Some phases of educational progress in Latin America

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF EDUCATION
BULLETIN, 1919, No. 59
WALTER A. MONTGOMERY
SPECIALIST IN FOREIGN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS BUREAU OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1920
ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 10 CENTS PER COPY
By Walter A. Montgomery,
Specialist in Foreign Educational Systems, Bureau of Education .
One of the most interesting aspects of the school situation in Central America and Panama is the important position occupied by commercial and industrial education in the courses of study of many institutions. Public men and teachers in Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama have taken into account the need of offering to the new generation an education which shall be completely practical, with the purpose of turning the thoughts and energies of all the youth to fruitful service of their country.
The teaching of arts and crafts, as well as that of commerce and agriculture, was formerly not begun, as in the United States, upon the student’s entering the secondary school, though there has for some time been a movement to make such instruction a part of the work of the advanced classes in the primary schools, to be continued in the liceo and the normal schools.
This universal interest in practical lines of education is a striking indication of the influences and tendencies now at work in Central America. In the different countries included under this designation there are schools and academies, workshops and laboratories, intended for the practical education of the student body. When it is remembered that the introduction of practical and industrial education in the school régime of Central America is a matter of the past few years, the progress realized is regarded as highly satisfactory. The rapid increase of the commerce of Central America, the improvement in the means of intercommunication, the travels of its people abroad, the influence of foreign elements in its territory, and the various interests thus awakened have aroused in the interior of the Republics composing it the belief that national greatness in modern times must rest upon economic and industrial foundations. The influx of foreign capital and the consequent establishment of powerful industrial enterprises have likewise emphasized the necessity of training men for work in such enterprises. The introduction of modern machinery, the increase of the different forms of the application of steam, the adoption of the inventions intended to gather up the results of labor, and numerous similar influences have given rise to a tremendous demand in this part of the continent for skilled and reliable mechanics. Central America has thus addressed itself with enthusiasm to the task of training the children of its schools for the activities of the present day.