Genealogy Data Page 431 (Notes Pages)

Note: Edwin Grant Dexter, A History of Education in the United States (London: Macmillan & Co., LTD., 1904)

Edwin Grant Dexter, Commissioner of Education of Puerto Rico, wrote in his annual report: "In accordance to sections 68 to 77 of the school law of Puerto Rico a number of young men are being maintained in various schools and colleges in the United States at the expense of the government of Puerto Rico."

THE SINGULARLY STRANGE STORY
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PUERTO RICO
Milenio (1999), 3, 33-60.
Dr. Alicia Pousada
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

"In 1907, Falkner's successor, Edwin Grant Dexter, continued with the Falkner Plan and dedicated special attention to the Americanization of the rural schools. In 1909 he mandated the teaching of reading in English in the first grade, leaving Spanish reading until the second or third grade. He claimed in his Annual Report of 1908-9 to have established English as the medium of education in all Puerto Rican schools."

Daily Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine) July 18, 1907
Maine Gossip
Dr Edwin Grant Dexter of Chicago whom President Roosevelt has Appointed Commisioner of education of Peurto Rico, is the son of Rev. H.V. Dexter, D.D. a native and almost life long resident of Maine; pastor for 17 years at Calais and for six years at Augusta and for two years at Kennebunkport.

The Falkner Language Policy, 1904-1916

....Roland Falkner became Commissioner of Education in 1904 and established a new language policy in the academic year of 1905-1906. The emphasis on English instruction, initiated by Eaton in 1899, grew in new and larger proportions under Falkner's administration. English became the medium of instruction in all classes starting on second grade. Rural schools, poorer than their urban counterparts and lacking enough teachers trained in English, experienced the transition at a slower pace. Falkner's tenure lasted only until 1907, but his policy extended until 1916 with the next three Commissioners, Edwin Dexter, Edward Bainter, and Paul Miller. Falkner's emphasis on English came at the expense of Spanish, which was reduced to one class period. The approval of the New School Laws in 1905, product of Falkner's legislative efforts in the Executive Council, made it mandatory for Puerto Rican teachers to pass annual English exams, without which teaching licenses would not be granted....

...Commissioner Edwin Dexter (1907-1912) continued and intensified Falkner's policy, stressing English instruction in rural schools, extending the use of English as the medium of instruction to first grade, and eliminating Spanish courses from the first grade curriculum. Dexter's tenure coincided with the peak of the Partido Unión's power after a landslide victory in the 1908 legislative elections. By then, the new Governor Regis H. Post had effectively terminated the alliance with the Unionistas because of their vocal disappointment with unfulfilled expectations of increased self-government....

...The opposition to Falkner's policy grew during Dexter's management. The Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (AMPR), took the elimination of English as the medium of instruction in schools as its main campaign, and forged an alliance with leaders of the Partido Unión. The AMPR represented a widespread concern: the individual costs on teachers in terms of time and resources for learning English and adapting to the newly imported teaching methods [14], and the anti-pedagogical nature of the English language policy....

...12 During the academic year of 1904-1905, the island only had three high schools (altas escuelas) and a total of 1,024 schools (Dexter, 1908)....

Occupation: Date: 1920
Place: School Teacher

Occupation: Date: 1930
Place: Administrative, Federal Government

Census: Date: 1880
Place: Templeton, Worcester, MA

Census: Date: 1870
Place: Kennebunkport, York, Maine

Census: Date: 1900
Place: Urbana, Champaign, Illinois

Census: Date: 1910
Place: Catedral, San Juan, PR

Census: Date: 1920
Place: Buffalo, Erie, New York

Census: Date: 1930
Place: Washington, Washington, DC

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F, Grace (b. ABT 1869, d. ?)

Census: Date: 1930
Place: Worcester, Worcester, MA