Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1901 — Schools of Mexico GENERAL J VILLADA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Schools of Mexico

GENERAL J VILLADA.

THEY COMPARE FAVORABLY WITH OUR OWN.

(Special Letter.) The fact that many Mexican children are sent to the States and Europe for an education does not reflect upon the schools of Mexico. In nearly all cases they receive the foundation of their education in their native country, but seek other parts to perfect themselves in their work in the different languages. That education is one of the principal efforts of the government is seen at once in the many fine schools and colleges where all classes may receive free a learning that enables them to enter into any profession or business, these schools and colleges being not only for boys but for girls as well. The Preparatory College in Mexico City accommodates 3,000 boys, fits them for schools of law, medicine and mining. The academies are well equipped with all necessary material and apparatus for both brain and body. In the cities the orphans are cared for in Hospicios. where they receive an education by which they may earn

a living in the various paths of life. Girls and boys are trained alike, no partiality being shown in sex. The largest of these schools is in Guadalajara, where 1,500 children between the ages of 3 and 15 are domiciled. The girls are taught to sew, embroider. cook, teach and work in business lines, and the boys are taught all kinds of trades, and in fact whatever they show a disposition to learn. All over the Republic s os Mexico are excellent public schools and compulsory education is a law, although not well carried out owing to the indifference of the lower classes—-the peons. In the prisons education is enforced. The incarcerated are taught to read, write, make hats, shoes, clothing, etc.’ and those who do not know a trade are obliged to learn one. In the correctional schools the same rule is followed, and until the person placed

there has learned a means of livelihood he or she is not permitted to leave. The heads of the government work hard for the improvement of their country and thoroughly realize that education is the primary cause of elevating a nation. Each state strives for the betterment of its people and there is no reason except that of indo-lence-for ignorance among the growing population. One of the most earnest among the many hard workers in this cause is General Joeo Vicente Villada, governor of the state of Mexico, As the result of his arduous labors Toluca, capital of his state, boasts of the finest colleges in the republic outside of Mexico City. At the Normal School for Girls, which has an attendance of 600, girls learn all modes of gaining a living. Everything is taught them —law, music, art, photography, stenography, languages, sciences, bookbinding, filagree work, sewing, embroidery and making flowers, nearly all the best teachers in Mexico being educated here. Those among the girls who have money pay for their schooling and those who have not’are supported by the state. Most of the latter are Indians. The boys have a similar college. An institute is being built which when completed will accommodate •'I,OOO students in all studies, law and medicine being the most important. Governor Villada takes a keen interest in the schools of his state, and they are under his personal supervision. He has traveled extensively and gathered material for his public libraries and museums, which are a portion of his educational method. Way down in Chiapos, the most southern state in the republic, where there are no railroads, Governor Rafael Pimental has just completed the erection of a Normal school. Teachers will ,be sent out from this college to enlighten the children of the surrounding country. These schools are non-sectarian and are all under the general head of the government. The average Mexican is a good student, painstaking and anxious to learn. They are very fond of English, and although it is very dijficult for them to pronounce it, they speak it well. In many of the mountain districts it is difficult to place schools on account of the continuous changing of the population, but as time advances it will be found necessary. The peon does net learn to advance rapidly, but it is the fault of his desire rather than his. intellect. A kindly gentleman once tried to explain to a peon porter in a hotel that it would be better for him to expand his brain with learning than crush it with the heavy loads he carried on his bead. He thought for a while and then answered that a trunk was heavy enough for his to carry without the addditional weight, of knowledge.

F. E. A. WRIGHT.

COURT OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.