APPENDIX VII.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER,

San Juan, P. R., August 20, 1917.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith the seventeenth annual report of the department of education, covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917. Appended thereto are the reports of the president of the board of trustees of the University of Porto Rico and of the president of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Library. Respectfully submitted.

The GOVERNOR OF PORTO RICO,

PAUL G. MILLER, Commissioner of Education.

San Juan, P. R.

INTRODUCTORY SURVEY.

For a detailed exposition of the history, organization, administration, courses of study, and other general features of the public-school system of Porto Rico the reader is referred to the previous annual reports of the department of education and to the various departmental bulletins. This report is limited to a discussion of the work accomplished during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917.

The public-school system of Porto Rico has passed through two stages of evolution and is now entering the third. For a number of years the department was chiefly concerned with the question of providing ample facilities for the many children who presented themselves for admission to the schools and but little attention could be given to the professional phases of school work. When the system reached the point where no further rapid extension was possible or advisable, there followed a period devoted to the introduction of industrial arts, and for four years the efforts of the department were devoted largely to the systematizing of this innovation.

Now that this feature of the school work is becoming firmly established, the department is able to turn its attention more and more to such administrative problems as securing better trained teachers and improving the conditions under which the teaching process is carried on. On the purely professional side more time, effort, and attention are devoted to proper grading of pupils, closer supervision of instruction, raising the standard of teaching, and adaptation of the course of study to the needs and abilities of the pupils. In a word, the main efforts of the department are now directed toward making better schools of those already in existence.

Porto Rico has an estimated population of 1,223,981, of whom 427,666 are of legal school age, i. e., between 5 and 18 years, and 215,819 of compulsory school age, i. e., between 8 and 14 years (Table V). The total enrollment in all public schools, excluding duplicates, was 152.063. Of these, 1,174 were enrolled in the University of Porto Rico, 537 in charitable and correctional schools, and 4,166 in night schools. Of the 150,352 pupils enrolled in schools under the department, 85,715 were males and 64,637 females; 119,119 were white and 31,233 colored (Tables II and III). In addition to the pupils enrolled in public schools, 3,594 children attended private schools (Table VIII).

The total enrollment was 35.1 per cent of the total population of school age and 70.5 per cent of the population of compulsory school age; but of the population of compulsory school age only 54.9 per cent were enrolled (Table V).

The average number belonging in all schools was 126,693; the average daily attendance 116,779, or 92.2 per cent. Of the 150,352 pupils enrolled, 2.2 per cent were found in secondary schools, 35.5 per cent in elementary urban schools, 59.5 per cent in rural schools, and 2.8 per cent in night schools (Table III).

These pupils were taught by 2,676 teachers, of whom 1,001 are men and 1,675 are women; 193 are teachers from the United States proper and 2,483 are native Porto Ricans; of the total number, 2,238 are white and 438 are colored (Table II).

Of the elementary pupils 60.1 per cent were promoted to the next higher grade, as against 59.2 per cent the preceding year. (These figures are based upon the total enrollment. Using the average number belonging as a basis for calculating promotions, 76.2 per cent of the elementary urban pupils were promoted and 60.5 of the rural pupils, giving an average of 71.5 per cent for all elementary schools.) (Table IV.) Eighth-grade diplomas were awarded to 1,935 pupils, and 265 high-school pupils received diplomas.1

There were 35 new graded teachers added to the profession by means of licenses granted upon the basis of normal diplomas issued by the University of Porto Rico. Six rural licenses were granted to persons who had completed the special two-year course for rural teachers in the normal department of the University of Porto Rico, and 14 rural licenses were granted to persons who had obtained the diploma in agricultural science issued by the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.

The schools of Porto Rico were conducted in 1,666 different school buildings, representing 2,760 different classrooms. Of these buildings 501 are public property and 1,165 are rented; 334 are situated in urban centers and 1,332 in rural barrios (Tables II and VI). As to their character, school buildings range from the strawcovered shack in remote rural barios to thoroughly modern concrete structures in the larger towns and cities. During the past year 55 new sites for school buildings have been acquired, 14 in urban centers and 41 in rural districts; 32 school buildings have been completed and 49 were begun and are in the course of construction.

The total assessed valuation of property is $182,580,319, or $149.16 per capita of population.2

The expenditure for educational purposes is $1,518,321.68 from insular appropriation and other funds and $588,067.50 from school-board funds, making a total of $2,106,389.183 (Tables II, IX, X, XI, XII, and XIII).

The total per capita expenditure per pupil is $12.07 for elementary education and $34.10 for secondary instruction. The per capita expenditure per inhabitant is $1.72 (Table IX).

Eleven vacancies occurring in office positions were filled by promotion of 8 persons already in the service and by 3 transfers.

During the fiscal year 58,410 pieces of mail were received and dispatched by the department, 51,277 of these being letters and 7,133 being packages.

RURAL EDUCATION.

Of the 427,666 children of school age in Porto Rico, 337,858 live in the rural districts. Of this number 89,520, or 26 per cent, were enrolled in the rural schools during the past year, whereas of the 89,809 children of school age living in the urban centers 53,372, or 59 per cent, were enrolled in the urban schools. This difference between the percentage of pupils enrolled in the urban and rural schools is due to the greater attention given to urban schools in past years.

For the purpose of further awakening public interest and of extending the usefulness of the rural schools, the rural uplift campaign initiated last year was given continued emphasis. All supervisors of schools gave particular attention to rural-school organization, paid longer and more thorough visits to rural schools, held frequent conferences for rural teachers, and ultimately checked promotions in all rural schools grade by grade by making a personal examination of every pupil recommended for promotion. A much greater proportion of rural teachers lived in the barrios where their schools were located, and such teachers became a vital factor in neighborhood life. Teachers living in the barrios not only gave to the patrons of the districts an example of sanitary and wholesome living, but they often made the schoolhouse a social center where parents' meetings, evening schools, and lectures were held. Where agriculture was stressed, teachers became the natural leaders of the food-supply propaganda, which has increased the available local food supply considerably. Libraries were opened for country districts and teachers paid many visits to the parents in their homes. The department has directly aided many of the supervisors by sending speakers to parents' meetings which as a rule were held on Sundays. Supervisors report that the attendance at these Sunday meetings reached as high a figure as 400 persons. To-day the peasant of Porto Rico has come to realize that the rural schools belong to him as much as to the landowner or rich planter of his district.

To carry out this rural campaign has required much sacrifice on the part of the supervisors and rural teachers. To teachers accustomed to the comforts of city life, the isolated life of the country has entailed no small hardship, but results have paid

1 Includes the practice school, boys' and girls' charity schools, and university high school. As of Dec. 31, 1916.

Does not include charity and correctional schools.

them for such unselfish service. Many supervisors who have stressed the rural campaign have given up almost all their Sundays to this work. While such labór is onerous, it is only by such devotion to the cause that the ultimate redemption of the illiterate peasant will be achieved.

The present trend of public thinking is entirely in favor of the rural campaign. The legislature made the necessary appropriation for the salaries of 275 additional rural teachers last year and they were allotted to the 74 municipalities according to the financial ability of school boards to provide schoolhouses and suitable equipment. Better rural teachers as well as better housing conditions for schools and teachers are badly needed. Until suitable houses for rural teachers can be secured the department can only continue to urge teachers to live in the barrios where they teach; it can not demand that they do so.

RURAL UPLIFT CAMPAIGN.

Twenty-eight districts report one or more parents' associations, the aggregate number of these being 494. The number of regular meetings held by all parents' organizations exceeds 1,500. In the 13 districts where no regular organizations were formed, informal meetings were held several times during the year, one district reporting 69.

COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENTS.

Though the efforts and cooperation of the parents' organizations the following improvements have been secured: Higher enrollment, greater regularity and punctuality in the attendance, many roads have been repaired, a number of bridges were built, several water tanks were made, a large number of latrines were built in most of the barrios, and what is of still greater importance, high enthusiasm and keen interest was aroused in the work of the rural school.

RURAL CONFERENCES.

In 39 of the 41 school districts into which Porto Rico is divided, 1,566 rural conferences were held. In these conferences teachers and parents met to discuss topics of importance to both the school and the community. The results are generally reported as good.

RURAL LIBRARIES.

Twenty-three districts report the establishment of one or more small rural libraries. New books have been bought by school boards and in some cases by parents' associations. Twelve districts have established reading circles. Many residents came almost every night to read or to hear the teacher read to them. Six districts have not reported any activities in this line.

VISITS TO HOMES.

All supervisors report that the rural teachers of their respective districts have visited the homes of their pupils several times during the year. During these visits topics of interest to both school and home were discussed, and they resulted in bettering the daily attendance and work of the pupils.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTION TO ILLITERATES.

Thirty-two districts report an aggregate number of 120 rural schools where night sessions were maintained to teach reading, writing, and the elements of arithmetic to illiterates, a large number of whom received the benefits of this elementary instruction. All these night classes were apart from those maintained by the regular night schools and teachers did not receive any additional remuneration for this service.

SPECIAL FEATURES.

Special mention should be made of the efforts of two supervisors to make the parents' meetings more attractive by the use of the stereopticon. In Coamo the stereopticon was purchased jointly by the reading club of Coamo and the supervisor; in Camuy-Hatillo the teachers voluntarily assumed the expense of the apparatus.

One supervisor edited a rural school paper for free distribution among the pupils of the rural schools. Written in simple language, the children of the third and fourth grades read it to their unlettered parents and new interest was aroused in the schools and community.

One of the most interesting features of the campaign was the installation of first-aid equipment in rural schoolhouses. In four districts the manual training classes of the continuation schools built small cabinets for such first-aid equipment. In other

districts the money for providing this equipment was voluntarily contributed. Apart from its great utility, a first-aid outfit is an object lesson to those living in the country. The first-aid outfit (botiquín escolar) gradually spreads among country people a knowledge of proper, simple remedies and preaches a forceful sermon on cleanliness and sanitation.

GRADED SCHOOLS.

The work of the graded schools was continued along the same general lines as last year, the most important changes made being as follows:

(1) Spanish was used as the medium of instruction in the first four grades, English being taught as a special subject.

(2) New methods for the teaching of arithmetic in the first two grades and of Spanish reading and writing in the first grade were adopted.

(3) Oral English only was taught in the first grade.

These innovations represent an effort to readjust the bilingual plan of instruction in accordance with the needs of the system as shown by experience. Under the former plan an attempt was made to teach children to read and write both English and Spanish, beginning with the first grade. Sixty-five per cent of the pupils were retarded and many left school without learning to read either language. The emphasis is now placed on instruction through the medium of the mother tongue in the four lower grades. This plan is more desirable, because a large number of pupils drop out before they reach the fourth grade.

The shifting of the center of gravity in first-grade English from reading to conversation, where it properly belongs, has brought the Porto Rican child a step nearer to the level of the American child who hears and talks English four or five years before he is required to read it.

HIGH AND CONTINUATION SCHOOLS.

In addition to the 11 regularly established high schools, ninth-grade work was carried on in 30 and tenth-grade work in 16 municipalities. Many of the tenth grades were small, however, and it is probable that some of them will be discontinued.

A revised course of study for high schools, carefully outlined by subjects, was placed in the hands of all high-school teachers and principals at the beginning of the school year. Teachers of English received definite instructions in regard to the compilation of material for the use of the department in the preparation of an English drill book, to be issued later in bulletin form.

Work in the high schools during the first few weeks was much hampered by lack of textbooks. The money available for the purchase of textbooks for sale to high-school students was insufficient, and as a result many books could not be bought until returns were received from the initial sales. The scarcity of classics for use by the students of Spanish created an exceptionally difficult situation. Many of the books listed for class use could not be secured and substitutions had to be made.

The total enrollment for secondary schools during the past year was 3,291, of which number 1,641 are boys and 1,650 are girls. The enrollment of boys lacked but nine of being equal to that of girls, a situation exceedingly gratifying when compared with the proportional enrollment of the two sexes in the high schools of the United States. In the eleventh and twelfth grades the number of boys enrolled exceeded the number of girls. The actual enrollment of boys in the 11 established high schools, excluding continuation schools, exceeded that of girls.

The total enrollment by grades was as follows: Twelfth grade, 271; eleventh grade, 545; tenth grade, 925; ninth grade, 1,650. The total number of students graduated was 246. Of this number 23 completed the commercial and the remainder the general course.

The housing conditions for continuation and high schools were as a whole satisfactory, except in the city of San Juan, where the Central High School occupies a building entirely unfitted for the purpose. Many students were refused admission to this high school at the beginning of the year because of the lack of both teachers and seating capacity. The situation will be much worse in the future because of the constantly increasing number of pupils graduated from the eighth grade.

PROFESSIONAL READING COURSES FOR TEACHERS.

The professional reading course introduced by the department last year was completed this year. The books selected for this course were read as follows:

Earhart's Type of Teaching was read by the graded teachers in 34 towns; Bagley's Classroom Management, in 29 towns; Thorndike's Principles of Teaching, in 45 towns; and Strayer's A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, in 40 towns.

Each graded teacher read at least two of the required books. Written reviews on each book read were required of every teacher who participated in the course. Of the 834 English graded teachers, 792 did the prescribed reading and only 42 failed to do so for various reasons.

In 21 municipalities, 447 rural teachers read Clute's Tropical Agriculture, Book I, and made a written review at the end of the year.

These courses have proved to be of real benefit to all teachers. A certificate was issued to each teacher who satisfactorily completed the course.

TEACHER'S INSTITUTES.

In the campaign for increased teaching efficiency, week-end institutes were conducted at six central points, as follows: At Guayama for the teachers of Guayama, Patillas, and Arroyo; at Bayamon for the teachers of Bayamon, Guaynabo, Toa Baja, Toa Alta, Vega Baja, Dorado, Vega Alta, Corozal, and Comerio: at Humacao for the teachers of Humacao, Las Piedras, Naguabo, Yabucoa, and Naunabo; at Quebradillas for the teachers of Quebradillas, Isabela, Camuy, and Hatillo: at San German for the teachers of San German, Sabana Grande, Cabo Rojo, and Lajas: and at Caguas for the teachers of Caguas, San Lorenzo, Gurabo, Juncos, and Aguas Buenas. By means of these institutes almost 1,200 teachers had an opportunity to see demonstration classes at work and to meet and hear prominent educational leaders.

The aim of these institutes was to increase the efficiency of teachers already in the service. Not only has the rapid expansion of the public-school system made it inveitable that many persons with deficient preparation should receive licenses to teach, but inexperienced persons are added to the teaching force every year. Teachers of these two types especially, as well as those with better preparation and experience, need both instruction and inspiration. The supervisor's constant problem is that of bringing up more nearly to the standard of the superior teacher the work done by the inferior teacher. In the solution of this problem the week-end institute has proved to be very effective.

Each institute began Thursday morning and closed Saturday noon. Consequently, there were five half-day and two evening sessions. The half-day sessions were devoted to the following: English, Spanish, arithmetic, agriculture, history, geography, and professional subjects. Each half-day program was divided into three partsdemonstration classes in the subject emphasized; round-table conferences upon the teaching of the subject under consideration: and a general conference on the teaching of the subject, in which special supervisors and other representatives of the department gave lectures or led discussions.

The commissioner, the assistant commissioner, the two general superintendents, two supervisors of schools, and six instructors from the university took part in the half-day programs. The evening sessions were under the direction of the local school board and the programs given were of a general rather than of a professional nature. Prominent doctors, editors, lawyers, and jurists, as well as educators, contributed their services.

URBAN CONFERENCES.

Conferences of the urban teachers have been held in all districts except one, the aggregate number of conferences reported by supervisors being 420. The following subjects will give an idea of the practical nature of the topics discussed: Problems of school life, aims and methods, moral and civic training, school hygiene, methods of teaching oral English, Spanish reading and writing in the primary grades, elementary arithmetic, retardation of pupils, supervised study, the hour plan, seat work, daily preparation and plans, school lunches.

THE HOUR PLAN.

As an aid in the campaign to increase teaching efficiency the "hour plan" was widely introduced. The department issued a circular letter from which the following extract is quoted as giving the substance of the new plan:

*

All study and class work are done together, the time devoted to study and to recitation being used to do real work under the teacher's immediate direction. Study and recitation are so intermingled that there is no clearly defined demarcation between the study period and the recitation period * *. Under the hour plan, the child does not struggle along alone and unaided with new assignments for which he was not properly prepared when the assignment was made, thus wasting time and effort. Home study, if assigned at all, is in the nature of review and supplementary work."