BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1901-12-31
Education h Porto Rico.
Delivered BY DR.. Martin G. Brum
8 abaugh Before The Graduates Of
The University Of Pennsylvania
On December 18th, 1901.

t.Tke Spanish conception" he said, "tkat
j school is vested right, existing for tie
teachers, is gone. The American conception
hat is exists for the child, is NOW univer-
,aln
DR.. Brumbaugh spoke at Houston Hall
before the graduate club Of the University,
pf whose faculty he was member before he
was sent by President Mckinley to super
wise and direct the educational work in Por. !
to Rico. ai &c aa
most bspsess rdititAs a.fcs
the militaly gcrslunent when se pav
in charge ae Isl t.a
war, he sum riat A.:
had been dsl s.
1900, when t. 2s
operative, and then, In greater detail, wsnTI
into the progress made under Governors
Allen and Hunt
..r,e less said of what Spain failed to
do, the better, unless it be said for purposes
Of CONTRAST, said DIR. Brumbsugh "ThiDk
of a population Of almost 1000, 900 souls
crowded upon an area of less than 3, 900
square miles, and the only attempt made
toward their betterment by royalist proprie-
tors miserable allotment Of 240, 600 pesos
or less than per cent Of SPANS budgetary
funds.
And this was backed up by no real
work, Spain in 400 years never erected q
single schoolhouse in Porto Rico. Wei
have expended 5000, 900 in the erection of
81 agricultural and Is high school
buildings. La these SO schools some 5000
pupils now receive instruction all of them
being furnished with their books and sap
plies absolutely free. Tue most patrionc
scholars under the flag to day are our bo,
and girls in Porto R'co.
Some Statistics Presented.
" When Dy the personal InslsEence Of
the President, / was given leave Of ab
sence from my university lab0rs to assume
chs Office, no one colld foresee the tremen.
d0us task that was awaiting US. There
were $4,000 human beings in Porto REQ
and 50 per cent. iiliterate! The school or.
ganizstion by the Military Bureau of Educ.
alton had enrolled about geo pup Is and
$3.50, 900 had been expended in the fiscal
year 1899 1900 for these pupils. In the
next school year, at an expense of $400 .00e,
38, 900 children attended school, aud this
year, with budget Of $5O1 600 we have
992 school buildings OF all kind and 5000
pupils enrolled.
6 This represents in part the growth Of
the school idea in Porto Rico. Last year
we reduced the percentage Of illiteracy fully
9 per cent. and had an average attendance
of 20 per cent, being the largest gain in
literacy, and, with Massachusetts, excepted,
the largest average of attendance In any
State or Territory under our flag.
SAT the outset Of the civil government
the people we've discontented and hostile to
the schools. The reasons for this are too
complex tor analysis. That the military
authorities made mistakes and that thel
people were all too prone to censure are
alike true, but it is also just to state that
many good things we're done during the
reign Of martial law.
ga new school law, in many provisions
similar to that used in our Oldest States,
was s0rltten and promptly enacted BY the
insular Legislature and has now been in
operation for almost one yeai. Its pfovi
sions have proved eminently wise, and
under it the schools have become trem
endous force in AmericaDizing the island.
The pro.Spanish papers goes SO far as to
claim that the system is advancing sol
rapidly that the children cannot keep pace
with the department, but, while more Of al
compliment than criticism, it is scarcely
true. It will be many years before Porto
Rico need fear its education overdone.
NATIVES TEACH IN ENGLISH
s'The political parties in the respective
municipalities one year ago refused minor
ity representation on tie school board and
forbade the election Of teachers holding
political opinion at variance with their
own. To-day we have complete minority
representation and the teachers are chosen
solely upon their merit. Good ones are
sought; poor ones are discharged. More
than one hundred teachers from the States
and more than $40 natives are now em
ployed, the latter in almost all cases teach
ing English, while in all schools the chill.
dren sing our national songs in English and
read from English books.
We have first class normal school in |
operation, with an enrolment Of almost 200, |
while large and beautiful building for this |
school, at : cost Of SAC, 600, is now nearing
completion at Rio P'edras. The school 10 |
the meantime is held in the Summer palace
Of the Governor. High schools, as good as /
any in the cities Of equal size here, are or
gained in every city in which pupils are
ready to pursue the course.
6 This is, in briet an outline OF work
that has been entraDcIngly interesting,
without precedent, and successful beyono
Ibe dreams Of the most sanguine. Porte
Rico now wants star in the fsR OF fheI
Union. She has already learned that the
ioor Of entrance to Statehood is the door OF
.he nubIc school