Colonial Legacy as an Obstacle to the Development of Education in the Devloping Countries -Latinamerican case-

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From the biginning of the conquest of new continente of America, the Spanish Crown was interested in the education of the Indian as a new vassal under their domination. The problem of turning the Indian into a Christian and assimilating them into spanish culture was linked to the need to justify of the expantion of the Spanish Empire. The "Spiritual Conquest" was an integral part of the colonial policy. In the early years of the sixteenth century, the Indian children were gathered together in the monastery-schools conducted by the religious Orders chiefly for religious instruction. On the other hand, in response to appeals from laymen and ecclesiatics for satisfying the educational need of the Creole and upper class mestizos, Europian universities and colleges were transplanted in the colony. Colonial university was distinguished by its aristcratic nature. It offered to the students the medieval sholastic disdiplines such as arts, theology, canons, law and medicine, all upon a base of Latin language. Thus, by the middle of the sixteenth Century, the basic structure of the colonial education system was established. There were a enomous gap among the inhabitantes with respect to the kind and degree of education based on the division of social class and racial caste. And this basic pattern and characterics of colonial education would continue through the entire colonial period and beyond.