Bolivia

Long after the successful War of Independence had given political freedom to South America, and republican rule had been established in every Spanish-speaking country from the Caribbean Sea to Cape Horn, the deleterious effects of the restricted system of education which Spain had imposed on her colonies through nearly three centuries were still to be noted in the habits of thought prevailing among the people as a whole. Inherited tendencies must be held responsible for the inadequate standard of national culture which governed the South American republics more or less until within a comparatively recent period. Considering the enormous obstacles which had to be overcome, evolution has been rapid under the stimulating influence of national liberty, and to-day there are few South American countries in which popular sentiment has not outgrown the purely theoretical tendency of the antiquated Spanish system of education, with its class distinctions and limited scope. From time immemorial the power of Spain had been represented by the Church and the army, and education was for centuries held in esteem only as it promoted the influence of the one and the prestige of the other. It is not surprising, therefore, that its compass was narrowly limited, and that it was of a character little adapted to popular needs. Religious and military training received careful attention, but the masses of the people were entirely neglected in the provision made for general education. The entire Spanish system had, besides, such a pronounced tendency to develop theoretical knowledge exclusive of its practical application, that the result was a superfluity of orators, poets, and philosophers, but comparatively few scientists, inventors, or geniuses in the art of construction. It is true that under the Spanish system the celebrated University of San Francisco Xavier flourished in the capital of the Audiencia of Charcas, now Sucre, and that to its students is to be attributed the first revolutionary movement in favor of South American liberty; but in contrast with the few brilliant examples of intellectual vigor and enterprise brought into prominence through the events of the War of the Independence there were thousands of sentimental dreamers in the various colleges of the viceroyalties, who, educated in the prevailing ideas of those days, absorbed knowledge as it was given to them, without evincing any evidence of mental initiative, and without contributing anything of value to the cause of human progress.

The University of San Francisco Xavier is famous as having been one of the few notable exceptions to the inefficiency of educational institutions in the Spanish colonies; for, although its curriculum of studies followed the limited system of Spanish education in general, yet it developed superior intellectual quality, and its graduates adorned the highest circles of learning in America and Europe. The university was founded in the year 1623, in accordance with the same rules and enjoying the same privileges as the University of Salamanca of Spain, which is one of the oldest and was at one time the most celebrated of all European institutions of learning. The establishment of universities in America began within fifty years after the conquest, the first, that of Lima, being founded by a royal decree, granted in 1551 to a friar of the Dominican order, who was afterward the first Bishop of Chuquisaca. The Universities of Lima and Mexico, the latter founded a few years after that of Lima, constituted the only advanced institutions of learning in America for many years, although, in order to attend to the necessities of the Church and to avoid annoyance and expense to students living at a great distance, concessions for the opening of others began early to be granted to the religious orders, and bishops were permitted to confer academic degrees on scholars who had studied a certain number of years in Dominican and Jesuit colleges. The Universities of Quito, Bogotá, Córdova, and Chuquisaca were founded in quick succession. According to chronicles of the times, the studies pursued in these universities were limited to a knowledge of Latin, the students devoting themselves especially to the study of poetry and philosophy, including logic, theology, ethics, metaphysics, and kindred subjects. The extraordinary power which the University of San Francisco Xavier wielded in South American politics at the beginning of the nineteenth century is attributed partly to the advantages of its location, and partly to the peculiar character it developed under the influence of rich criollos, many of whom were descendants of those belligerent Vicuñas who in an earlier period had so persistently demonstrated their patriotic antipathy to the avaricious Vascongado Spaniards, gradually gaining advantages over them, and compelling them to recognize native rights in the distribution of the enormous wealth of Potosí and Chuquisaca, much of which finally found its way into the pockets of the criollos. Remote from the domination of the viceroy, and gradually increasing in power as the combined possession of wealth and intellectual acumen became more effective to carry out its plans, this remarkable institution finally succeeded in making its influence felt in every act of the government, whether through the Audiencia, the Cabildo, or the Church. It achieved a distinction and a destiny which could only have been possible to a people of innate independence of character and great mental vigor, capable of appreciating and dominating the enormous influence of Church and state, which was at that time arrayed against patriotic principles. The national characteristics, which were so conspicuous in the acts of the revolutionary criollos, have been no less apparent in the events marking the progress of the republic, which, even in its stormiest period, has continued to reflect the activity of vigorous health, requiring only the wise direction of mature judgment to control abundant mental and moral force. And mature judgment is not so much a question of years as of education.

Under the modern system of education which Bolivia has adopted, in common with the most advanced South American countries, many long-cherished ideals have been swept aside. The aim of the present government is to provide instruction suited to the demands of the day; and in doing so it has been necessary to reorganize the educational system, leaving out those features which belonged rather to a sentimental past than to the urgent present, and adopting others distinctly modern and progressive. The national edifice of learning had become overgrown with accumulated traditions, which had to be brushed away to give better opportunity for the remodelling of the structure as modern needs demanded, even though regret sometimes accompanied the banishment of those charming relics of historic association which cling about every ancient institution.

By a supreme decree, issued in 1903, the promotion of national culture in Bolivia, general, scientific, literary, and artistic, is intrusted to the minister of public instruction. Under his direction the educational system has been centralized as far as possible, with excellent results, already showing a marked tendency to unity of method and general progress. The country is divided into seven university districts, corresponding to the seven departmental divisions. La Paz, Oruro, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Potosí, Santa Cruz, and the Beni, each district being under the jurisdiction of a University Council, authorized to supervise its public instruction, under the direction of a rector, deans, and directors of secondary instruction, of whom the council is composed. In the interests of primary instruction, each council has a special inspector. Education is free and obligatory; and instruction is divided into two classes, general and special. General instruction is embraced in three grades, primary, secondary, and superior, or professional; while special instruction provides for training in the arts and sciences, and in commercial and industrial branches.

The importance given to primary instruction under the present government augurs well for educational progress in general, as the attention paid to this branch in any country is an infallible index to the character and degree of culture attained by the nation as a whole. It is not in the university, but in the public school that the average amount of talent is to be found the world over; and that nation which can show the highest average is further advanced in progress than the one which can produce the most distinguished examples of university scholarship. Bolivia, in directing especial attention to her primary schools as a means of raising the average of mental culture in all classes throughout the republic, is demonstrating her serious determination to march in line with the most progressive countries, and to establish a new epoch in national development. With this object in view, commissions have been appointed by the government to study primary school methods in other countries, new school buildings have been erected and older buildings have been enlarged and improved to meet the growing needs, and purchases have been made, chiefly in the United States, of textbooks, desks, charts, and other requisites for primary teaching. Many of these purchases have been destined to the use of travelling teachers, who distribute them among the Indians, the government manifesting a firm desire, as the president stated in his last annual message, to have the Indians incorporated in the programme of national culture. Frankly and fearlessly, the government is laboring to extend the benefits of education throughout the length and breadth of the land, appealing to the people to lend their coöperation in the establishment of better educational laws, declaring, with its usual clear-sighted judgment, that education is the basis and foundation of national prosperity, and that, in Bolivia, “the great deficiencies which embarrass free and positive progress arise out of the inefficacy of the national education.” When the need of a reform is so boldly recognized, and the chief authorities of the nation deliberately set themselves to the task of improvement, the outlook is very hopeful, especially when, as in this country, public opinion is constantly growing in sympathy with the efforts of the executive power.

Primary, or, as it is sometimes termed, popular, education is in charge of the municipal councils, with the exception of the escuelas fiscales, or fiscal schools, which are maintained by the state. It embraces three courses and is completed in three years, there being nearly eight hundred primary schools in the republic, with an average attendance of forty thousand pupils. The annual appropriation for primary education is about six hundred thousand bolivianos. According to recent statistics, the department of Cochabamba shows a higher average of primary school attendance than any other district, Chuquisaca ranking second and La Paz third, in proportion to population. The attendance at private schools and mission settlements is not included in the foregoing statement, of which the statistics are incomplete. Secondary education embraces the instruction given in colleges and other institutions which are under the direct control of the universities, and it is entirely maintained by the state. Seven years complete the instruction provided, the first year being entirely preparatory, while the remaining six are given to general high school work, the graduate receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, which entitles him to enter any of the professional courses given in the universities. The appropriation for secondary instruction is one hundred thousand bolivianos per annum, the attendance being about three thousand, distributed among eight colleges, five theological seminaries, and a number of private schools. Superior or professional instruction is given in three courses, of which law requires five years for completion, medicine seven years, and theology four years. Law is one of the courses given in all the universities; medicine and theology are included in the courses of study in the University of San Francisco Xavier and in the universities of La Paz and Cochabamba; a course in theology is also given in the University of Tarija, and Pichincha College of Potosí has a full curriculum of studies. The famous University of San Francisco Xavier is still a leading educational institution of the country, having in the law faculty five professors and about one hundred students, in the faculty of medicine six professors and fifty students, and in that of theology two professors and twenty-five students. The College of Junín, the Theological Seminary of Sucre, and the Córdova Lyceum prepare students for this university, the rector of which, Señor Dr. Ignacio Terán, is one of the leading educators of Bolivia, esteemed for his superior intellectual talent, not only in his own country, but abroad. Dr. Terán has contributed to the national literature several important treatises on education, besides which he has made a scientific study of various subjects relating to South American geography and history, as shown by his interesting works, El Gran Cataclismo, Diluvio Universal y Tiahuanaco, and others of a similar character. He has always stood in the foreground of the struggle in favor of modern educational methods, having been one of the first to recognize the importance of the present system of unity in school government, in the use of textbooks, etc., which he advocated years ago under the name of the sistema gradual concentrico. There have been comparatively few contributors of note to the educational literature of Bolivia, though important treatises have been written on various scientific subjects by leading professors of the universities and by scholars of note, among others Don Samuel Ugarte, author of a work on chemistry, Señor Davalos, whose treatise on the light and heat of the sun has been translated into several foreign languages, Don Rafael Peña, Don Demetrio Calvimonte, Don Emilio Molina, Don E. Villamil de Rada, author of La Lengua de Adan, who is considered the first philologist of South America, Don Facundo Quiroga, Señor Vila, Señor Andrade y Portugal, and others. General Camacho has written important works on military instruction. The Revista Universitaria, which is published monthly under the auspices of the University of San Francisco Xavier, is probably the most important educational periodical in Bolivia.

By a supreme decree issued on February 19, 1906, preparatory engineering was added to the other courses given in the University of La Paz, marking the tendency toward a practical application of university training in its broadest sense. The present rector of the university, Dr. Manuel B. Mariaca, has accomplished a great deal through his indefatigable efforts to promote the interests of intellectual culture in Bolivia. He is one of the leading men of his country, and has contributed much to its educational progress. He is president of the Medical Society of La Paz. Prominent among national educators, Dr. Rodolfo Soria Galvarro, rector of the university of Oruro, possesses the versatile intellectuality which distinguishes many of the brilliant leaders of his country. He is a diplomat and an orator, as well as an educator, and writes with facility and in vigorous style on a variety of subjects. The University of Oruro has attained a higher degree of learning under his direction than ever before.

In all the universities of Bolivia especial attention has been paid to the study of law, and graduates in this course are to be counted among the best jurists that South America has produced. It may even he said that this branch of university education has been promoted at the expense of others, though the tendency to give it undue importance is growing less as educators recognize more and more the necessity for directing the intellectual energies into various channels rather than concentrating all effort along any one line. The science of medicine attracts an increasing number of students each year, and the outlook is promising for a greatly improved standard in this profession in Bolivia.

When the Jesuits founded the University of San Francisco Xavier, philosophy and theology were the only studies included in the curriculum. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from all the Spanish possessions, in 1767, when it became necessary to reorganize the university, the proctor at that time, Don Martin de Mendoza, asked of the Junta de Temporalidades: “that four professorships of theology be established, including prime, vespers, holy scripture, and dogmatic theology; that two each be devoted to philosophy, canons, law, art, and Latinity, and one each to medicine and mathematics; that the printing press used in Córdova del Tucuman be brought to Chuquisaca in order that the university may be advertised, and that the courses of study, sermons, allegations in law made by the Audiencia, and all kinds of matter written by the natives, whose extraordinary mental gifts remain unrecognized through lack of means to make them known, may be published and distributed abroad.” A royal decree of 1798 conceded the request, but the professorships in medicine and surgery were not established until after the inauguration of the republic, when, in 1826, Dr. Miguel Luna, the chief surgeon of the Liberating Army, and General Sucre’s personal friend and physician, opened the first class in medicine in this country, at Chuquisaca. An associate of Dr. Luna, Dr. Carlos Augusto Torrally, may be equally considered as the founder of Bolivian medicine. He was chief physician of the Hospital of Santa Barbara, of Sucre, for many years, and was noted for his advanced ideas. To his instruction Bolivia owes one of her greatest scholars in medicine, Dr. Manuel Cuellar, whose name is known throughout South America. The progress of education in medicine, as in all other studies, was retarded by unsettled political conditions, and medical colleges which were from time to time established in La Paz, Cochabamba, and other cities, during the first fifty years of the republic were of intermittent duration. Medical classes were held in the University of La Paz, in Junín College, Sucre, and in Cochabamba, but the work accomplished was of an uncertain character, notwithstanding the efforts of Dr. Cuellar, Dr. Ignacio Cordero, Dr. Pedro Ascarrunz, and others, who labored constantly to improve this branch of professional training. When, in 1866, the first classic models and skeletons were purchased by the government and placed in the medical schools of La Paz, Sucre, and Cochabamba, the acquisition was regarded as marking an epoch in the progress of medical instruction. Within the past ten years, however, phenomenal advances have been made. The Instituto Médico Sucre, of which Dr. Valentin Abecia is president, has achieved fame throughout South America by the excellent work it has accomplished, especially in the bacteriological department. When the terrible epidemic of smallpox swept over Valparaiso a year ago and vaccine was sent from various countries to supply the urgent demand, it was found that the quality of that which was furnished by the Medical Institute of Sucre gave the most uniform and satisfactory results, as a letter of thanks from the Chilean authorities gratefully acknowledged. The Instituto Medico Sucre has, in addition to its well-equipped bacteriological laboratory, a museum of anatomical specimens and models which is one of the most complete in South America. Meteorology also receives attention, an office having been established for observations of this character in the same building as that occupied by the Instituto Médico Sucre.

The theology course, which is given in all the universities, is one that has occupied especial attention ever since the establishment of the first colleges in Spanish America. Its graduates have been counted among the most renowned scholars, as well as the most gifted orators, of the country. The seminaries and schools devoted to education in theology are among the important institutions of secondary and professional instruction. At the recent celebration in honor of the inauguration of the new edifice of the Seminario Conciliar de San Gerónimo in La Paz, the purpose of this class of schools was eloquently set forth in a brilliant address by the visiting papal legate, Monsignor Alexandro Bavona, who described the Seminario as the place “where those aspiring to the priesthood could educate themselves in meditation and study, make themselves docile by obedience, become transfigured by humility, and acquire that spiritual energy which will be an armor in the hard struggle of the ministry, to the end that, under the guardianship of virtue, they may penetrate that holy of holies, the conscience, and make fruitful the precious seeds of redemption.” The Seminario Conciliar, the oldest college in La Paz, was originally founded in 1674, under the name of San Gerónimo, by a bishop of the Franciscan order, though it was later submitted to the direction of the Jesuits for many years. By a decree of the supreme government, issued in 1859, the college was placed again under diocesan authority, and installed in its present locality. Bishop Calixto Clavijo reconstructed the college at his own cost, establishing six classes in secondary instruction and four in theology, and at the present time this is one of the best institutions of learning in the republic. The average attendance is about three hundred. The college has its own printing press, in which the textbooks and other important works are published, a valuable library, and a conservatory of religious music. It has also a handsome chapel, where divine services are held, a universal feature of the educational institutions of Roman Catholic countries. The name of Bishop Calixto Clavijo is perpetuated in one of the most successful colleges founded in Bolivia within the past twenty years. In 1881 Bishop Clavijo sent to Lima for the Jesuits to come to La Paz and establish a college of secondary instruction, which was inaugurated in 1883 under the direction of Padre Antonio Perez, and with the title of Colegio San Calixto. The house which had once been the residence of General Santa Cruz was purchased for the college, and since that time, little by little, neighboring properties have been acquired and new additions built to the original structure, until now the college is a handsome edifice of three stories, with modern installations, well ventilated, and provided with everything required for the educational purposes of the institution. Acetylene gas is manufactured in the college for lighting. The attendance for 1906 was four hundred and fifty, including both boarding and day pupils. The instruction given embraces three years of preparatory work, six years of intermediate, and three commercial courses, if desired. The present director of the college is a distinguished scholar and linguist, speaking English and other languages with fluency. Not only in the establishment of the Colegio Seminario and the Colegio San Calixto is the energy of Bishop Clavijo in behalf of education to be noted: to his effort is also due the existence of the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones, which he founded in 1883, bringing twenty nuns from Europe at his own cost to direct the school. In addition to the subjects usually taught in convent schools, such as embroidery, languages, music, and composition, the pupils are instructed in hygiene, natural history, physics, and kindred subjects, and are trained to become teachers. Many young girls of the best families come from the various cities of the republic to attend this college, which has also free classes for the education of girls of all grades of society.

Under the head of special instruction the military schools of the republic are included, the Colegio Militar of La Paz, the Escuela de Clases, and the Academia de Guerra. In consequence of the recent military reorganization of the country, public interest has been stimulated regarding the national defence, and military instruction has received a marked impetus. One of the purposes of the government in paying especial attention to this branch of national education, aside from its military importance, is to promote athletic training and encourage the self-control and endurance which are developed under systematic discipline. In the Colegio Militar calisthenic drills are practised daily, the extensive grounds of the college being especially suited to such exercises. Target practice is provided for in a spacious polygon, the finest of its kind in Bolivia, which was constructed by the order of General Pando during his term of office as chief executive.

In a country which owes its chief wealth to the products of mining, it is natural that the system of education should include instruction in mining and metallurgy, and the present government has recently established colleges for this purpose in Oruro and Potosí, under the direction of expert mining engineers and metallurgists. In the historic building of the Mint the Potosí School of Mines has its classes, in rooms spacious and well lighted, under domes thirty-four feet high, and protected by walls of massive solidity. The Oruro School of Mines was inaugurated by the minister of public instruction on February 8, 1906. The director of this school, Señor A. F. Umlauff, is optimistic regarding its future, believing that the government will be fully recompensed, in results which can be foreseen from the beginning, for the efforts that are being made to establish this school on a sound basis, even at great expense. As it is not yet a year since the college was opened, the course of studies has not been perfected, but it will include mathematics and natural science as preparatory to later studies of a more specific character.

The principal industrial schools of Bolivia, called escuelas de artes y oficios, are under the management of the Salesian brotherhood of Don Bosco, who have colleges all over the world. In New York and Troy, in the United States, these schools have an extensive patronage, and in all South American capitals they are established on a successful basis. Buenos Aires has six of these schools; Brazil, Chile, and Peru have one or more in each of their larger cities; Sucre has one; and La Paz considers the Escuela Don Bosco as a most important factor in the instruction of the working classes, particularly as the system of teaching trades is effective and practical. The original founder of the schools, Don Bosco, lived in Turin, Italy, from 1815 to 1888. The Don Bosco college of La Paz has about two hundred and fifty pupils, who are engaged in practising some industrial art or trade, such as printing, bookbinding, shoemaking, tailoring, iron work, mosaic work, etc. The mosaics in the floors of the principal public buildings of La Paz were made by the pupils of the Don Bosco school. They study music and have a band of forty pieces. Frequently, concerts are given by them in the city. The Colegio Don Bosco was established in 1896, and has continued to show an increase in attendance every year. The director of the La Paz school is Dr. José M. Reyneri, who takes great pride, and with reason, in the excellent work of his classes. In bookbinding the school can present the highest examples of the tooling art. The college occupies an area of twenty thousand square mètres in the heart of the city, bordering the picturesque avenues of the Alameda. Its schoolrooms are spacious and airy, and the playgrounds particularly well laid out. Schools of agriculture and commercial colleges flourish under the present government, which sees in these institutions the realization of plans for development in the departments of national progress which have formerly been neglected.

The minister of instruction, in addition to the supervision which his department exercises over the institutions of education, is also in charge of the interests of national culture as it is represented in the public libraries, museums, archives, and scientific societies of the country. In 1838, General Santa Cruz ordered the installation of public libraries in all the departmental capitals, the principal ones being now in Sucre and La Paz. The Archivo Nacional is preserved in Sucre, and is said to be the most complete historical record in possession of any South American country. The Colegio Nacional and the Convent of San Francisco in Tarija have libraries of historic value, numbering about ten thousand volumes. In La Paz, the convents of San Francisco and the Recoleta have together about nine thousand volumes. The Seminario, the University, and the Colegio de Abogados, or law college, have fairly good libraries. The library of the Oficina Nacional de Inmigracion y Estadística contains nearly ten thousand volumes, and the geographic societies of Sucre and La Paz have valuable collections of books and pamphlets.

Bolivia is in the transition period of educational development, showing the influences both of past conditions and present aspirations, and it would not be fair to the present educational outlook to give, as indicative of existing conditions, the statistics that have been collected under a system of instruction entirely inadequate to the needs of a progressive people. The last statement of the Oficina Nacional de Inmigracion, Estadística y Propaganda Geografica, published six years ago, shows that only about three hundred thousand out of the entire population can read and write; but when it is considered that this number is equivalent to the population of unmixed European descent, it may be presumed that the illiteracy is confined chiefly to the Indians and mestizos. The sparsely settled country, the difficulties of intercommunication, inherited tendencies to look upon education as a right of privileged classes alone, have delayed progress in this direction, and the reforms which have recently been inaugurated in behalf of a broad national education require resolute determination to make them effective, especially in regions so remotely situated as are some of the interior school districts of Bolivia. But it is hoped that improved systems of communication will aid in bringing all sections within more accessible limits, and will contribute to facilitate the general efforts toward development. The vigor of a new intellectual force is apparent in the reorganization of public instruction; and a growing sense of the possibilities of national culture is bringing about a combined effort of the whole people toward a realization of higher intellectual ideals.