Teaching high school or college students to write research papers requires an arguable topic, one for which there are multiple reasonable points of view and plenty of complexities — but on which the average student has not yet made up his or her mind. There is a tendency to ignore data which conflicts with decisions… Read more »
Posts Categorized: For Educators
Federico Degetau y González, Puerto Rico’s First Resident Commissioner
Federico Degetau y González was the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States House of Representatives, a position he held from 1901 to 1905. Born in Puerto Rico on December 5, 1862, the son of a German father and a Puerto Rican mother, Degetau pursued his education in Spain, where he became… Read more »
Less College Aid for Students in Territory than in States
Puerto Rico has “the sixth highest rate of college enrollment in the world,” according to a claim of the ‘commonwealth’ party administration of the territorial government. The claim would only be true, however, if Puerto Rico were a nation. It is, in fact, a territory of the United States. The U.S. college enrollment rate in… Read more »
Early Childhood Educators Explain Problems and Goals of Puerto Rico Education
Puerto Rico’s budget problems threaten resources of early childhood education at a time when need for them appears to be growing. As members of Puerto Rico’s early childhood community have explained, “[i]f births are healthy and well timed, children’s health and development are “on track,” families are supported and supportive, and these efforts are sustained… Read more »
Puerto Rico in National Hispanic Heritage Month
National Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15 and continues to October 15. Across the country, classrooms will build pinatas, learn a few words of Spanish, and study some individuals from Spanish-speaking countries. Last week, in a college classroom, 25 freshmen were asked about Puerto Rico’s government. One knew that Puerto Rico is a territory of… Read more »
A Clear Explanation of the Territories of the United States
As this video explains, Puerto Rico is an organized, unincorporated territory of the U.S., containing 91% of the people living in all of the U.S. territories and more people than in 21 of the States. As the video further explains, Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States “and the U.S. treats Puerto Rico as… Read more »
Tennessee Law Journal Analyzes Puerto Rico’s Territorial Status
A forthcoming article by Willie Santana in the Spring 2014 issue of the Tennessee Journal of Law & Policy examines Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States and the history of U.S. territories in general. Santana’s exploration of the path to statehood of the current states in the U.S. reveals a standard path followed by… Read more »
A Page from History: Imperfect Colony in 1903
“American rule has not yet made our new colonies as perfect as some people would have us believe,” begins an article in the Sacred Heart Review from 1903. The article, transcribed below, concerns a hospital for sufferers from leprosy, or Hansen’s disease. Whatever the details of the scandal, the first sentence holds a message for… Read more »
Will School Consolidation Help Puerto Rico?
Puerto Rico’s Department of Education has announced a plan to close 100 schools. The numbers of people leaving Puerto Rico for the mainland and the aging population have reduced the numbers of school children significantly, and a strong preference for private schools has added to the drop in public school enrollment. Consolidation of schools is… Read more »
Early Puerto Rican Military Leadership: Teófilo Marxuach and WWI
The first military unit in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico was established on March 2, 1899, less than a year after the July 25, 1898, incursion of U.S. forces into Puerto Rico as Spain ceded the island to the United States under the Treaty of Paris. That first military unit was the Puerto Rico Regiment… Read more »
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