El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-28

II ~
been agreed upon by foreign
ers as the proportion of Spaniards
who cannot read or write. There is
usually a mild protest against tnesc
figures when the subject is discussed
among Spaniards. Spain is a country
where all statistics are more or less
unreliable. No one really knows derr-
nitely how large the proportion of illit-
eracy is, but it is at any rate large
enough to make the backwardness OF
education one of the gravest and most
discouraging phases of SPANS lack of
progress.
Upper Glass Ignorant
In addition to the large number of
persons of the humber classes who
are wholly illiterate, there are many
upper class" Spaniards who have only
slight acquaintance with the three
RS" There are others who read and
write Spanish correctly and have
good acquaintance with French, but
who are amazingly ignorant of af-
fairs outside Of their own country.
This class cannot be said to be greatly
useful to a country standing in need
of militant public opinion in favor
of an awakening, But why conditions
are as they are is more easily ex-
planned than how they can be readily
and radically changed, The lack Of
good schools is a logical and newt
able phase of the lack of good govern
ment that holds Spain several centuries
behind countries that were once her in
feriors in civilization.
Elementary education has been COM
pulsory in Spain since 1857. and for
10 years it has been free to the child
rem OF parents unable to pay tuition.
Upon paper all spanish children from
the age of six to IL years are
in school by law The little progress
made since 1857 shows that the edu-
cational reform has been chiefly
paper reform. For purposes of COM
parison, to show how tardily this
European country advances even when
compared with the impressive and I'M
progressive Orient, 1t may be said that
education was made compulsory in
! Spain in the year of the Sepoy re-
bellion in India, yet erudition Is much
rarer in Spain today than it is in
India and while India has made rapid
strides in distributing elementary edu-
cation among the masses, the situation
in Spain has not been greatly changed
by a half century of reform.
Cuba Better Educated
To bring the comparison nearer home
TO American readers, Cuba, where edu-
cation had languished for a long time
under Spanish rule, as il had in the
Philippines, became a republic about
nine years ago. Before the Spanish
American war about $4,000 pupils at
tended the 1000 schools in Cuba, most
of which were private. There are now
between $500 and 4 900 schools in Cuba
and nearly 100000 pupils attend them.
As there are only 275,O00 children of
schol age in Cuba these figures show
how education progresses even in
tropical country where republican gov
eminent supplants the type of mon
archy that is called constitutional In
Spain. The minimum salary of a Cuban
schol teacher nowadays is $500 a year.
There are many school teachers in
Spain working for less than 5000. The
average salary. in fact, is 5000. Cuba
spends half as much on education, up
on one twelfth as large a population
as is spent by Spain This Is part
of what Cuba Libre" means to the
young Cubans.
School Funds stolen.
Grafters steal a-good deal OF the
school fund in Spain so that teachers
are fortunate indeed If they actually
receive even the pittanee that is al
lowed them under the law. Many pay
ments to school teachers are in ar
rears and the arrears" are often in
the pockets of parasites and there re-
main till the teachers get tired of
waiting and turn to some other en-
ployment 10 get bread and meat
School masters who keep accounts,
write letters for illiterate persons and
existence, are much more numerous
than those who draw the salary to
which they are entitled.
A story of how the schools are con-
Quoted is told in the little city Of
Burgess The school teacher whose
duty it was to give elementary in
struction to the prisoners in the Bur-
gos Jail, receiving payment from the
government, declined to teach because
the jail was so overcrowded that there
was no suitable class room. But he
did not file any information to that
effect where 1t would stop his monthly
salary. For 20 years he drew his pay,
such is the loose jointed manner in
which government bureaus are oper-
ated in Spain. This pedagog prob T!
ably had a keenar sense OF humor |
than of right and wrong.
How Schools Are Supported.
The locality must, under the Spanish !
law, furnish the money with which |
teachers in local schools are paid 1t |
is claimed that when the local taxes !
were paid to the teachers by the local |
authorities the funds were MIXED
SO strenuously that only a small part |
of the payments were made. There is 4
still. according to common report, a |
good deal of milking" Teachers in |
private schools may teach without any |
certificate of qualification and prepare |
pupils for universities where they re- |
ceive, in many cases. instructions from |
professors who are not themselves col
lege graduates. The teachers in gov |
eminent schools are required to go |
through a normal school, but the |
standard of education is not high
Where schools actually exist they |
are often held in buildings which would |
subject those in authority to arrest in /
America More than 10, 600 schools are /
in rented buildings where there is no |
of hygiene or sanitation |
The Spanish newspapers recently gave |
wide publicity to an official statement |
of the minister of education giving
these figures and stating that scools
are often adjacent to stables, slaughter
houses, hospitals and other places not
calculated to improve the health or |
pupils. One school is in a building |
used as a stable and the children
occupy space that is used as stalls for
oxen during the night. Another scool
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