THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY IN AMERICA—MODERN SCHOOLS OF PERU
[Illustration: DR. LUIS F. VILLARÁN, RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN
MARCOS.]
Founded in 1551, nearly a hundred years before Harvard received its
charter, the University of San Marcos is the oldest educational
institution of America. Under the royal seal of the Emperor Charles V.
and Queen Joana, his mother, it was established in the City of the Kings
soon after the inauguration of the viceroyalty, and was conceded all the
honors and privileges enjoyed by the University of Salamanca, at that
time the most celebrated seat of learning in Europe. The royal grant was
issued to the priors of the Dominican order, and the original lecture
halls were installed in the chief monastery of “Santo Domingo,” in Lima.
Twenty years later, King Philip II. ordered the secularization of the
university and its separation from the Dominican convent. The cathedral
was then chosen as the hall for literary functions, and in one of its
chapels, consecrated to the Virgin known as _La Antigua_, and especially
venerated from that time by the university, the degrees of scholarship
were conferred. This chapel is of especial interest because of its
history, some of the most impressive ceremonies of the viceregal period
having taken place here. The conferring of degrees in the early history
of the university was attended with elaborate religious formalities, an
important feature being the celebration of a mass of the Holy Ghost in
preparation for the event. After this solemn sacrament, the candidate
passed through two days’ examination, chiefly of a religious character.
If successful, he was then led to the chapel of the Virgin, accompanied
by his fellow-students and the doctors of the faculties, and was obliged
to make the customary profession of faith, the same as that adopted by
the University of Paris in the beginning of the sixteenth century, which
required the candidate to pledge his loyalty to the mystery of the
Immaculate Conception. The degree of doctor was then conferred by the
dean, who represented both the royal and the pontifical authority; and
as soon as this part of the ceremony was concluded the sponsor decorated
the new doctor with the insignia of his class.
In 1572, Don Gaspar Meneses, a scholar of note, who held the degrees of
Doctor of Medicine and Master of Arts, was appointed the first rector of
the university. He was well fitted, by his piety and learning, to
promote the education of the colony in accordance with the ideals that
prevailed during that early period. The independent career of the
University of San Marcos began in 1574, the name being chosen by lot
from a list of saints’ appellatives; and on the 31st of December of that
year the first reunion was celebrated in a building purchased by the
faculty. Two years later, during the reign of the Viceroy Toledo, an
edifice was constructed for the university, in the Plaza de la
Constitucion, which was occupied by its classes until 1770, when, after
the expulsion of the Jesuits, the committee charged with the final
distribution of their schools made the college of San Carlos the
university building, promoting the two flourishing Jesuit schools of San
Carlos and, later, San Felipe, to equal dignity and privileges with the
classes of San Marcos. The college of La Libertad was accorded the same
advancement in 1826. La Libertad was a college for Indian princes, and
had been called Del Principe during the viceroyalty. An interesting
chronicler of those days gives a charming description of the collegians
of San Carlos, Del Principe, Santo Toribio, and other schools. The
students of San Carlos were distinguished by their black dress, cocked
hats, and dress swords; the young caciques of Del Principe wore a full
suit of green with a crimson shoulder ribbon and a cocked hat; and the
Santo Toribio collegians adopted the almond-colored _opa_, a gown made
like a poncho, wide at the bottom, with which a pale blue scarf was
worn, and a square bonnet of black cloth.
[Illustration: CLOISTER OF THE NATIONAL COLLEGE OF GUADALUPE, LIMA.]
The curriculum of a university in the sixteenth century was governed by
the predominating influence in intellectual culture, as it is to-day. In
Spain, even more than in other countries of Europe, this influence was
essentially religious in character. Theology was the most important
branch of study, and law and medicine were taught from textbooks which
read more like religious treatises than scientific compendiums of
knowledge. In the University of Lima, the plan of studies included three
classes daily in theology, three in law, two in canonical law, two in
medicine, two in grammar, and one in native languages, the last being
considered necessary for the propagation of the faith among the Indians.
During the viceroyalty, the University of San Marcos was an exclusively
aristocratic institution, and its chief mission was to educate the
nobility and the clergy, the latter ranking in the same class as the
highest aristocracy. The candidate for a degree had to meet such
enormous expenses that its advantages were within the reach of only a
favored few. He was obliged to give a sum of money to each doctor of his
faculty and to those of all the other faculties, a larger sum to the
rector and further amounts to the dean of his faculty, the sponsors in
the ceremony, and other ministering officials. If a layman, he was
expected to present his fellow-graduates with a silk cap, the biretta
taking its place in the case of a sacerdote. “Four pounds of food and
six hens” are named as the gifts which each colleague must receive from
the new doctor. These expenses amounted to large sums in the aggregate,
and were greatly increased by the cost of the festivities with which
such an event was celebrated. It was the custom for the graduate to give
a bull fight in the _plaza_, always a costly entertainment; and he must
have a sumptuous dinner, at which his friends would toast the successful
scholar and felicitate him in poetical periods and oratorical flights.
The most modest cost never went below ten thousand dollars in an epoch
when that sum meant many times the wealth it does to-day; and stories
are related of brilliant festivities in which the reckless scions of
wealthy noble houses spent sums that call to mind the follies of
millionaire spendthrifts of the present time. Toward the middle of the
eighteenth century a resolution was passed by the directors, limiting
the expense to a deposit of two thousand dollars in the treasury of the
university, which freed the graduate from further responsibilities. This
resolution continued in force until 1870, when the sum was reduced to
eight hundred dollars; subsequent reductions have brought it down to the
present cost, which is fifty _soles_ for the bachelor’s degree and one
hundred _soles_ for that of doctor. Students who have excelled in their
classes, and have taken the highest prizes, called _contentas_, are
exempt from the payment of any dues. The purpose of the _contenta_ is to
enable young men of energy and ambition, but with small means, to profit
by the advantages of a liberal education. The Faculty of Letters gives
free scholarships to its most successful students and exempts from the
payment of dues all who have obtained a prize in any course of study.
[Illustration: DR. MANUEL BARRIOS, DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE,
LIMA.]
The University of San Marcos is to-day a thoroughly modern institution,
representative of the liberal spirit of progress which pervades all
classes in Peru,—a country that has passed through greater and more
vital changes than fall to the lot of most nations. What transformations
have been wrought in education in Peru since the _amauttas_ imparted
knowledge to the sons of the Sun, holding its precious truths too sacred
to be communicated to any but noble princes! The attitude of the Spanish
teachers was less openly restrictive, though, in effect, the system of
education was little broader than it had been under the monarchs of
Cuzco. The lessons of the temple were replaced by those of the convent,
and the benefits of knowledge were still chiefly confined to the
nobility. With the evolution of ideas that modern civilization
encouraged, conditions gradually improved during nearly three hundred
years of Spanish rule, and the eighteenth century witnessed the
phenomenon of independent thought, the awakening of the individual in
society. With the inauguration of the republic, the progress of Peru
entered a new channel, and though, at first, the stream of liberal ideas
had to force a narrow passage between walls of tradition, to surmount
rocks and boulders of obstructing prejudice, carrying in its flow an
accumulated driftwood of sentiment from the ancient groves of worship,
yet its course has been always toward the sea of universal good, and its
channel, deepened and widened by the growing force of the current, now
forms the bed of a mighty tide of worthy endeavor.
The university leads in promoting the interests of a broad and liberal
education in Peru, and, under the present administration, important
reforms have been introduced, in accord with the progressive ideals of
the twentieth century. The government of the university is in the hands
of a council, composed of the rector, vice-rector, and secretary of the
institution, with the dean and a delegate from each of the faculties. It
is practically independent in the conduct of its affairs, the state
having only the economic interest which rests on a pecuniary grant, and
even this is disposed of according to the discretion of the University
Council. Although all education in Peru is under the immediate
protection and solicitude of the supreme government, the intervention of
the executive is used only for the improvement of educational advantages
and the extension of public instruction. In all that relates to the
internal régime of the university, the rector and his advisers
constitute the supreme authority. Dr. Don Luis F. Villarán succeeded the
lamented Dr. Francisco Garcia Calderon as head of the university in
1905, and has continued the progressive methods of that learned
statesman. The past three years have been marked by several important
reforms.
The closing ceremonies of the university year of 1907 took place March
15, 1908, instead of the 24th of December, 1907, in consequence of the
students having been called away in November for military manœuvres,
obedient to the new law of forced military service. The occasion was one
of solemn ceremony, President Pardo attending, with his cabinet. The
address of the rector included a résumé of the year’s events in the
university, showing that its influence and usefulness had been
increased, and notable advancement made in its affairs. The prestige of
the university was enhanced last year through the brilliant record of
its delegates at the congress of students in Montevideo, when this
institution was shown to be in the first rank among Spanish-American
institutions in culture and progress.
[Illustration: THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE, LIMA.]
The curriculum of studies is under the direction of six faculties:
Jurisprudence, which confers the degree of lawyers and ministers on the
completion of a five years’ course, the dean of the faculty being Dr.
Lizardo Alzamora; Medicine, granting the title of “Physician and
Surgeon” to graduates who complete its six years’ course, Dr. Manuel
Barrios, a statesman of distinction, now president of the Senate, being
dean of this faculty; and the Faculties of Theology, Mathematics and
Physical and Natural Sciences, Philosophy, Letters and Administrative
and Political Economy, which do not confer professional degrees. In
order to be eligible to the Faculty of Medicine, the student must have
completed two years of the course in Natural Science and the obligatory
course of the first and second years of Mathematical Science and
Physics. The Faculty of Letters, presided over by the dean, Dr. Javier
Prado y Ugarteche, renders especial services and performs double duty by
preparing students to follow the career of the law and training
professors to teach in the higher public schools and colleges. It is
thus the meeting ground between the university and the primary school,
its graduates being afterward represented both in the highest classes of
the Faculty of Jurisprudence and among superintendents of primary
schools. Only recently a law was introduced in the Senate through the
efforts of university professors, to establish complementary courses in
the Faculties of Letters and Sciences for the special training of
professors to direct the national colleges of secondary instruction. The
law makes professorship a public career sufficiently attractive to
induce students of ability to devote themselves exclusively to this
pursuit. A four years’ term of preparation is required, practical
teaching in the College of Guadalupe being included in the last two
years’ course.
[Illustration: DR. JAVIER PRADO Y UGARTECHE, DEAN OF THE LITERARY
FACULTY, UNIVERSITY OF SAN MARCOS.]
The Faculty of Administrative and Political Economy, which, as elsewhere
stated, was founded by President Manuel Pardo, was first organized by
the eminent scholar, Dr. Pradier Fodéré. The object of this faculty is
to give special instruction to those who are preparing to follow a
diplomatic career or to direct administrative offices. The degree of
doctor is conferred after a three years’ course in constitutional,
international, administrative, diplomatic and maritime law, political
economy, economical legislation of Peru, science of finance, financial
legislation of Peru, and statistics. The present dean of the faculty is
Dr. Ramón Ribeyro, a noted authority on international affairs and a
member of the supreme court of justice. The Faculty of Theology gives a
theological education, the course covering six years. In the Faculty of
Sciences, the student is allowed to enter the School of Engineers after
completing the obligatory courses of the first and second years of
mathematical sciences and physics. The University of Lima is destined to
achieve greater distinction during the present century through its
liberal and democratic ideals than was gained in the three centuries of
existence under the influence of aristocratic exclusiveness. The new
edifice of the Faculty of Medicine is one of the signs of material
progress evident in many features of the institution. A _University
Review_ is published monthly, replacing the annual volume founded in
1862 as the Annals of the University. Although the ancient University of
San Marcos stands at the head of the educational institutions of Peru,
the universities of Arequipa, Cuzco, and Trujillo are important centres
of learning, having Faculties of Jurisprudence, Literature, and
Political and Natural Sciences. The rector of the University of
Arequipa, Dr. Jorge Polar, was Minister of Public Instruction during the
first two years of President Pardo’s administration, and is an eminent
authority on educational matters. Dr. Eliseo Araujo, rector of Cuzco
University, is also a distinguished statesman as well as an experienced
educator. Trujillo University is under the direction of Dr. Pedro M.
Ureña, who succeeded Dr. Carlos Washburn as rector, when that statesman
was called to the cabinet of President Pardo.
[Illustration: THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE, LIMA.]
The universities, which represent the most revered traditions of
education and reflect the highest culture of the nation, are
supplemented by a number of colleges and schools of special instruction
for pupils who, after graduating from the primary and secondary schools,
do not enter on a university career, but prefer to prepare for the
military service, to secure technical training, or to obtain a practical
knowledge of engineering, agriculture, etc. The School of Military
Cadets at Chorillos, the Naval School-ships, the School of Civil
Engineers, and the National School of Agriculture, as well as the
flourishing Technical School of Arts and Trades, fulfil these purposes.
The School of Arts and Trades was reorganized September 24, 1905, under
the direction of Dr. Pedro Paulet. The school was founded forty years
ago, and reorganized in 1871, when its purpose was declared to be “the
training of honest and capable mechanics.” Although the excellent work
of this school was interrupted for some years in consequence of the
calamitous war of the Pacific, yet its benefits have been so general
that, to-day, the best mechanics on the plantations of the coast and in
the mining establishments of the sierra are graduates of its classes.
These schools are now to be found in all the cities of the republic.
The mining interests of Peru, as well as the peculiar conditions that
govern transportation across its snow-capped sierras and through its
cañons, make the study of engineering of paramount importance. The
School of Engineers, under the direction of an expert Polish engineer,
Mr. Eduardo Habich, has for its object the teaching of civil,
industrial, and electrical engineering, and mining. The extraordinary
industrial development which Peru has experienced within the past few
years made it necessary, in 1901, to include industrial engineering in
the course of studies, which originally comprised only two sections,
that of electrical engineering being added in 1903. Graduates of this
school are entitled to rank as mining, civil, and industrial engineers,
and electricians; land surveyors are also trained here. The average
attendance is about two hundred pupils. Training is given in both theory
and practice, the students making trips to the mines of Cerro de Pasco
and Yauli as well as to the factories, smelters, and electrical plants
of these establishments. The school has complete laboratories as well as
collections of specimens for the study of mineralogy, geology, and other
subjects related to the course. Agricultural training is furnished in a
school organized for the purpose and directed by Belgian professors. The
instruction afforded is technical and of the greatest practical value,
including all that pertains to the administration and cultivation of a
landed estate.
The greatest evidence of educational progress in Peru is afforded by the
report of the past school year, especially as regards primary
instruction. According to the new law of December 5, 1905, primary
instruction was taken out of the hands of the municipalities and made
subject to the central government, and a special fund for educational
purposes was created in such a manner that it is bound to go on
increasing with the growth of population and the development of wealth.
Attendance at school was not only made obligatory but absolutely
gratuitous, schoolbooks, paper, etc., being provided free of charge to
the pupil. The name of President José Pardo will go down to posterity
with that of his illustrious father, as the friend of the helpless and
the protector of the humble, inspired by the true patriotism which seeks
the ennoblement and aggrandizement of the State by raising to the
highest mental and moral standard every citizen, from the proletaire to
the plutocrat. The reform of 1875 sought to extend to the poorest class
the blessings of education. But the law was impeded in its beneficent
action by inadequate funds and lack of unity in purpose. So long as
public instruction remained under municipal government, its advantages
could not be uniform or satisfactory. Political changes, the fluctuation
of rents, and other causes contributed to make the support of municipal
schools unsettled and dependent. A new law, passed in 1901, improved
conditions by the creation of a central Directorate of Primary
Instruction; but the efforts of this body were handicapped because the
local Councils and Commissions acting under its authority represented
municipal interests conflicting with its purposes. Complete
centralization was the only way to secure the successful establishment
of the educational system on a basis that would ensure permanent and
increasing progress, and elevate the national standard of culture.
[Illustration: THE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND TRADES, LIMA.]
In his programme four years ago, President Pardo set his government the
noble task of raising the Indian out of his apathetic and ignorant
condition and making him an active and conscious factor in citizenship,
declaring this to be a necessity as urgent as the building of railways,
the establishment of a fixed currency, or any of the reforms that have
contributed to the prosperity of the country. To stimulate a sense of
individual responsibility and worthy ambition in a race that for
centuries has lived only to obey,—under the Incas, the Curaca; under the
Spaniards, the priest; under the republic, the provincial governors and
the proprietors of estates on which they are employed—is an undertaking
that calls for tremendous patience, tact, and courage. President Pardo
believes that no effort should be considered too great which will
accomplish this noble task.
[Illustration: THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERS, LIMA.]
A few educated Indians, descendants of the Inca nobility, have aided the
government in its purpose by trying to teach their benighted people the
meaning of freedom and to instil in them an appreciation of personal
rights. Phoccohuanca, who bears the Christian name of Carlos Portilla, a
pure Indian of Puno, has proved himself a worthy descendant of the great
Manco-Ccapac by his ambition, energy, and loyalty to his race. His story
is not unlike that of other self-made men. A thirst for knowledge made
him leave his native town when a mere child to seek an education in the
capital. From town to town he trudged, working at anything that offered
him a chance to gain a few pennies out of which a little was always put
aside for the purchase of books and for tuition. He was intelligent,
hard-working, patient, and economical, and succeeded in getting together
the requisite funds for his education, which was often interrupted by
“hard times,” but was always kept in mind as the goal of his efforts.
Now, at twenty-two years of age, he holds a teacher’s certificate, with
recommendations from several well-known educators of Peru, testifying to
his “aptitude, morality, and diligence”; as a preceptor in the
correctional school for boys, in Lima, his work has been eminently
satisfactory. Another Indian is the editor and proprietor of a newspaper
called _El Indio_, which bears the subtitle of “Defender of the social
interests of the native race.”
The new law governing primary education has already produced remarkable
results. The number of schools has increased from one thousand four
hundred and twenty-five under the support of the municipalities in 1905
to two thousand five hundred at present under the control of the central
government; the staff of teachers that numbered one thousand six hundred
and fifty-seven before the change of educational administration now
comprises three thousand and twenty under state direction; and the
pupils’ roll has swelled from one hundred thousand to one hundred and
fifty thousand names since the adoption of the new system two years ago.
The educational fund has been so greatly increased that the government
has not only been enabled to add to the number of schools and teachers,
but also to improve salaries, to provide instruction for a greater
number of pupils, to build and repair school-houses, acquire new and
modern pedagogical materials, maintain normal institutes, including one
for the instruction of teachers in manual training, and send teachers to
the United States for normal school training.
The General Directorate of primary instruction has the management of all
the various sections into which the system is divided, including those
that relate to the teaching corps, school materials, statistics,
accounts, etc., as well as to Departmental and Provincial inspectors.
Under the new régime, the school extends a beneficent influence over all
society, giving to the poorest child such training as will best prepare
him for the struggle of life. The law provides for two grades of primary
instruction, the first being the elementary school, in which are taught
reading, writing, arithmetic, notions of geography and history in
general and as related to Peru, rudimentary anatomy and physiology of
the human body, the making of objects of common use, gymnastics, and,
especially, the essential notions of morality and civic duty. This
course covers two years, after which the pupil may enter the second
grade, taught in what are known as school groups, or scholastic centres,
where three years more are required to complete the primary education,
including the learning of a trade. Free night schools for workmen are
maintained by the Department of Fomento, and in addition to the public
schools there are many private institutions throughout the republic for
primary and secondary education.
The question of hygiene in the primary schools occupies the particular
attention of the government, and a congress was recently held for the
purpose of studying the best means of protecting the health of children,
with a view to improving the general condition of the race, and making
the rising generation robust and strong. In 1907, a system of sanitary
and hygienic inspection was adopted for the schools of primary
instruction, and the results, so far, have been most satisfactory.
Intermediate or secondary education has also received special attention
during the present administration, new colleges having been established
in several cities, in addition to commercial and industrial schools in
Iquitos and Yurimaguas. Twenty-five government colleges provide
secondary instruction, three of these being girls’ schools in Trujillo,
Ayacucho, and Cuzco. Belgian and German professors have been engaged by
the government to conduct the courses of study in the greater number of
these schools. In the national colleges the pupil receives a general
education, the law requiring four years’ study to complete this course.
The graduate is then prepared either to leave school with sufficient
knowledge to serve the ordinary purposes of a business career, or to
enter the Faculty of Letters and Sciences in the University.
In every department of national education, the spirit of a broad and
liberal government is to be seen, and even in the private schools and
the colleges supported by benevolent institutions the influence of
modern reform is general and unmistakable. The most notable tendency of
education in Peru to-day is toward an increase of knowledge among the
poorer classes. Under the traditional system of instruction, now passing
away, the distinctions of caste were fostered and strengthened, because
of the character and scope of the old-time school. The higher classes of
society received more instruction than they applied in the course of
their after lives, while the lower classes were neglected, or taught
only so much as tended to impress on them their inferiority and the
duties of submission. Under such a system it was inevitable that tyranny
should flourish, and that the rich and governing class should abuse
their power over the poor and ignorant. But with the patriotic ideas
which have grown up and which now stimulate both the governing and the
governed, the question of education has become one of the national
requirements, and its benefits are enjoyed by all classes. It means the
development of the middle class, which a great economist calls “the
bulwark of a nation.”
[Illustration: THE COLLEGE OF LAW, LIMA.]
[Illustration: ALAMEDA DE LOS DESCALZOS, LIMA.]