The chronicle=news., 1913-04-14
ENGLISH TONGUE
IS NOT POPULAR


Juan, Porto Rico. indicate that |,
among the mos, important Of the
problems in that island possession
with which President Wilson soon
viii have 10 deal. aud in which Ii"
Will he Interested both as chief EA- |
ccutiyc and M AN educator, Is the
fight now being made by the I'm
ionist party there To force I'll. teach
ing OF the English language into III"
background OF III. educational syh-
TEN OF the Island.
The Porto Rico House Of Dele
gates. which IL snlidly Porto kican
In membership. has Just passed uh'
aninomsiy a hill which reads:
II II hereby ordered that tn"
Spanish language b. exclusive
~ used In til. graded schools of
Porto RI.o. In all r"citationS
and exercises: provided, how
ever. tina, the English Language
h" taught as a preferred sub-
j.ct In all grades.
In most Of the schools the second
clause would necessarily be inop.r-
| ativc because OF til" fact that the
ma ajorlty of the nutiN. teachers
and they are greatly In the majority
In the island-do not understand
the English language and hence
cannot teach II, And even II they
could. the dcyoting Of II limited per-
iod OF each day would accomplish
little. especially ns most OF the chill
| dren do not care to learn English.
Proof OF this disinciination is shown
In the fact that outside of their
classes the pupils rarely max. even
an attempt To speak English.
Defending the measure against IL
storm Of criticism by Americans In
Porto Rico. Antonio ILarcclo. Prcsi-
dent Of the unionist party. has H.
sued "a public statement attacking
those who OPPOSE the bill. scnor
Iiarccio Is the personal representa-
tive OF Luis Mmnos Rivera. delegate
from Porto Rico to Washington, lie
says In part:
| The whole country Is d,fcndin;
through US. the language of our ma
tive land. Perhaps YOU win find
some few Porto Ricans Willing II"
forget what they are. and even III.
language Of their mothers They
viii riatt,r In the best English I'M
lTinahl": they wi,i speak "f how
ront.nicd they ll,. under this re-
yim..
The lower house WAS never -,
true to Itself and to the p1opl" II
rcpr-'cnicd Us when l, approved on
ihat happy occasion til. DiIl referred
To. The action OF the IIous" iH full
LOT Significance, II means that for-
TO Rico wants to be Porto Iiicnn: II
means that the Language of our
forcfathCrs must be Rep, In all It's
purity. never to disappear. We want
our children to learn. but In the
language they learned to say their
firs; prayer To God: In which they
Understood the first loving words oi
their mothers. We are dclCnding
the language OF our homes. We ioy,
our country. sma!i and weak % II
Is: here "r were born. and death
VIII lind us here. Tncrc is not y
single siuccr- Porto Elcau who has
Jailed to approve uf our action. The
country haa learned OF II with xp-
p!ausc and ;iadncss
'Thcr. are other potent reasons
for our action. which only n blind
man viii fail to sc.. Tn. purpo..
oi our schools Ii not To i.scn English
hut To di'iusc learning. their object
is to develop the mental faculties o.
our children. 10 cultivate their In.
tcli!gcncc aud .ducat" their charac-
ter. Langung. Is the only means to
reach that end
The American teacher L. de
voted only TO Iii" higher grad. :
with doubtful success says the
New York World. In the lower
grades he Is u failure. In these lat
ter grades the native teacher Is the
oDiy logical one. FOR he can adopt
his vocabulary and pronunciation to
The necessities OF the native child
Thus We have schools that do not re-
sponf to our necessities. What the
country needs Il progress in its
schools. not 70 much the tcachin; ui
English. and that progress can only
be obtained In the Spanish language
1--WE all know that the late Com.
missioner OF Education. Doctor Dcx.
ter. made u failure OF his depart.
mcnt. Why? Because OF his ca-
ac!iy in maintaining that system of
teaching tender children in "A tongue
they 'lo not understand. Millions
OF dollars are thereby wasted to no
particular advantage. The rich can
remedy the evil by scndius their
childrcn to other aud better schools
but the poor families must suffer the
consequences Just because there are
a few stubborn people ON this island
presiding over its dcstinics. with
out the slightest knowledge OF actu-
al conditions.