María Luisa Dolz Arango

Outstanding Cuban pedagogue, pioneer of women's education.

She was born in La Habana. She was the fifth of nine children born to her parents, Licenciado Juan Norberto Dolz and María de la Luz Arango. Her social position allowed her to attend the best schools of the time. In Pinar del Río, where she spent much of her childhood, she received primary instruction at the school directed by Mrs. Zambrana de Cordier.

In La Habana she attended the Colegio "Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles" in the Cerro neighborhood, then attended the "Sagrado Corazón" school and later that of Clara Azoy de Luna. She completed her elementary studies at home, with the assistance of professors of literature, sciences, music and languages: English, French and German.

From her childhood her vocation for teaching was evident, as she gave classes to her younger sisters at home and in 1872 she began teaching at the Colegio "Nuestra Señora de la Piedad". What she initially did as a noble occupation for Creole women of her class, later served to satisfy her intellectual needs and was a means to make trips and secure a retirement pension.

In 1876 she obtained the title of elementary or primary school teacher, and the following year that of superior primary instruction teacher. In 1879 she took possession of the Colegio "Isabel la Católica", which from the end of the century adopted her own name, becoming the "Colegio María Luisa Dolz", the first secondary school for women established in the country, incorporated since 1885 into the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza of La Habana. She directed it until December 20, 1923, and it was the center where she developed her long educational work.

Her decisive character and cultural aspirations allowed her to break the traditions and prejudices that prevented women from raising their level of instruction and undertaking higher education. Her responsibilities as a teacher motivated her to study constantly and she thus obtained the diploma of bachelor in 1888 with outstanding grades. Later she entered the university and graduated as a Licenciada in Natural Sciences on October 16, 1890, also with outstanding grades.

When Spanish rule ended in Cuba at the end of the 19th century, and university statutes that had been suspended by Spain due to the independence war were renewed, she earned her doctorate in the same subject, Natural Sciences, in 1899. María Luisa Dolz was one of the first Cuban women to study and graduate from the Universidad de La Habana.

Her desire to know and stay current with advances in science, education and culture in the world prompted her to visit other countries in North America and Europe. She witnessed the international exhibitions in Chicago in 1893; Paris in 1900; and Liège in 1905.

From the trip undertaken for the Liège Exhibition in Belgium, María Luisa Dolz extracted excellent experiences, which upon her return she disseminated through articles in the periodic press and her participation in events. In that country she visited school centers of all types and grades, kindergartens and universities, teacher training schools, pedagogical museums, workshops for the disabled; she attended classes, observed the application of different teaching methods and materials; she inspected school buildings constructed to meet the demand of growing school population.

During this beneficial trip to Europe, she visited several schools in Germany, such as the Seminario Pedagógico Augusta Victoria, the Teacher Training Schools of Leipzig and Potsdam, and the University of Leipzig with its conservatory and its famous Seminario Pedagógico; the private schools of Frau Hessling and Albertina Frox, the boarding school of the Bergmann Sisters, the Lette Verein domestic school at Augusta Platz.

With the sad Cuban experience of the juvenile detention center in Guanajay, she wanted to know the functioning of the Zehlendorf Am Urban Reformatory School, where children and adolescents were treated as patients undergoing investigation of their hereditary and social backgrounds, providing them with special instruction and education, vocational training, sports practice and civic activities, as well as individualized attention provided by families who gave them the human warmth they had possibly lacked.

In Paris she reviewed the Elisa Lamonniers Correctional School, the Villiers Superior School, the Pedagogical museum, and the Catholic schools of San Vicente and San José. In the United States she visited several elementary public and private institutions in New York, Washington, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Without a doubt, the study of natural sciences; her deep involvement with the work of outstanding scientists, pedagogues and philosophers of the time, such as Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Immanuel Kant, Payot, Théodule Ribot, Alexander Bain; her travels and participation in different education congresses; served as a nourishing source and contributed to the formation of her pedagogical ideology, which anticipated in Cuba the application of what today is known as integral education. At the same time, she opened guidelines for the education of Cuban women, with the introduction of pedagogical practices and disciplines that were not customary in girls' schools. Very few in Cuba, in her time, possessed such abundant and current information about all aspects of culture concerning educational problems as María Luisa Dolz did.

In her school, which soon became known throughout the country for its innovations, its faculty and the solid preparation it offered to its students, María Luisa Dolz set out to educate women of action, healthy, robust and balanced. She shaped the profile of her school; it was nourished by a faculty that included the best educators of the country: Enrique José Varona, Carlos de la Torre, Rafael Montoro, Lincoln de Zayas, Ramón Meza, Alfredo Miguel Aguayo, Salvador Salazar, among others. Also highly cultured women devoted to their teaching work, among them Mercedes Matamoros y del Valle, teacher, poetess and writer; Adriana Bellini, recognized in the literary and artistic world; Carmen Casal; Pilar Romero; Esther Fernández and María Dolores Guerra, who took charge of the school when its director retired.

The school's curriculum was developed in Spanish and English. Spanish instruction was divided into six courses and English into two courses or grades. Three weekly hours of physical education, two weekly hours of music theory and five hours of manual work were included, which comprised embroidery, sewing, flower making, still life drawing and painting.

As for exams, the school held them in December, before Christmas vacation, and in June and July, before summer vacation. They consisted of three parts: oral questions, written assignments read aloud in front of the class and practical exercises. The average of grades from all courses, combined with the exams, served as the standard for the classification of prizes distributed at the end of December exams. They also served as proof of course, since students with good grades passed to the next class or grade. Those who did not attend the general exams had to take a special exam for promotion.

Calisthenics exercises were practiced at the school since 1881, before they had become widespread in the country. They were led by Cuban teachers who had learned them in the United States. The school also distinguished itself by the teaching of fine arts: music theory, singing, piano, drawing and painting. Several students won prizes at exhibitions in Buffalo and Charleston in the United States. Special attention was given to manual work which, while educating hands and sight, developed habits of industriousness, patience and love of work.

In this center, in addition to high school graduates, many aspiring teachers were prepared, who later successfully occupied classrooms, lectureships and school directorships; a natural history museum and a school library were installed and an association of alumni was established that maintained the link with their school; as part of the school's plan, field excursions, experimental classes, concerts, lectures, readings, literary celebrations, and other scientific and recreational activities were carried out.

The school granted annually 12 scholarships for eight years to orphaned girls without resources, provided their conduct and achievement were satisfactory, with no differences from other students. More than 3,000 students who passed through its classrooms achieved prestige as doctors in Pedagogy, in Dental Surgery, in Pharmacy and as professors in educational institutions or as renowned artists.

María Luisa Dolz maintained prolific professional activity in the field of education. She was a member of different tribunals for competitive examinations for chairs at the Teacher Training Schools for Teachers, of the commission for the selection of texts for public schools, of the Executive Committee of the Conferences of Charity and Correction, of the Red Cross Ladies Committee, corresponding member in Cuba of the Brussels School League, vice president of the Homiculture League, Honorary Member of the Women's Club, member of the Board of the Children's Protection Society and of the Homeland Orphans' Asylum, full member of the Geographical Society of Cuba.

She published articles in national newspapers and magazines such as El Fígaro, Patria, Cuba Pedagógica, Cultural, and Diario de la Marina.

In speeches and lectures she addressed different topics related to the physical, intellectual and moral education of children and women; on the importance of teaching and its preparation; she presented the experiences of her travels to different centers and educational events in the United States and Europe.

At the end of 1923, 46 years after founding her school and at age 69, María Luisa Dolz retired from her work. She left the continuation of her work in the hands of María Dolores Guerra de Nogueira, who had gained pedagogical experience working alongside her in the school itself.

In 1924, in the paranymph of the Academia de Ciencias, at an event presided over by the Secretary of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, Cuban intellectuals paid her tribute for her valuable contribution to Cuban education.

She died on May 27, 1928. Her funeral brought together an enormous number of people, where female presence stood out.

Bibliography
Active Bibliography

Speech delivered by Director María Luisa Dolz at the solemn distribution of prizes, Colegio "Isabel La Católica", La Habana, 1892.

Speech by María Luisa Dolz at the solemn distribution of prizes on the night of December 20, 1894, Colegio "Isabel La Católica", La Habana, 1894.

"Disadvantages of Working Women", Newspaper El Fígaro, La Habana, February 24, 1895.

The Teacher and Her School, Newspaper El Fígaro, La Habana, May 31, 1895.

Speech by María Luisa Dolz on December 20, 1896, Colegio "Isabel La Católica", La Habana, 1896.

"Thought", Newspaper El Fígaro, La Habana, October 1897.

Report presented at the distribution of prizes on February 19, 1904. In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Colegio "Isabel La Católica", La Habana, 1904.