The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 393
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Stephen F. Austin and Education in Early Texas 393
by the ayuntamiento.22 The teaching staff was to consist of three
professors, each of whom was to teach Spanish, English, or
French, with a rector knowing both English and Spanish. In ad-
dition to these subjects, the curriculum was to include arithmetic,
geography, mathematics, history, rhetoric, constitutional law,
philosophy, astronomy, and chemistry. The ayuntamiento was to
exert additional control over the school through visits, once in
October and once in February, and was to report its observations
to the governor. The preliminary remarks to the bill, giving
Austin's justification for his proposal, are very interesting:
Public Schools for the teaching of modern languages and especially
Spanish are of prime importance. These colonies are composed of both
foreigners and Mexicans and the necessity for disseminating the national
language among the former is evident. They themselves are fully convinced
of this necessity and have made various efforts to found a school by means
of voluntary contributions. Up to this time, however, these efforts have
had no successful outcome-not because of a lack of willingness to con-
tribute, but because of a lack of legal and permanent arrangement which
would give legal existence to the institution and assure . . . the faithful
use of funds for ... [the] uses intended by the donors. . ... [The good
of the state will be advanced by the formation of a school] and particularly
one whose principal object is the extension of the national language
among a portion of the inhabitants of the state who do not know it.23
It is not known whether this remarkable plan was ever presented
to the government. In any event nothing ever came of it.
But Austin's ardor remained undampened. During his sojourn
in Mexico City in 1833 for the purpose of presenting the
Texan demands to the new government, he found time to
think of education despite his other work and a mild attack
of cholera. He wrote to a friend, Williams, to select a spot
suitable for him as a retreat while recovering from illness.
Austin indicated his intention of living there and added, "[it]
will do for an academy scheme with which I can amuse
myself and do good to others."24 In other words, education had
become a hobby with him. Austin's detention and imprisonment
in Mexico shortly thereafter prevented any opportunity to put
22This meant vesting control in the hands of the American colonists, since
all of the twelve men proposed by the ayuntamiento of San Felipe would be
Americans.
23Plan of S. F. Austin for an Institute of Modern Languages at San
Felipe, reprinted in an article of the same name by M. A. Hatcher in
Quarterly of Texas State Historical Association, XII, 235-236.
24Austin to S. M. Williams, August 21, 1833. Austin Papers, II, 1000.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945, periodical, 1945; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146055/m1/437/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.