Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1914 — TEACH RULES OF CONDUCT [ARTICLE]

TEACH RULES OF CONDUCT

Bureau of Education Has Far-Reach-ing Aims in Instructing Children of the Philippines. 'The'latest publication of the Bureau of Education at Manila is an elaborate treatise on “good manners and good conduct for use in primary grades.” It represents an entirely new colonial experiment—-an attempt to use the rules of etiquette as a civilizing force. Filipino children are learning not only the English language, reading, writing, geography and the other branches; they are not only forming a first-hand acquaintance with American history, the Pilgrim Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, the Constitution and such accepted authors as Longfellow and Hawthorne; they are learning also the proper way to raise their hats to ladies, to go up and down stairs in the most approved fashion, to sit and stand and walk according to the accepted code, to behave with dignity and courtesy in all the social crises of life. Though the parents of most of the children dispense with table utensils at their meals and convey food to their mouths with their fingers, no Filipino boy or girl can go through the primary grades without acquiring a complete education in the use of knife, fork and spoon. A graduate of this department, if he profits by his instpiction, will never use toothpicks intpublie, never tuck his napkin into his posom, never reach across the table for the salt, nor emphasize the strong points in his conversation by wild gesticulations with his knife. He will always say “please” when making a request, respond “don’t mention it” when thanked for a small personal attention, never leave a room without asking to be excused, always rise when a lady enters, and never pass in front of people without a polite “pardon me.” All this Instruction is given, not academically, but graphically and concretely. Good manners are taught in the form of set dialogues and little one-act plays. Selected children enact the several roles of father, mother, teacher, son, daughter anti the other everyday social characters. —The World’s Work.