SPAIN OF TO-DAY 9 



country. The close-fisted, hard-headed Spanish peasant has 

 old-fashioned notions about the necessity of reading and writ- 

 ing, and will not tax himself to maintain schools, and still 

 less to pay large salaries to teachers, especially in the primary 

 grades. For this reason teaching in Spain is not an attractive 

 profession, and arouses no enthusiasm outside the large cities. 

 The subjects usually taught in the primary schools are: Chris- 

 tian Doctrine. Spanish language, reading, writing, grammar, 

 arithmetic, geography and history, drawing, singing, manual 

 training, and bodily exercises. In city schools the elementary 

 notions of geometry, physical science, chemistry, and physi- 

 ology are taught. 



The teacher of the lowest primary grade in a country school 

 begins with the magnificent salary of 500 pesetas, or $100 a 

 year. He can be advanced by gradations of 200 pesetas, until 

 he receives 1,500 pesetas; after that the places are all subject 

 to competitive examination (oposicion). The highest places 

 are in Madrid and Barcelona, where the best-paid teachers get 

 1,500 pesetas, or $500. Secondary education is provided by 

 what are called institiitos, analogous to our high schools. To 

 enter children must be at least eleven years of age and pass an 

 entrance examination. These institutos have a five to six 

 years' course, and are expected to prepare for an elementary, 

 professional, or a university course. Then come the normal 

 schools, the professional schools, and the nine universities. The 

 number of university students in 1907 was 16,500. The educa- 

 tion of women is also progressing. In 1907 twenty- two women 

 students passed through the universities ; in the same year 1,076 

 women passed through the school of arts and industries ; and 

 in 1908 this number rose to 1,315. In the normal schools in 

 1907 some 2,241 schoolmistresses graduated; in 1908 there 

 were 3,584 women on the list. These refer wholly to the gov- 

 ernmental public schools. Besides these, there are the pri- 

 vate schools, managed in part by religious congregations, and 

 in part by laymen (both Catholic and otherwise) concerning 

 which I have no adequate figures as to salaries and service. 



Spain is a nation of small holders of real property, and has 

 but comparatively few holders of large estates. Perhaps to 

 this is due in a measure its poverty, for it is the small land- 

 owners rather than the manufacturer or trader who predomi- 

 nates. Oi the 3,426,083 recorded assessments to the real prop- 



