Article November 6, 1902 Issue

The American School in Porto Rico

M. G. Brumbaugh

THE first legislature which convened in Porto Rico after the island came under American protection enacted a new school law, based upon the conditions in Porto Rico and in strict harmony with American ideals. Under its provisions at least ten and not more than twenty per cent of all municipal funds are set aside as a school fund. Thus the schools were lifted absolutely out of politics and placed upon a sound financial basis.

The legislature also voted the department of education in 1900-1901 $400,000, in 1901-1902 $501,000, besides a fund of $15,000 to maintain young men and women in schools in the United States. It is, perhaps, fair to say that Porto Rico is voting now a larger percentage of its revenues to education than is any state of the federal union.

The teacher problem was a grave one. The old Spanish teachers were educated to believe that a school is a vested right,—that the school exists for the teacher. It was no light task to inculcate the idea that the school exists for the pupil, that the tenure of the teacher is not for life, but for such time as results in good to the child.

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