Higher Education in Puerto Rico

Abstract

A N EXAMPLE of great faith in the belief that education is capable of solving all political and social problems is to be found in the little island of Puerto Rico, formerly a colonial possession, but now a self-governing Free Commonwealth closely associated with the United States. During a day of flag-raising and parading, July 25, i952, the Island's 2,250,000 people celebrated the adoption of their new constitution, which became effective exactly fifty-four years from the day the United States troops landed on Puerto Rico in the SpanishAmerican War. The Constitutionaccepted in a referendum by the people, approved by the United States Congress, and signed by the President-put the internal affairs of the Island completely in the hands of its elected lawmakers. It abolished the power of the United States Congress to repeal insular laws, took away from the United States President the power to appoint such local officials as auditors and supreme court justices, and left the way open for eventual statehood. Governor Luis Munioz Marnn, who had been active in establishing the Constitution ever since he became Puerto Rico's first elected governor in I948, said that with the new order colonialism comes to and end in the Island. Strong impetus to the movement which led to this important finale was furnished by the willingness of the American Government to make the Puerto Ricans first-class citizens of the United States in recognition of their rapid educational advancement in recent years and their eagerness to utilize their rising educational achievements in solving their political, social, and economic problems. The explanation of the difficulties Puerto Rico has faced can be found in the history of the Island and in its lack of natural resources. Four hundred years of Spanish rule left Puerto Rico in bad economic straits. Culturally, it is still basically Spanish, though the last half-century has brought about a gradual infiltration of American ideas. Spanish, the language of the Island, is used in the schools, but English is a required subject (and is taught with some queer results so far as the King's English is concerned). The social structure is rather simple-a large lower class, and a small middle class trying to imitate the way of life of the few rich, the local elite, whose status is determined by prestige deriving from family, especially a long line of Spanish ancestry. Well-to-do individuals and members of the middle classes visit the United States periodically (usu-