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The American administrators put great emphasis on developing a modern school system. English-language instruction provoked fears of cultural genocide. This effort generated resistance from teachers, parents, politicians, intellectuals and others. Resistance to the imposition of English was part of a larger effort to resist invasion and colonization. The schools became an important arena for cultural identity, as promoted by the middle-class local teachers who rejected the idea of creating Hispanic Yankees speaking only English, and instead sought to have an autonomous Puerto Rican culture that incorporated the best of modern pedagogy and learning, with a respect for the island's Hispanic language and cultural traditions. U.S officials underestimated the place of Spanish in Puerto Rican culture. By 1898 Spanish was firmly rooted in the population. Spanish was also one of the leading international languages, through which Puerto Rican were in contact with the world. It was the language in which culture was communicated. The level of opposition to the imposition of English was such that it led to the failure of U.S language policies in Puerto Rico.

One shock came in 1935, however, when a New York study found Puerto Rican schoolchildren in New York City to be seriously deficient in basic skills.[49] After 39 years of the imposition of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Spanish became the preferred language of instruction in 1942, and in the public schools the vernacular of Puerto Ricans became the language of teaching and learning in 1940-50.