SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
There is no compulsory educational law in Chile. Several attempts have been made to secure the passage of such a measure, but without success. The failure to secure such an enactment may be attributed to the indifference of the majority of the citizens of the Republic, who take little or no interest in the question of providing better facilities for educating the youth of the country.
Primary instruction is provided by the government, which maintains two kinds of schools in this class, elementary and superior. In the elementary, the alphabet, reading, writing, gymnastics, singing, and the first rules of arithmetic, geography and grammar are taught. In the superior, in addition to the branches taught in the primary grades, instructions are given in manual training, physical and natural science, and other general studies, which prepare the pupils for entrance into the secondary colleges, “liceos,” and other higher educational institutions. The number of pupils in attendance at these schools is about one hundred thousand.
Teachers in the primary grades, masculine and feminine, are prepared in five normal schools, located in different parts of the country. When they have finished their studies and passed their examinations, they receive the title of “Professor” from the State as evidence of their qualification for teaching.Primary teachers receive a salary of 1,200 pesos per year. After ten years’ service they are entitled to a pension from the government, and after thirty years they can retire on full pay.
Previous to the formation of the Republic, the only institutions in Chile possessing facilities for instruction in the sciences and higher branches of education were the monasteries, the school at San Filipe being recognized as a national university. But the monastic education was not in harmony with the modern republican ideas of the progressive Chilenos, and the San Filipe institution was abolished by official decree in 1839, and in its place there was established a group of schools under the name of the University of Chile. The new institution which was formally opened in 1842, marked an era in the educational system of the country. The original building, in Santiago, fronting on the broad Alameda, with its rows of trees and wide park-way, adorned with statues of national heroes, is a fine architectural creation of the Spanish style, with interior patios and galleries. The University, which has an annual attendance of from 1,500 to 2,000 students has special and well equipped departments of Philosophy and Letters, Law and Political Science, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Engineering, Architecture, Pedagogy and a Normal school.
The State also maintains schools of secondary and superior instruction, the latter being under the direction of the University, which maintains thirty-six different colleges in the Republic, and gives courses in practical and special branches, and alsoindustrial training. In the first six years of the course in these colleges the pupils are instructed in branches designated in the program prepared by the Council of Instruction, a corporation whose members are appointed by the government, and which is required to hold weekly sessions.
The course of instruction in the secondary institutions consists of the following, worked out according to the German concentric system: Physical and natural science, mathematics, Spanish, French, German and English languages, drawing, geography, history, gymnastics and singing. The pupils who pass the general and final examinations satisfactorily, receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which admits them to the superior courses of Law, Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, etc., in the University.
All this instruction is provided by the State, free of expense, except 250 pesos per year which the pupil is required to pay for board. The government has secured a competent corps of teachers and instructors for the secondary colleges and the University, the majority of them coming from Germany and Belgium under contract. Their pay is about 6,000 pesos, equal to $2,000 United States currency, annually.
Chile also maintains a number of Industrial and Commercial schools. Among these special institutions are four Commercial and Industrial, three Agricultural, three Mining, and two professional schools for women, an Art Institute and a school of Fishery. The pupils attending these institutions are trained in the various professions and industries taught in the respective schools. This part ofthe system of public instruction, especially in the establishments in which the poorer classes receive their education, is very deficient. But this particular branch is now receiving the attention of the government authorities, and there is a prospect of decided improvement in the standard of these schools. One of the defects of these liceos is the fact that the number of pupils in each is so great that it is impossible for the masters to hear all the recitations of each pupil, or to give them individual attention in their studies.
In addition to the public schools and higher educational institutions maintained by the State, there are many private schools and colleges, which offer fairly good facilities for general and special educational training. The Catholic church provides many schools that are well equipped for primary education.
A weak feature of the educational system of Chile, which possesses many excellent and commendable qualities, is the fact that the State schools are crowded with pupils from the wealthy families, to the neglect and exclusion of the children of the poor. The result is the education of a class in which the majority are ambitious to engage in the professions, rather than in the trades, agricultural and commercial life.
What Chile needs for the development of her varied and rich resources is engineers, mechanics, and men trained in agricultural and commercial pursuits, instead of musicians, artists, professors and politicians, for whom the government is expected to provide employment.
The fact that over sixty per cent. of the populationis illiterate is due to various causes. The Chilean Roto is without ambition for himself or his family, and until education is made compulsory he will not attempt to lift his children above the low intellectual level in which he and his ancestors for generations have been content to live. He has yet to learn the importance to himself, to the State and society, of education, and mental training. Another drawback to primary education in the rural districts is the geographical and climatic conditions of the country. In many places the territory is sparsely settled and schoolhouses far apart. The country is mountainous, and in the winter season streams become raging torrents from the excessive rains, making journeys across country impossible for children of school age.