Chapter III: Part 3

_Instruction of adults and the night schools._--The problem of combating illiteracy, as in all the more progressive South American countries during the last biennium, has received more systematic consideration than during any previous period.[2] As will be seen later in the consideration of the rural schools, measures have been taken which are of unusual importance for the instruction of youthful illiterates. In the related field of instruction of adults who are illiterates or nearly so, work of a creative nature has been done in Uruguay. The mere statistics show progress, the courses offered for adults in the year 1916-17 being 55 in excess of the former year and the enrollment 5,284, an increase of 1,671 over that year; but the new spirit animating this branch is the notable feature. The authorities have kept it steadily in mind to carry adult education out from the capital city to the rural districts; and the national authorities of primary education have cooperated efficiently in lending schoolhouses as places for adult instruction and encouraging primary teachers to assist in this work. The Government has furthered the study of the problem in the researches of Señor Hipolito Coirolo, director of the largest night school for adults in Montevideo. Señor Coirolo spent nearly two years in collecting systematic data from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay, which were naturally confronted by the same problems in adult illiteracy. In March, 1917, he presented to the authorities the results of his findings in a project for the organic reform of instruction for adults in the night schools. Señor Coirolo maintained that the time was ripe for progress in this field to keep pace with the other educational demands, more especially as it was admitted that the prevailing system was a more or less poorly made combination of regulations and practices covering many localities and periods, and had been only tentatively adopted by presidential decree in 1903, and given legal existence in 1907, when 35 night schools were organized. All familiar with conditions knew that they were now completely out of touch with modern social and educational demands.

[2] See executive message of May, 1917, accompanying project of law for appropriation of $50,000 for appointment of 100 assistant primary teachers for the Departments of the Republic.

Señor Coirolo found the curriculum of night schools too largely theoretical and bookish and in only a few instances offering practical instruction. After careful study of the subjects offered in the night schools of progressive countries, he urged that the night schools of the future be organized upon the following main lines:

1. The completion of 17 years of age requisite for admission.

2. The division into three classes, each occupying a year according to the degree of illiteracy, and the division of each class into three cycles of three months each, the cycle to be the unit of time, without limitation upon the transfer of pupils from one cycle to another.

3. The subjects to be introduced in logical sequence and to be taught in accordance with the development of the pupil and to consist of reading, language work, writing, arithmetic, elements of applied geometry, singing, drawing, moral instruction, elements of anatomy, physiology, hygiene, civic instruction, geography, and history (national and universal); talks and lessons on objects of daily life, manual arts, domestic economy, and household arts; elements of political economy, sociology, psychology, duties of parents, accounting, and industrial training. Individual conferences with teachers, reading, writing, and arithmetic are to be continued through all three years; and each year is to close with a review and finishing course, devoting attention to individual needs.

4. Under the head of general administration the proponent urged the elimination of religious instruction in night schools, less attention to examinations for promotion, the prohibition of holding night schools in buildings occupied by children during the day, and careful inspection of night schools by appointed authorities.

Certain of these provisions were embodied in a ministerial decree of October, 1917, which stressed the importance of this branch of education in the national life, and appropriated $10,000 for the increase of the staff of teachers in commercial subjects and domestic arts.

PRIMARY EDUCATION, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.

In 1917 slightly less than 100,000 pupils were enrolled in the 1,014 public primary schools of Uruguay, an increase of 2,500 over the preceding year. Of these, nearly 65,000 were enrolled in the city of Montevideo alone.

In administration and inspection the authorities in this field were active and progressive. Tentative reforms in the programs of study for the schools of towns and villages, a step long urged by them, were outlined by the minister of education; and wider latitude was allowed such individual schools in the matter of adapting nature study and practical courses to regular school work in accordance with local conditions and occupations. This step was in keeping with the attention paid to rural schools, which will be discussed later.

By executive resolution of July, 1917, the long-discussed change in the school year was made by which it shall hereafter open March 1 and close December 15. As with the similar change in Argentina, beneficial results, especially in the rural schools, are expected, as this arrangement is in conformity with climatic conditions. The change was made after investigation among the teaching force, and the country teachers won a victory over their city fellows, who favored vacations in the summer. This is but another and a significant effect of the steady centripetal attraction of the overshadowing capital city, more marked even in the new countries of South America than in the old ones of Europe. The country teachers have openly expressed their wish to spend the longest possible time in the capital, in spite of the inconveniences of such a sojourn in the summer. A further light upon the country teacher’s point of view is shown by the information that the long vacations in winter permit the small landowner to employ his children in labors of battage, which begin in December and last most of the winter. The schools are therefore practically empty in winter. It is manifestly wiser to put the former long vacation of July at this time.

Complaints having become more frequent in regard to the blocking of educational administration in certain departments because of disagreements among inspectors, more drastic requirements were laid down by resolutions of the National Inspection of Primary Instruction, dated February, 1917. The authority of the departmental inspector over the subinspectors was confirmed; in the event of disagreement or insubordination the departmental inspector was required to present the case to the Department of National Inspection; the visitation of schools was distributed as nearly equally as possible; and the responsibility for inaction was put squarely upon the inspectors.

These provisions, rigorous as they were, did not prove adequate, and much of the business of the schools of the outlying departments still remained blocked. The executive, therefore, in November, 1917, transmitted to the Congress, along with a message emphasizing the necessity of the law, a project for the establishment of three divisions of regional inspectors of primary education to exercise general supervision over the departmental inspectors and the schools of the Republic. These regional inspectors acting as a unit were to constitute the technical inspection of the school authorities. Their functions were to be regulated by the executive in accordance with the reports of the national inspection and the general direction of primary instruction. The hitherto existing chief inspectors, technical, adjunct, and chief of statistics were to be transformed into regional inspectors, and under their immediate supervision were to be put all the departmental inspectors. The projected law encountered unexpected opposition, and its passage has not as yet been secured.

Scientific interest in the character of the textbooks adopted for use in the primary schools of Uruguay has been aroused by the Government’s offer of prizes for satisfactory textbooks and by the publication in the Anales de Instruccion Primaria of illustrative lines and themes of treatment. The general assembly has authorized the offer of $6,000 in prizes in the contest for the composition of a book combining in a single volume all the textbook material needed in the fourth, fifth, and sixth classes in the public schools of Montevideo. This offer had as its object to lower the cost of education and thus to facilitate attendance, as the book in question was to be distributed gratuitously in cases of need.

A circular issued by the department of technical inspection in April, 1917, called the attention of teachers to the abuses of assigning written home work and limited such tasks to 30 minutes in classes of the first grade and to one hour for those in higher grades.

By executive decree, school savings funds and a system of aid for necessitous children, supplying clothing, midday meal, transportation, and books, were established and placed in charge of the administrative council for each department, composed of the departmental authorities of primary education, and the civil authorities of the several localities, presided over by the departmental inspectors. The funds for the institution of this system were to be drawn from State subventions to municipalities, school fees, and legacies and gifts to such objects. Although the Congress in October, 1917, appropriated $30,000 to organize the system, financial considerations have as yet prevented its practical organization.

_Private instruction._--For the first time in the history of Uruguay systematic steps have been taken to ascertain the real nature and aims of private instruction. By executive decree of May, 1917, the inspector of private instruction and the assistant director general of primary public instruction were directed to address to every private educational institution in Uruguay a questionnaire in duplicate calling for information concerning its teaching staff, the mental and physical condition of its pupils, the hygienic conditions of the building and site, classrooms, dormitories, playgrounds, source and nature of drinking water, lighting conditions, school furniture and equipment, programs of study, methods, textbooks, school hours, and the general organization and administration of the school. No time limit was set for the reply, but it was requested within a reasonable time. The gist of the information gathered and the action of the Government have not as yet been published. Such a move has naturally aroused opposition in conservative and ecclesiastical circles, and its results are awaited with keen interest by other South American countries which have to deal with similar problems.

The issues aroused by the consideration of the private schools continued to grow more acute and culminated in the introduction of a bill in the Congress in March, 1918, forbidding the opening of private schools of any grade without the written permission of the inspectoral department of private instruction or the departmental inspectors of primary instruction; and requiring all teachers in private schools to hold a State teacher’s diploma in accordance with the provisions of the law of public instruction, and debarring the clergy from teaching in any such private schools. The bill naturally became a storm center and is as yet unenacted into law.

RURAL SCHOOLS.

Until the breaking out of the World War, and the consequent upsetting of traditions in all South American countries whose outlet is on the Atlantic Ocean, educational thought in Uruguay concerned itself largely with the capital city. In this respect, as in that of population (one out of three people in Uruguay lives in Montevideo), the centralizing tendency of South American countries is well illustrated. But a vital change began to show itself from 1914 to 1916, and in the latter year it acquired extraordinary impetus from the support of national leaders and of the press. The nation has grown steadily to recognize the proper balance to be observed between the claims of the schools of the capital and those of the rural districts. It has come to see that a healthy national life was possible only with organic changes in the schools of the outlying departments, and that these of Montevideo could without danger be left at their present status until the education of the people from whom the great city was steadily recruited should be attended to. It is in the light of this radical change in the national attitude that the educational history of Uruguay for the last biennium should be read.

This epoch in educational progress has been further marked by the recognition of the need of financial support for rural education, and the further need of differentiating the subjects of instruction proper for rural children from those adapted to the city. In getting this principle clearly before the public mind, the educational authorities of Uruguay have played a part excelled in few countries for skill and devotion to the national interests. Mention should be made of the able contributions of Señor A. J. Pérez, National Inspector of Primary Education, especially of his study entitled “De la cultura necessaria en la democracia” (Anales, 1918), which applies to modern conditions De Tocqueville’s main lines of thought.

A commission of nine experienced teachers, six men and three women, with Señor Pérez as chairman, was appointed by executive decree to formulate the program of study for the projected rural schools. It began its sessions in February, 1917, and met frequently for two months. Its report was presented in May, 1917. Approved by the executive in June, by decree it went into effect on March 1, 1918. The main contentions of the commission in support of its plan are well worthy of notice:

1. Far-reaching changes within a generation in the commercial and industrial life of the nation have affected the rural districts and have called for different subjects and methods of instruction for the children of these districts. The rural school of the future must be recognized as fundamentally an elementary industrial school adjusted to local conditions.

2. The successful rural school must have the following aims: To inculcate conscientious and efficient labor; to minister to a well-regulated and happy home life; to diffuse the knowledge of private and public hygiene, and to further the increase of population and public wealth and, in general, the possession of a well-founded and enduring popular liberty.

3. The intimate relation of the rural schools with the problems of home life requires the new rural school to be taught by women, and therefore the training of young women as teachers in such schools should be at once initiated and continued as the basis of their success. Concrete illustration is found in the successful intensive training of 24 young women in a course of six weeks at the normal institute at Montevideo in the summer of 1917.

4. In the administrative organization the committee was guided by the following general principles: (_a_) Not to install rural schools by foundation or transfer except in localities where donations of ground of not less than 4 hectares (10 acres) should be immediately available; (_b_) to urge similar donations, public or private, to existing rural schools which lacked grounds of the minimum area above indicated; (_c_) to propose and encourage the transfer of rural schools that had no grounds annexed nor could obtain such by donation to another parish where such advantages could be obtained without prejudice to the interests of the rural schools in the district.

5. No child below 7 years of age should be admitted to the rural schools.

6. The programs of study for the rural schools occupied the greater part of the commission’s time. The subjects of instruction as reported covered three years, and were reading, language work, writing, arithmetic, drawing, agriculture, domestic economy, elements of applied geometry, geography and history (local, national, and universal), singing, and gymnastics. In the view of the commission itself, the feature which peculiarly differentiates these new programs is the complete application of practical methods and aims to each of these subjects, the elimination of abstract and memory teaching, and, above all, the development of the subjects of drawing, agriculture, and domestic economy. The fundamental aim throughout was to correlate instruction with the conditions and occupations of life in the several communities and to lead the pupil to see each subject as related to practical utility.

Following the promulgation of the report of the commission, lively interest was manifested by the nation at large in the initiation of such rural schools. Practical difficulties, however, were foreseen in securing funds for their launching upon the nation-wide scale hoped for, and restlessness in certain quarters was manifested, though the Chamber of Deputies promptly voted the funds necessary. The National Rural Congress of Uruguay, in session in August, 1917, addressed to the minister of public instruction an urgent plea for carrying out the terms of the report in time for the opening of at least a part of such schools with the new school year.

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS.

The medical inspection of schools has been favorably regarded in Uruguay for a number of years. It was initiated by law in 1913 with the examination of the pupils of the normal schools in Montevideo and the division of urban and rural schools into five groups. Since then popular approval of its application to the schools of the nation has steadily grown.

Under the present law individual inspection of the physical condition of pupils concerns itself only with those who enter for the first time. Naturally the law is applied with varying degrees of rigor, the schools of the capital being visited regularly by the medical inspectors, while those of the outlying departments are dependent upon the energy and faithfulness of the individual inspector. The law assigns to each a certain number of schools to visit. Capable medical inspectors have served their nation well in pointing out the grave disadvantages from the use of primary schools for night schools for adults, especially the danger of tuberculosis.

Medical inspectors are also required by law to include in their tri-monthly reports recommendations for repairs, alterations, etc., of school buildings and grounds called for by sanitary or hygienic considerations.

Dental inspection has also been systematically carried on in most of the schools of the capital, the reports of oral and dental affections observed in the children reaching 76 per cent of the total ailments noted. Ocular inspection in the schools of Montevideo has also been made a separate field within the last biennium.

By an amendment of 1916 to the existing law an annual physical examination of teachers in the schools of Montevideo will be required. This was naturally, and in certain instances bitterly, opposed; but the opposition has largely died down, and the teachers themselves have come to realize the benefits involved.

PHYSICAL TRAINING.

In accordance with the wish of educational officials to diffuse among the schools of Uruguay the benefits of international progress in the physical betterment of school children, a commission was named by the executive in April, 1916, to draw up a plan of physical education in schools. This commission, acting in cooperation with the general direction of primary instruction, recommended to the executive the appointment of a permanent technical commission of physical training for schools, and this recommendation was approved by executive decree of March 8, 1918. The commission so appointed was to consist of a member of the general direction of primary instruction, one of the national commission of physical education, a physician of the medical school staff, a physician to be named by the National Council of Hygiene, the technical inspector of primary education, the technical director of the National Commission of Physical Education, the teachers of gymnastics of the normal institutes and of the primary schools of the capital, and two physicians who were specialists in diseases of children.

The province of the commission was to draw up for the general direction of primary instruction programs of physical exercises for schools; to outline methods of instruction; to see that these programs and methods were practically carried out in the public schools, to inform the school authorities upon points of deficiency in instruction and to indicate measures of correcting these; to organize gymnastic meetings and exhibitions for schools, and in general to promote the diffusion of physical education in the schools.

In furtherance of the awakened national interest in physical education, the executive has appointed departmental commissions in various departments for the immediate provision of adequate playgrounds and the acquisition of apparatus for games to be installed in town and village plazas. These have cooperated with the National Commission for Physical Education, the latter having decreed the establishment, upon application of residents, of neighborhood and community playing centers. All games, especially those of North America, which are adapted to the climate and environment have been systematically encouraged. In localities where it was required by law the executive has authorized the municipal authorities, with the consent of the national commission, to negotiate such loans as were necessary for the financial carrying out of this nation-wide scheme. These are steps of very great significance in a country of South America not by tradition or racial inheritance addicted to outdoor sports.

SECONDARY EDUCATION.

By executive message of February 14, 1918, the work of certain of the departmental liceos in discovering boys of talent in the higher elementary schools who were without means of continuing their education, and giving them opportunities to pursue their studies by means of a system of scholarships, was highly commended, especially as a beginning of bridging the chasm between elementary and secondary education.

In response to popular demand, courses in Italian and Portuguese were incorporated by decree of the secondary education division of public instruction in 1917. With the object of making known to teachers in secondary education the international progress in this field, a journal entitled “Revista de Enseñanza Secundaria” was established by executive decree under the direction of the secretary of this division. All reports and public business concerning this division are to be published in this journal.

By executive decree of November, 1917, all courses for the training of primary-school teachers maintained since April, 1916, in the liceos of the outlying departments were discontinued. They had been originally instituted by way of experiment for supplying teachers for the rural schools, and were not regarded as serving this purpose. Furthermore, in view of the agitation for improved rural schools, it was regarded as useless to continue a system of training which had proved, because of its environment, impracticable to harmonize with modern schools.

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION.

The past biennium has seen a considerable development of interest in commercial education. By executive recommendation and by law of January, 1916, there were introduced in the liceos and national schools of commerce in the capital and three of the larger cities courses of varying length for the training of boys for the consular, diplomatic, and foreign agency services. By ministerial decree of April, 1917, there were incorporated in the national schools of commerce courses in civil and commercial law, American history, and advanced courses in accounting and bookkeeping; and legal permission was given the individual school to extend the latter courses into the fifth year wherever deemed suitable. In common with students finishing the courses in the liceos, those from national school of commerce were granted opportunity to compete for scholarships abroad offered by decree of January, 1918. These scholarships are good for one or more years according to the success of the holder, and are apportioned among the departments according to the discretion of the council of secondary and preparatory education. Among the usual scholastic requirements called for are periodical reports from the holder of such a scholarship concerning the social and economic conditions of the people among whom he has been sent to study.

Following the plan drawn up at Montevideo in the summer of 1918 by governmental and educational representatives from most of the South American countries, invitations were sent to all interested in commercial education to attend the South American Congress of Commercial Education to be held in that city in January-February, 1919. The best talent in this division of education was assigned the discussion of topics which were considered as most urgent at the present time. They were treated under two main heads, those of (_a_) economic commercial expansion and (_b_) commercial instruction. The former head, not being essentially educational, calls for no notice here. The latter included the following topics:

1. From what points, how, and by what means commercial education should be developed on the American continent; extent and sub-division of such instruction.

2. Means of stimulating acquaintance among the peoples of the Americas.

3. The centers of commercial education as professional schools, and as institutions of modern culture.

4. Should courses in business ethics be included in the curriculum of the advanced classes? Morale, character, and culture of students of commerce and of consular service.

5. Universal history of commerce as an indispensable element in the training of competent consuls.

6. Are screen films necessary in giving instruction in commerce and geography?

7. Countinghouse practice.

8. How should commerce be taught?

9. Teaching of languages in the centers of commercial education.

10. Preparation of women for a commercial career.

Among the resolutions officially adopted by the congress which had educational bearing were those recommending that--

(_a_) Institutes or sections of economic expansion in faculties of economic science, schools, and higher centers of economic and commercial study be established which should devote themselves especially to the study and practical solution of the various economic questions affecting inter-American relations and solidarity.

(_b_) For social and economic ends American countries create and aid industrial schools for fisheries and derived industries.

(_c_) Propaganda primers be prepared for exchange among the public schools of the (South) American Continent.

(_d_) There be included in programs of higher commercial study courses of comparative American economy and comparative customs legislation (the latter for consular courses), and that existing seminaries of economic investigation or higher commerce schools write the economic and financial history of their respective countries.

(_e_) The interchange of professors and students between the higher institutions of commercial learning be initiated.

(_f_) International agreements be concluded for the reciprocal recognition of degrees issued by institutions of commercial learning and that scholarships be granted for the interchange of students.

(_g_) The compilation of legislation of American countries concerning commercial education be intrusted to the permanent commission created by the congress. The commission will be assisted in this work by a committee of professors and experts in commercial education and will be charged with proposing plans and curricula in accordance with the following: Commercial instruction, which presupposes primary education, to be divided into three categories--(_a_) Elementary instruction, which may be dependent or independent; (_b_) secondary instruction; (_c_) higher instruction. The purpose of these branches is: (_a_) To train auxiliaries of commerce; (_b_) to prepare for commerce in general; (_c_) to furnish economic, financial, and commercial knowledge preparing for directive functions in commerce and industry, insurance and consular work, etc.

(_h_) Preliminary cultural studies of two grades be established, one confined to the first and second categories of commercial instruction, and the second for broader instruction in the third category.

(_i_) The study of the proposal of the National Institute of Commerce of La Paz, Bolivia, concerning education of women be referred to the permanent commission.

(_k_) Higher institutions of commercial education establish, if not already existing, in their curricula the separation of commercial from economic geography, the study of commercial geography to begin in primary schools, with periodical competitions for the preparation of the best commercial and economic geographies of each country and the exchange of prize works be arranged for.

(_l_) Institutions of bibliography and information be established, independent of or annexed to seminaries or institutes, for investigation existing or to be founded in America, and providing for the widest exchange of economic, financial, and commercial information collected.

(_m_) The practice of the professions receiving diplomas from higher institutions of commercial learning in commercial, civil, and administrative matters be legally recognized.

(_n_) An extraordinary prize to be known as the Pablo Fontaina Prize for Commercial Studies be offered for students of higher institutions of commercial learning. (Sr. Pablo Fontaina is director of the Superior School of Commerce of Montevideo and played a prominent part in the organization and work of the congress.)

(_o_) Entrance into consular and diplomatic services be granted by competitive examination or to candidates presenting degrees issued by official institutions of higher commercial learning.

(_p_) Courses of ethics in preparatory studies and lectures on commercial ethics in higher institutions of commercial learning delivered by distinguished professional men be established.

TRAINING OF TEACHERS.

Uruguay has always been progressive in this field. In 1914 Señorita Leonor Hourticou, the directress of the Normal Institute for Girls, submitted to the national inspector of primary instruction a far-reaching and systematic plan of reform in the aims and methods of practice teaching. She urged the establishment of a general directorate of teachers’ practice training, composed of directors of normal institutes and the national technical inspector of schools, which body was to operate through a salaried secretary. Practice teaching for the first grade was to be required for one year with a minimum of 160 sessions and for the second year for at least three months with a minimum number of 60 sessions. Twelve schools for practice teaching were to be established at Montevideo. Local inspectors were to be appointed by the general directorate. While this scheme was not enacted into law, yet it had very great value in focusing the attention of the educational authorities upon the practical problem of reorganizing practice teaching.

These recommendations were allowed to lapse; but along with the demand for improved schools went a similar one for the improvement of the schools in towns and villages. In 1916 a committee of which the directress of the Normal Institute for Girls was chairman was appointed to formulate a training course for nonrural teachers which should be in keeping with the recognized needs of modern schools. In October, 1916, it presented as its report an outline of studies recommended to be incorporated in the three years’ training course for primary teachers.

Taking up for the present only the teachers of the first and second grades, the committee recommended the following courses: Arithmetic, accounting, algebra, applied geometry, penmanship and drawing, elements of biology, zoology, botany, mineralogy and geology, anatomy, physiology and hygiene, physics and chemistry, studies in industries, geography and cosmography, history (national, South American, and universal), constitutional law, sociology and political economy, literature and composition, French, philosophy, and pedagogy with practice teaching. By the approval of the executive these courses were to go into effect in September, 1917.

_Training of rural teachers._--The movement to improve the conditions of rural life which has been mentioned before began in earnest in 1914. In that year a report based upon an intensive study of the social and economic needs of the rural districts was presented to the general direction of primary instruction by a committee of teachers especially appointed for that purpose. Though no official action was taken at the time, the ventilation of the subject was very opportune and aroused public interest in a field so vital to the welfare of the nation. In every phase of rural education, and especially in the training of the teachers required, practical reforms were recognized as urgently necessary. From the strictly pedagogical point of view, the projects for teacher training as laid down in that report were of supreme interest, as constituting the basis upon which all subsequent suggestions have rested. They called for the establishment of a normal school exclusively for women rural teachers, which was preferably to be located either within the capital city or within easy access of it. This school was to work along the three main lines of agriculture, horticulture, and domestic science. For admission there was to be required, in addition to the usual certificates of mental, moral, and physical fitness, the certificate of completion of at least the third year of the program of the rural schools.

The courses were to cover at least two years, preferably three, with provision for four-year courses for pupils aspiring to the post of rural inspectors, an aspiration which was encouraged in the report. Only two or three scholarships were to be offered in each department, and the number of pupils was to be restricted to 50 for the first year. No purely theoretical instruction whatsoever was to be allowed. Increasingly specialized work in the practice school annexed was to be required of every pupil each year. For the last two years the work of practice teaching was to be so arranged as to alternate by semesters with the classroom work assigned. The latter, toward the end of each semester, was to review all the work from the beginning.

The projected institute was to be provided with all grounds, buildings, and equipment necessary for the teaching of every phase of rural life, including the care of fowls and cattle, with library and laboratories, with a modern gymnasium, with a hall for the teaching of the fine arts, and, most important of all, with a mixed practice school under the direction of the authorities of the institute, consisting of at least three grades and preferably four.

Summer courses for teachers, both men and women, were to be offered, emphasizing practical work in all courses related to rural life. Traveling schools of agriculture were outlined to appeal especially to youths of years beyond the rural school age and already engaged in farming, each class to have not less than 8 pupils and not more than 15, and to continue for periods ranging from one week to two months according to the demand in each locality. These traveling schools were to be organized for the same unit of territory as the rural schools already in existence. Each course was to be arranged in cycles as follows: (1) Three years’ course in dairying; (2) four years’ course in domestic science; (3) three years’ course for rural teachers, men and women. Suitable certificates were to be awarded students satisfactorily completing these courses.

As regards the courses in rural schools, the committee found that the advantages accruing did not justify instructing pupils below 8 years of age in formal agriculture, satisfactory progress being made if the pupil was awakened to a love of nature and an interest in the life of the farm. Pupils above 8 were to be instructed in agricultural courses progressively adapted to their maturity and to the peculiar conditions of locality, soil, and climate.

As regards courses in domestic science, though the subject does not permit of a sharp age line of cleavage, yet the youngest girls might most profitably be given the elements, while the older girls might, in the discretion of trained teachers, take up the formal and technical study of food values in connection with elementary chemistry, physiology, and biology.

Anticipating the establishment of the normal schools for the exclusive training of teachers for the projected rural schools, the executive in November, 1917, sent to the Congress, along with the accompanying message, the project of a law for establishing two normal schools of agriculture in the Departments of Colonia and San Jose. These schools were intended to minister to the special need of these outlying departments. Their courses were to be intensive in character, adapted especially to the training of teachers for these localities, and to cover a year. Indeed, the bill specifically mentioned their purposes as intimately related with the forthcoming rural schools. The bill at once became a law, and the schools were to begin operation in March, 1918.

HIGHER EDUCATION.

In the field of university education no changes, administrative or instructional, are recorded for the past biennium; but there has been a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the administrative government of the University of Montevideo. In September, 1918, the executive sent to the Congress, along with an accompanying message, the project of a law clearly defining the constitution of the directive councils of the several faculties of the University of Montevideo as established by the laws of 1908 and 1915. Contention had arisen as to the right of electing representatives to each of these councils. By the new law each such council was to have 10 members and a dean. In the faculty of law four of these were to be elected by the attorneys who were also professors; four attorneys to be selected by those neither professors nor substitutes; one minor attorney by those neither professors nor substitutes; one student delegate by the students themselves.

In the faculty of medicine four members were to be elected by the professors, substitutes, and chiefs of clinics and laboratories; three members to be elected by the physicians not embraced in the above categories; one member to be elected by the pharmacists; and one by the dentists not included in the categories above; one member to be elected by the students of medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry.

In the faculty of engineering four members were to be elected by the professors and substitutes; three members to be elected by the engineers; and two by the surveyors who were neither professors nor substitutes; one member to be elected by the students of engineering and surveying.

In the faculty of architecture five members were to be elected by the professors and substitutes; four members to be elected by architects who were neither professors nor substitutes; one member to be elected by the students of architecture.

By decrees of 1917 enacted into law, seven years of advanced courses were required for the degree of doctor of medicine and five years for the degree of architect. Special courses of one and two years in construction and materials, leading to certificates but not to degrees, were formulated and allowed by the ministry of public instruction.

In pursuance of the policy of exchanging professors between the various countries of South America formulated at the Pan American Conference held at Buenos Aires in 1910, special exchange was arranged with Chile in 1916.

EDUCATION IN VENEZUELA.

Primary education in Venezuela, during the biennium under consideration, has enlisted the practical interest of the National Government as never before. This has taken shape primarily in the two fundamental administrative decrees of the Provisional President, Dr. Bustillos. The first, issued in February, 1917, outlines the general requirements laid down in the organic law of public instruction under certain regulations for primary public schools. These are divided into three main heads: (_a_) The primary elementary schools, in which only those subjects belonging to compulsory primary instruction are taught; (_b_) higher primary schools, in which are taught the subjects belonging to higher primary instruction; (_c_) complete primary schools, in which instruction is given in both the above divisions at once.

The decree requires that each school be equipped with all modern appliances for the physical well-being of the pupils. Children are not admitted below 7 years of age; only those below 7 years are admitted to the mothers’ schools or the kindergartens; only those above 14 are admitted to the schools for adults.

The subjects required in the elementary primary schools are: Reading, writing, and elements of Spanish; elements of arithmetic and the metric system; rudiments of geography and history of Venezuela; rudiments of ethics and civic instruction; rudiments of behavior and hygiene; the national hymn and school songs; the first elements of manual arts, and, for girls, of sewing.

In the higher primary schools are taught the following: Elements of Spanish grammar, elementary arithmetic, metric system, geography and history of Venezuela, elements of universal geography and history, elementary science, ethical and civic instruction, behavior and elementary hygiene, elements of drawing and music, manual arts and elements of agriculture and cattle raising for boys, sewing and domestic economy for girls, gymnastic exercises.

Religious instruction is imparted to pupils whose parents or guardians require it, provided that the number of such be at least 10. The celebration of school festivals as required by law, the establishment of libraries in each school accessible to both pupils and teachers, and the keeping of books and registers by teachers and directors are among the general provisions emphasized in the regulations.

The second decree, issued by the Provisional President in July, 1917, sets forth the regulations for the official inspection of public instruction. It expressly concerns the following schools:

1. Those maintained or aided by the Federal Union.

2. Those of primary, secondary, and normal instruction, maintained or aided by the States or by the municipalities.

3. Public and private schools satisfying legal requirements of good conduct and school hygiene.

The official inspection of schools has its ultimate authority vested in the following grades of functionaries:

1. Committees (juntas) constituted by law in localities maintaining a school.

2. Technical inspectors of primary, secondary, and normal instruction for the Federal District and the States of the Union.

3. A superintendent for the Federal District.

4. Inspectors necessary for the operation of higher and special instruction.

5. Commissioners appointed for special educational cases.

The duties and responsibilities imposed by law upon the juntas of primary instruction are detailed at greatest length, as upon them rests the proper execution of the law and the success of the entire system. Most important of all these duties are those pertaining to the enforcement of compulsory primary instruction. The juntas are required to keep themselves informed of the primary instruction imparted to all children of school age in their district, whether in schools public or private or at home; to require all parents and guardians of children of school age to have such children instructed as required by law; to keep themselves informed of the progress of all such children; to impose fines as required by law upon all parents or guardians who neglect the instruction of children; to see that the children admitted to schools of all grades conform in age, state of health, etc., to the requirements of the law; to visit the schools in their district frequently and regularly; and to keep registers of all facts pertaining to the attendance upon such schools.

The duties and responsibilities of the inspectoral juntas of secondary instruction and those of normal instruction are full and exacting and along the lines already laid down.

The technical inspectors as a group have charge of all three grades of instruction, each in the district assigned to him. As fixed by ministerial decree, there are 10 of these, excluding the superintendent for the Federal District. These functionaries are the direct agents of the ministry of public instruction, and form the connecting link between that office and the local juntas. They are vested with complete power to compel the execution of the law by the local juntas under penalties prescribed by law. They are instructed to work in complete harmony with the juntas, to call meetings, and to outline to them their duties under the law. They are also required to instruct teachers in their duties. In short, the inspectors are the element upon which the successful working of the machinery of the regulations depends.

The superintendent of public instruction in the Federal District is directly under the authority of the minister of education.

The inspectors of higher and special instruction have duties and responsibilities analogous to those of the inspectors already mentioned, though these, for obvious reasons, are not outlined at such length.

In the field of primary instruction the interest aroused in rural schools has been the most marked feature in the past biennium. The ministry of public instruction has paid special attention to the project of establishing rural schools, fixed or traveling, in the vicinity of the main manufacturing, industrial, or commercial centers of the country, and the President by decree of July, 1917, in commending the project, urged upon the juntas wherever possible to develop this type of schools. Especially in the agricultural or cattle-raising sections was the project received with enthusiasm, applying, as it did, directly to the problems of illiteracy and the training of the country population in practical subjects related to daily life. By special decree the President urged the introduction of elementary courses in agriculture in the established schedule of studies.

Among the States which definitely established such schools the State of Trujillo, fourth in population, took the lead by establishing 14, with predominant emphasis upon practical courses in agriculture and related subjects. Such schools began at once to serve as centers for the instruction not only of the children of school age but of the population generally in new methods, the use of machines, cooperative societies, etc. Similarly in sections devoted to cattle raising they were centers of inspiration and instruction in related subjects.

During the last biennium the industrial plants located in the centers of Venezuela have established primary schools for the children of their operatives, with the approval of the authorities, State and municipal. The minister of public instruction, in his memoria for 1918, urge upon the Congress the passage of a law recognizing the work of these schools, arranging for their inspection by the governmental technical inspectors and the classification and certification of pupils completing the courses offered in them. Such schools have also done much in combating the illiteracy among adults by means of night schools, and they have in many places, by employing excellent teachers, served the very useful purpose of raising the standard of requirement in various districts for the public schools, State or municipal.

Secondary education in Venezuela, according to the memoria referred to, suffers much from the insufficiency and irregularity of the revenues devoted to it, with the consequent inefficient equipment for modern and scientific subjects and the inadequate salaries of the teachers. On the pedagogical side the memoria found the effects experienced by secondary education from the mechanical and memory instruction, too largely prevalent in primary education, a permanent obstacle to any hope of real reform in secondary education.

The colegios, a type of secondary school peculiar to the Spanish-American countries, of grade preparatory to the liceos, seem to be disappearing from Venezuelan education. There are now left only 13 Federal colegios, all the others maintained by the States and municipalities having lapsed. The explanation probably lies in the exaggerated theoretical instruction they offered and its lack of adaptation to the actual needs of the nation. A number of them occupied buildings of some size and pretension, and the minister in his last memoria suggested that the vocational and industrial schools needed in the educational system might well be installed in these buildings.

Interest in the education of girls has made progress in Venezuela, an especially promising liceo for girls having been established at Caracas, offering advanced courses covering two years, with special attention to physical training and modern subjects.

Education in arts and crafts for men has long been popular in Venezuela, perhaps largely because of the national talent in those subjects. The school at Caracas, established in 1916, offers a four-year course, with English as the only foreign language. Within two years it reached an enrollment of 288 in the regular classes and 213 in the night courses.

Commercial education and training in political science courses have grown in popularity during the last biennium. Schools of the former have been established at Caracas, Maracaibo, Ciudad Bolívar, and Puerto Cabello; and of the latter, at Caracas, subsidized by the Government and regarded as an important adjunct in training for the legal profession.

In the field of the primary normal schools, the ministry has seen the necessity of their serving more largely the educational needs of the nation by supplying more and better teachers to the schools. It is, therefore, proposed to revise them thoroughly, especially in regard to the chief defect observed since their establishment, namely, the poor preparation of students who enter. It is proposed to offer, preparatory to the normal school proper, a perfecting course in essentials covering two or three years, to which would be added French, drawing, gymnastics, and music. Such a course would preferably be offered in the higher primary schools. The pupil should then proceed to the specialized subjects of pedagogy, methodology, psychology, and the history of education, these subjects to cover one year.

Another serious problem is the great difficulty experienced in securing suitable candidates for the scholarships offered in the primary normal schools by the several States and Territories. In many of them the memoria reports that the appointments had to lapse in view of the fact that no candidates qualified for them. The minister therefore suggested that a system of boarding departments, annexed to the normal schools, each accommodating about 20 boys of 10 to 13 years, should be established as feeders to the normal school system.

By presidential decree, dated July, 1917, special courses in practical agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, and domestic sciences were established in the primary normal schools, with the view of especially equipping teachers for the rural schools, whose establishment has come to be regarded as so necessary for the nation.

By presidential decree of March, 1917, an experimental station of agriculture and forestry, with an acclimatization garden, was established near Caracas. It is intended to serve as a model for other such stations in other parts of the country. “The objects of the station are the improvement of the methods of cultivation of the chief agricultural products of Venezuela; the introduction, selection, and distribution of seeds; experiments in reforestation; the suitability of soils to crops and of crops to various regions; and practical work for the training of agricultural foremen and forest rangers.”

Transcriber’s Notes

Page 6: “Quezaltenango” changed to “Quetzaltenango”

Page 13: “themselves especialy” changed to “themselves especially” “educationaly advanced” changed to “educationally advanced”

Page 21: “original justfication” changed to “original justification” A repeated “the” was removed.

Page 22; “The Goverment” changed to “The Government”

Page 29: “Artice 1.” changed to “Article 1.”

Page 31: The original text skips from Article 19 to Article 24. Articles 20-23 appear to have been omitted.

Page 45: “longest posisble” changed to “longest possible”

Page 46: “several localties” changed to “several localities”

Page 49: “schools of Montevido” changed to “schools of Montevideo” “hygenic considerations” changed to “hygienic considerations”