Repression to Reform - Education in the Republic of Paraguay, 1811-1850

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Repression to Reform: Education in the Republic of Paraguay, 1811-1850 Author(s): Jerry W. Cooney Source: History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 413-428Published by: History of Education SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/368077Accessed: 13-07-2015 12:48 UTC

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Repression to Reform: Education in the Republic

of Paraguay, 1811-1850

JERRY W. COONEY

THE INDEPENDENCE OF Spanish America presented new problems to the republics created out of the wreckage of Spain's American Empire. Economic restructuring, political organization, relations with neighbors and Europe, and the rise of new political groups all occupied the attention of young governments. One of the many social questions that had to be faced was that of education. Was it to be elitist and traditional as in the colonial era? Would the Church still be the primary agency for education? And how should formal learning be utilized for the good of the new societies?

Eventually, every republic faced this issue-even if reluctantly, since apparently, more pressing matters were at hand. Enlightenment concepts imported to Spanish America in the last decades of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth had already awakened some intellectual leaders to reforms in education. The ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau were well known by the early 1800s and other Enlightenment works circulated as well.' Too often, however, attempts to modify past educational practices fell afoul of the endemic church-state quarrel, lack of funds, political turmoil, and sterile debate over pedagogical methodology.

An extreme example of the difficulties encountered was in the isolated, little-known Republic of Paraguay. There, education not only was affected by the events of independence, political changes, and the church-state problem, but also by a new phenomenon, the Spanish American Dictator.

In the heart of South America, Paraguay was for most of the colonial period a neglected outpost of the Spanish American Empire. Conquistadores in the sixteenth century found no precious metals and turned to the agricultural exploitation of the Guaraniflndians. In the course of several centuries its population became mestizo (White and Indian racial mixture), generally speaking the Guarani'tongue in preference to the official Spanish. After the initial stage of conquest, European migration was sparse, and imperial policy hindered growth. Descendants of the conquerors exchanged yerba mate or Paraguayan tea downriver for the few finished goods available, but self-

Mr. Cooney is a member of the Department of History, University of Louisville.

Winter 1983 413


sufficiency was the keynote of the economy. Geography isolated Paraguay, since to the north and east loomed hostile Portuguese Brazil and to the west roamed the savage Indians of the Gran Chaco. The only viable exit was south by the Paraguay-Parana river system to the Rib de la Plata. Goods and ideas filtered slowly into the province by the same route.2

In the late eighteenth century Paraguay stirred from its slumber. The creation of the viceroyalty of the Rib de la Plata in 1776 with its capital at Buenos Aires, the resultant relaxation of economic restrictions, the establishment of the Intendencia system for the improvement of local government, and a host of other reforms associated with the Spanish American Enlightenment brought a modest progress to the province. Agricultural and raw material exports from Paraguay downriver increased as the province became both economically and politically integrated into the greater region of the Rio de la Plata. However, the early 1800s were tension-filled as Spain plunged disastrously into the wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic period. In 1810 the independence movement erupted and Paraguayans took advantage of the disruption of Empire to free themselves, first from the domination of Buenos Aires, then from the Spanish authority.3

In Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, various governments from 1811 to 1814 struggled with the organization of the new state. Even though the economy, political reorganization, and relations with neighbors occupied leaders, a few reflective Paraguayans considered the educational system of the new nation.

The republic's inheritance was modest but significant. The Cabildo or Town Council of Asuncion had long supported an elementary school or escuela de primeras letras for the youth of the capital. There, sons of parents without means received free education. Arithmetic, grammar, and spelling were emphasized with particular attention paid to the Spanish language, a necessity in a land where even today Guarani is the popular tongue of home and work. A very capable maestro de primeras letras, Jose Gabriel Telles, became headmaster of this school in 1802 and did not relinquish his charge until the early 1840s.4 Several generations of Asuncion youths received the benefit of his instruction.

In the countryside, or campo, various maestros de primeras letras taught in the pueblos de indios, Indian villages under administrators appointed by royal governors and then by the rulers of independent Paraguay. The pueblos' own treasuries paid the salaries of these maestros and, again, it appears that the main function (and poorly performed at that) was the instruction of Spanish.5

Other areas of the campo, populated by the "Spanish," had maestros as well.6 These rural schoolmasters were paid directly by wealthy fathers interested in providing their sons with rudimentary literacy in Castillian. An astute observer of this land in the late eighteenth century claimed that every parish had a schoolmaster and students on horseback would come as far as

414 HISTORY OF EDIUCATION QUARTERLY


four leagues (ten miles) for education. No one could assume, however, that in these rural schools instruction was of a very high quality; too often, fathers neglected payment and cared little about their sons' education.7

Fathers more concerned about their sons' education and able to afford the higher costs sent their offspring to schools of primeras letras, provided by the various monasteries of Asuncion or one in the province's second town, Villa Rica. Ever since the 1500s, the religious orders (Jesuits till the 1760s, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Mercedarians) supplied the best elementary schooling for the elite of Paraguay.8 Generation after generation of sons of merchants, public officials, and the landed wealthy attended convent schools. One simply assumed that for the pursuit of any higher education conventual training was a must. Here the Church's influence on education was all perva- sive as it was in other areas of Paraguayan life.

During the 1780s the reforms of the late colonial era and the enlightened attitude of high officials resulted in the creation of an Asuncion institution of higher education. Far too long there had been complaints about the lack of adequate training for priests of the province; too long, talented youth were forced to journey to the University of Cdrdoba if they desired more than a convent education. The Real Colegio Seminario de San Carlos was decreed for Asuncion and funded by confiscated Jesuit property. As one would expect, religious content dominated the colegio's curriculum. Students destined for the priesthood, as well as those who were not, took three years of philosophy, four years of theology, and, of course, Latin.9 A contemporary criticized the institution as being too "scholastic and peripatetic," but, for all its faults, it was an important addition to the province and many of the "Independence Generation" passed through its halls.'0

After independence had been achieved, one prominent Paraguayan believed that the school system in the new nation needed much improvement. Fernando de la Mora, an important landowner, merchant, and a prime mover in the Junta of 1811-1813, was greatly affected by Enlightenment ideas. Because the military phase of Paraguayan independence was terminated in 1811, he was able to embark the next year on internal matters among which the regeneration of education. The Seminario de San Carlos, which temporarily had been converted into a barrack, was returned to its students and teachers. De la Mora also planned to add a new Chair of Mathematics as well as one of Humanities to that Seminary. A short-lived Patriotic Literary Society was formed to recommend to the Junta educational improvement. He also projected a military academy.'1

Most interesting of the Junta's educational actions was the "Instructions for School Teachers," which set forth a comprehensive plan for the development of an adequate primary system. Containing seventy-five articles, the Instruc- tions represented the best educational thought of the Enlightenment, combined with a practical acknowledgement of the needs of the nation. Reason and explanation were emphasized in contrast to rote memory work,

Winter 1983 415


but equal emphasis was placed upon the development of a moral, Christian character. Teachers were advised to set good examples to the boys in their charge and to limit physical punishment. As far as pedagogical methods were concerned, the structure of the Lancaster system was proposed with student participation in the teaching process.

Maestros were informed that the Junta was attempting to procure books which would aid Paraguayan education. De la Mora was cognizant of Enlightenment works and authors such as the History of America by the Scottish historian William Robertson, writings of Padre Martin Sarmiento and El Havate Herves, the Essays of Montaigne, the latter's biography, and works on education by John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In addition, Spanish would be taught to the standards set forth by the Spanish Academy- with no infiltration of Guaranic An inspector named by the Cabildo of Asuncion was ordered to visit monthly all schools of Paraguay, except those of the convents. The latter received the Instructions but were excluded from the visits, since the Junta had faith in the expertise of the orders.'2

Dela Mora and his ambitious projects fell afoul of an implacable political enemy, Doctor Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia. That enigmatic figure would rule Paraguay as that nation's first great dictator. El Supremo, as he became known later, was of a good Asuncion family, educated in an Asuncion Franciscan convent, and in the early 1780s attended the University of Cordoba. He returned to Asuncion in 1785 with a Doctorate in Theology and taught for a brief period at the new Colegio Seminario. From the 1790s to 1811 he practiced law and filled minor Cabildo posts. He gained recognition in Asuncion for intellectual brilliance and fanatic integrity. Elected to the same Independence Junta as de la Mora, Francia was anti-Spanish, nationalistic, distrustful of the traditional elite of Paraguay (including de la Mora), contemptuous of the Church, intellectually arrogant, and fearful of the ambition of Buenos Aires to reincorporate Paraguay under the former's authority. This austere, gifted, middle-aged bachelor finally succeeded in his struggle to dominate the Paraguayan government.'3 Fernando de la Mora was discredited, ousted, and all projects for educational reform were abandoned, as El Supremo consolidated his power.

From his ascension to power in 1814 to his death in 1840, Dr. Francia ruled Paraguay absolutely. He fanatically defended his nation's autonomy. To guard against the anarchy in the rest of the Ribo de la Plata and to ward off attempts by Buenos Aires to control Paraguay, the dictator deliberately isolated his nation politically and diplomatically from the outside world. Internally he constructed a rigid regime with all power in his hands. He destroyed the influence of the remaining Spanish. He stripped the traditional elite of their power. He subordinated the Church to his will as he did any institution that might have challenged his sway. Tragically, in his drive to power he brought havoc upon the educational system of the new republic.

In the first decade of rule El Supremo ruined two vital bases of education. He had long held the Church in contempt, believing the clergy to be immoral,

416 HIISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY


ignorant, possessing too much authority over the common people, and too independent of his wishes. Of all the clergy Dr. Francia scorned the orders the most. From 1815 onward the state assaulted the conventuals until finally in 1824 they were secularized, dispersed throughout the republic, and their wealth confiscated.'4 These measures were officially justified by the orders' lack of utility to the society, but in reality the Dictator removed a possible threat to his power. Of course, conventual education ceased completely with the orders' destruction.

The year before the convents were closed, Dr. Francia decreed the suppression of the Seminario de San Carlos. The republic was threatened by an invasion from the south (which never materialized) and in the conversion of the colegio's building for military purposes, the dictator was reputed, in a classical allusion, to have stated, "Minerva sleeps when Mars watches." At the same time, an innocent request by an instructor of the colegio for back pay provided a pretext for the closure.'5 Extinction of the institution was immi- nent anyway and enrollment had dropped drastically because no priests could be ordained due to the Bishop's mental illness. By 1823 many former teachers (catedrdticos) of the Seminario had been fired, exiled, thrown in prison, or had wisely retired to the campo. The dictator deemed its existence no longer necessary. However, for all the difficulties it faced in 1823, the suppression was still a blow to anyone desiring more than an elementary education.'6

Dr. Francia's attitude toward education, however, was not all negative. One historian surveying the republic in its first sixty years of independence sagely commented, "to him [Francia], literacy was a respectable national virtue. A well-educated, sophisticated elite however, was a potential danger."'7 Jose Gabriel Telles' Asuncion school of primeras letras continued to receive government aid. It appears that the rural schools were even strengthened during the dictator's long reign. In 1828, mandatory instruction was decreed for all young males.'8 However, that order was illusiory if the colonial practice of fathers paying the rural teachers for the childrens' education continued. By the 1830s the National Treasury assumed most of the responsibility for salaries and upkeep of the schools. Maestros in the campo received a modest monthly stipend of six pesos and a beeve from a state ranch.'9 However, there is some evidence that salaries were not always prompt and also in certain cases parents had to pay the school masters as before. Francia did, on occasion, supply schools as best he could with paper and primers, and even clothing for needy students.

The dictator watched education closely to ensure no wastage of money. At times he demanded an account of the competency of students from teachers and local authorities. For example, in 1831 he requested from the Coman- dante of Concepcion "a list of the students in the respective schools [of your jurisdiction]." Shortly thereafter in another order to the same official he requested that the list be completed "with expression of those who can write."'20 In the capital, an alcalde (judge), Fernando Antonio Maza, was

Winter 1983 417


ordered, in association with two intelligent citizens, to visit the school of Jose Gabriel Telles and assess the progress of that maestro's students.2'

We know more about the methods of the teachers of Francia's time than about the instructors themselves. It has been suggested, however, that rural school masters were "militia sergeants and other volunteers barely maintain- ing their own literacy and trying to impart some of the basics to their selected but rustic charges, while they themselves struggled to survive on scant and irregular salaries.''22 In any case, it is doubtful that any of the rural teachers had better than a primary education.

The rural schools of primary letters were described by a visitor to the republic in the 1820s:

When the distance is considerable, which is frequently the case, the children, even those six years old, ride on horseback to the school. The catechism is the only book taught them. They follow in these schools, though unconsciously, the Lancastrian system; for the elder scholars teach the younger, and all learn to write by means of wooden tablets covered with a resinous powder, upon which the letters or figures are traced with a wooden pen. When it becomes necessary to efface these in order to commence another exercise, the tablet is again powdered, each scholar carrying a little bag of resinous powder for that purpose.23

The principal task of the maestro was instruction of the Spanish tongue since most children had no exposure to Castillian until of school age. The catechism of San Alberto (one which strongly emphasized obedience to authority) was commonly used in the schools of the republic. But contrary to the observation of the traveler to Paraguay, often the students had recourse to a primer, the Caton Cristiano. This text of religious readings was used in late colonial Spanish America and continued in Paraguay until at least the 1880s.24 When available the Dictator dispatched to schools other types of primers received in the erratic commerce with the outside world.

Admirers of El Supremo assess his support of primary education as an expression of "popular" Paraguay, and as evidence of the progressive and nationalistic nature of his regime. One wonders if in the campo where, then as now, Guarani'was the spoken tongue, literacy in Spanish was retained by many students-even after passing through about seven years of schooling until the age of fourteen. On the other hand, an observant traveler to this country spoke well of the literacy encountered.25 Perhaps no firm judgement can be made, but an indirect indication of the quality of public education was the tendency of the well-off to send their sons to private tutors.

Dr. Francia neither encouraged nor discouraged private schools or tutors. Most, of course, were found in Asuncion. There the best known teacher was the Argentine-born Juan Pedro Escalada. From the early 1800s to the 1850s, he offered private lessons to the sons of those who could afford his services. Often he lacked texts because of the republic's isolation. As a consequence he copied out his own at a small cost for his students. Escalada's curriculum was varied-astronomy, geography, arithmetic, accounting, grammar, Latin,

418 HISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY


French, and even theology-and functional in preparing his students for careers as notaries public which was a very important position in Spanish America. Although Escalada never was employed directly by the government, his long service to education was recognized by a pension in the 1850s.26

A final benefit to learning during the Francia era was a public library established in 1836 in Asuncion by the Dictator himself. Many of its volumes came from the confiscated possessions of El Supremo's political opponents. When the last colonial Bishop of Asuncion died in 1838, his books were added to the collection by order of the Dictator.27

Jose Gaspar de Francia died in late 1840 and until Spring of the following year Paraguay was in a state of governmental confusion. In 1841, however, a Consulate composed of a civilian, Don Carlos Antonio Lopez, and an Army officer, Colonel Mariano Roque Alonso, was selected by an Asuncion Congress to rule for three years. Rapidly it became evident that Don Carlos dominated his associate and under Lopez' tutelage Paraguay embarked upon a path to modernization.

Carlos Antonio Lopez, Paraguay's second great dictator, sprang from humble Asuncion origins. His father, a tailor, somehow secured the means to send his gifted son to the Colegio de San Carlos in the early 1800s. There the young Lopez, in common with other students, studied Latin, philosophy, and theology, completing his course of studies in 1810. Within four years he obtained the position of catedratico de artes at the colegio and by 1817 that of theology. He accepted minor orders in the Church but never was ordained- leaving ecclesiastical careers to several of his brothers. On the closure of the colegio, Don Carlos temporarily practiced law in Asuncion. However, he married wisely into a landowning family and retired to his wife's estates. That rustication was prudent as El Supremo was prone to persecute anyone who might challenge the dictator's eminence-particularly anyone with a pretense to an advanced education.

After the dictator's death in 1840, Don Carlos returned to the capital where he made himself indispensable to the ignorant military chiefs who ruled the nation for six months. It was obvious that any government would have to employ his talents as the pool of competent individuals was quite limited since Dr. Francia had, in the 1820s and 1830s, exiled, executed, or otherwise eradicated possible competitors. Lopez now faced the problems of obtaining recognition of Paraguay's sovereignty, political and military reorganization, economic and technological modernization, and the revitalization of the Church and education.28

Consul Lopez considered the rejuvenation of the Church and the improvement of education as facets of a single issue. Both had to be strong, obedient tools in the modernization of his country. But there were grave difficulties with both. Fully a generation had passed with no ordained clergy and by 1842 the remaining Paraguayan clerics were elderly and few in number.29 Ordination had ceased in the mid 1810s when the last colonial Bishop of Asuncion fell mentally ill as a result of the dictator's persecution of the

Winter 1983 419


Church. In addition, many ordained clergy had been exiled, imprisoned, or simply died of natural causes since Independence.30 By the late 1830s the demoralized, irregular Church leadership seized upon desperate expedients to fulfill their spiritual functions. Requests for relief reached the ears of the Consul. The new government immediately opened relations with Rome, broken for some thirty years, through the Papal Internuncio at Rio de Janeiro. Within three years the first Paraguayan-born Bishop of Asuncion-none other than Don Carlos' elder brother, Basilio-was consecrated.3' Now, if trained individuals were available, they could be ordained.

Not only clerics were in short supply. There was a desperate need for educated laymen to serve the government, society, and economy. One of the pronounced difficulties faced by Don Carlos in the 1840s and 1850s was the dearth of trained talent. National educational facilities had to be created from nothing, placing strains upon the finances of the state and the very limited supply of competent teachers. Nevertheless, action was demanded and one of the first acts of the consulate was a decree that property and funds in the treasury account of the suppressed Colegio Seminario be allocated to "culti- vate studies under a plan that can form citizens useful to the Religion and State.'' Uncollected salary of the dead dictator was earmarked for that purpose also. 32

Within eight months the Consuls further decreed:

Public education imperiously demands the efforts of supreme authority to carry it into effect as much as possible. The great shortage of the national clergy urgently demands the teaching and education of those who wish to dedicate themselves to such a pleasing and necessary profession in order to support service to religion. In addition, the lack of capable laymen to elevate the Republic to the rank which its position and destiny calls is another powerful motive to reestablish those elements of enlightenment entirely extinguished. [The Consuls] have agreed and decree: First; an Academia Literaria will be established in this Capital for the future Colegio authorized by the Sovereign Congress of this Republic. ...

Projected for the Academy were an interim Director, and catedradticos of Latin, Spanish and Bellas Letras, Rational Philosophy of the Didactic Method, Theology, and Ecclesiastical History and Sacred Oratory. Marcos Antonio Maiz, an elderly priest who had been imprisoned for fifteen years by Francia, released on the Dictator's death, and who after his release had briefly operated a private school, was appointed Interim Director and catedratico of Latin. Maiz was undoubtedly the best choice for this position as he had earlier served as Vice Rector and instructor of Latin in the suppressed Colegio Seminario several decades before.33

Qualified professors for the academy were scarce and few of the catedras were filled promptly. Fortunately, Padre Jose Joaqui'n Palacios, a recent Argentine immigrant to Paraguay, accepted the important cdtedra of Spanish and Bellas Letras. A date for the opening of the Academy was fixed, instructions on the modes of teaching issued, and Palacios in particular was



enjoined to emphasize "the rights and duties of a social man" in his teaching.34

By February of 1842 the Academy was officially in operation with 149 students.35 Undoubtedly much of the work was remedial, given deficiencies in students' prior education. Yet enough young Paraguayans had gained some learning through escuelas de primeras letras or private tutors to profit from the Academy.

The institution's first year was disturbed by a personal conflict between Palacios and the Vicar General of the Paraguayan Church, Jose Vicente Orue. From all evidence Palacios instigated this squabble with his open contempt for the rustic, provincial Paraguayan clergy and society. The Argentine's teaching abilities became an issue as well as the Academy's relation to church and state. Palacios' arrogance lost him the favor of Don Carlos although the Argentine priest had been a private tutor to Francisco Solano Lopez, the Consul's son and heir.36 Palacios continued to serve through 1843 since a catedratico of Spanish and Bellas Letras was urgently needed. But in the following year he left Paraguay under a cloud.37

Palacios' departure pointed to the greatest difficulty the Academy encountered in its early years-that of faculty. In his consular address to the nation in November of 1842 Don Carlos spoke glowingly of the institution's progress but admitted that only two positions had been filled-Maii and Palacios'. He was optimistic, however, that the cadtedra of Philosophy would be filled shortly.38 In October of the next year an elderly Paraguayan priest was appointed to the cadtedra of Philosophy and Artes.39

Consul Lopez urged parents of talented youths to send their sons to the Academy. The great need for educated Paraguayans was emphasized and the "indolence" of parents criticized. Academy education was free and school masters throughout the land and local officials were ordered to encourage attendance.40 By 1844, with all the difficulties attending its birth, the institution was firmly established and destined to be, as Don Carlos emphasized the same year he assumed the Presidency of the Republic, the precursor of a Colegio Nacional.4'

On the opening of Paraguay, foreign instructors and tutors other than Palacios entered the republic. An Argentine Jesuit priest, Padre Bernardo Parez, in association with three others of his order, desired to open a colegio of the Company of Jesus for the secondary education of males. In cooperation with several Paraguayan priests and the ubiquitous Palacios, Parez also proposed a colegio for the education of young women-an almost unheard-of idea in Paraguay. Even though Lopez appreciated the abilities of the Jesuits and had sent his son to them for tutoring, Don Carlos could not accept the desire of the Jesuits to "live in community" as an order.42 It is probable that the Consul, then engaged in delicate negotiations with Rome, did not desire any reopening of the question of orders-particularly the matter of the confiscated wealth of the extinguished Paraguayan religious communities. By 1845 the Jesuits decided to abandon the republic.

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Don Carlos inherited from his predecessor, Dr. Francia, the rural schools of primeras letras. Lopez, however, did not consider them adequate. He quickly revealed his concern for primary education by dispatching to the Comman- dante of Concepcion paper, notebooks, Catones Cristianos, and catechisms for the use of students in that jurisdiction.43 Two problems facing the government in any project for improvement or expansion were money and teachers. The latter, poorly equipped as they might be, Don Carlos at least had on hand from the Francia years. In addition, should the plans for the Academy be successful, new generations of teachers could be produced. More critical was funding for educational expansion. Fortuitously, Church reform in Paraguay provided the moneys for education.

Contrary to the general belief that Dr. Francia subordinated all aspects of the church to the state, there was one religious institution to which he paid no attention-the capellania (chantry). Essentially it was an endowment by a private individual to a lego or legatee out of which the latter funded masses for the soul of the endower.44 A typical capellania was that of Padre Mauro Escobar for the "benefit of his soul." On Escobar's death in 1820 the revenues on 1000 pesos in silver and the rents from a house in Villa Rica were to pay for 125 masses a year. The priest's nephew, Jose Cayetano Sosa, was charged with the supervision of the capellania. When Sosa died, it fell to his widow, Melchora Velenzuela de Sosa. By 1842 all but sixty-one masses had been performed. However, the Villa Rica house was in ruins, the principal of 1000 pesos had been dissipated, and it was increasingly difficult to carry out the dead priest's instructions.45

Other capellanias in the 1840s dated from the previous century. Irregular disbursement of principal, poor investments, corruption, and simple lack of care on the part of the legos were notorious. Dr. Francia's vaunted efficiency, surveillance of Paraguayan society, and savage attacks on corruption, had done nothing to correct these abuses in his twenty-six year dictatorship. The Church had done nothing either.

In May of 1842, the consuls began movement on the capellanias. They declared a testamentary capellania of a recently deceased priest, Juan Jose Ramirez, to be faulty and those moneys of the endowment were ordered distributed to heirs and the poor. Two days later the government dissolved a capellania, since the property involved was poorly defined. In that case the lego had illegally diverted the property and ignored any provision for masses for the dead. The consuls ordered what funds were left to be used for masses and to construct a cemetery in the village where the remaining property was located.46

By June, Lopez decided that a piecemeal approach to the reform of this institution was not sufficient. The consuls, in view of the decadence of the capellanias and the need for schools, decreed that de jure ones be dissolved and the funds go to primary schools in the parishes of the campo. All holders of capellanias were ordered to appear, complete with documents,47 before the Vicar General of the Church within sixty days for adjudication.



Dissolution of the capellanias proceeded between 1842 and 1844, coinciding with the arduous task of reforming primary education.48 But by 1844, Don Carlos in his presidential inauguration message, pointed with pride to their suppression since it had relieved legos of a great burden and served the republic well. Primary instruction would be developed as rapidly as possible so that "civil and religious education will form the customs of a people who aspire to republican virtues." Already the government had invested some 22,000 pesos in rural schools. The Colegio Nacional, mandated by the 1841 Congress, was still only a vision but the government had created the Academia Literaria as a preliminary to the Colegio. At the Academy three cdtedras now functioned and that institution's present building could serve as the future locale of the projected colegio.49

In the same month of 1844 that Don Carlos assumed the Presidency of the Republic, the Asuncion Congress approved the first constitution of Paraguay. Under this document the President possessed near dictatorial power. For education, the Chief Magistrate was charged "to formulate general or particular plans of public education, thereupon submitting them to the approval of the National Representation [Congress]."50 It was apparent that all plans originated with President Lopez and throughout his regime (1844-1862) and his son's (1862-1870), the various congresses were no more than rubber stamps.

By 1845, the Asuncion library earlier established by Dr. Francia operated on a fixed schedule, and a newly imported printing press produced educational pamphlets for the various schools.5' Texts and other books still had to be imported but with the cautious opening of Paraguay to the world, the reading public had a greater variety. For all his plans for expansion of primary education, Don Carlos decreed no radical changes in pedagogy. Elementary instruction, heavily religious in nature, changed little. The ex-seminarian, now President, retained the emphasis upon catechisms and religious primers. A drastic change in methodology would have created confusion on the part of rural schoolmasters-who certainly were stretched to provide the education they did.

No more is known about the primary teachers of the early Lopez era than about those of Francia's period. Salaries however were not uniform throughout the republic and, while many were paid from the account of the suppressed capellanias, at times, portions of their wages came from general funds of the National Treasury. In addition, school masters often received living quarters, beeves, and other tangible goods as part of their salaries, the same as before.52

President Lopez displayed a measure of humanity and understanding when expanding the rural school system. Regardless of the greater state funding of teachers' salaries, there were educational expenses, such as food and clothing for children, which fell upon parents. Moreover, poverty in the Paraguayan campo was common and fathers often needed their sons' labor. Although parents were required by law to send their sons to school at the age of six, many

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did not-they could not afford to. Beginning in 1845, special provisions were made in certain pueblos for state subsidization of the poor to facilitate attendance.53 By 1849 there existed three schools in the countryside especially established for the poor and orphans. Children at these special schools not only received the basic academic education but also learned a trade while being housed, fed, and clothed. In that year, Don Carlos wished he could create more such schools, but Paraguay was limited in funds.54 In regions lacking these special schools poor children still failed to attend because of '"the insolvence of the fathers."55

By the late 1840s primary education in the republic was much stronger than when Don Carlos assumed power. Already graduates from the Academia Literaria accepted positions as rural school teachers. Texts were in short supply but educational materials flowed to schools in greater amounts than before. A firm foundation had been established as a report from the Comandante of San Pedro de Ycuamandiyiu reveals. San Pedro was capital of a partido or administrative district some 100 miles north of Asuncion. In that district there was one school in San Pedro itself and fourteen in little villages of that jurisdiction, all staffed with maestros de primeras letras and serving some 302 students. More would have attended if parents could have afforded it.56 If that number of schools in the rural area of San Pedro is indicative of Paraguay as a whole, then indeed great strides had been made in the prior seven years.

In 1848, Juan Andres Gelly, a Paraguayan statesman who exiled himself during the Francia era but who returned to serve his country in the administration of Lopez, wrote a book extolling recent progress and outlining what the future held for his nation. Certainly El Paraguay: Lo que fue, lo que es, y lo que sera is propaganda but at the same time it contains pertinent observations and remains a prime source for its period. Gelly surveyed Paraguay from the economy to the government and did not neglect education. He emphasized that in 1841 there was a lack of higher education, instructional materials, professors and maestros, and even a building for higher education. Since that year the Academia had been created, catedradticos employed, and students graduated. According to Gelly, primary education was near disaster in 1841 but the past seven years brought great gains.

To what end was all this activity? Gelly, who was quite close to Don Carlos, stated:

Doing what it [the government of President Lopez] could in very strained circum- stances, it was seen that [Don Carlos] desired to spread in the Republic the seed of instruction and the basics of culture; that he recognized in order that the Fatherland enjoy full liberty to advance industry and labor, to maintain institutions, and to improve the morality of the people, it was necessary to propagate in the nation a certain grade of education and culture.57

Difficulties still faced education but the first hurdles had been surmounted.58



An obvious success was the revitalization of the Church. By 1847 graduates of the Academia were ordained by the new Bishop of Asuncion, and just in time, given the age of priests from the Francia era. But it did survive and successive classes of the academia swelled the clergy. President Lopez now had at his command a religious establishment which he utilized as a social and political tool.

Don Carlos' first ten years of power represented just a promising preliminary stage of his educational reforms. The decade of the 1850s brought even greater changes to Paraguay's educational structure. Young Para- guayans, trained in the Academia Literaria and privately tutored, were dispatched by the government to Europe and other more advanced South American countries to acquire formal education in such diverse fields as fine arts, education, engineering, law, diplomacy, medicine, business and military science. In Paraguay itself a great step was achieved when in 1858 the Academia Literaria was converted to a Colegio Seminario with all that implied for higher education.

The Paraguayan government opened its doors to foreign educators in the 1850s. From diverse European nations instructors journeyed to Asuncion, and there opened private academies offering tutoring services in philosophy, languages, architecture, music, advanced math, the sciences, and business. Furthermore, the very presence of this sophisticated foreign element contributed greatly to the quickening intellectual life of Paraguay in the mid 1850s.

Finally, that decade also would witness the importation of printers, mechanics, telegraph specialists, foundry workers, cartographers, pharma- cists, and other skilled European craftsmen. These artisans generally were employed by foreign companies who contracted with the Paraguayan government for the construction of railroads, foundries, arsenals, telegraph systems and other appurtenances of modernization. Not only did they use their skills in their assigned tasks, but also they instructed Paraguayans in their skills. The goal was a native cadre of craftsmen as well as a more sophisticated educated elite.59

Did all these educational reforms produce a trained, native cadre for Paraguay's modernization? Certainly not in the 1850s when the nation developed a steam driven merchant marine, a railroad, a telegraph system, and various public works. The republic still had to rely overwhelmingly on the foreign advisors and technicians. Even by 1860 the number of educated, trained Paraguayans was simply too small and too inexperienced to carry out those programs by themselves. The lack of specialists was not the fault of Carlos Antonio Lopez; he had done all, and more, than could legitimately be expected of him. The blame must be laid to Dr. Francia for sacrificing fully a generation of talent. When Paraguay engaged in the disastrous war of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) against the Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, the lack of a trained native elite was severely felt. Any promises the

Winter 1983 425


new educational system might have held for Paraguay were destroyed during the hecatomb of the conflict.60

A summation of the process of education in Paraguay in the first forty years of nationhood reveals the importance of government leadership. Education mirrored the desires and philosophical orientation of those individuals in power. Fernando de la Mora, a figure of the Enlightenment, in his short-lived reforms of 1812 envisioned the improvement of the individuals and Paraguay's entrance into the greater world. Dr. Francia considered higher education to be a dangerous tool in the hands of the traditional elite and as a consequence gravely damaged this institution in the long run. Don Carlos, in contrast, perceived the revitalization of the Church and ed'ucation (both closely controlled and directed) as essential elements in the modernization of his nation. President L6pez' views were the most realistic, and had war and destruction not intervened, Paraguay would have had a firm educational basis for the future (assuming, of course, that his son continued Don Carlos' efforts). Unfortunately, after 1870 and reconstruction of the nation and society, all institutions, including education, were forced to begin anew.61

NOTES

1. Jefferson Rea Spell, Rousseau in the Spanish World before 1833: A Study in Franco-Spanish Literary Relations (New York, 1969). Also see Arthur P. Whitaker (ed.), Latin America and the Enlightenment, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York, 1961).

2. A good general study of Paraguay is Harris Gaylord Warren, Paraguay: An Informal History (Norman, Oklahoma, 1949). For the colonial period see Efraim Cardozo, El Paraguay colonial: Las Raices de la nacionalidad (Buenos Aires, 1959).

3. For reforms and the quickening pulse of the Rio de la Plata in the last days of the colonial era, John Lynch, Spanish Colonial Administration, 1782-1810. The Intendant System in the Viceroyalty of the Rib de la Plata (London, 1958). For the Intendencia of Paraguay and its independence, Rafael Eladio Velazquez, El Paraguay en 1811 (Asuncion, 1960); and Luis Vittone, El Paraguay en la lucha por su independencia (Asuncion, 1960).

4. Juan F. Perez Acosta, Carlos Antonio Ldpez: "Obrero Madximo," labor administrativa y constructiva (Asuncion, 1948), pp. 496-497; and Jose Gabriel Telles to Consuls of Paraguay, Asuncion, 1841, in Archive Nacional de Asuncion, Seccion Historica, volume 248. Hereafter cited as ANA-SH 248.

5. Governor Lazaro de Ribera to Viceroy Pedro Melo de Portugal, Asuncion, May 18, 1796 in Olinda Massare de Kostianovsky, La instruccion pu'blica en la epoca colonial, 2nd ed. (Asuncion, 1975), pp. 270-271.

6. "Spanish" in this sense solely signifies someone who was not legally an Indian or Black. By 1800, through race mixing and a common culture, it is probable that a "Guarani" Paraguayan and a "Spanish" Para- guayan were not that different.

7. "Ynstrucciones para los maestros de escuelas," Junta of Paraguay, Asuncion, February 15, 1812 in ANA-SH 216. Felix de Azara, Descripcion e historia del Paraguay y del Rib de la Plata (Madrid, 1847), I, p. 302. Given the number of schools extant in Paraguay in the 1820s and 1830s, Azara's assertion of a school per parish is reasonable. However, another scholar claims that the yearly salary of these schoolmasters was 200 pesos. Probably it was 200 pesos in trade pesos, the peso hueco, which corresponded to 50 pesos in silver. Carlos R. Centurion, Historia de la cultura Paraguaya (Asuncion, 1961), v. 1, p. 187. Also, Antonio Ayala to In- terim Governor Manuel Gutierrez, Pirayu, February 16, 1808 in ANA-SH 399.

8. Massare, La instruccion publica, pp. 181-203. Jerry W. Cooney, "The Destruction of the Religious Orders in Paraguay, 1810-1824," The Americas, 36:2 (October, 1979): 177-182. For a good description of the education offered in convents of the Rio de la Plata in the 1700s, see Fray Jacinto Carrasco, Ensayo historico sobre la orden dominicana argentina. I. Actas capitulares (1724-1824) (Buenos Aires, 1924), pp. 57-61.

9. Massare, La instruccion pu'blica, pp. 249-266. 10. Dean Gregorio Funes, Ensayo de la historia civil del Paraguay, Buenos Ayres y Tucumdn (Buenos

Ayres, 1817), v. 3, pp. 334-335.



11. Justo Pastor Beni'tez, "Dos Paladines de la Revolucion de Mayoen el Paraguay," La Prensa (Buenos Aires), May 25, 1958, 2nd section, p. 1; and Justo Pastor Beni'iez, "El Doctrinario de la Revolucion Paraguaya de Mayo," La Prensa (Buenos Aires), September 10, 1961, 3rd section, p. 2.

12. '"Ynstrucciones para los maestros deescuelas," Junta of Paraguay, Asuncion, February 15, 1812 in ANA-SA 216.

13. The best biography of Dr. Francia is Julio Ce!sar Chaves, El Supremo Dictador: Biografia de Jose Caspar de Francia, 4th ed. (Madrid, 1964). For his activities in the Paraguayan Revolution see Jerry W. Cooney, "Paraguayan Independence and Dr. Francia," The Americas, 28:4 (April, 1972).

14. Decree of Dr. Francia, Asuncion, September 20, 1824 in Archive Nacional de Asuncion, Nueva Encuader- nacion, volume 3107. Hereafter cited as ANA-NE 3107. Also see Cooney, "The Destruction of the Religious Orders."

15. Decree of Dr. Francia, Asuncion, March 30, 1823 in ANA-SH 441; and Chaves, El Supremo Dictator, pp. 324-325.

16. The revisionary attempt to portray the closure of the Seminario as a justifiable action to advance a "popular" Paraguay is not convincing. Richard Alan White, Paraguay's Autonomous Revolution, 1810-1840 (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1978), p. 118.

17. John Hoyt Williams, The Rise and Fall of the Paraguayan Republic, 1800-1870 (Austin, Texas, 1979), p. 95.

18. Francisco Wisner, El Dictador del Paraguay: Jose Gaspar de Francia, 2nded. (Buenos Aires, 1957), p. 137. 19. Decree of Dr. Francia, Asuncion, August 30, 1834, in ANA-SH 242; and Jose Antonio Vaizquez, El Doctor

Francia: Visto y oido por sus contemporaneos (Buenos Aires, 1962), p. 39. 20. Ibid., pp. 39-40. 21. Chaves, El Supremo Dictator, p. 446. 22. Williams, Rise and Fall, p. 95. 23. J. R. Rengger and M. Longchamp, The Reign of Doctor Joseph Gaspard Roderick de Francia in Paraguay;

being an account of a six years' residence in that Republic, from July, 1819-to May, 1825, Reprint. (Port Washington, New York, 1971), p. 186.

24. Perez Acota, Carlos Antonio Lopez, pp. 494-495. For a discussion of the interesting catechism of San Alberto see Massare, La instruccion publica, pp. 90-95.

25. Rengger, The Reign, p. 136. 26. Ibid., pp. 186-187; and Perez Acosta, Carlos Antonio Lopez, pp. 503-505. 27. Vazquez, El Doctor Francia, p. 754; and Williams, Rise and Fall, p. 96. 28. For studies on Carlos Antonio Lopez see Justo Pastor Benitez, Carlos Antonio Lopez (estructuracion

del estado paraguayo) (Buenos Aires, 1949); and Juan F. Perez Acosta, Carlos Antonio Lopez. 29. The plight of the clergy in the early 1840s was such that in 1843 there existed in all of Paraguay but forty-

three elderly priests. Padre Marco Antonio Maiz to Bisop Ambrosio Camodonico, Internuncio and Extra- ordinary Apostolic Legate in the Empire of Brazil, Asuncion, August 20, 1843 in Archive Segreto Vaticano, Processus Datariae, Proc. Dat. 206, ff. 397-398.

30. Cooney, "Destruction of the Religious Orders," passim; and Jerry W. Cooney, "Independence, Dictator- ship, and Fray Pedro Garcia de Panes, O.F.M.: Last Bishop of Colonial Paraguay (+1838)," Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, An 68 (1975): passim.

31 . Decree of President Carlos Antonio Lopez, Asuncion, April 17, 1845; and President Carlos Antonio Lopez to Bishop Basilio, Asuncion, April 17, 1845, both in ANA-SH 272. Fray Antonio Santa Clara de Cordoba, ILos franciscanos en el Paraguay (1537-1937): Ensayo historico (Buenos Aires, 1937), pp. 185-186.

32. Consular Decree, Asuncion, March 14, 1841 in ANA-SA 245. For the financing of the preparatory Academia Literaria which for the next sixteen years was the antecessor of the Colegio Nacional see ANA-NE 3010 & 3134.

33. Consular Decree, Asuncion, November 30, 1841 in ANA-SH 245; Fulgencio R. Moreno, La ciudad de Ia Asuncion, 2nd ed. (Asuncion, 1968), p. 252; and "Juramento" of Marco Antonio Mailz, Asuncion, July 28, 1843 in Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Processus Datariae, Proc. Dat. 206. ff. 488-490.

34. Vicar General in Commission Jose Vicente de Orue to Consuls, Asuncion, September 16, 1841 in ANA-NE 1912; Consular Decree, Asuncion, November 30, 1841 in ANA-SH 245; and "Prospecto para la Academia Literaria," in Consular Decree, Asuncion, January 27, 1842 in Archive Nacional de Asuncion, Copias de Documentos Encuadernados, Vol. 26.

35. "Alocucion Inaugural," by Director Interino Marco Antonio Malz, Asuncion, February 9, 1842 in Manuel Gondra Manuscript Collection, lUniversity of Texas, MG 1994 c; and "Mensaje de 1842" Consul Lopez, Asuncion, November 24, 1842 in Carlos Antonio Lopez, Mensajes de Carlos Antonio Lodpez, Primer Presidente constitucional de la repuiblica (Asuncion, 1931), p. 10.

36. Jose Joaquin Palacios to Consuls, Asuncion, April 23, 1842; and Consular Decree, Asuncion, April 25, 1842 both in ANA-SH 254.

Winter 1983 427


37. Decree of President Lopez, Asuncion, August 16, 1844 in Colecao Visconde Rio Branco, Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janerio, 1-29, 24, 8 #9.

38. "Mensaje de 1842," Consul Lopez, Asuncion, November 24, 1842 in Lopez, Mensajes, p. 10. 39. Consular Decree, Asuncion, October 23, 1843 in ANA-SH 246. 40. Consular Decree, Asuncion, October 28, 1843 in ANA-SH 257. 41. "Mensaje de 1844," President Lopez, Asuncion, March 12, 1844 in Lopez, Mensajes, p. 26. 42. Jose Ignacio Victor Eyzaguirre, Los intereses catolicos en America (Paris, 1859), I, pp. 214-215; andAnon.,

Breve resenia historica de la Iglesia de la Santtsima Asuncion del Paraguay (Asuncion, 1906), p. 30. 43. Perez Acosta, Carlos Antonio Lopez, pp. 494-495. 44. "Capellania," Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana (Madrid, n.d.), XI, pp. 429-434.

Capellanias could also be found for religious education or other pious purposes but in Paraguay masses for the dead were most common.

45. Consular Decree, Asuncion, October 27, 1842 in Archive Nacional de Asuncion, Coleccion Juan Natalicio Gonzalez, Carlos Antonio Lopez II, p. 376.

46. Consular Decrees, Asuncion, May 25 & 27, 1842, both in ANA-SH 253. 47. Consular Decree, Asuncion, June 20, 1842 in ANA-SH 251. 48. For the process of the dissolution of the capellanias see ANA-NE 3091, 3139, 8c 3150. 49. "Mensaje de 1844" President Lopez, Asuncion, March 12, 1844, in Lopez, Mensajes, p. 26. 50. Article 27 of Titulo VII of the March 16, 1844, Paraguayan Constitution in Juan Carlos Mendonca,

Constitucion de la Republica del Paraguay y sus Antecedentes. Constituciones de 1844, 1870, y 1940. (Asuncion, 1967), p. 22.

51. Williams, Rise and Fall, p. 125. 52. Presidential Decree, Asuncion, March 12, 1845 in ANA-SH 272. For the disparity of teachers' salaries in

rural Paraguay in the Lopez era see Perez Acosta, Carlos Antonio Lopez, pp. 497-500; and Olinda M. Massare Isasi, "La ensenianza en la epoca de Carlos A. Lopez," La Tribuna (Asuncion), August 18, 1963.

53. Presidential Decree, Asuncion, March 12, 1845 in ANA-SH 272. 54. "Mensaje de 1849," President Lopez, Asuncion, May 30, 1849 in Lopez, Mensajes, p. 58; and Perez Acosta,

Carlos Antonio L6pez, p. 496. 55. Comandante of the Villa de San Pedro de Ycuamandiyui Pedro Ignacio Rosas to President Lopez, San

Pedro, June 8, 1849 in ANA-SH 284. 56. Ibid. 57. Juan Andres Gelly, El Paraguay: Lo que fue, lo que es, y lo que sera (Paris, 1926; originally published at

Rio de Janeiro, 1848), pp. 80-82. 58. By 1857 there existed in the republic 408 public schools with 16,755 students-a three-fold increase from

the Francia era. In addition, the 1850s witnessed a rapid increase in private schools. The next year the long- awaited Colegio Nacional replaced the Academia Literaria. Perez Acosta, Carlos Antonio Lopez, pp. 495 & 521.

59. For the educational reforms of the 1850s and the importation of foreign specialists see Perez-Acosta, Carlos Antonio Lopez, passim; Josefina Pla, The British in Paraguay, 1850-1870 (Richmond, United Kingdom, 1976), passim; Williams, Rise and Fall, pp. 177-189; and John Hoyt Williams, "Foreign Tecnicos and the Modernization of Paraguay, 1840-1870," Journal of Inter-American Studies, 19:2 (May 1977): passim.

60. For an account of that disastrous war see Charles J. Kolinski, Independence or Death! The Story of the Paraguayan War (Gainesville, Florida, 1965).

61. Harris Gaylord Warren, Paraguay and the Triple A lliance: The Postwar Decade, 1869-1978 (A4stin, Texas, 1978), pp. 166-169.



Article Contentsp. 413p. 414p. 415p. 416p. 417p. 418p. 419p. 420p. 421p. 422p. 423p. 424p. 425p. 426p. 427p. 428

Issue Table of ContentsHistory of Education Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 4, Winter, 1983Front Matter"The Children and the Instruments of a Militant Labor Progressivism:" Brookwood Labor College and the American Labor College Movement of the 1920s and 1930s [pp. 395 - 411]Repression to Reform: Education in the Republic of Paraguay, 1811-1850 [pp. 413 - 428]American Socialist Pedagogy and Experimentation in the Progressive Era: The Socialist Sunday School [pp. 429 - 454]Origins of the Modern Social Studies: 1900-1916 [pp. 455 - 468]From "Old Miss" to New Professional: A Portrait of Women Educators under the American Occupation of Japan, 1945-52 [pp. 469 - 489]DiscussionNote on Age Structure of College Students [pp. 491 - 498]

Essay ReviewThe Science and Education of Joseph Henry [pp. 499 - 505]The Politics of Elite Education in France [pp. 507 - 514]Why Studying Children's Literature Isn't Fun Anymore [pp. 515 - 522]

Books Received [pp. 523 - 525]Back Matter [pp. 527 - 533]

Repression to Reform - Education in the Republic of Paraguay, 1811-1850

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Transcript of Repression to Reform - Education in the Republic of Paraguay, 1811-1850