300 GUATEMALA. 
and teaching two hundred and forty-two pupils in the 
following branches : — 
Music and Oratory.66 pupils. 
Commerce.50 u 
Design.62 u 
Arts and Occupations.55 “ 
A school for deaf-mutes has nine pupils. The Poly¬ 
technic School is under the direction of the Minister of 
War, and has eighty pupils. It is interesting to note that 
the system of marks in use in this institution has recently 
been adopted in Harvard University. 
While I am aware that a mere table of numbers, a cen¬ 
sus of pupils and teachers, even if illustrated with the 
courses pursued and the instruments for instruction, can¬ 
not convey to my readers a fair understanding of the re¬ 
sults accomplished by the system of public education in 
Guatemala, I may be permitted to say that I have for six 
years performed with attention my duties on the school- 
board of one of the largest cities in the North, and my 
interest in the subject of education led me to examine the 
schools of this Southern city, with constant comparisons 
with the type most familiar to me ; and the conclusion to, 
which I arrived was that the system in Guatemala was 
excellently suited to the country and people, that the 
Government had done better than my own Government in 
the North, and if the results were not in every case all 
that could be desired, it was not the fault of schools or 
teachers. I have examined both public and private 
schools, containing both ladino and Indian children, and 
have found many well-instructed boys and girls, but never 
the execrable system of cramming so much in vogue at 
the North. I did not see the sallow, pimply, stooping, 
