sign in sign up
<<
Home , Education in Puerto Rico, History of Puerto Rico

colonialism has shaped in U.S. since 1898, the year the United States went to war against in Cuba and the .1 In the Age of Empire, the United States had strategic reasons for seeking overseas in the Caribbean and Pacific. Spain was a declining empire that had progressively lost its overseas throughout the nineteenth centu- Colonial Lessons: ry. The Caribbean region, the site of a future isth- mian canal, was key to U.S. goals of economic and The Politics of military expansion. The 1898 war, notwithstanding objections from anti-imperialists, provided a timely opportunity for U.S. expansionists in government and industry. 2 Education in As part of its war against the Spanish in Cuba, the United States invaded the island of Puerto Rico on July 25, 1898. The war ended on December 10, 1898, Puerto Rico, when both nations signed the . The agreement transferred ownership of Spanish colo- nies in the Caribbean and the Pacific to the United 1898–1930 States. The United States thus emerged as an over- seas empire holding sovereignty over the islands of Solsiree del Moral Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines, and .3 Although the war ended in 1898, suffered under U.S. military occupation until 1900. The island’s political leaders were denied the right to participate in the 1898 Peace Treaty deliberations and in the 1900 U.S. Congressional debates and approval of the . With this act, the U.S.

40 The American Historian | May 2018 PHOTO BY THE KHEEL CENTER (HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/KHEELCENTER/5279540270) UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS 2.0 LICENSE (CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/2.0/). males. not by if law, practice in to white restricted, was chise law. Crow Jim fran governed relations and U.S. race the who under enjoyed protection equal U.S. citizens formation of imply full-fledged the Americanization the United States. the members of as themselves to imagine and island on the for advocate to and U.S. love, colonialism support, girls and school boys Rican Puerto young to teach was goal of public education, the case the In system. U.S. federal into the Rico of Puerto integration military and political, (1898–1930). economic, for the called Americanization Rico Puerto twentieth-century early in policies nial version of liberalism and citizenship that, in practice, did did practice, in that, citizenship and version of liberalism to a to aspire them teaching meant schoolchildren Rican of the Unitedof States. the vote president for who the cannot U.S. citizens are island on the residing Even 1948. today, Ricans until Puerto island’s their to elect notdid right have the residents same the yet overseas, wars American in fight deploy to and them U.S. military into the Ricans Puerto ship.conscript to right The the governmenthad U.S. citizen of second-class atype was this beginning, the From Rico. residents of to island-born Puerto citizenship U.S. Jones granting the Act, passed U.S. Congress the relationship. 1917 In one acolonial each reinforcing would follow, acts congressional important Other Rico. government Puerto for civil first the created Congress and Native Americans. and Americans African as well as immigrants, European applied byways to U.S. different recent educators in It been had Era. not Progressive new to was the ideology mented in Puerto Rico. mented Puerto in before imple it was century afull for almost system school Hawaiian the educators and in U.S. missionaries The ideology of Americanization guided colo guided U.S. Americanization of The ideology members of the United States. and to imagine themselves as U.S. colonialism on the island colonialism the on U.S. school boys and girls to love, 8 The Americanization of brown and black Puerto Puerto and black of brown Americanization The education, the goal was to teach young Puerto Rican support, and advocate for In the case of public 5 Americanization as an educational educational an as Americanization 4 6 7 It had also been practiced by practiced been It also had In none of these examples did did examples none In of these - - - - test to be eligible to work in the colonial schools. colonial to work the eligible to be in test English-language an to were pass teachers required in the . English the in teach they would that did not mean English in fluency nity leaders. nity commu emerged as and schools, local were ran literate, They capital. have wealthy, been cultural had but they hierarchy.may class They island’s not the group in diate or interme class represented teachers amiddle to Rican Puer Local schools. colonial local from 1920s graduates anew generation as of well 1910s as of and U.S. arrival, time educators at teachers the who been had were local of Education Department by the of recruited teachers ity racial and gender and exclusion. racial of hierarchy arigid maintained anation that as States ed Unit the experienced and colleges, schools, U.S. boarding in who studied Ricans Puerto not exist. In a Spanish-speaking country, where the majority majority country, where the aSpanish-speaking In of Americanization. goals to the challenges great the one of became language Spanish the in literacy ing to teach commitment teachers’ and to them, value the Americanization campaign. Americanization the to lead of U.S. missionaries, tradition the in Rico, Puerto to come U.S. were teachers to invited First, strategies. two force through teaching island’s the to transform ture legisla Rican Puerto the ofers education worked with commission Initially, for support U.S.and colonialism. U.S. history, English, responsiblewould be for teaching who teachers force. It local for was teaching asuitable need their was schools Rican Puerto Americanizing in norm. considered the was Ricans for Puerto citizenship work in workshops and the fields. work workshops the and in to not returned beforeor become literate might they school formight attended only acouple They of years. century twentieth early the in children, rural cially classroom reached 4,451 reached classroom by 1930. the in teachers 1910,in Rican of number Puerto the and Education employedof TheDepartment 1,623 teachers 1910, in students to 221,189 doubling more than by 1930. 1910 almost to 3,273100,000 by 1930.served schools The of 522ber from government-owned grew in classrooms The schools. num urban and of number rural growing force proved teaching inadequate. pro-American a to create efforts early These mainland. on the institutes teaching summer or attended universities and colleges U.S. in studied graduates of number local A smaller schools. industrial American African and American United at Native States the in to study students Rican Puerto gifted were to of allow ber created scholarships They were also Spanish speakers. Public school Public speakers. Spanish also They were One of the first challenges U.S. colonial educators faced colonial U.S. challenges first One of the A large number of teachers were required to staff the of to were number staff teachers A large required 12 May 2018 | The American Historian 41 Historian 2018May American |The 14 Most school children, espe Most school children, 9 A second-class version of of version second-class A 10 11 Second, a small num asmall Second, In the end, the major the end, the In 15 English was of little little of was English 13 But But ------of teachers were native Spanish speakers, teaching Finally, although teachers were public employees who English fluency, or trying to transform Spanish speak- were denied the right to express or advocate for any ers into fluent English speakers, was a losing battle. political position in the classroom, their writings and This U.S. vision of creating English-speaking support- speeches demonstrate that they understood Puerto ers of U.S. colonialism, known as “tropical Yankees,” Rico’s colonial status to be temporary. They saw no rea- saw very limited success.16 son to promote U.S. citizenship. Instead, they advocated There were several other reasons Americanization for the regeneration of their students and the island, not could not succeed if it depended on local teachers to for a cultural assimilation or political annexation to the transmit its values. Many Puerto Rican teachers had United States.18 Puerto Rican teachers, therefore, posed a their own vision for their students, schools, communi- significant challenge to the U.S. colonial administrators’ ties, and island, and it did not prioritize Americaniza- Americanization goals. They would not be the ones to tion. As the public school system expanded, teachers transform students into English speakers and U.S. patri- united to create an island-wide union and professional ots. Rather, they helped students gain literacy in Spanish organization, the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico and learn Puerto Rican history. Although there were (AMPR). First, the teachers’ union leadership, influenced no doubt teachers who were sympathetic to the proj- by neo-Lamarckian eugenic understandings, promoted ect of Americanization and English-only instruction, the “regeneration” of their students.17 Regenerating the apparently they kept their opinions to themselves. The Puerto Rican people (the raza) meant promoting healthy minutes of the AMPR meetings and publications record and sanitary practices in the home and schools. The no instances of support for Americanization.19 teaching leadership viewed modern education as a tool While these were some of the obvious differences in in their quest to help families and the island progress the goals of Puerto Rican teachers and colonial adminis- and modernize. The goal of regenerating the student trators, they shared others.20 Both called for more public body, and by extension the family and home, focused on schools and better education and training for public the needs of the island and its people. Teachers wanted to school teachers. Both identified the classroom as one rebuild the Puerto Rican people and cultivate future cit- of the most important locations where children could izens of the island patria, children who would be proud learn, evolve, progress, and modernize. And both shared of their culture, heritage, and history. This goal clashed the hope that the new generation of children educated with Americanization, for the AMPR leadership was not in public schools would take that knowledge into their preparing brown and black students for a subordinate homes and communities and generate a vast transfor- place in the U.S. racial hierarchy. mation throughout the island. In many ways, teachers found ways to overlap with colonial administrators in their shared goals for teaching literacy, health, hygiene, sanitation, , and home economics.21 The Americanization campaigns in Puerto Rico came Many Puerto Rican teachers to an end in the 1930s. The shifted the goals of U.S. colonial officials away from Americaniza- had their own vision for tion to economic reconstruction. Since the 1930s, each their students, schools, generation of local teachers has been forced to negotiate their goals with those of the island’s commissioner of communities, and island, education. There are several lessons we can learn from and it did not prioritize the experience of the early-twentieth-century education debates on the island. One of the most important is that Americanization. the role of local teachers is critical. While commissioners and other high-ranking administrators have education goals that reflect the interests of the ruling political party, those goals cannot be put into practice without the collaboration of local teachers. Teachers, therefore, In addition, the AMPR held annual competitions that must be included in deliberations from the very begin- promoted the creation of Puerto Rican history texts for ning. Their knowledge about local assets and goals must use in the classroom. These teachers did not surrender be at the heart of larger educational debates. In the early the responsibility of creating Puerto Rico–centric school twentieth century, local teachers and US colonial admin- texts to the U.S. colonial commissioners of education. istrators sometimes collaborated and at other times COURTESY

42 The American Historian | May 2018 disagreed. During the first three decades of US colonial in the local school system. Her goals stand in sharp con- rule, U.S. educators were confident in their ability to set trast to those of local educators. The Puerto Rico Teach- the agenda. Puerto Rican teachers, who advanced their ers’ Association and the Teachers’ Federation of Puerto own visions, taught them that schooling in Puerto Rico Rico have challenged Keleher’s enthusiasm for structural has always been a carefully negotiated process. reform and privatization. Surviving a fiscal crisis and the Today’s teachers carry this heritage into their contem- deep trauma of , teachers, parents and porary struggle to maintain control over their class- students are fighting for their communities and against rooms, schools, and communities. In 2017 the governor structural reform.22 Secretary Keleher can learn from the of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Roselló Nevares, appointed Julia mistakes of U.S. colonial administrators before her, who Keleher secretary of education. Roselló is the leader of tried to reform a school system without the consent of the New Progressive Party (PNP), which advocates for local educators. The Americanization goals of the early U.S. statehood or the radical integration of Puerto Rico twentieth century were limited, divisive, and ineffective. into the U.S. federal system. Like the U.S. colonial com- If they are to avoid the mistakes of the past, U.S. colo- missioners of education that came before her, secretary nial officials today must center teachers’ visions at the Keleher has been rejected by teachers, who consider her heart of the school project if they are to achieve effective an outsider who has little connection to or investment reform. TAH

ENDNOTES

1. Before 1898, Puerto Rico was a Spanish for 400 years. Arturo Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History (1983); James L. Dietz, Economic : Institutional Change and Capitalist Development (1986). On the history of U.S. wars in Cuba and the Philippines, see Louis A. Pérez, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (2015); Paul A. Kramer, The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines (2006). 2. Walter LaFeber, The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898 (1963); Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano, eds., Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State (2009). 3. César J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabé, Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History since 1898 (2007). 4. José Trías Monge, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (1997); Charles Venator-Santiago, Puerto Rico and the Origins of U.S. Global Empire: The Disembodied Shade (2015); Harry Franqui-Rivera, Soldiers of the Nation: Military Service and Modern Puerto Rico, 1868–1952 (2018). 5. Aida Negrón de Montilla, La americanización de Puerto Rico y el sistema de instrucción pública, 1900–1930 (1990). 6. David Wallace Adams, Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875– 1928 (1995); Brenda J. Child, Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900–1940 (1998); K. Tsianina Lomawaima, They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of the Chilocco Indian School (1994); James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935 (1988). 7. Noenoe K. Silva, Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism (2004). 8. George M. Fredrickson, Racism: A Short History (2002). 9. Pablo Navarro-Rivera, “The Imperial Enterprise and Educational Policies in Colonial Puerto Rico,” in Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State, ed. Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano, (2009) 163–74. 10. Elisabeth Eittreim, The Teachers’ Dilemma: Gender, Education, and Empire, 1879–1918 (2015). 11. Juan José Osuna, A in Puerto Rico (1949), p. 628. 12. Solsiree Del Moral, Negotiating Empire: The Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898–1952 (2013). 13. For a brief history of English-language policies and debates, see Solsiree del Moral, “Language and Empire: Elizabeth Kneipple’s Colonial History of Puerto Rico,” CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, forthcoming. 14. Pedro Angel Cebollero, A School Language Policy for Puerto Rico (1945); José Osuna, A History of ; Luis Muñiz Souffront, El problema del idioma en Puerto Rico: esfuerzos de la Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico para alcanzar la solución del problema (1950). endnotes continued on next page ▶

May 2018 | The American Historian 43 15. International Institute of Teachers College, Columbia , A Survey of the Public Educational System of Porto Rico (1926). 16. José-Manuel Navarro, Creating Tropical Yankees: Social Science Textbooks and US Ideological Control in Puerto Rico, 1898–1908 (2002). 17. Nancy Stepan, “The Hour of Eugenics”: Race, Gender, and Nation in (1991). 18. Del Moral, Negotiating Empire. 19. “Libro de actas, 1910–1915, Libro #1” and “Libro de actas, Asambleas anuales, 1916 al 1925, Libro #4,” Private Archives of the Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, San Juan; La revista escolar de Puerto Rico/Porto Rico School Review (PRSR), 1919–1929. There was, nevertheless, at least one Puerto Rican administrator who supported Americanization. Juan B. Huyke is the only one that appears in the documentation. See Negrón de Montilla, La americanización and Del Moral, “Language and Empire.” 20. For another example of local negotiations of U.S. colonialism, see Antonio Sotomayor, The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico (2016). 21. While teachers and administrators shared these larger ideas about the universal value of education, there was great disagreement in the details. For example, Puerto Rican and U.S. teachers worked together to create a home economics curriculum. In the end, Puerto Rican teachers rejected U.S. teachers’ inability to adapt the curriculum to local needs. The use of a modern kitchen and appliances is a case in point. Puerto Rican teachers complained this particular focus was a waste of time and misdirected. The that lack of electricity, indoor plumbing, and pov- erty meant many rural households, for example, found themselves excluded from this version of home economics. See writings by Lorenza Brunet del Valle. In addition to the debates between Puerto Rican and U.S. educators, in the 1920s there were emerging disagreements within the local teaching force due to generation and gender differ- ences. See Del Moral, Negotiating Empire. 22. Frances Robles, “Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis Claims Another Casualty: Its Schools,” New York Times, May 10, 2017; Nick Brown, “Puerto Rico Governor Announces Public Education Overhaul, Reuters, Feb. 5, 2018; Adrian Florido, “Puerto Rico and Its Teachers’ Union Clash over Proposed Charter Schools,” National Public Radio, March 2, 2018.

125 YEARS OF PUBLISHING STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Nisei Naysayer NOW IN PAPERBACK NOW IN PAPERBACK The Memoir of Militant The Long Afterlife Jimmy Carter in Africa Japanese American Journalist of Nikkei Wartime Race and the Cold War Jimmie Omura Incarceration Nancy Mitchell James Matsumoto Omura Karen M. Inouye COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL Edited by Arthur A. Hansen HISTORY PROJECT ASIAN AMERICA COPUBLISHED WITH THE ASIAN AMERICA CENTER PRESS sup.org stanfordpress.typepad.com

44 The American Historian | May 2018