Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-20
SCHOOLS AND ROADS
These Are the Hope of Porto
Rico.
PROGRESS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
Difficulties the Educators Have to
Encounter.
BSS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
THE ATURAL PROCESS



| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
| PONCE Porto Rico April - 1900.
| eo,,e,s -, 80. az. +ho hons of Porto
| S'h''ls anu iV'o7 , -
Rico II is iohs-aelerreo hope'
\ has been a beginning under the American
| control and there is promise of progress
Va. :, ;s n sIo1zy nroeass to ..,nake over a
| million neonIe rooted in customs and tradi-
| tons which ara distinctly un-American.
| The roads can be built faster than the peo-
pie can be made over" The island is not
so large that within a few years it may not
| be as well supplied with good highways as
/ Is city with streets.
| So much has been said about the educa-
tional pIans for Porto Rico and so much
90 h,,,aa =, tbo o,,+..t tbot tho fret fool
| .,,. nv, -,
ing Is one OF ulshppoiiitilent- me isidiiu
| has half-American, half-Spanish school
| system. and there is more public instruc-
tio,, than under tho Snanfsb r,le Pint II
~, -, -, e -. - ..,.u
VIII oe iha''7i vi years oeioie "ei
matured system can be put in force In all
the towns and villages, let alone the coun-
try Probably the practical educators
would find the results satisfactory, for they
understand the difficulties of the work, but
most of the people in the United States
WOULD ne dlsa appointed because they were
carried away with the notion that planting
| the flag meant the immediate establishment
| of a school system modelled after that in
| the states and which would bring results
within a twelvemonth. How far they were
deceived by the stump speeches and the
hamboyant hopefulness of those who
thought that the flag alone was enough to
| change the Latin institutions into Ameri-
can ideas is not worth while to inquire.
The only caution now needed is for less
| promise and more performance.
\, VIII, NAL, r.
"hen the american people understand
hot. bo -
| cannot be ACCOMPLISHED nv any forcing
- "i'
P''Iesa 'heS VIII uouotiess ne patient anu
VIII mo- aSN iol sweeping results win the
es'a" i'sHiieH' Vi CIVIL government ana the
.; ". d eoaiiiillssiotler oi eddca
basis of a n,IhIte scbooI sIste, d ,,.e '.te
| the actual needs of education in the island
and the conditions which prevail rather
tHah 10 the supposed need of making a
sIoNInS IN tht flted states
10 inns tine the cohtroi OF education
me- beeh 'ested III the lnSular board OF
f uratio , at Sah Juan under the direction
Va Va 'iie sofelllor GENERAL. inns poard mas
peth LI.du@ up OF forto Ricahs ana Ameri-
cdn oiiicldls- ihey nave agreed on some
pthtS aiu ctashtu on others ana usually
eiuSu III d 'ohipiomiSe.
Ike so many other things Spanish and
Ia IN tieIe was 10 criticism 10 De made
ol 'ne scnoo! system as IL existed on paper.
Ior II Io.ioWed certain Ideas OF education
''iS''- ~ <AiiI-ii-
can eyes one 1auit was lis centralized char
actef anu another uelect was the assump-
elCi tidt Suucdtioh was Tor the privileged
rev, ana that the great mass of the popu-
4etio'l Led no interest," III the apnaoet.
On She prdcIcdI size the american of1-
cIals round a very great defect. Their first
INJURY was LOT schooi houses. Ihey found
tiothins vi thlS sort as they understood IT,
t oi t4te sci'is we're usuaily heid IN the
houses houses VI the teachers; AS lney could not
pegln erecting new buildings, the next best
f S.Ip " as laheh IN tryihs 10 rent rooms or
cummings WINCH were NOT USED as oWelilhS
houses
eor! ahc i'ractice-
Theoretically the municipalities supported
the schools and This theory &c s+i,1 ,,,.i,
tairod in a 1aa,roa ,o,,,aii,. ~ t,,inn
- '' INC iuiiis 'i
plVVloed py the hsnlar poard from the is
land treasury and from the amount specif-
cally set aside by the governor general nm
der autborftv from, yyosbing-on u-ho
Sometime, liz .,cotit,i on, w men
Ansarir,1 1inas Us IlIt IN $500 I'm oii
1.,rj,-, -. ,,r a. e.. ..1ot:nt 80 80, P ~,
United states rho r,unici,aIi+ior ~ -,
pr divide the school rooms. lodgings for the
- -, "t'I pttS' loca! eAHehses, "hlIt
monthiv salary which was srnnnseH ~
average about $40 month American
money. The municipalities seldom carried
OUT thtir share OF the agreement; ana the
nrTtira5, nI ,bo hoard LEI. ia i -,
the American administration I have hen
told that the average nav of the teachers
who came from the United States is sI5 a
month with not more than al5 for those
whose functions are similar 10 the func-
tions of nrincinals in the Tinted Statee
Then there are the sunarvisors who travel
about and who get sTi a month Tbe
teachers from The states were given mas
eaoe an tha TRANSPORTS from NaU Yori, to
SaD man hut rbey have to nav their u,av
hack
Iast tall n nurnber of Young women ac
caDta1 III inducamen+s and came To porto
P;co 70 teacb Nav Of tban1 yYere vrad
nats. ~ nornoal scboo1s Will "tbers bad
bsay, enoagad in scboo1 roo,,o uorL prnL
abIy +ba naiorit, Of tbar,, yrnrs Sanlxipe III
exnerfrnce and were Willing 10 mt m with
,ba ipcnnr.nianras ~ i;,,fn, - -