like ours, not to consider the necessity to guard and defend our coasts and adjacent keys and islands. The school of painting and sculpture has always been well attended. At present it has 625 registered scholars, 548 in elemental and 77 in superior studies. If the condition of the treasury is favorable when next year's budget is made up, we can perhaps think of organizing a modest conservatory of belles arts, where music, voice culture, and elocution can also be studied. The school of arts and trades of Habana, in charge of the State, which has built a grand building for the school and acquired a great quantity of material for instruction, is one of the most useful institutions we possess. It has 451 scholars registered, 308 day and 143 night, with an average attendance of 350. Considering that there have been disbursed from the State treasury great sums of money to build a fine building and acquire teaching material, and also considering that it is yet necessary to spend a great deal of money to equip the school to the extent required by its importance and the benefits it furnishes our laboring classes, I consider that the school of arts and trades of Habana has become a property of the State rather than of the province. Furthermore, the State stands in a more favorable position to look after its sustenance and introduce therein improvements and modern equipment necessary to an institution of its kind of such notable advantage. There is a normal kindergarten school in operation in this city. Twenty registered students and some auditors attend. There are but few schools of the Froebel system on the island, and it is the purpose of the administration to support them and increase their number without burdening the treasury. I am convinced that in no other branch of the administration is legislative instability so prejudicial as in matters of public instruction. After a general organization of instruction has been founded among us that is a considerable advancement over the one that formerly existed we should direct our activity to taking advantage of the existing means as far as possible and not begin a new organization when the present one has hardly been completed. This does not exclude such reforms as are absolutely indispensable. Reports and statistics of our educational institutions will be published at the end of the school and academic year, and then the administration of public instruction during the first year of our existence as a nation can be judged fully. A VISIT TO THE SCHOOLS OF CIENFUEGOS, CUBA. Hon. FRANCIS B. LOOMIS, CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Assistant Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. SIR: Through the courtesy of Mr. Vincent P. Lombard, superintendent of public schools at Cienfuegos, I had the opportunity to visit the schools of which I have made the following report, which I have the honor to submit to your consideration. The by-laws and regulations of the city district of Cienfuegos public schools are very similar to those of the State of Ohio. It consists of a board of education, composed of 1 president and 6 members, all vested with legislative power and authority in matters pertaining to the fulfillment of all orders and instructions received from the secretary of public instruction relative to the management and teachings of the public school system. NUMBER OF SCHOOLS. They have in the city district of Cienfuegos ten schools, comprising from the kindergarten to the fourth grade. Children are admitted in the kindergarten from 31 to 53 years of age. School age is set for all children between the ages of 6 and 14. Branches of study taught in the public schools are reading, writing, language lessons, geography, arithmetic, drawing, physiology and hygiene, history, and physical culture. The first and second grade students are children that average from 6 to 10 years of age; they receive the same tuition as those of the third and fourth grades with the exception of history, which is not taught in the first and second grades. The board was unable to secure for this session, as they did for the last school session, a good teacher for the useful and interesting branch of sloyd and manual training. ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The English language is taught by special teachers thrice weekly to all the pupils of the second, third, and fourth grades. NUMBER OF TEACHERS AND CERTIFICATES. There are in the city district of Cienfuegos 60 public school teachers, all of whom are provided with certificates of examination from the board of superintendents as the requisite for teaching in public schools in Cuba. Of these 60 teachers, there are 2 without class rooms, who act as principals of each department of the central school. There are also 3 English teachers, whose duty it is to go from one class room to another teaching the language in all the schools. LOCATION OF SCHOOLS. It was owing to the constant exertions of Mr. Pedro M. Hernandez, president of the board of education, and through the efforts of Lieut. Matthew E. Hanna, U. S. Army, ex-commissioner of public schools during the United States military government in Cuba, that the board obtained their best school site, called "Escuela Central," situated in the most central part of the city, the building occupying a whole block, from Santa Clara, Tacon, and Cuartel streets. This building was modernized and improved by the United States military government. It has two departments, one for the boys and the other for girls; the former has 14 class rooms and the latter has 11, one of which is devoted to the kindergarten. In both of these departments the class rooms are spacious, having excellent hygienic conditions, light and ventilation, and each is capable of seating 60 pupils. The artistic decorations in these class rooms are made by the skillful hands of their respective teachers, and are admired by numerous foreigners who visit the schools. Such combinations of art and natural objects in the class rooms brighten and impart mirth and beauty, thus making the children happy. The plumbing and other conveniences in this building are superb, and nothing was spared by the government, to which it belongs, to make it a first-class school building, being the second in Cuba. OTHER SCHOOLS. At the four cardinal points of the city are established two schools, one for boys and the other for girls, which are denominated the northern, southern, eastern, and western ward schools. These school buildings not being the property of the government, rent must be paid for them, ranging from $30 to $45 per month, and the conditions of the houses and class rooms are not of the best. SCHOOL FURNITURE. The school furniture is of modern style, of the best quality manufactured in the United States, and in a fairly good condition, and all the schools are well supplied, having done away with the old style of benches and desks so characteristic of colonial times. APTITUDES OF TEACHERS. Fitness and competency of teachers for the discharge of their duties seem to be fairly good, as far as I am able to judge. It appears that they practice order and discipline, and at the same time impress it well upon the minds of their pupils. RECESSES. The recreation grounds in both departments of the central school are ample and in good condition. Children of the first grade have a recess of one hour, divided into periods of a quarter of an hour each in both the morning and noon sessions. Those of the second, third, and fourth grades get only half an hour recess daily. ATTENDANCE. There is a regular daily attendance of over 2,000 children of both sexes at the city district of Cienfuegos, of which attendance about 1,082 are males and 975 females, making a total of 2,057, which gives an average of 37.20 pupils to each teacher. SALARIES OF TEACHERS. Teachers of the first and second grades get from $30 to $40, those of the third and fourth grades get from $60 to $75 per month. TEXT-BOOKS AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES. All the schools are very well supplied with text-books and school material, all of which are furnished by American publishers and suppliers from the United States. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, MAX J. BAEHR, United States Consul. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS IN THE DISTRICT OF MEXICO. [From the Mexican Herald, April 2, 1903.] The school premises intended for primary instruction are being gradually improved, both for the purpose of affording accommodations for the increased attendance and to place their hygienic conditions on a better footing. This has entailed a noteworthy increase in the outlay for rents. The number of pupils entered on the rosters of the compulsory schools is 46,000, and as the census of the district shows a total population of 56,000 children of school age, it is evident that about 10,000 do not attend the official schools, the majority of them going to private schools. The usual system of examination in the superior primary schools has been replaced by another method from which better results are expected, and, in addition to the traditional prizes, annual periods of scholastic festivals have been inaugurated with brilliant success. In accordance with a legal enactment, the creation of superior primary schools, with a special section attached, has been initiated, and one such establishment, viz, the mercantile school for young ladies, named for the conspicuous statesman, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, has been started under the direction of a distinguished teacher. The normal school for men, reorganized in accordance with a new plan which creates two grades of masters, is now working with a roster of 67 pupils taking the normal course, a number never before attained, and 558 boys in the attached primary school. In the normal school for young ladies there are 357 pupils taking the course for teachers and 775 girls in the attached school. In a special section of the office of the assistant secretary of education a registry of the personnel of the official schools has been opened, containing a record of all the facts in the scholastic life of each of the masters. In the international exposition of scholastic material, inaugurated at Santiago, Chile, on December 14 last, the exhibit of the district, prepared by the director of the normal school, won the first prize. In the territories success has also been attained in the material and intellectual improvement of primary instruction. In the territory of Quintana Roo schools have been founded and are already in operation. The Government recently acquired a property contiguous to the national preparatory school which will be used chiefly to provide a large hall for public lectures. In accordance with the new plans in force in the national colleges of jurisprudence and medicine, new and important branches of study were introduced from the beginning of the current year, as, for example, the course of administrative law and fiscal legislation in the school of jurisprudence, and the third year's courses of medical clinics and surgical clinics in the school of medicine. For the class of medical clinics the indispensable apparatus has been secured and what is lacking will in due time be added. The plan of studies in the national school of fine arts has undergone a radical transformation by virtue of the law which the executive, duly authorized, recently issued. Thanks to that law the studies of pupils aspiring to the profession of architecture will be better adapted to the desired end, and will be coordinated in so appropriate a manner that, while their artistic attainments will be enhanced, the scientific knowledge which must serve as the foundation of the former will not be neglected. On the other hand, the courses for painters, sculptors, and engravers will in the future be more solid, and as they are no longer distributed over a number of years the persons who possess ability will be enabled rapidly to conclude their career. In order to adapt the physical environment in which instruction is imparted with these improved methods, important and costly alterations have been started in the building, fixtures, and working utensils of the national school of fine arts. The plan of studies of the national conservatory of music which will go into force this year has also undergone a transformation. Under the new plan carefully matured regulations will enable the pupils who demonstrate greater aptitude to complete their studies more rapidly. Moreover, the laws, both for the national school of fine arts and for the conservatory, provide a system of pensions for study abroad as rewards for success in competitive examinations, with the obligation of reimbursing expenses with a view to the formation of a fund for subsequent improvements. The first two pensioners of the national school of fine arts have just departed for Europe under this arrangement. |