Chapter 36
part three chapter five of garcia moreno by guston berth the slipper vox recording is in the public domain recording by maria terese public education eighteen sixty nine to eighteen seventy five nothing could be so lamentable as the state of education in ecuador when garcia moreno found himself raised to supreme power his first efforts were directed to the primary education of children and for that purpose he summoned from europe a number of teaching congregations such as the christian brothers the sisters of charity the nuns of the sacred heart and of providence and installed them in all the great towns such as quito cuenca and guayaquil but this was not enough in eighteen seventy one he brought forward a new education bill which made education compulsory for all children from eight years old and imposed a fine on such parents as neglected to send their little ones to school every hamlet that contained fifty children from six to twelve years old had the right to claim a primary school to be established by the government and as the number of christian brothers is insufficient for such a multitude of parishes garcia moreno opened a normal college for lay teachers to assist them especially in the country districts
and placed this college under the direction of the brothers these measures succeeded admirably in eighteen seventy three the number of primary schools had been raised to upwards of five hundred and whereas when garcia moreno first took office there were only eight thousand children receiving instruction in the primary schools in eighteen seventy five their number amounted to thirty-two thousand these were chiefly boys as there were great difficulties in the country districts in finding sufficient mistresses while the dangerous nature of the roads often precluded the girls from frequenting the schools with safety garcia moreno also opened special schools for the native indians in spite of the dread which had been put into their heads by the radicals that if they sent their children to school they would be liable to the conscription from which they had always been exempt but at last the president contrived to disabuse them of that idea special schools were also open for soldiers children and prisoners so that no class was excluded from these benefits
it is needless to say that garcia morena allowed of no education without religion and his one great joy was to see these thousands of children under really christian teachers growing in piety as much as in science with these children he would exclaim we shall regenerate society if primary education be necessary for the masses equally important is secondary instruction for the training of the governing classes for this purpose garcia moreno claimed the assistance of the jesuits the congress authorizing them to open colleges throughout the country with full liberty to follow their traditional methods as explained in the ratio studium the jesuits gladly acceded to garcia moreno's proposals only stipulating that in case of their expulsion by any future government they should not be exiled or dispersed for eight months after the day of their suppression had been notified so that they might have time to dispose of their property before their departure the president built a magnificent college for them in quito which he wished to dedicate to st joseph but which the archbishop out of gratitude to the great founder christened st gabriel upwards of two hundred professors were sent from this college to open schools throughout the different provinces and soon had upwards of a thousand young men under their care both the church and the state rivalled one another in the development of this great work
in the first distribution of prizes at the college of quito the rector explained the course of instruction in which religion held the first place in conclusion he quoted these words of quintilian which it would be well for all parents to consider if schools while giving a scientific education corrupt the morals of the students i do not hesitate to say that virtue is to be preferred to knowledge the president was not unmindful of the educational needs of girls belonging to the higher classes of society and persuaded the nuns of the sacred heart to establish convents in quito and various other towns in which they opened schools both for boarders and day scholars nothing that he had ever attempted was received with more joy and gratitude than this both by parents and children who were never weary of testifying their thankfulness for his fatherly care and consideration to these educational establishments must be added a professional college which was opened by some brothers from new york under the name of the catholic protectorate it was intended for the training of boys as artisans and a large building was opened with workshops for carpenters cabinet-makers mechanicians and a multitude of other trades by thus creating native industries garcia moreno saved his countrymen from the expense of freight and transport besides giving the lads the means of earning a respectable livelihood
the same thing was done for poor girls under the sisters of providence from belgium who thus were saved from the corruption inevitable to idleness and misery nor did garcia moreno shrink from creating a still higher branch of education by re-opening the university of quito which he had dissolved and placing it in the hands of men not only learned as professors but thoroughly christian all religious and historical books were to be selected by the bishops or have their approbation while at the head of the faculty of rights he placed father terenziani an eminent jesuit and from germany obtained other jesuit fathers footnote their names deserve to be remembered they were besides father menton dean of the faculty fathers kohlberg wenzel millendocks hopin albert grinwald dressel wolff rugier beitzkes and professor of chemistry and natural sciences and as physicians and mathematicians in the building adjoining the old university he organized the polytechnic school to form future engineers land agents mechanicians chemists and other exact sciences so as to open out careers for the youth of ecuador who hitherto had had no choice but between the priesthood the magistracy or the army to teach all these sciences however an immense number of instruments and machines of various kinds were needed and garcia marina did not hesitate to send for the newest and best of all these things from europe regardless of expense so that in a few years the installation was complete of course he had to bear the usual outcry against his operations from the radicals and freemasons but the brilliant future prospects opened out to the more studious among the youth who frequented the university disarmed at last all opposition and garcia marina had the joy of seeing the development of that scientific education based on religion on which he had reckoned for ensuring the material and permanent prosperity of the country
the faith of the students was shown in eighteen seventy three when under the direction of father menton they enrolled themselves bodily in a congregation of the blessed virgin and thus treading under foot all human respect lifted up once more the flag of christ and his church within the university walls the faculty of sciences gave birth to the faculty of medicine in truth medical science in ecuador was at its lowest ebb to reorganize it garcia moreno obtained from the montpelier school two excellent professors grayrod and one of surgery and the other of anatomy whom he furnished with all the instruments and apparatus needful for their courses of study it only took him a few years to organize this department to which he attached a hospital containing three hundred beds provided with every clinical resource we may give our readers some idea of the difficulties to be overcome in this matter when we consider that the catholic university of paris after fifteen years of existence has not yet been able to inaugurate its faculty of medicine so that nothing should be wanting to complete his work garcia moreno also founded a school of the fine arts in which sculpture painting and music were taught he brought professors from rome for this purpose and sent the most distinguished of the students to the eternal city to perfect their studies and become masters in their turn
thus valas the great sculptor was trained curillo and cadena the eminent painters and especially the artist meno salvez whom he made director of the academy he established also a conservatorio for music both sacred and profane whose regular concerts were always given gratuitously every week to close this rapid summary of garcia moreno's educational works we will mention the last and greatest of his undertakings the building of an observatory in the neighbourhood of quito which had long been earnestly desired by astronomers garcia moreno went into the whole question and found like humboldt and sechi that an observatory at quita would infallibly become the first in the world by its position three thousand metres above the level of the sea the admirable purity and transparency of the air its situation under the equinoctial line and the healthy and delicious nature of the climate where one enjoys a perpetual spring he tried to make it an international work but failing to interest france england or the united states in the undertaking he resolved to do it himself in eighteen seventy a contract was entered into for the building the best and newest apparatus was ordered in munich a telescope of enormous power was set up which cost six thousand piastres and in four years the whole was completed
father menton the illustrious associate of padre sechi was about to be installed there when the crime of the sixth of august caused the destruction of the whole scheme a few months later the bust of garcia moreno's successor was set up in its place to the indignation and surprise of the people two evident truths may be gathered from this story the first that in half a century the revolution created nothing in ecuador the second that in six years the catholic garcia moreno raised his country from a state of complete ignorance to one of extraordinary progress in every species of learning and science the third still more significant fact is that after his assassination the revolution once more plunged the country into its primitive chaos the keystone of the edifice being taken away the whole building crumbled into dust the name and acts of garcia moreno will be an eternal protest against a lie which has become almost an historical axiom i e that the church stops the progress and development of science where revolution favours it in the part three chapter five
