Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/203

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SPAIN


175


SPAIN


schools of architecture at Madrid and at Barcelona; veterinary schools at Madrid, Saragossa, Leon, Cor- dova, and Santiago (Corunna). There are fourteen Government schools of commerce, besides many in- dependent ones under Brothers of the Christian Schools, Marists, Jesuits, etc. Manual-training schools (Escuclas lie arles e indiistrias, or de artes y oficios) are of recent origin in Spain; the national government maintains thirteen of them and gives subventions to many others which arc supported by the municipalities or provincial governments. There are also schools of the fine arts, conservatories of music, etc. The military schools are: at Guadala- jara, for the Engineers; at Segovia, for the Artillery; at Valladolid, for the Cavalry; at Toledo, for the Infantry; at Avila, for the Army Service Corps (Ad- minislracidn Milit^r); at Madrid, for the Army Med- ical Corps; and again at Madrid, for the Staff (Eslado Mayor). Other institutions for military education are the College of the Guardias Civiles, at Valdemoro, that of the Carabineros, at the Escorial, etc. The schools of naval engineering and of marine artillery are at S. Fernando (Cadiz). There are schools and nautical institutes for the merchant marine, the practical examinations being under the supervision of the naval authorities. Preparation for teaching in the upper branches of literature is given in the normal schools established in the provincial capitals; the degrees are Maestro Elemcnlnl, Maestro Superior, and Maestro Xnrmal. A higher school of pedagogy has recently been opened at Madrid.

Ecclesiastical education, since the suppression of the theological faculties in the universities, has been given in the conciliar seminaries established in all the dioceses, as prescribed by the Council of Trent. In some dioceses there are also lesser seminaries, which prepare students for the greater. The universities now in existence are: Madrid (formerly Alcald), Sal- amanca. Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Valladolid, Valencia. Saragossa, Santiago, and Oviedo. In tlir last-named the only faculty in operation is that of law. There are intermediate schools in all the pro- vincial capitals, as well as others in certain other localities — Baeza, Cabra, Figueras, Gij6n, .lerez, Mahon, and Reus. The number of Government; primarj- schools is very inadequate; the deficiency, however, is compensated by the number of private and rehgious institutions. By the School Census of 1903, there were in Spain altogether 31,838 schools (20,324 for boys; 10,970 for girls; 544 for infants). The following statistics of pupils are taken from the Census of 1900:

Boys. Girls.

Pupils of the age of .i years 222.619 214.573

Pupils of the age of 6'years 214.174 215.737

Pupils of the age of 7 years 215,682 211.997

Pupils of the age of Svears 217.572 211.840

Pupils of the age of 9 years 195.675 193,188

Pupils of the age of 10 years 213.911 211.939

Pupilsof theageof 11 toloyeara 934.027 923.993

Total 2.213.660 2.183,267

making a total of 4,396,927 of both sexes. As it is estimated that two-thirds of the population of school age attend private or religiotis schools, it follows that the dearth of educational faciUties in Spain is not so great as is commonly supposed. The number of absolutely illiterate has been much exaggerated, owing to the lack of proper statistics. That that number is as large as it really is may be explained by the in- effective enforcement of the legal school-attendance. Although the Constitution of 187fi, which is still in force, grants freedom of teaching, the right has been very much ctirtailcd by legal enactments. There are but two independent universities, that of Deusto (Bilb.io), directed by the Jesuits, and that of the Escorial, under the Augustlnians. There are al.so, at Madrid, two independent institutions of university character, the Academia Universitaria Cat61ica, under


the presidency of the Bishop of Madrid-AlcaU, and the Instituci6n Libre de Ensenanza (Free Institution of Education), directed by the Krausists. For inter- mediate, or gymnasium, education the rehgious orders have many colleges, some of which also take charge of interne pupils. The Jesuits, of whom there are three provinces in Spain, have colleges as follows: Province of Aragon.— With boarders at Sarria (Barce- lona), Saragossa, \'alencia, and Orihuela (former Dominican university); half-boarding (mcdio-pcnsion- ado) school at Barcelona. Province of Castile. — For


Facade of the Cathedral. Ckik


boarders at Gijon (Asturias), La Guardia (Ponte- vedra), Orduna (Vizcaya), Tudela (Navarre), and Valladohd; also day schools at Durango (Biscay), Carri6n (Palencia), and Oiia (Burgos). Province of Toledo. — Boarding schools at Charmarlin de la Rosa (Madrid), Seville, Malaga, Puerto de St a. Maria (Cadiz), and Villafranca de los Barros (Badajoz); also a Catholic school of arts and crafts {escuela tecnica), and a half -boarding school at Madrid. The Jesuits also conduct the following ecclesiastical col- leges: For the formation of religious, houses of higher studies at Ona (Burgos), Tortosa (Tarragona), Granada, and S. Jeronimo; literary colleges at Loyola (Guipuzcoa), Veruela (Saragos.sa). Carri6n (Palen- cia), Gandia (Valencia), and Burgos. The Province of Castile has a pontifical seminary at Comillas (San- tander) and directs the episcopal seminary of Sala- manca. It also has an Apostolic school at Xavier (Navarre).

The second religious institute in the work of teach- ing is that of the Piarists, or Fathers of the Pious Schools, which has been largely represented in Spain since the seventeenth century. As the Revolution has generally shown some respect for the Piarists, they have kept a larger number of their colleges than the Jesuits, who have been repeatedly expelled, and 80 obliged to establish their colleges over again.