The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-24
FOR AN an u jSfE If HoUsE A'U Use SAPOLO
PORTO RICAN SCHOOLS.
Views of Victor S. Clark on the Edu-
cntiOnnl Problem.

cntiOnnl Problem.
| Commissioner Mcfarland yesterday re-
! ceived a call from Victor S. Clark, Presi-
| dent of the Insular Board of Education of
! Porto Rico, who conveyed the formal
| thanks of the Board to the Commissioners
| for the loan of about 5000 seats and SKIS
| which had been taken from the school
buildings of the District. Mr.. Clark is
| now on leave in this country. and is in
| Washington looking after the publication of
| his report on the schools Of Porto Rico,
which is soon to be printed as Senate
| document.
Mr.. Clark told Commissioner mcfarland.
| upon whom he called, that the seats and
desks sent to the island by the District was
the first school furniture, ouside of soap
boxes and plain pine benches, the Porto
Ricans had ever seen. He said that the loan
of the seats had been of the greatest ben
eft to them, and had been the means Of
putting considerable number of school
houses in different parts OF the island IN
comfortable condition. Mr. Clark was sure
that the District could not have put its
discarded school fixtures to better use.
In speaking of the progress OF education
in Porto Rico Mr.. Clark said that good
school had been established in Ponce which
which was a graded school and would COM
pare favorably with a school of similar
grade in the States. He said that the
Ponce school had now an enrolment of
800 pupils, all that could be accommo-
dated, and that there was list of 200
applicants waiting for admission. If Con-
gress would furnish the money, Mr.. Clark
said that the work of educating. the Porto
Ricans would progress rapidly. for they
are apt to learn and take readily to the
English language as well as to the vari-
Gus branches taught. With reference to
the acquisition Of English by the children
in the island Mr.. Clark informed the re-
porter that in the schools presided over by
American teachers the pupils picked up
the English language and made as fast
progress in geography and arithmetic in
the language which they did not know as
others did in the same studies under ma
tive teachers.
The reason for this wag SO Mr.. Clark
thought, the better methods of instruction
and discipline in the schools under Amer-
can teachers. He showed that the Spanish
teachers of the island were lacking in the
knowledge of the methods OF teaching.
Many of them were educated, refined. and
intelligent, and when placed in contact
with an American teacher for little while
y soon picked up our ways Of teaching
aud used them 10 good purpose. But with
out such association the native teacher was
in every way inferior to the imported one
The great drawback to the work of ed
ucation in Porto Rico Mr.. Clark thought.
was that the revenues Of the island would
not be sufficient to afford the money re-
quired to build school houses, to hire the
necessary teachers, and pay current ex-
penses. If all the teachers Of the island
were put TO work at once. he said. that it
would be necessary to supplement them by
SEQ teachers imported from the States, and
these could be induced TO go there only by
the payment of larger salaries than the!
received at home.
With reference to the language to be
used in the schools Mr.. Clark thought
there was no difficulty. An American
teacher he said could go into a Porto
Rican school and pick up the Spanish pa
tots spoken in the island as fast as her
pupils learned the English which she
spoke to them. He thought the problem
would solve itself pretty much is it had |
in India under the English Government, |
that is. that the primary schools should |
be conducted in the vernacular and that |
secondary instruction should be in Eng
lish.
Speaking generally regarding the people |
of the island, Mr.. Clark said there were |
three classes which must be taken into az
count in any estimate of the population. |
There are the common people. who re- |
semble very closely the poor whites of the |
Southern States. There are the politicians |
who are the disturbing element Of the ISL
and. They do not represent any impor-
tant interest. but are concentrated in the |
towns, and are bent on running things
their own way, which is usually the wrong
way. They work only for their own selfish
interests. and are most numerous in San |
Juan. Then there are the planters, who
are the influential men of the island. They
are as a class Intelligent practical and
sensible citizens and business men. The
element OF greatest danger is the poll
ticians, and they are the class most heard
of in this country