What have been the policies of the Department of Education regarding the teaching of English in the past 114 years?
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1998
1898 – John Eaton, Ex educational Commissioner and his helper Dr. Clark Established that Puerto Rican teachers had to learn English. Those who learnt it had the advantage of being hired for teaching. -
1900
1900 – The Public Instruction Department of Puerto Rico is created with an assigned commissioner. -
1902
1902- The educational policy was to conserve Spanish and to acquire English: Spanish in the primary grade and English as a separate class. -
1903
1903- The use of English was intensified as a mean to convert it in the official language of the schools in Puerto Rico. -
1904
1904- Five hundred and forty Puerto Rican teachers are sent to the universities of Cornell and Harvard to study. -
1905
- Spanish use is suppressed and English is used as the mean of teaching in all the school grades.
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1909
1909- English teachers flourished making it possible to establish the English language as the base with a high enrollment of students. -
1919
1913- Spanish is used in first grade for some classes like, Hygiene, Health, and Reading. -
1915
1915- A law is introduced to make Spanish the teaching language in Puerto Rico. -
1916
1916- Spanish was established as the mean of teaching from first to fourth grade. From fifth grade English would be used in half of the classes and Spanish in the other half. -
1917
1917- The political controversy continues; WWI starts and the American citizenship is given to the Puerto Ricans. It is asked to teach the children about patriotism. -
1921
1921- Juan B. Huyke became Instruction commissioner. In that moment more emphasis is given to English and it is encouraged to be used at all times in order to learn it. The teacher s and students were asked to use English even outside of the classroom. The books were published in English. The printing of Spanish materials was prohibited. -
1930
1930- Jose Padin established English as a foreign language in a pedagogical perspective. He encouraged to use Spanish as the mean of instruction. English was emphasized as a second language with many programs. -
1936
1936- President Roosevelt complained that Puerto Ricans had not learned English after 38 years of American occupation. He wanted all the education to be given in English so that the next generation could know English -
1942
1942- Spanish prevailed as the mean of instruction up to the sixth grade and English continued as a separate subject. -
1948
1948- The vernacular Spanish was to be used as the mean of instruction up to the ninth grade. -
1949
1949- Dr. Mariano Villaronga put an end to the bilingual debate by stating that Spanish was to be used in all school levels starting in the 1949-50 school year. This prevails today. -
1970
1970- The Public Instruction Department and the universities have solicited funds to attend the students who are returnees from the United States. -
1972
1972- Padre Rufo and Papa Juan XXIII Bilingual Projects are established in Puerto Rico. -
1984
1984- The Bilingual Education Program, already established, stops being a program and their projects were transferred to the English Department -
1991
1991- Under the government of Rafael Hernández Colón the "Spanish Only" was approved as, Law Number 4, April 5, 1991. -
1993
1993- Under the government of Pedro Roselló Law Number 1 January 28, 1993 proclaiming as official languages of the island both, English and Spanish. -
1997
1997- The Bilingual Citizen Project established various bilingual schools in the Island. Among the ones that survived is the Antonio González Suárez in Añasco -
2012
2012- There are new bilingual initiatives in Puerto Rico under the BEC-21 and ES-21 projects.
