The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-08-29
THE EDUCATIONAL OUTLOOK IN
PORTO RICO,

The progress of education in Porto
Rico since the American occupation of
the island and the difficulties that were
encountered by natives there before the
stars and stripes were raised over them
are wildly told in a recent report by
DIR. Victor S. Clark, president of the In
sular Board of Education, who deals
with recent events, and by Mr.. Enrique
G. Hernandez, secretary of the board,
who has reviewed the educational
movement during the nineteenth centu-
ry.
In transmitting these reports to the
secretary of war, General George M.
Davis, the military governor, states
that an increased allowance for educa-
ton in Porto Rico is greatly needed
In his report he says that less than one
in twelve of the children of the island
were being taught at all six months
ago. In 1S98-1S99 there We're twenty
one thousand, or about one in fourteen,
of the children in school. which was the
largest number being educated under
Spanish rule For the past fiscal year
$413,113 of the revenues Of the island
were devoted to the schools, while there
were more than two hundred and fifty
thousand children from five to sixteen
years of age and three hundred and
seventy-six thousand from five to nine
teen years old. General Davis paints a
sad picture of the educational condition
of the people Of Porto Rico. He says
that since the whites and blacks came
to Porto Rico they have apparently
made no social or industrial progress.
"They have increased in numbers"
he says, but in no material respect
have they advanced. Their habitations
are duplicates of those the negroes of
central Africa are to-day occupying.
Between the two races there is no per-
ceptible difference, except In color.
Fully two-thirds of the inhabitants are
in this condition. Their only desire is
apparently to have their physical wants
supplied-food and shelter. OF cloth
ing very little suff1ces, and the young
children need and usually have none
They are without true ambition. Some
Of them have heard that the possession
of knowledge gained at school would
somehow spare the need of manual la
Dor. A few try the experiment and fail
to realize their hope. Usually, or fire.
quently, the parents in rural districts
will not enforce attendance Of the
children, and they stay away The
school-room becomes hateful. for, If the
teacher be efficient, order and system,
cleanliness and decency are enforced,
and these, involving restraint and I'M
accustomed effort, are obnoxious The
home and family circle do not exist.
The income of each head of a family is
too small to supply sufficient and suita-
BILE food, clothing and school accesso-
ries. The school-rooms are frequently
matched huts and lacking in every es-
sential. Demonstrations In arithmetic
are done with white clay on the floor
if there be one.
ut seems to me hopeless to speedily
reform these conditions amid such sur
even were the revenues ade-
quate--whch they are not-the hope
lessness of the task probably prevents
even an effort for relief in the densely
populated colonies in these waters; so
the poor people remain poor, their chill
dren without educat ton, anod so they
must inevitably remain until better
Industrial and social condition comes to
the island.
IF to-day the means existed for sup
porting the six thousand schools which
would be required to accommodate all
the children, and If suitable school
looms with necessary equipment exist
ed am of the opinion that the attend
ance would be meagre and the result
unsatisfactory. The anaemic, half
starved, and often naked children !
would not or could not attend. But !
the attendance was full and |
would the result be satisfac- |
tory? Would any solid advantage to
society and to the pupils themselves re-
suit from the instruction? For six or
more hours each day they would be un-
Ter the control of the instructors, and
hen they would return to their homes
# squalor and filth, indecency and vice, I
heir parents Indifferent or unable to
satisfy the natural cravings of hunger, |
md what the children had learned |
would but make them unhappy and |
They would learn of !
wants that could not be supplied, and
heir miserable surroundings would !
lave added horrors. "-Washlngton
star