school questions in the Philippine Islands, speaks as follows.]Until the end of the year 1863,6when the memorable royal decree, which established a plan ofprimary education in Filipinas, arranged for the creation of schools of primary instruction in all the villages of the islands, and the creation of a normal school in Manila whence should graduate educated and religious teachers, who should take charge of those institutions, was dictated, it can be said that there had been no legislation in regard to primary instruction in these islands; for, although it is certain that orders directed for the purpose of obtaining the instruction of the natives, and very especially, the teaching of the beautiful Spanish language, are not lacking, some of those orders being contained in theLeyes de Indiasand in the edicts of good government [Bandos de Buen Gobierno], it is a fact that those orders are isolated regulations, without connection, and the product of the good desire which has always animated the monarchs of España and their worthy representatives in the archipelago, for the advance and prosperity of the archipelago, but without resting on a fixed foundation, for lack of elements so that such foundation might exist.7Before the above-mentioned epoch the reverend and devout8parish priests came to fill in great part, and voluntarily, the noble ends of propagating primary instruction through these remote regions, with the aid of the most advanced of their scholars themselves, who devoted themselves to the teaching of their fellow citizens, receiving scarcely any remuneration for their work and trouble, and without being regarded as teachers or having any certificate which accredited them as such.The above-mentioned royal decree of December 20, 1863, and the regulations of the same date, established and unfolded a true plan for primary instruction, which has served as a basis for the innumerable number of orders relative to the said department, which have been dictated from day to day, both by the government of the mother country and by the former superior civil government, by the general government, and by the General Division of Civil Administration of these islands, in order to attain the degree of perfection which this most important department of public administration—the foundationof the culture and the welfare of the villages—obtains in Filipinas today.That same accumulation of orders,9which have produced the rapid advancement of public instruction in this archipelago, has been the motive for a certain apparent confusion, which, in reality, does not exist, for there is observed in those orders an admirable harmony, which is explained if one bear in mind that they have all been dictated for one and the same end, with one desire, and for the same purpose: namely, that of obtaining the greatest advancement of education in this far-distant Spanish province, and that of benefiting the noble class of teachers.The confusion to which we refer, which, we repeat, is in its essential no more than apparent, must disappear from that moment in which all the orders in regard to the matter are methodically compiled, arranging them so that they might give as a resultant that harmonious whole of which we spoke before.So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doinga good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,10dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.

ORGANIZED EFFORT OF LEGISLATION[In his preface to his bookLa instrucción primaria en Filipinas(Manila, 1894) Daniel Grifol y Aliaga, who occupied an official post in the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration, and was secretary of the administrative board on school questions in the Philippine Islands, speaks as follows.]Until the end of the year 1863,6when the memorable royal decree, which established a plan ofprimary education in Filipinas, arranged for the creation of schools of primary instruction in all the villages of the islands, and the creation of a normal school in Manila whence should graduate educated and religious teachers, who should take charge of those institutions, was dictated, it can be said that there had been no legislation in regard to primary instruction in these islands; for, although it is certain that orders directed for the purpose of obtaining the instruction of the natives, and very especially, the teaching of the beautiful Spanish language, are not lacking, some of those orders being contained in theLeyes de Indiasand in the edicts of good government [Bandos de Buen Gobierno], it is a fact that those orders are isolated regulations, without connection, and the product of the good desire which has always animated the monarchs of España and their worthy representatives in the archipelago, for the advance and prosperity of the archipelago, but without resting on a fixed foundation, for lack of elements so that such foundation might exist.7Before the above-mentioned epoch the reverend and devout8parish priests came to fill in great part, and voluntarily, the noble ends of propagating primary instruction through these remote regions, with the aid of the most advanced of their scholars themselves, who devoted themselves to the teaching of their fellow citizens, receiving scarcely any remuneration for their work and trouble, and without being regarded as teachers or having any certificate which accredited them as such.The above-mentioned royal decree of December 20, 1863, and the regulations of the same date, established and unfolded a true plan for primary instruction, which has served as a basis for the innumerable number of orders relative to the said department, which have been dictated from day to day, both by the government of the mother country and by the former superior civil government, by the general government, and by the General Division of Civil Administration of these islands, in order to attain the degree of perfection which this most important department of public administration—the foundationof the culture and the welfare of the villages—obtains in Filipinas today.That same accumulation of orders,9which have produced the rapid advancement of public instruction in this archipelago, has been the motive for a certain apparent confusion, which, in reality, does not exist, for there is observed in those orders an admirable harmony, which is explained if one bear in mind that they have all been dictated for one and the same end, with one desire, and for the same purpose: namely, that of obtaining the greatest advancement of education in this far-distant Spanish province, and that of benefiting the noble class of teachers.The confusion to which we refer, which, we repeat, is in its essential no more than apparent, must disappear from that moment in which all the orders in regard to the matter are methodically compiled, arranging them so that they might give as a resultant that harmonious whole of which we spoke before.So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doinga good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,10dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.

ORGANIZED EFFORT OF LEGISLATION

[In his preface to his bookLa instrucción primaria en Filipinas(Manila, 1894) Daniel Grifol y Aliaga, who occupied an official post in the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration, and was secretary of the administrative board on school questions in the Philippine Islands, speaks as follows.]Until the end of the year 1863,6when the memorable royal decree, which established a plan ofprimary education in Filipinas, arranged for the creation of schools of primary instruction in all the villages of the islands, and the creation of a normal school in Manila whence should graduate educated and religious teachers, who should take charge of those institutions, was dictated, it can be said that there had been no legislation in regard to primary instruction in these islands; for, although it is certain that orders directed for the purpose of obtaining the instruction of the natives, and very especially, the teaching of the beautiful Spanish language, are not lacking, some of those orders being contained in theLeyes de Indiasand in the edicts of good government [Bandos de Buen Gobierno], it is a fact that those orders are isolated regulations, without connection, and the product of the good desire which has always animated the monarchs of España and their worthy representatives in the archipelago, for the advance and prosperity of the archipelago, but without resting on a fixed foundation, for lack of elements so that such foundation might exist.7Before the above-mentioned epoch the reverend and devout8parish priests came to fill in great part, and voluntarily, the noble ends of propagating primary instruction through these remote regions, with the aid of the most advanced of their scholars themselves, who devoted themselves to the teaching of their fellow citizens, receiving scarcely any remuneration for their work and trouble, and without being regarded as teachers or having any certificate which accredited them as such.The above-mentioned royal decree of December 20, 1863, and the regulations of the same date, established and unfolded a true plan for primary instruction, which has served as a basis for the innumerable number of orders relative to the said department, which have been dictated from day to day, both by the government of the mother country and by the former superior civil government, by the general government, and by the General Division of Civil Administration of these islands, in order to attain the degree of perfection which this most important department of public administration—the foundationof the culture and the welfare of the villages—obtains in Filipinas today.That same accumulation of orders,9which have produced the rapid advancement of public instruction in this archipelago, has been the motive for a certain apparent confusion, which, in reality, does not exist, for there is observed in those orders an admirable harmony, which is explained if one bear in mind that they have all been dictated for one and the same end, with one desire, and for the same purpose: namely, that of obtaining the greatest advancement of education in this far-distant Spanish province, and that of benefiting the noble class of teachers.The confusion to which we refer, which, we repeat, is in its essential no more than apparent, must disappear from that moment in which all the orders in regard to the matter are methodically compiled, arranging them so that they might give as a resultant that harmonious whole of which we spoke before.So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doinga good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,10dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.

[In his preface to his bookLa instrucción primaria en Filipinas(Manila, 1894) Daniel Grifol y Aliaga, who occupied an official post in the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration, and was secretary of the administrative board on school questions in the Philippine Islands, speaks as follows.]

Until the end of the year 1863,6when the memorable royal decree, which established a plan ofprimary education in Filipinas, arranged for the creation of schools of primary instruction in all the villages of the islands, and the creation of a normal school in Manila whence should graduate educated and religious teachers, who should take charge of those institutions, was dictated, it can be said that there had been no legislation in regard to primary instruction in these islands; for, although it is certain that orders directed for the purpose of obtaining the instruction of the natives, and very especially, the teaching of the beautiful Spanish language, are not lacking, some of those orders being contained in theLeyes de Indiasand in the edicts of good government [Bandos de Buen Gobierno], it is a fact that those orders are isolated regulations, without connection, and the product of the good desire which has always animated the monarchs of España and their worthy representatives in the archipelago, for the advance and prosperity of the archipelago, but without resting on a fixed foundation, for lack of elements so that such foundation might exist.7

Before the above-mentioned epoch the reverend and devout8parish priests came to fill in great part, and voluntarily, the noble ends of propagating primary instruction through these remote regions, with the aid of the most advanced of their scholars themselves, who devoted themselves to the teaching of their fellow citizens, receiving scarcely any remuneration for their work and trouble, and without being regarded as teachers or having any certificate which accredited them as such.

The above-mentioned royal decree of December 20, 1863, and the regulations of the same date, established and unfolded a true plan for primary instruction, which has served as a basis for the innumerable number of orders relative to the said department, which have been dictated from day to day, both by the government of the mother country and by the former superior civil government, by the general government, and by the General Division of Civil Administration of these islands, in order to attain the degree of perfection which this most important department of public administration—the foundationof the culture and the welfare of the villages—obtains in Filipinas today.

That same accumulation of orders,9which have produced the rapid advancement of public instruction in this archipelago, has been the motive for a certain apparent confusion, which, in reality, does not exist, for there is observed in those orders an admirable harmony, which is explained if one bear in mind that they have all been dictated for one and the same end, with one desire, and for the same purpose: namely, that of obtaining the greatest advancement of education in this far-distant Spanish province, and that of benefiting the noble class of teachers.

The confusion to which we refer, which, we repeat, is in its essential no more than apparent, must disappear from that moment in which all the orders in regard to the matter are methodically compiled, arranging them so that they might give as a resultant that harmonious whole of which we spoke before.

So we understood it, when we had to occupy ourselves in its detailed study, when we took charge of the department of public instruction in the General Division of Civil Administration [Dirección de Administración civil]; and for the purpose of being able to fill the office which had been committed to us to the best of our ability, we undertook the work of compiling, arranging, and annotating all the orders relative to primary instruction in these islands. When we had made considerable progress in our task, it occurred to us that, by publishing the compilation which we were making for our own private use, we might, perhaps, be doinga good service to the teaching profession, to the local inspectors of primary instruction, and to all persons who are engaged in this department, by reason of their duty....

This book will also serve to make patent the very great interest with which the government of his Majesty and the worthy authorities of the archipelago have viewed this important department,10dictating continuously orders inspired by the most genuine sentiments of patriotism, directed through obtaining the greatest degree of instruction and culture for the natives of this rich country, and above all, so that all of them might speak the harmonious Castilian language, in order that that language may be one more bond of union between these islands and the mother country.


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