The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-01-16

Il initcd Statee-HoW They Are MAX, I
irg American CitiArnS-A "ratna /,
system and Its "oh. !
rIayvrOundo-SchOol l'ands nv /.
Baseball CIubS-Ibc Nofk % 'no , /,
\ioh, SchooI,-The school Savings I
81 and the Travelling Library
porto RicO'- New University ana us |
One Thousand Studcnt~-The Is
lands scholarships at American
Colleges.
,r,pyright. 1912, by Frank G. Car
penter.)
Washington. i. G.
I want to tell you how Uncle Sam
has attached the dynamo of modern
education u the dead wires OF the
Porto Rican brain. | first VISITED
porto Rico in 1899, just after we took
over the island. h country was
semi-barbarous, intelligence slunlber-
ed and the masses were mentally dead
III about 700. 900 people who were
over ten years Of age not one in five
could read Spanish. The people were
more ignorant. than the CutanS and
nore 50 than those of any other West
Indian Island. Nominally, there were
900 schools which had been run by
the Spanish, but in reality there was
only one public school building. II
the teaching was done in private
houses, to which only the children OF
the poor were admitted, without pay
ing tuition. The salaries were pitt
fully small, and many or the teachers
took boirdcrS to add to their support.
In some places the school was held in
the dining room, and the pupils
crowded oUt 1T meal times to give
place to the diners. The reading book
were made up Of the legends o
saints, and the biographies were al
most antediluVian. There was little
regularity Of attendance. and one OF
our school inspectors found an i'm
portant school closed when he stopped
there to visit it, because the teacher
and all the scholars had adjourned to
% 10 a cock fight.
AS to the girls schools, these were
as a rule made up Of The daughters OF
the rich. Nowhere were the girls al
lowed in the same schools with the
boys, and if a town could not afford
two schools the girls stayed at home.
Industrial schools there were none,
and the pupils all told, according to
the Spanish statistics, were about
$4,000.
More II Thar We Have.
Such was the condition when Uncle
sam applied the dynamo. Tina was
Just about thirteen years ago. Look
~ the situation today! ] have the In
formation hot from the tropics. IT
comes to mo through a talk which ]
had the other evening with DIR. Edwin
q. Dexter, the commissioner OF edu-
cation Of Porto Rico. He has had
charge OF the schools for the past -four
years. and has just left Washington
TO go back to his post. He has haG
charge OF the schools for the past -four
years. and has Just left WASHINGTON
TO go back to his post. He has beer
here visiting our little brown cousin
20 whom the Porte Rican government
has given scholarships in the grea
universities, and has also been pre-
pairing new plans for scnoo develop
ment.
Said he:
porto Rico now stands. ahead O
the United States In It's common schoo
facilities. We have $500 schools j
an area OF 3.40O square miles. Tha
makes one school to every suuar
mile and a half. In the United State
the average is one for every min
square miles, and there are only on
or TWO states in the Union which al
as thickly dotted with schools as "
are. We have school buildings>whic
nave cost over $500. 900, and man
which would be a. credit to the Unite
states. There Is one at Arecibo whic
contains twenty-five rooms, and Al
other at San Juan which cost $500
we have now $4,000 children in II
SCHOOLS DR.. Dexter went on. 9Th:
IS IL per cent OF our population,
one IN every eight men, women ar
AZ AC CoOilEy. II IS q larEt
propOrtiOnately than tn
or any Spanish-speaking people Of Il
world, or Of any country In the ives
crh hemisphere. It is far more tn;
you VIII find In Spain or Portugal
any country Of southern Europe. =,
IL is twice the proportion OF the scho
buildings Of Cuba or the Philippin,
moreover, this percentage is increa
ing. the number Of children. in q
schools having doubled in the o.
four ears"
Making American Citizens.
But what language do you tea
these children. DR.. Dexter" l ask,
Are they still learning Spanish?
ere you teaching them our Amer:c
n American ways?"
The American flag flies over ~.
Porto Rican schoOlhOuse, and III,
IS a special ceremony OF raising
every morning.. The children S,l
h flag as it goes up and as they
so they say:
yl-4 -z,,