Some phases of educational progress in Latin AmericaMontgomery, Walter A. (Walter Alexander)
History
Some phases of educational progress in Latin America
Montgomery, Walter A. (Walter Alexander)
Education -- Latin America
(3) The liceos of the first class, numbering 40 for boys and 31 for
girls, and offering the full course of six years, are representative
of the best in secondary education in Latin-America. Those for boys,
following the tradition of the Spanish system for corresponding
schools, are administered by the University of Chile; those for girls,
by the Minister of Public Instruction and the National Council. The
practical and scientific wave which swept over this division of
education in 1915 caused the reinforcement of physical and chemical
teaching. Spanish, history and geography, religion (optional), French,
mathematics, natural sciences, gymnastics and singing, and manual
training run through all six years of the course; English (or German
or Italian), philosophy, civics, penmanship and drawing, mechanical
drawing (optional), extend through varying numbers of years. Students
of secondary education are struck with the excessive number of hours
required weekly, the minimum being 29 for the first year and the
maximum 33 for each of the last three years.
The essential purpose of the liceo of the first class is to prepare
for the university, or for the professions; and national scholarships
are granted, including maintenance at the hostels, or annexed boarding
halls which were established five years ago.
The system of secondary education has long been criticized by Chilean
educational thinkers as being too largely mental and literary, and as
paying little, if any, attention to the physical and moral. The attempt
to organize sports and physical exercises in secondary education has
met far less encouragement than in other South American countries.
By decree of May, 1917, classes for illiterate girls over 7 years old
were annexed to liceos for girls, the ministry basing the number to be
admitted upon the attendance of the year previous. This was stoutly
opposed by the National Educational Association as being a confusion
of classification, a violation of the continuity of the educational
system, and an evasion of the palpable duty of the school authorities,
which should press the Government to establish fitting and proper
schools for such illiterate girls.
The Government has appointed a commission of prominent men for the
study of reforms necessary and advisable for programs of secondary
education for girls. As matters stand, the same programs of study
are set for both boys and girls, a traditional arrangement the
disadvantages of which are coming fully to be recognized.
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