{"value"=>"<p>Series contains documents on education in the Canal Zone for the children of West Indians and the general population. The greatest amount of information pertains to Canal Zone schools. Included are a policy manual, annual reports of the Division of Schools (1952-1953), reports and correspondence with the Canal Zone Colored Teachers' Association, and reports and news clippings pertaining to the 1954 language and curriculum conversion mandated for children of Panamanian employees attending U. S. schools on the Canal Zone. The conversion from the English-language American curriculum to the Spanish-language Panamanian curriculum was instituted to facilitate assimilation to Panamanian citizenship and culture.</p> <p>Files on the Ministry of Education consists of reports to the National Assembly and national plans for education, 1966-1969. The University of Panama folders provide information about the faculty and printed matter about the autonomy of the university. Also, there are a booklet and news clippings about founding a second university in Panama, the University of Santa Maria la Antigua in 1965. Information about the predecessor of the University of Panama, the Canal Zone College, consists of a transcript of an interview held by the Civic Committee with the superintendent of Canal Zone schools about the employment of black instructors, 1950. Westerman served as chairman of this Civic Committee. Additionally, this series contains some of the autographed letters Westerman loaned to the La Boca School Library, the Isthmus' school for West Indians, for an exhibit entitled \"Fifty Outstanding Afro-Americans\", 1942. This collection formed the nucleus of a library which emphasized books by and about blacks, and Westerman served as secretary of the Library Committee. Administrative files document the opening and growth of this library. Other material pertains to La Boca Normal School and the U. S. government's request to reorganize this high school as a teacher-training and general educational institution at the junior college level, 1949. There are also reports about teachers in the secondary school system, scholarships for students, graduation programs, writings by Westerman and others about education and related news clippings about general education topics in Panama and Latin America. This series is arranged by: Canal Zone schools, Ministry of Education, University of Panama, and general.</p>"}