Not more than one seventh of the 850,000 people in Puerto Rico can read
or write. Only one child in twelve, between the ages of six and sixteen,
attends school. (In 1897, of 125,000 children of school age, only about
28,000 attended school--about 19,000 boys and 9,000 girls.)
The buildings used for school purposes are seldom anything more than
thatched huts. Sometimes two or three rooms are given to the school in
the house where the teacher lives.
Many of the country districts are without schools, and no school
privileges are provided for three fourths of the people.
The schools are of the old-fashioned, ungraded, district-school type,
and are for pupils from seven to thirteen years of age.
Pupils are supposed to study arithmetic, geography, grammar, the history
of Spain, and religion. There are few schoolbooks used. The pupils write
down what the teacher dictates, or copy what the teacher has written.
The one book they use is the one from which they learn to read.
Arithmetic problems are often worked out on the floor with bits of clay.
There are from fifty to one hundred and twenty-five pupils in each room,
and two or three teachers. The pupils sit on long benches or on the
floor. The boys and girls have separate schools; but the white and the
colored pupils attend the same school.
The pupils are bright and quick to learn, but there is no discipline in
the schoolroom. They come and go as they please. They stay at home if
they wish, and no truant officer disturbs them.
Many remain away from school because of a lack of clothing. Others
remain away because they prefer to play in the streets. Their parents
are careless and indifferent to the advantages of an education, and make
no effort to induce their children to attend school, or to study.
This unfavorable state of things is soon to disappear. The United States
is now rapidly introducing schools and capable teachers into every part
of the island. The people seem very glad to take advantage of the better
order of things.