Fray Jose M. Ruiz very faithfully recognizes the lamentable state in
which the so-called public instruction in the Philippines was found
outside of Manila where things were not so bad. From his standpoint it
was necessary to teach Spanish and at least to give to the Filipinos
books in the dialects, from which they would learn the most elementary
things of which they were ignorant, and Religion and Moral. The Rueda
[5] translation would be better adding something about the Philippines
and the grammar of his dialect in Spanish. Undoubtedly he wanted to
say that the Spanish grammar should be translated into the dialects.
If this is not done we believe that we would only lose
time. With such measures in thirty years the Spanish language
would be diffused among the children (pp. 440-441).
For the same reason (distance and lack of roads) the boys and
girls do not attend schools, and what little they know they
learn from some ignorant teachers (maestrillos). People,
ordinarily of bad life, escaped from other towns, some of
whom are also quack doctors and bone-setters who at the same
time that they are teaching the Cartilla and a little bit
of the Catechism imbue the children with a thousand and one
superstitions and all kinds of vices. The priest who at times
goes, out of necessity, to attend to some one who is seriously
ill, and very seldom visits them (the Indios) ex-profeso,
the parochial districts being generally very large and their
duties so numerous and urgent, can only in part remedy some
of these evils.