for at the last date for which figures are available there were 36 secondary establishments with nearly 5,000 pupils, and 65 schools for professional instruction with 9,000 students, of which 3,800 were women. This last statement shows how thoroughly modernised the educational movement has become in the Republic. A quarter of a century ago, Mexican women would never have dreamed nor have been desirous of participating in the benefits of the higher education, but now their keenness to embrace professional careers is intense. It is, of course, extremely probable that the relative proximity and example of their Northern neighbours in the United States, where female education has made such advances, has had much to do with their enlightenment, for many Mexican women, like their brothers, are now educated in the United States, whence they return with the most modern opinions regarding instruction, erudition, and general culture.
The curriculum of the Mexican public schools is carefully graded. In the preparatory departments, Spanish grammar, arithmetic, natural science, the history of his native land, practical geometry and drawing, The
Curriculum. and singing are taught the boy, as well as gymnastics and physical drill. These last two items are replaced in the girls' curriculum by sewing and embroidery. In the higher grades, English is compulsory. Religious education is wisely banned from the schools of Mexico, for the terror of priestly interference and domination has burned itself so deeply into Mexican memory that there is no desire to encourage a recurrence of these evils. In the place of religion there is instruction in moral precepts and civic ethics. Stress is laid on the virtues of temperance—instruction that is sadly necessary in Mexico, where the ravages of the national beverage may be witnessed on every hand—and the children are taught to be good citizens and good Mexicans. Many of the schools have their temperance societies, and as far as is possible the teachers are drawn from the ranks of total abstainers. The children appear happy and contented,
