If the friars had agreed to the instruction of the townfolk through the medium of Spanish, as a means to the attainment of higher culture, one could well have understood their reluctance to teach it to the rural labourers, because it is obvious to any one who knows the character of this class that the knowledge of a foreign language would unfit them for agricultural labour and the lower occupations, and produce a new social problem. Even this class, however, might have been mentally improved by elementary books translated into dialect. But, unfortunately, the friars were altogether opposed to the education of the masses, whether through dialect or Spanish, in order to hold them in ignorant subjection to their own will, and the result was that the majority grew up as untutored as when they were born. Home discipline and training of manners were ignored, even in well-to-do families. Children were left without control, and by excessive indulgence allowed to do just as they pleased; hence they became ill-behaved and boorish. Planters of means, and others who could afford it, sent their sons and daughters to private schools, or to the colleges under the direction of the priests in Manila, Jaro (Yloilo Province), or Cebu. A few--very few--sent their sons to study in Europe, or in Hong-Kong. According to the Budget of 1888 the State contributed to the expense of Education, in that year, as follows, viz.:-- P. cts. Schools and Colleges for high-class education in Manila, including Navigation, Drawing, Painting, Book-keeping, Languages, History, Arts and Trades, Natural History Museum and Library and general instruction. 86,450 00 School of Agriculture (including 10 schools and model farms in 10 Provinces) 113,686 64 General Expenses of Public Instruction, including National Schools in the Provinces 38,513 70 ========== P238,650 34 The teaching offered to students in Manila was very advanced, as will be seen from the following Syllabus of Education in the Municipal Athenaeum of the Jesuits:-- Agriculture. Geometry. Philosophy. Algebra. Greek. Physics and Chemistry. Arithmetic. History. Rhetoric and Poetry. Commerce. Latin. Spanish Classics. Geography. Mechanics. Spanish Composition. English. Natural History. Topography. French. Painting. Trigonometry. In the highest Girls' School--the Santa Isabel College--the following was the curriculum, viz.:--