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The development of education in Mexico
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Content
THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION
IN MEXICO
A Thesis
Presented to the Faculty
of the School of Education
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the
Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Arts
in Education
By
James Brooks Blaisdell
January 1931
UMI Number: EP69619
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
in the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
UMI
Dissertation R jblishing
UMI EP69619
Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
All rights reserved. This work is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
uesf
ProQuest LLC.
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P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346
This thesis, w ritten under the direction of the
Chairman of the candidate's Guidance Com
mittee and approved by a ll members of the
Committee, has been presented to and accepted
by the F a culty of the School of Education in
p artial fu lfillm e n t of the requirements fo r the
degree of M aster of A rts in Education.
.
Dean
Guidance Committee
P. C. Tout on
T. L.
Chairman
Scholtz
L. B. Sogers
CONTENTS
Chapter ^age
I. THE PROBLEM-------------------- : --------- 1
: II. METHOD OP PROCEDURE---------------------- 4
III. THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF THE MEXICAN PEOPLES 8
IV. EDUCATION IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD(1521-1810 ) 25
V. EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 37
VI. PRESENT-DAY PUBLIC EDUCATION
PART I. RURAL,ELEMENTARY,SECONDARY 48
VII. PRESENT-DAY PUBLIC EDUCATION
PART II. THE UNIVERSITIES------------ 71
VIII. SUMMARY --------- ■ ------------------ 77
BIBLIOGRAPHY---------------------------- 80
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is to trace the develop
ment of education in Mexico from the earliest period for
which authentic records are available, which is that im
mediately preceding the Spanish conquest, down through
the colonial period, the first century of Mexican in
dependence, and climaxing with the stupendous program
being undertaken by the present revolutionary govern
ment •
In order to have a clear understanding of the
problems which have been faced by the Mexican people
during the various epochs of their national life, to
realize the difficulties encountered in attempts to
provide any kind of a program of popular education, it
is necessary to review briefly some of the high points
in the history of Mexico, and to investigate somewhat
the real intellectual nature of her people.
The problem is one of tracing the faint threads
of Mexico’s educational growth, which at times dwindle
to almost nothingness, and of gathering and tyingT^hem
into the present scheme of modern education. It has
involved a search through the historical literature
■ . ?
pertaining to Mexico and extraction therefrom of isolated
items having to do with education. These thoughts have
been arranged so as to form a chronological story of the
country’s educational advancement.
As far as may be ascertained but one other work of
this nature has been attempted, and this with an entirely
different purpose in the mind of the author. Charles
William Dabney in 1916 issued an appeal for the es
tablishment of an independent college in Mexico^, basing
his appeal upon the lack of educational facilities there.
He outlines the educational situations existing at differ
ent times in the nation’s history, but publication of his
work came before any great strides had been taken in the
present national campaign for popular education.
Factors Contributing to the Development of the
Curriculum of Public Secondary Schools in Mexico from
1867 to 1927 is the subject of a doctor’s dissertation
now being completed at the University of California by
Mathew D. Smith of Puebla, Mexico. Mr. Smith very kindly
made available to the author a copy of the bibliography
of his dissertation.
, A large part of the information regarding earlier
Mexican education has been gleaned from works written
in English, but a portion of this, and nearly all of
Charles William Dabney, A Study of Educational Con
ditions in Mexico and an Appeal for an Independent
CollegeI Cincinnatti, Ohio, 1916.
the data having to do with present-day conditions has been
translated from the Spanish. Publications of the Secretaria
e ' ^ y
de Educacion Publics en Mexico furnish the only true and
complete picture of that which is now taking place. The
Pan-American Union at Washington has been very kind in
supplying certain of these bulletins, as well as in suggest
ing other references.
l%iile in attendance at tv/o summer sessions of the
National University of Mexico, the author had the privilege
of catching first-hand glimpses of the Mexican school sys
tem in operation. Members of the staff of the Secretaria
de Educacion very kindly made available desired publica
tions. The author owes especial gratitude to Professor
Gabino Palma, who made possible visits to schools of
various types, whose course in Education at the univer
sity was a source of real inspiration, and whose personal
friendship will always be treasured.
4
CHAPTER II
METHOD OP PROCEDURE
A study of the development of education in
Mexico cannot be chiefly an examination of statistical
evidence. To note, in successive periods of the nation’s
history, increase or decrease in the number of schools
and the school population, changes in courses of study,
improvement or the lack of it in the matter of school
facilities and equipment, and the like, would be in
teresting if it were possible of accomplishment. In a
study of educational development made in the United
States or in a country of Europe such factors would be
considered basic to any true interpretation of the edu
cational situation. In the case of Mexico, however,
that is not so. To accept these phases as essential to
a study of the development of Mexican education is to
paint, not only an incomplete picture, but one lacking
in description of things as they really are.
The same should be said regarding the other
phases of Mexican history. The history of the Mexican
people can not, or at least should not, be studied alone
as a series of wars, constitutions, alliances, revolutions,
and so forth. While more and more it is being generally
admitted that no history should be studied in such a
manner, yet it is especially true in the case of Mexico.
The history of Mexico is a romantic, thou^ painful,
story of the rise of a new civilization, the evolving
of a new nation by the intermixture of the blood of the
Spanish conquerors with that of the numerous native tribes
It involves the bloody conquest of these Indians by the
Spaniards in their lust for gold. Then came generations
of subjugation, even actual slavery, misgovernment, and
exploitation. It is said that there is not a single
monument, or even a stone, dedicated to the memory of
any of the Spanish conquerors. Why should there be?
The viceroys left nothing behind them but bitter hatred.
After the long struggle for independence the
problems of the Mexican people were just beginning to
evolve. Unprepared by past experience to meet the ob
ligations of self-government, possessed of what might be
termed a "national inferiority complex" due to long sub
jugation, divided into countless tribes of varying speech
and habits, separated from one another by great distances
and without means of communication, the "Mexicanization"
of their own country was a stupendous task. In telling
us to what extent Mexico has won, or, lost, in her at
tempt to make a nation, her history must take for its
ultimate base the biological and sociological nature of
6
her people. The exterior phenomena of history listed
above, wars, dates, etc., must be considered of im
portance only in so far as they bear directly upon real
development of the nation. Very many of the above items
have no bearing whatsoever, and only occasionally are
they of historical significance.
This is especially true with regard to that phase
of Mexican history which deals with education. Some few
statistics are available; they are incomplete and often
inaccurate. The peon has always held the census in
greatest horror; so often it has meant to him added
burdens of taxation, or worse. Indications of general
trends are all that may be hoped for from statistics.
For interpretation and significance of these trends we
must look to the real nature of the Mexican people.
We must see from what blood they have come, and by
what routes. We must study their heritage, a blending of
Indian and Spaniard, their inherent possibilities for
development and advancement. In the light of this
knowledge we shall be able to trace out the educational
movement that has been both cause and result of great
national progress, and we may be able to make a reasonable
prediction as to Mexico’s educational possibilities for
the future. Certain it is that at the present moment
Mexico is undertaking a task in education as great or
greater than that of any other country in the civilized
world, and attacking that task with a zeal and enthusiasm
that bodes well for her future national progress, a progress
almost entirely dependent upon education. Mexico’s is a
rapidly and radically changing civilization, and any force
or group of forces that motivates or effects important
sociological changes is educative. Education is made up
of these many factors. It has been said that, "Education
is conscious evolution", and it is with such a definition
in mind that we proceed with our study of the development
of education in Mexico.
8
CHAPTER III
THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF THE MEXICAN PEOPLES
The scene which met the eyes of the first Spanish
Conquerors to enter Mexico has been glowingly and most
interestingly described by many authors. It is not
important for the purposes of this work to paint the
picture in great detail. It is important, hov/ever,
that we consider the nature of the civilization as it
was when discovered by the small handful of Spanish
adventurers in 1519. To that end a brief sketch of
the physical appearance of the new land may be helpful.
Mexico, the meeting ground of two widely differing
races, a tragic meeting ground because one race was
strong, the other weak, one avaricious and cruel, the
other trusting and generous.
The scene is most effectively described by
Barrance^ when he says:
It must have been astonishing to these sturdy warriors,
who had still the dust of the bare Castillian plains
on their boots, to contemplate the wonderful panorama
unfolded before them. Imagine yourself seeing a huge
plateau, embraced, as it were, by a pair of gigantic
arms, two chains of mountains, on its eastern and
western margins. Imagine the lofty plains of this
plateau, from five to nine thousand feet above sea level,
crowned with majestic mountains and old volcanoes whose
’peaks entering the limits of perpetual snow, diffuse
a grateful coolness over the elevated plateaux below’,
all clothed with magnificent vegetation only seen in
equinoctial lands.
^Manuel Barrance, Mexico - Its Educational Problems
Teachers College, Colurabia University, 1925*
Then across the ranges to Mexico City, in a setting
of incomparable beauty appeared the "Venice of the
v¥estern World." Speaking of Mexico City, Prescott
says:
Its long lines of glittering edifices and its floating
gardens, struck by the rays of the evening sun, trembled
on the dark blue waters of the lakes.2
"It looked like a thing of fairy creation," writes
Vernal Diaz, the soldier historian, who was with Cortez,
as they stood motionless contemplating the landscape
from the hills above, "like a flock of birds of prey
before descending upon their victims."
In this strange and beautiful setting was found
an old civilization. It is not within the scope of this
work to delve deeply into the history of various peoples
who in successive periods inhabited the valley of Mexico.
Written records are lacking regarding them, so that
little can with certainty be known. It is important,
however, that mention be made of these earlier races
among whom, according to good evidence, there was a
civilization involving definite educational practices.
"Of these races," says Prescott,® "the most con
spicuous were the Toltecs." It is not known whence the
Toltecs came, or exactly when, but it is presumed that
they came in from the North, probably before the close
P
-William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, p.
®Ibid, p.
10
of the seventh century. Information concerning them
comes down to us only through the legends of later
peoples, Prescott says:
By general agreement of these (the legends), the
Toltecs were well instructed in agriculture, and many
of the most useful mechanical arts; were nice workers
of metals,...., and, in short, were the true fountains
of the civilization which distinguished this part of
the continent in later times.^
After a period of some four centuries the Toltecs
largely disappeared. Theories as to the causes of their
disappearance differ. They were followed perhaps a
hundred years later by the Chichemecs, who entered the
deserted country also from the North. Little is known
of the nature of their civilization, but it was de
cidedly lower than that of the Toltecs. Other races
soon followed them. The most noted of these were the
Aztecs, or as Prescott speaks of them, "the Mexicans
and the Acolhuans." The Acolhuans settled an extensive
territory in the North. Other minor peoples occupied
various parts of the country. Each had its own language
and customs.
The Aztecs, with whom we are primarily concerned,
took unto themselves the central plateau of Mexico, and
developed the civiization that was rudely interrupted
by Cortez and his followers. In tabular form, Prescott
'^W. H. Prescott, op. cit., p.
11
summarizes the probable and approximate history of the
early races who came to Mexico;®
A.D.
The Toltecs arrived in Anahuac
(The Velley of Mexico) 648
They abandoned the country 1051
The Chichemecs arrived 1170
The Acolhuans arrived about 1200
The Mexicans reached Tula 1196
They founded Mexico 1325
Charles W. Dabney says;
This then is the situation which faces us at the
beginning of our definite knowledge of Mexico. On a
high, healthful, and fertile plateau, in the heart of
which is a beautiful basin or valley, adorned with
jeweled lakes and watched over by sentinel mountains,
one of them capped with perpetual snow, has been gathered
a group of tribes, henceforth to be known (through mis
taken geography) as "Indians". They are in the early
stages of civilization, beginning to cultivate the soil,
to build villages of the communal type, and to organize
governments. Divided into jurisdictions that were
primarily tribes, they are yet with a few exceptions
racially homogeneous. Their several languages are,
nevertheless, distinct from each other, and their
separate governments of varying form. They are in a
chronic state of antagonism and jealousy among them
selves, which often breaks into warfare. Together they
make a population variously estimated at from two to
four millions.®
According to Prescott, the Aztecs had a well
developed system of picture writing, and a finely
calculated calendar. They used a sort of paper re
sembling Egyptian papyrus, sometimes done up into
5
W. H. Prescott, op. cit., p.
^Charles W. Dabney, A Study of Educational Conditions in
Mexico, p.
18
rolls, but more commonly into volumes. Hieroglyphical
maps were in use, and they had devised simple arithmetical
schemes. Without other instruments than the dial the
science of astronomy had been deeply studied. Agriculture
was well advanced. Merchants were greatly respected*
According to Flores^, Aztec education was divided into
two main divisions, physical and moral. Inter-tribal
warfare being by far the most important consideration
at the time physical education was most highly valued.
The young men were taught to endure the most severe
hardships, and were given extensive military training.
Games and sports formed a notable part of the physical
education program. In the words of Flores:
Moral education was imparted to the children and young
people by means of precepts or advice of the parents,
which was most severe, since the law punished with
greatest harshness misdemeanors and crimes, whose penalty,
in most cases was death, confiscation of property,
mutilation, whippings, and all kinds of terrible
punishments.7
Until fifteen years of age the child was educated
in the home. At that age he was sent to school. Again
quoting from Flores:
If the child was of noble blood they sent him to the
"calmecac", in which he was taught religion, military
science, and where he learned to decipher the hiero
glyphics and sacred symbols. But, if he was of the
popular class, they sent him to the "tepuchcalli", where
he received an education befitting his social level.
*7 /
Jesus Romero Flores, Historia de la Civilizacion
Mexicana.(Translation from the Spanish)
13
Of the latter schools there were many, and these were
for hoys and girls* There was but one calmecac.®
Flores goes on to say that the Spaniards on their
arrival marveled at the grade of culture attained by the
Aztecs, especially as regarded their knowledge of the
calendar, arithmetic, astronomy, their arts and in
dustries. To be sure, there was the blot of superstition
upon religious ceremonials and beliefs, involving cruel
punishment and human sacrifice; but that was surely not
a unique situation at that time in the world’s history.
The Aztec people were a simple, polite, generous and
wholehearted race when there swooped down upon them a
band representative of the most inhuman, avaricious,
bloodthirsty and gold-hungry men the world has ever
known. Insane with the love of gold and plunder,
they fell upon this clean hearted and unsuspecting
nation, pillaging and murdering as they went. Draper
9
says:
From Mexico a civilization that might have instructed
Europe was crushed out. It has been her(Spain’s)
evil destiny to ruin two civilizations. Oriental and
Occidental, and to be ruined thereby herself....
In -^merica she destroyed races more civilizèd than
herself.
^J.R. Flores, op.cit.
of
8,
^ Draper, Intellectual Development/Europe, quoted
from The Fair God, by Lew Wallace.
14
In the years that followed the Spanish invasion
there came the natural intermingling of white and Indian
blood, and numerous new races evolved. Some of these
types in the course of time disappeared; others were
of little practical importance. Various classifications
have been made by authors, but the one most commonly
made is as follows
1. European race. Spaniards and other foreigners.
2. Creole. Spanish descent, but born in Mexico.
3. Mestizo-mixed. Spanish and Indian descent.
4. Castizo. Spanish and mixed descent.
5. Indians. Natives.
6. Mulato - mulatto. Spanish and Negro descent.
7. Zambo. Indian and Negro descent.
By the very nature of things the creole and castizo
classes disappeared in due course of time. The mulatto
and zambo have never been of sufficient numbers to have
any noticeable effect upon the life of the country. Thus
we have left but three classes, - The Indians, the Mestizos,
and the Whites, - making up the Mexican nation. The problem
of taking census counts in Mexico has always been a most
difficult one. Means of transportation are tremendously
inadequate. Besides, the Indians are highly suspicious
of any attempt at enumeration, fearing that this may be
but a preliminary step towards heavier taxation.
A census taken in 1900 showed a population in
Mexico of 13,611,712. Ten years later a census count,
incomplete because of the revolutionary interruption.
10 Barrance, Mexico - Its Educational Problems, p,
15
gave a population of 15,063,207, indicating a probable
figure of about sixteen million. As regards distribution
11
of races the census gives the following;
per cent of population
Group 1810 1895 1900 1910
Whites 18 22 19 20
Mestizos 22 47 43 45
Indians 60 31 38 35
In writing of these statistics Barranc© believes
that there is an apparent lack of correctness, especially
as regards the count of 1895. Statements upon this sub
ject in more recent literature vary greatly as to the
pictures which they portray. Due to the increasing com
plexity of the blood lines of the population and the re
sulting vagueness of lines of demarcation between races
the present dendency is to classify according to manner
of living. This factor is allowed, at least, to color
the racial estimates.
Carleton B@ales gives information which, when
12
placed in tabular form appears as follows;
per cent
Indians 38
Mestizos 43
l%iites 19
Barrancô', op. cit., p.
G.Beals, Mexico-An Interpretation, 1923.
16
He mentions that of the Mestizos fifteen or twenty per
cent live in the Indian fashion, and that of the Indians,
"Two million do not know Spanish or refuse to speak it."
Moises Sa^nz says that there are some 14,000,000
inhabitants in Mexico today (1926), of which 2,000,000
are Indians, 8,000,000 are Mestizos, and 4,000,000 are
White or^ near White. Putting these figures in the form
of percentages, we have:^®
Per cent
Indians 13
Mestizos 57
Whites 29
But regardless of the accuracy of the several
estimates, (and even the census count itself is little
more than an estimate), certain trends, as pointed out
by Barranco, are evident. First, the white population
is increasing very slowly. There has been very little
emigration to Mexico from European and North American
countries, due partially to political unrest, and par
tially to lack of advertising. Second, in the one hundred
years between 1810 and 1910 the mixed population has
doubled in number. Third, the Indian population is de
creasing rapidly.
Such are the blood lines of the Mexican people.
What of their intellectual fibre? what of their outlook
^®M. Saenz, Integrating Mexico through Education, 1926.
V7,
upon life in general? What of their hopes and plans
for the future? The answers today to these questions
have more of promise than twenty years ago. For centuries
prior to the revolution of 1910 the Mexican people had
been among the most down-trodden of the world, beaten
and robbed by their conquerors, forced into actual
slavery, steeped in poverty. The whites ruled with
an iron hand. Then after 1823, at which time came in
dependence from Spain, the mestizos came into power*
This brought about freedom from actual slavery, but
economic slavery was little better, often worse* Property
was still in the hands of a very few, and the most de
spicable forms of serfdom were in vogue. There could be
no nationalism, no patriotism, when abject poverty gripped
the masses* The logical outcome of such a situation is
the inferiority complex, an outstanding characteristic
of the Mexican Indian today*
Since the downfall of Madero in 1913 there has
been on foot a process of "Indianization", a process of
making the Indians Mexicans. There has come a complete
disappearance of social divisions based on caste* Ross^^
says there is no color line* At least it is but a
faint line. Gruening^® believes that the revolutionary
governments have done practically nothing to incorporate
^“ ^E.A.Ross, The Social Evolution in Mexico.
^®E. Gruening, Mexico and its Heritage.
18
the Indian into modern society. Moises Saenz believes
that great progress has been made, but admits that,-
In spite of great progress made towards the unification,
material and spiritual, of Mexico, and in spite of these
elements of nationality making for integration to which
reference has already been made, as one surveys the
Mexican scene one is forced to conclude that far from
being united, this is yet a divided country. United in
emotion, we are, united in ideals to some extent, united
also in the degree to which our centralized government
makes for uniformity and coordination; united by our
belief that persons are still the important element,
system and maching being secondary; united to a great
extent, although in a certain blind way, in our catholic
faith. But otherwise socially, ethnologically, in
tellectually, and, above all, economically, we are yet
largely, despite our Revolution, either passively dis
integrated or aggressively in conflict.1®
Whether or not much has been done along these
lines, it appears evident that the first great educational
problem of Mexico is that of unifying and nationalizing
its entire population. In a country one-third the size
of the United States, having a population of fourteen
or fifteen millions, many of whom are Indians and
of different tribes and tongues, whose heritage has been
one of subjection and slavery, the process of nationaliza
tion must be most difficult. Add to that the great dis
tances, poor systems of communication, varying climates,
deserts, mountains, rivers, altitudes, and other physical
obstacles, and the problem appears almost insurmountable*
^^M. Saenz, Mexico - An Appraisal and a Forecast. 1929.
19
And what of the Inherent ability of the Mexican
minds to be educated? What is the "raw material" with
which to work? Providing the physical obstacles listed
above may be overcome* is the Mexican intellectually
capable of being educated? Here again we have a very
great difference of opinion. The extreme optimist* and
especially the extreme sentimentalist, believes that the
mental powers of the Mexican groups are not inferior to
the so-called whites. The extreme view on the opposide
side is that the native Mexican stocks are characteristi
cally subnormal. The truth is probably somewhere be
tween these two extremes*
McLean^*^ believes that Mexican intelligence
is as high or higher than that of the Americans. He
calls attention to the fact that there are some thirty-
two thousand Mexican children in the Los Angeles City
school system, and that where the language disability
or the retardation due to migration has been removed by
the aid of "opportunity rooms", they seem to keep pace
with our own children. He cites the case of the Ramona
School in Los Angeles, where a teacher was given seventy-
five Mexican children as "opportunity pupils."
So diligent were they in their application, and so .successful
in their studies, that in seven months they had made the
same progress which the ordinary child makes in fourteen
months. Perhaps in some degree their ability is enhanced
by their mental hunger.^”
N, McLean* That MexicanÎ 1928.
20
Assistant Superintendent Harry M. Shafer of the
Los Angeles Schools says;
So great is the hunger of these Mexican children,
and so great is the zeal of their parents for them, that
they are liable to outdistance our own boys and girls
in their school work. So often American parents insist
that they do not want their children to avail themselves
of certain privileges which are offered, while the
Mexican parent frankly declares that he wants his child _
to have advantage of every opportunity which is provided* °
Another side of the picture is brought out by Dr.
Ross. He points out^^ that the intelligence quotient of
Mexican children in the United States as compared with
North American and European children is notably lo?/er.
He states that in certain public schools in California
the average I.Q. of American children from northern
European ancestry is 106, whereas that of the Mexican
children is but 76. The latter figure is six points
lower than the average of Portuguese and Italians in
the schools mentioned. Considering children twelve
years of age in these same schools but twenty-one and
one-half per cent of the Mexicans exceed the lov/est
quarter of the Americans in the Army Alpha test.
Dr. Ross does admit, however, that there are
great untried possibilities in the Mexican race. He
points to the Mexican National railways which have
functioned since 1912 without the aid of foreign leader-
18
H.M. Shafer,
^^E.A. Ross, The Social Revolution in Mexico, 1923.
21
ship and which have trained some fifteen to eighteen
thousand unskilled laborers. When during the war
many former executives of power stations, mines, and
factories were called to other service, their business
seemed to operate just as smoothly and efficiently as
when they had been present.
Findings of Drake in his study of the mentality
and achievement of Mexican and white children are very
similar to those of Dr. Ross. In the general summary
of Drake’s thesis the following points are noted:
1. There is a racial difference in mentality
between Mexican and white children taken as
distinct groups*
2. As a group, when considered from the stand
point of both intelligence and achievement, the
mean of the Mexican children is lower than that
of the white children by an amount which is
equal to about one-haIf the spread of the middle
two-thirds of either group.
3. The mean achievement of Mexican children is
in the same ratio to mean intelligence as the
mean achievement of the white children is to their
mean intelligence.
4* The Mexican children benefit by the exposure
to the school curriculum as much as do the white
children of equal mental capacity.
5* The language handicap is of but small im
portance by the time the Mexican child has com
pleted the sixth grade. 20
20
R. H. Drake, A Comparative Study of the Mentality and
Achievement of Mexican and mite Children, Master * s
Thesis, University of Southern California, 1927
22
Those who know and understand the Mexican people
are agreed that in handwork, in music, and in art these
people can hold their own against any race in the world.
The native Mexican is born with music in his soul. His
love of the beautiful is part and parcel of his very being,
The visitor to Mexico will find bright colored flowers
around the poorest hovel. Carleton Beals speaks of the
"poetic faculty" of the Mexican. He says, "^ictorial
language flowers from the tongue of the most ragged,
illiterate peon;" and that "the humblest peon is an
embryo artist." "%e Mexican has an abiding, almost
religious sense of beauty," and "has music, romance,
laughter, - and these are great gifts.
McLean relates an interesting incident which well
illustrates the artistic nature of these people. Some
winters ago an -American tourist had gone to a little
town close against the mountains in Southern California.
She had gone there that she might catch with her brush
the glory of golden sunsets on purple mountains, and that
she might paint the witchery of eucalyptus trees against
the blue of the skies. One day she wandered into the
little school which was half American, and half Mexican.
An art class was at work, and the visitor asked that
she might be allowed to take home with her the studies
21
C. Beals, op. cit..
^3
of the group. The next day she returned, having selected
the five drawings which she thought showed the most merit.
It is significant that four drawings out of the five were
the work of Mexican children.
Here, then, is the Mexican, by blood either white,
mestizo, or Indian, and as Beals believes, "... in spite
of ethnic and social confusion, a distinct cultural and
racial type is slowly emerging." This development is
taking place in spite of tremendous racial handicaps.
Either the individual Mexican is one of a very few who
own most of the property in' a land rich in natural
resources, or he is one of some sixteen millions who are
on the edge of poverty. He is of a race that for hundreds
of years has been ground down and exploited. He is one
who for generations has known no hope, for whom the
eternal struggle for "tortillas" has been the only thing
in life. But in the Mexican of today we do find a nev/
gleam of hope. We find a determination to acquire the
finer things of life that have ever been denied him. We
find a new patriotism, a new nationalism, brought about
by the revolution. We find a new civilization awakening
from an old one, education at work.
In the pages which follow, an attempt is made to
trace the development of education in Mexico from the
time of the Spanish conquest up to the present. It must
24
be made clear that, due to the inadequacy of statistical
evidence available, trends only may be traced and none
too clearly. If we consider education to be made up
solely of schools and formal teaching there is good
reason for lack of literature on the subject, for popular
education is a very new thing in Mexico. In fact, it
has not actually arrived yet. Education in its broader
sense is the sum of all those factors which tend toward
physical betterment and social uplife of a race. And
it is with this definition in mind that we proceed.
25
CHAPTER IV
EDUCATION IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1521-1810)
The purposes which brought the Spaniards to
America militated very strongly against the early es
tablishment of any plan for universal or general educa
tion. The Spanish conquerors came in seap.ch of gold
and other mineral wealth. They came to exploit the
country and its inhabitants, not to develop it or them.
The only development desired wat that which would in
crease the material gain of the conquerors and help to
satisfy their lust for gold. Upon their arrival in the
Velley of Mexico, the Spaniards found some five or six
million Indians, living in the highly civilized state
described in the previous chapter. The institutions of
this civilization were rapidly destroyed by the conquerors,
the Indians were forced into economic slavery, all labor
was driven into the mines and the fields to add to the
wealth of the Spaniards.
The education of the children of the Spaniards
in New Spain was not neglected, however. Many of the
wealthy Spaniards sent their children to Europe to be
trained for leadership in a profession. The study of
medicine was sadly neglected, for it was still believed
that sickness came from God as punishment for sin, and
26
that any attempt at prevention or cure was a sin against
God. But uneducated as were the conquerors, and interested
as they were in adventure and gold, they still were wise
enough to foresee that education of their children was
essential to a continuation of their control in America.
Their children were sent for the most part to Europe to re
ceive their education. The education of the Indians was
totally disregarded, for they needed none. Education could
not strengthen the back of the Indian, and the back of
the Indian, not his mind, was the sole interest of the
Spaniard.
Very fortunately for the future education of the
Mexican, the Spanish priests and monks followed close on
the heels of the conquerors. Theirs was a very different
purpose from that of the conquering layman. Their pur
pose was to christianize the Indians, and in this move
ment of Christianization were sown^the first seeds of
universal education. The priests and monks took a
firm stand in favor of protection of the Indians from
the exploitation of the landed Spaniards, and were
supported in this stand by the Spanish Crown. Much
valuable land had been divided among the conquerors, and
to this land had been attached as laborers the indigents
living upon it. Legally these laborers, "encomendados",
were assigned to the owner for purposes of protection of
their rights; actually they were in slavery to him.
27
The great effort of the religious missionaries was to
force the landowners to live up to their responsibility
regarding the moral and intellectual welfare of their
subjects.
Barranco gives a brief account of the efforts
of these missionaries ; in 1516 Cardinal Cisneros commanded
all vessels bound for America to carry at least one monk
or priest, and in 1562 the king issued a similar order.
The primary purpose of this order was to insure the trans
planting of the Catholic faith among the Indians. This,
of course, was accomplished, but the secondary and per
haps the more important results were the beginnings of
education in the new world. Priestly says:
Wherever the priests went a school was soon established
for the instruction of the natives or education of the
clericals who were already at work or who were soon to
take holy orders. Prom these schools and colleges
sprang the great colonial universities, of which, in
cluding that of Mexico already referred to, there were
seven in Spanish America before the end of the seventeenth
century. Hundreds of degrees were conferred in them
upon graduates in law and theology long before the first
continental English settlements were founded.
2
According to Jesus Romero Flores , the first
missionaries came to New Spain in 1522, but one year
following the conquest. Theirs was a spirit of complete
^H.I. Priestly, The Mexican Nation, a History, The
Macmillan Company;' "1^24.--— — — * ------
2 /
J. R. Flores, Historia de la Civillzacion Mexicana,
Compa#ia Editera "Aguilas", Mexico. 1929.
28
self-sacrifice. Their only desire was to bring to the
Indians a knowledge of the Catholic faith. They came
without apostolic orders, only with the permission to carry
on their labors. The first to come were the Franciscans,
Fr. Juan de Tecto., Pr. Juan de Ahora, and lay-Friar,
Fr. Pedro de Gante. In the city of Texcoco, they baptized
converts and studied the native language, so that they
might teach the Spanish language to the Indians. Pr.
Gante was a distant relative of King Charles V. To
him is given the honor of fdiwa'fiig • the first school on
the American Continent, that of the city of Texcoco,
in 1522.
Other friars followed a very few years later. The
names of these may be found in Flores* book. They scattered
themselves about in various parts of the country, converted
and baptized, taught their religious doctrines in either
Spanish or Latin. The Indians came to love the friars
deeply, both because of the spirit in which they came
and because the friars defended them from the cruelty and
exploitation of the Spaniards.
Father Gante*s school was later moved to the City
of Mexico, where it became the Colegio de San Francisco*
It became a veritable center of civilization, according
to Flores, because it was at::one time a school of
religion, a primary school, a high school, a school of
29
fine arts, and a normal school for teacher training.
There were studied there the Christian doctrine, the
Scripture, reading, Latin, music, and singing. Sculpture
and painting were taught to the boys, sewing and cooking
to the girls. It was a normal school in the sense that
the teaching disciples of the founder were trained here.
Both Priestly and Flores tell of the founding
of the Franciscan Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlaltelolco
under the shadow of their convent. This school was
opened in 1536, and was for Indian boys exclusively.
Priestly says:
Instruction was given in reading, writing, Latin
grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, music, and Mexican medicine
No instruction in theology or jurisprudence was offered.
The enterprise began with seventy students, and had the
enthusiastic and material support o|* the viceroy. Among
the famous teachers were Fray Garcia de Cisneros, Fray
Andres de Olovos, the great linguist. Pray Juan Pocher,
doctor of laws from the University of Paris, and Fray
Bernardino de Sahagun, the distinguished historian and
writer on Mexican ethnology.^
In his statement that no theology was taught in the
Colegio de Santa Cruz, Priestly is contradicted by
Flores. It is probable that the latter is correct, for
it seems to have been some years before the teaching of
religion was relegated to a minor position in the
educational curriculum.
Priestly refers also to the school of Father Gante
mentioned previously, and states that it had about a
^H. I. Priestly, op. cit., p.
30
thousand boys. No mention is made of the enrollment of
girls. He mentions a foundling school, San Juan Letran,
the establishment by the city council of a number of
elementary schools for boys, and the opening by several
Spaniards of schools in their own homes, not infrequently
assisted by subsidies from the King of Spain. There
was also a female foundlings* school where "sewing,
embroidering, and the Christian Doctrine were made in
struments for training young women for matrimony."
There is also reference to a theological school founded
by the Augustinians at Tiripitio in 1543. It seems that
this school was later consolidated with the .National
University of Mexico.
A large part of the educational work carried on
outside the central valley of Mexico was in the hands
of the Jesuits. They founded a college at Zacatecas in
1616 and one at Guadalajara in 1659, both of which were
/
of importance. Another was founded at San Luis Potosi
/
in 1623 and another at Queretaro a few years later. Two
of their first colleges were those at Valladolid and
Patzcuaro. The College of San Pedro and San Pablo was
incorporated in 1618 with the College of ildefonso, and
became one of the most influential schools in the
country. They had also several other institutions.
Priestly says that at the time of the expulsion of the
Jesuits in 1767 they had some twenty-three colleges and
31
several seminaries in different provinces. The Franciscans
took over a number of thesê, but the influence of the
Jesuits was always felt.
Just prior to the coming of the Jesuits in 1572
there was brought about the founding of the two great
universities of Mexico, A later chapter is devoted to
the history of the National University of Mexico, and
for that reason mention is but made of the opening of its
/
doors in the year 1551. El Colegio de Santa Maria de
Todos Santos was of great influence during its period
of existence, 1573 to 1843. Dr. Francisco Rodriguez
Santos was treasurer of the Iglesia Metropolitano
(metropolitan church), and upon the arrival of the
Jesuits he asked to be admitted to that order, offering
to contribute generously to the order from the funds
of the church. Pedro Sanchez, head of the order in
New Spain refused to accept the offer of Santos, ad
vising the latter that he found with his money a
secondary school for poor young people, Santos, accepted
/
this advice and founded the Colegio de Santa Maria de
Todos Santos in the year 1573,
Flores says of this institution;
Thus came to life the College of Santa ^aria de Todos
Santos, a most noble institution during the Colonial
Period because of the great services which it gave
to public instruction,4
^J. R. Flores, Historia de la Civilizacion Mexicana.
52
The great historian Icazhalceta, speaking of
this school says;
The founder provided ten scholarships to care for dis
tinguished young men, who, having ended their studies
with merit, could not continue with them for lack of
means, and who, if they did not at once enter upon
their work, would be reduced to extreme want. In
the college they found care and lodging, and free from
their worries they worked as directed by the institution
in study and literary effort.5
As may be judged from the foregoing, the Jesuits
did a most notable educational work in the provinces.
Priestly states that at their expulsion in 1767 they
had twenty-three colleges and several seminaries in
different provinces. The spirit which lay behind
their founding was perhaps their most notable feature.
At a time when the predominating spirit was one of
lust for gold, these noble men left behind them all
worldly desires, denied themselves the comforts of life,
and devoted their every effort to the moral, intellectual,
and physical welfare of the natives in the New World.
True it is that most of the colleges and schools
of higher learning were conducted for the students of
white blood. The majority studied to attain leadership
in law or in the church. As mentioned previously,
medicine was sadly neglected, and little was done in
mathematics or in the sciences. The education of the
5
J. R. Flores, op, cit..
33
Indians was not entirely neglected, however. Of
course it was practically useless at that time to teach
them the subjects commonly taught the whites. They
occupied a place in society for which such teaching
might tend rather to unfit them rather than to fit
them. The primary effort was in the direction of
Christianization. The Indians were, however, very
adept in the learning of trade skills, and took ad
vantage of every opportunity to acquire these skills.
In several regions of the country great emphasis was
placed upon the teaching of undustriai skills and many
towns were distinguished for the production of some
single article. In some cases such characteristics
have remained with those towns until the present time,
as in the case of the pottery of Pueblo and the blankets
of Oaxaca.
In spite of the disapproval of general education
for the Indians there were occasional traces of it.
Often the friars would give private instruction in their
homes to all ranks of society. There was found oc
casional teaching of Latin, drawing, painting, and
mechanical arts. In certain private schools the subjects
of algebra and geometry were added to the curriculum.
Toward the end of the 17th century, however, there was
54
found increasing disfavor for general public education*
Many institutions were suppressed. Once again the
wealthy were forced to send their children to Europe
for an adequate education.
In summing up the educational situation in Mexico
prior to the changes brought about near the opening of
the eighteenth century, Bourne says:
Not all the institutions of learning in Mexico in
the sixteenth century can be enumerated here, but it is
not too much to say that, in numbers, range of studies,
and standard of attainments by the officers, they sur
passed anything existing in English America until the
nineteenth century. Mexican scholars made distinguished
achievements in some branches of science, particularly
surgery, but preeminently linguistics, history, and
anthropology. Dictionaries and grammars of the native
languages are an imposing proof of their scholarly
devotion and intellectual activity.
The expulsion of the Jesuits in the year 1767
brought to an end the great work of that order in Mexico.
During the two centuries of their stay, their influence
along educational and religious lines had become tremendous.
They had schools or colleges in almost every city of
Mexico. In addition to their magnificent temple buildings
they had come into possession, largely through gifts and
inheritance, of vast tracts of valuable land. The control
of such great wealth and power brought upon them the sus
picion of Charles III. The latter took it upon himself
to see that the order should be expelled from the country.
A command was issued to that effect, and on the night of
June 25, 1767, without previous warning, the Jesuits
were forcibly deported. Their property was confiscated
®E. Bourne, The American Nation-Spain in -^-merica. Vol.Ill
and their great work was brought to an end.
The banishment of the Jesuits did not however
bring to an end all educational effort in New Spain.
The latter part of the eighteenth century seems to
have brought a new wave of enthusiasm for education,
although popular education was not thought of prior to
the war for independence. A few primary schools were
established following royal decrees of 1783. Regarding
this Priestly says;
The viceroy Azanza was engaged in 1800 in an
undertaking for advancing primary education. Just before
the close of the eighteenth centpry there was a re
markable revival in the teaching of the theoretical and
the concrete sciences and in the industrial and fine
arts. This wave of enthusiasm gave New Spain high
standing among cultured communities until the social
disorganization incident to the wars of independence
made educational efforts impossible..............
The wide world of new nature opened to the European
mind with the discovery and occupation of the Western
Hemisphere brought about by the foundations of the
modern natural sciences. In this work Spanish savants
wereithe^pioneers. The flora of New Spain was studied
by the Spanish Sesse and two native collaborators,
Mocino and Echeverria. Their findings were incorporated
in the monumental work on the fauna, flora, and minerals
of New Spain by Dr. Hernandez, published in Rome in 1651.
The school of mines established in 1783 in
Mexico City gave a very practical course of studies.
From it came the best Spanish treatise on minerology.
About the same time the distinguished Antonio de Alzate
was publishing his encyclopedic articles on a wide
range of scientific and philosophic subjects. Many
authoritative articles on astronomy were published.
*^H. I. Priestly, The Mexican Nation,
36
The beginning of the nineteenth century brought
the ware for independence, and all efforts towards
education were necessarily abandoned. The independence
of Mexico from Spain literally brought to an end one
civilization and ushered in another. Everything Spanish
was destroyed when Mexico became a free nation. Of
education in Mexico after the war for independence we
shall speak in the following chapter.
37
CHAPTER V
MEXICAN EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The wars for independence, beginning in 1810,
brought to Mexico freedom from Spanish rule. They
did not bring to the Mexican people freedom from certain
economic conditions which had prevailed since the Spanish
conquest, and which to some extent are still existent.
Dr. Vasconcelos tells of this situation in a clear and
forceful manner:
Almost everybody knows what Mexico was before the
revolution: (meaning that of 1910): a country one-
fourth the size of the United States, inhabited by
fifteen millions of people, among them twelve million
illiterate, poor, subject, all of them controlled
politically by one man and economically by one hundred
families. Public wealth of every sort, granted to some
native and foreign privileged parties. Nothing was left
for colonization, and even the native Mexican had no
chance of buying a farm because the big landowner
would not sell. None could establish a small business
because the big enterprises wuld not allow him to work
under fair conditions. Politicians of the time would
say:"What is the use of educating the masses? If they
learn anything they willaask for more pay and more
liberty, and this will upset social conditions and the
peace and credit of Mexico."!
This social and economic situation was undoubtedly
one of the greatest, if not the greatest factor causing
the retardation of the development of popular education
in Mexico during this period.
!j. Vasconcelos, Education in Mexico: Present Day
Tendencies. Pan-American Union, 1923.
38
There seemed to be no real reason for the advancement
of popular education under such conditions, and Vascon
celos goes on to show that the government was powerless
to change them. The government could not tax large
land holdings and thus remedy the situation, because
political power was in the hands of the owners. The
real purpose of the Mexican Revàution was to get this
land away from the large owners who refused to develop
it and work it as it should be worked, and to place it
in the hands of the people. The basis of the present
educational system is, according to Vasconcelos, a better
distribution of property and the products of labor.
It must be remembered, too, that the nineteenth
century was marked by a series of wars and other national
disturbances which would make quite impossible any logical
and constructive internal development. Besides the war
for independence there was the French intervention, the
war with the United States, and the war of the Reform.
In addition to these major efforts there was almost
constant internal rebellion and turmoil. But in spite
of all this there were occasional and sporadic attempts
at the maintenance and improvement of education in the
country.
Independence from Spain brou^t freedom frssm
Spanish influence in the matter of education as well as
39
in other matters. Quickly taking advantage of this
nev/ freedom, the Lancastrian system gained access to
the country and was establishe^n Mexico in 1822.
Dabney says of the introduction of the Lancastrian
system into Mexico;
It was at once seized upon as the solution of a
situation which offered a few teachers of reliability
and a hugh mass of pupils eager to be taught. For the
whole period under review (1821-1867) it represented
the educational activities of most of the states.^
Barranco gives in detail the objects, methods, and
curriculum of the Lancastrian Company. Their object was
to give free, primary, education to the poor. The
methods and curriculum are contained in the ' ' Reglamento
de la Compaf^ia Lancasteriana de Mexico, Chapter I. ^
The methods of teaching in the schools of this
company shall be the system *mutual and simultaneous*,
with the reforms that experience shall teach from time
to time and the improvements in the economy of time
and short instruction that thé popular primary instruction
requires.
Art. 70. In the schools for boys shall be taught
reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, the Castillian
grammar, morals, and catechism.
Art. 71. In the schools for girls shall be taught
reading, writing, and counting, the catechism of the
Christian Doctrine, the maxims of the good education,
and serving.
C. W. Dabney, A Study of Educational Conditions in Mexico
3
M. Barranco, Mexico - Its Educational Problems, Columbia
University, 1915.
40
There were to he examinations, and money rewards
for excellence in scholarship. The Lancastrian influence
was strong at that time, and occasionally the influence
of this system is to be still noted in the educational
program of today. It is to be remembered that the church
was all-powerful, both politically and socially, and that
any attempts at education or any other form of social
reform by forces outside of the church were met by the
unified opposition of the church. It is thus a remarkable
fact that the Lancastrian System should have attained
such influence in Mexico,
The beginning of the war with the United States
in 1847 brought again total lack of organization in all
departments of the government. In the years immediately
following, the government was far too busy to concern
itself with education, and it was thus left largely to
private initiative, Barranco says of this period:
In 1851, out of 122 elementary schools in Mexico
City with 7636 pupils, only 4 schools with 488 pupils
belonged to the government; 2 with 150 belonged to the
convents, and 116 with 6955 children were of private
initiative. Mexico is the only Latin-American nation
in which the beginning of popular education is due mainly
to private initiative.^
Ross says that the beginnings of any sort of
educational system in Mexico date from the year 1867.
In that year, under President Juarez, was passed the
4
M. Barranco, op. cit
41
first law making popular education "compulsory, free, and
secular." This law brought freedom from the church, but
only after three years of bitter warfare. The freedom
from the church allowed for a broadening of the curri
culum. Civics, history, geometry, physics, and chemistry
were added, and this in spite of the fact that there was
no money available for educational purposes, and practi
cally no trained teachers.
As a matter of fact, the situation as Priestly
points out, was not as good as an interpretation of the
"Ley Juarez" might lead one to-believe. The numerous
church schools were of course suppressed. The National
University, sadly run down, was closed. It was, indeed,
one of the worst periods of anarchy in the entire history
of Mexican education.
The comparative peace of the presidential ad
ministration of General Diaz gave opportunity for at
least further thoughts of education, and helped to
bring into prominence two great German educators,
Enrique Luabscher and Enrique Rebsamen. The latter
probably did more for Mexican education than any other
single individual. In 1885 these two men founded a
private school in Orizaba, "a model school", which was
later made a school for teachers. For many years
teachers trained in that school were in great demand for
42
organizing other schools and school systems.
Of Rebsamen Barranco says;
Rebsamen is the father of the modern normal school in
Mexico. He was called from the Model School at Orizaba
to the capital of the state, and there, in the beautiful
city of Jalapa, with the unconditional help of the pro
gressive governor of the state, he founded a Normal
School that is now famous in the educational annals of
Mexico........ Rebsamen was called by General Diaz to
Mexico City....... The educational publication of the
Normal School of Jalapa, *El Mexico Intelectual*, was
the leading pedagogical paper of the country.5
The Normal School of Puebla was founded in the
year 1881, and that of Mexico in 1887, but neither had
the influence or prestige of that of Jalapa. In 1889
and 1890 there was held a National Educational Congress,
in which every state of the republic was represented. In
this congress there took place a comprehensive discussion
of educational principles and practice which really
marked the beginning of the present educational movement
and paved the way for the school laws of 1900.
Under the school laws of 1900 we find the first
systematic plans for instruction, and the first statement
of aims and objectives for education. Primary instruction
of six years is divided into two periods. Elementary
(4 years), and Superior (2 years). There are to be
established Supplementary Schools to give instruction to
those who have not received it during school age, and
to complete and extend the work of these schools.
There are to be Complementary Schools to give some
technical knowledge to the workman.
_— --------
M. Barranca, op. cit.
43
The aims are:
First, Physical Education to fortify the body and to
procure its perfect development; second. Intellectual
Intelligence, to invigorate the intelligence and give
to the pupils knowledge that is indispensable; third.
Moral Education, which tends to perfect the individuals,
making them noble and useful to the community,In this
way shall be united in a person knowledge, kindness,
and health.°
Under the laws of 1900 many new subjects are
included in the curriculum. These are : drawing, civics,
gymnastics, nature study, military drill, singing. In
the Superior School are found English, French, natural
history, physiology, hygiene, manual training, and home
economics•
As to method:
The teachings must be essentially practical. The
lessons in the sciences shall be given by means of
presenting phenomena themselves, by means of experiments,
or the proper objects if possible. The class must be
oral. Daily work shall be six hours and each class
period of 45 minutes. Thursdays shall be devoted to
excursions to get specimens to make collections, to
visit factories, mines, agricultural establishments,
and historical places and monuments. No corporal or
degrading punishments shall be allowed.®
The whole educational system is under the direction
of the Secretary of Education, vho has working under him
a staff of superintendents and medical inspectors under
the technical direction of the Director General of
*La Noticia del Ministerio de Education, Mexico, 1900
44
Public Education. There is also a Council of Vigilance,
whose purpose is to enforce school attendance.
Following are the educational statistics compiled
7
in 1900;
Official schools in the Federal District and Territories,
454, with 55,732 pupils.
Private schools 66, with 4,432 pupils.
Catholic Church Schools 15, with 2,544 pupils.
Schools of other denominations 14, with 833 pupils.
Total 549, with 63,541 pupils.
The school budget in 1900 was $875,634.40.
There were, of course, other laws relating to
education prior to that of 1900. Important laws were
» passed in 1892 and 1896 by which laws the control of
education was vested in the government, and a High
Board of Education was established to supervise primary
Q
education in the states, and to provide a uniform program.
The individual states retained the control of secondary
and higher education. It is to be noted that primary
education was made compulsory in 1867, and for that reason
primary education has been given ever first consideration.
Notwithstanding this, however, there have never been
enough schools in Mexico to permit the enforcement of
the compulsory provisions of .the law.
While it is true, as has been said, that the be
ginnings of a system of education in Mexico date from
7
Brief Notice of the Public Education in Mexico, sent
to the Paris Exposition in 1900 by the Minister of
Education, and reported by Barranco. op. cit.
^Encyclopedia Britannica, pp. 382-383.
46
1867, it is eqm lly true that very little was done for
the masses until the very last of the nineteenth century.
President Diaz came into power in 1884, and dictated the
destinies of the country until forced out by the Revolution
of 1911. During the early period of his dictatorship
he was much too busy to concern himself with the spreading
of educational agencies in Mexico, but after 1895 he did
very much along these lines. He had a plan to place a
school in every village, and said that he wanted to be
"the first schoolmaster in Mexico." There began to be
some signs of reading and slight traces of literacy.
Parents were compelled to send their children to school,
but very often there were no schools. The few good
schools were in the main cities, among them several
normal schools for the training of teachers. They have
been a great help, because they have furnished the force
of trained teachers which Mexico is now using.
/
It appears extremely doubtful whether Diaz
really wanted the development of any extensive plan for
popular education. Ross^ points out that Diaz actually
opposed popular education because of its being opposed
y
to servility. He speaks of Diaz as being extremely
jealous and as having removed several governors who
^E.A. Ross, The Social Revlution in Mexico, 1923
46
advanced education. The successors of these governors
of course let their schools lapse. The church, too, was
most powerful, and consistently opposed general education.
Only about a third of the children of the country were
in school when Diaz went out of power. The teachers
lacked pay, and the equipment was totally inadequate.
Gruening speaks of popular education as being
unknown in Mexico prior to the Revolution of 1910. He
says:
In reality, the educational situation was far
worse than the official figures showed. Rural schools
were virtually non-existent. Occasionally a state
governor would establish a few schools, two of whom
were governor Juan de la Luz Enrequez of Vera Cruz,
and Governor Ramon Corral of Sonora. However, the real
failure to develop education in Mexico may not be as
cribed to men so much as to the poor Mexican system.
Juarez quoted it thus a generation before. He said
that even though the schools were well endowed and the
teachers well paid, there would always be a scarcity of
pupils so long as poverty prevailed and each man was
hard at work to provide for his family. Shake off the
shackles of misery and despotism, then education would
follow.!®
Gruening points out that under Diaz education was
unknown for the masses as it was for the Indian slaves.
There was trouble with the class of aristocratic Mexicans
who believed in European ways and shunned the poorer
people. The prejudice was not one of race or color
but of caste. The wealthy sent their children abroad,
where they acquired a cosmopolitan outlook that they
!®E. Gruening, Mexico and Its Heritage, Century Co., 1928.
47
retained through life. There was no true ’ ’ Mexicanism”,
no true Mexican nationalism or loyalty. That beiqg so,
there could be no extensive or unified system of popular
éducation. Bringas^^ says that it was not till after
1910 that any general aspiration for popular culture
began to be felt. There was apparently practically no
thought of rural schools prior to that time, for the plan
of rural schools began^^ with the law of May 30, 1911,
by which the government accepted the responsibility of
education outside of the Federal District and the
Territories.
Then came the Revolution, spelled with a capital
”R”, destroying everything belonging to the old order,
including the beginnings of education and literacy. The
Revolution brought with it new ideas of nationalism and
a patriotism that is now part and parcel of the Mexican
people. Built upon this new nationalism and inculcated
with this new patriotism are the foundations of the
great educational system now being laid in Mexico.
The following chapter concerns itself with present day
education in Mexico.
V. Bringas, Educational Hole of the Library in the
Republic of Mexico. Pan-American Union.
l^sec. de Ed. Pub., É1 Sistema de Escuelas Rurales en
Mexico, Talleres Graficos de la hacidn, 1927.
48
CHAPTER VI
PRESENT-DAY PUBLIC EDUCATION
PART I
RURAL, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Dr, Jose^Vasconcelos, former Secretary of Public
Instruction in Mexico, says:
To educate, is to prepare men and women for a
certain social purpose. Men have been educated to make
good subjects, to make good slaves, to make good friars,
to make good artisans, and lately, to make good citizens.
Sometimes it is through social conditions, sometimes
through schools, but we find that education:always
consists in shaping the minds of men in order to serve
a definite social purpose.1
He goes on to show that the purpose of the modern
educational reform in Mexico is to create good citizens,
men and women free of spirit and free in fact, able to
think for themselves, to judge life with their own
minds, and also able to earn their own living and to
shape the ccmmunity in such a manner that any earnest
worker can attain a comfortable manner of living.^
This, then, is the great motivating force in Mexico’s
present educational campaign.
It must be remembered that the Revolution which
had its inception under Madero in 1910 is always spoken
P
of with a capital "R". It was not simply a series of
battles and constitutional changes. It was, rather.
^J. Vasconcelos, Education in Mexico-Present-Day Tendencies,
Pan-American Bulletin, 1923.
^P. B. Lenz,’ ’ Mexico Turns the Corner, "Outlook, Sept.21,1927
49
and still is (for the Revolution is still in progress)
a complete remaking of the entire Mexican national life.
It furnished new purposes for living, and, therefore,
of necessity, it provided new methods of living. The
one great object of the Revolution is the making of a
Nation. And, as Lenz says in his article, the watch
word of any great new Nation must be ’ ’ Roads and Schools."
Barranco adds:
What a splendid task for the school in Mexico.
Aim: to build a Nation. Pupils: some millions of
human beings that are longing for the light. Subject
matter: anything that will help the pupils to meet their
daily needs and help to train them to take their part
in the.formation of the new nation. There is no need
of the complicated regulation of a too-technical school
system. There is no need of an elaborate and over
crowded school curriculum.^
As has been shown in the previous chapter, the
task is a tremendous one: some fifteen millions of people,
with probably an illiteracy of more than eighty per
cent, in a country one-fourth the size of the United
States, with totally inadequate means of communication.
Because of the poor means of communication, most of
the education in Mexico in past years had been centered
in the cities, and but little thought had been given to
education of the rural population. Palacios says of
this :
^M. Barranco, Mexico- Its Educational Problems,
50
The last political revolution produced an awaken
ing of the thinking portion of the country toward their
duty of educating large masses in the whole nation who
are hindered by ignorance.4
Palacios speaks of the four millions of Indians, in
numerous tribes which do not under stand each other’s
language, and who cling to their own tribal customs
and traditions. He speaks of the educational program
of Mexico as having three of four fundamental bases:
A thorough acquaintance with the facts that preserve
life and promote health; an acquaintance with the
relation between the physical and the agricultural;
a practical acquaintance v;ith all that elevates and
dignifies domestic life, and an acquaintance with and
exercise of.all that promotes material and spiritual
recreation.
Carleton Beals^ speaks of the determined effort
to educate the Indian, to bring culture to him without
the practice of the "reservation system," The problem
is not one of isolating the Indian, of caring for him
in a paternistic sort of way, but one of making him a
Mexican citizen, of making him independent socially and
economically, of obliterating caste and racial dis
tinction, To this end, the education of the Indian is
carried on side by side with other citizens of the
Republic. John Dewey has said of the present educa
tional movement in Mexico;
Nowhere in the world is there an educational movement
that presents a greater spirit of instinctive union
between the activities of the school and those of the
community than does the new Mexican school.®
^A. Palacios,"Present-Day Education in Mexico,"!. Amer.
Assn. Univ.Women, June, 1929.
®G. Beals, Mexico-An Interpretation, B.W.Huebsch,N.Y,,1923.
^J, Dewey,
51
Perhaps the most hopeful single factor evident
in the school system of Mexico today is the absolute
absence of economic distinction. The schools are
public in the true sense of the word. To be sure,
the number of schools is totally inadequate to permit
of the strict enforcement of compulsory education, but
the schools are open to all, rich and poor alike. The
people are determined that there shall be absolutely
nothing within the system that might tend in the slightest
toward a possible return of feudal conditions. The poor
children are most often considered first. In the uni
versities the rich have to pay tuition. The whole idea
is to avoid select groups of individuals who exploit
the majorities.
The campaign against illiteracy is being carried
on throughout the country. Srta. Eulalia Gezman is
chairman of the committee whose object is:
To redeem the entire country from illiteracy.
Material is provided for all who will help in this work,
and a general call for help has been issued. In this
call are listed eight methods by which the public can
help:
1. Serving as volunteer teachers,
2. Giving financial support to provide educational
institutions,
3. Organizing educational societies,
4. Pounding schools for children or adults, especially
in poverty-striken villages in remote districts,
5. Owners of large estates providing means of edu
cating laborers,
6. Aiding struggling schools in small towns, distant
from cities, with supplies, books, etc..
52
7* Establishing, or helping to establish, public
libraries,
8# Becoming financially responsible foy education
of a child, or young man or woman.
The process of "Mexicanization", of which the
campaign against illiteracy is but one phase, is a
complicated problem that cannot be solved in a moment
or in a generation. Impatient North-Americans have
said harsh things about some aspects of the present
movement, some of which are, unfortunately true. Ross
tells of the poor school equipment, the poor lighting
and seating facilities, the poor training and pay of
the teachers. He points out the unfortunate dependence
of the system upon politics, the but partially success
ful attempts of the teachers to organize, the contrast
between the private American schools and the ill-equipped
public schools. He says:
Between the Secretary of Education who grasps
the processes of education by their tops and fails to
visualize the little urchins on a rude bench, in a dreary,
ill-lighted schoolroom in a far-away village, and the
church, which fills a large part of the time of the
pupils in her schools with telling their beads and re
peating, line by line after their teacher, the prayers
of the rosary, the outlook for the children of the Mexican
proletariat soon obtaining intellectual nourishment is
not very bright.®
There is, of course, some truth to the statements
7
Pan-American Bulletin, Mexico’s Successful Campaign
Against Adult Illiteracy. 1923.
®E. A. Ross, The Social Revolution in Mexico, 1923.
55
of Dr. Ross, and be it said to his credit that he
recognizes the magnitude of the problem and gives credit
where it is due for things accomplished. It would have
been very easy for the Mexican government to establish
a few schools, centrally located and ideally equipped,
which would have drawn favorable comment from all who
looked upon them. "The problem," says Moises Saenz,
former Secretary of Education, "is not to make a few
schools to dazzle in the Capital-but for 1,500,000
children without schools to go to.Mexico is not now
thinking in terms of the Capital, as it did twenty years
ago, but in terms of the whole country, in terms of
national unity.
The schools of Mexico are either Federal, State,
or Municipal, depending upon the source of their financial
support. In every state there are schools supported by
that state, the number depending upon the wealth of the
state and the willingness of its government to devote
its funds to the promotion of the cause of education*
Certain cities have schools maintained at the expense of
the city. But the Federal Government is the vital force
behind the great educational movement now going on in
Mexico. The Federal Government maintains schools in
every state of the Republic. The National Constitution
provides for the establishment of educational facilities
^M. Saenz, Integrating Mexico Through Education, Bulletin
of the Pan-American Union. 1926.
54
everywhere. State and municipal efforts may wax and wane,
but the Federal Constitution guarantees a steady forward
movement.
The question concerning a possible clash between
the state and federal authority has been raised. Such
a clash may sometime come, but the time is a long way
off. With a compulsory education required by law, and
with totally inadequate facilities for providing for
universal education in every part of the country many
years will pass before the unfolding of the educational
program will permit of any dispute as to what agency,
state, federal, or municipal, shall take this or that
step to exert this or that authority. It is not within
the scope of this work to make minute search into federal
and state constitutions and to list the technical re
quirements disclosed therein. A true picture of the actual
conditions to be found in the country would not be painted
in such a way. It is the intention, rather, to mention
the various fields of endeavor and to show what is
actually being done in these major divisions of educational
work.
Bulletins of the Secretary of Education furnish
practically the only available data regarding the present
status of education in Mexico. For information con
cerning the various branches of work the following
66
works have been heavily drawn upon: Edueacion Rural j
Programa de la Escuela Rural; Resena de la Edueacion
Publica en Mexico en 1927 ; Memoria que indica el
Estado que Guar da el R^o ^ Edueacion Publica el 31
de Agosto de 1929; El Esfuerzo Educative en Mexico
(1924-1928)(Two volumes).
Quotations are of free translations from the
Spanish.
The Rural School. The rural school is the
great pride of the present educations! movement. In
times past all thought has been of the inhabitants of
the cities, and it is but very recently that there has
been any concerted attempts to bring to people in rural
communities some of the advantages enjoyed by the urban
population. The problems of rural life in Mexico in
cludes the task of teaching how to make the soil more
productive, how the"campesine" or farm laborer may
acquire some of the comforts of life, and how he may
become incorporated into the life of the nation. In
the rural school must be combined social and economic
factors. The rural school must prepare a new generation
of "campesinos" who will learn to love rural life in an
intelligent way. It must help to make better homes,
better methods of living and working, better social or
ganization, better means of communication, better health,
better spiritual atmosphere.
56
The rural school must educate for rural life,
not for city life. It must teach far more outside of
the school than within it. Its program of studies
cannot be uniform; it must primarily meet the needs of
individual communities. It must be first a social
agency, improving conditions of life. In the second
place it must be a nationalizing factor, making of the
Indian a Mexican citizen. Suggestions are made for the
construction of model buildings and the laying out of
grounds and the general program of activities, but it
is recognized throughout that any model plan must be
highly flexible, to meet the peculiar needs of differing
situations and the funds, or the lack of them, which may
be available.
Agriculture, of necessity, is of primary con
sideration. There are plots of land for the use of
individual students, as well as plots for group opera
tion. There is the raising of chickens, rabbits, goats,
are
and cattle. Ideally ther^ facilities for sports and
games. The suggested activities for the first year of
the two-year course are as follows:
a. Gardening, growing of fruits and cereals.
b. Care of animals.
c. Collection of seeds, animals, and the like, for museums.
d. Organization of groups for cultivation and harvesting.
e. Preparation of fruits and salads, and the like.
f. Preparation of fruit drinks.
57
g. Social practices, such as proper eating, sitting,
use of knife and fork, and the like.
h. Construction of defensive buildings, caves, and the like.
i. Washing, sewing, extermination of insects, and the like.^^
A second group of activities relates itself to the
matter of personal and national defense. The construction
of caves and forts is taught. There is the care of domestic
animals which defend and serve man. Great importance is
given to training in personal hygiene, the care of the body,
proper clothing, its choice, and its care.
A third group has to do with the knowledge of pro
per social relations, such as home-making, cooperation in
and marketing, safety for children, house construction
production/ana decoration. In this connection are brought
into play the physical activities that strengthen the body
and invigorate the mind, games, athletic contests, re
gional and national dances. Excursions are made to the
center of production, great haciendas, factories, and
forests. The results of these excursions are used as a
means of mental correlation and of nationalization of the
Indian.
Through the whole course runs the desire to culti
vate knowledge of and reverence for the Fatherland. A
study is made of the products of the country, of its
commerce and its means of communication. The lives of
the great national heroes are portrayed. There is the
dramatization of episodes of national history, as well
^^Educacion Rural, p. 11.
58
as the salute to the flag and the singing of the national
anthem.
The activities of the second year are classified
in the same manner as those of the first, the work being
more advanced and more varied. There is added some study
of the natural sciences, geography, history, civics, and
arithmetic. Everything is of a noticeably practical
nature. The theoretical is reduced to an absolute mini
mum. Only that is presented in which the students them
selves can take an active part, and which in turn will be
actually useful to them in concrete ways. In the evening
sessions which are an integral part of all rural education
the work is very much the same, but with even greater em
phasis being placed upon that which is useful and practical.
Moises Sannz has written regarding the rural
schools :
Not all the rural schools, to be sure, correspond
to this ideal type. Of the 10,136 rural and ’rudimentary *
schools throughout Mexico in 1927wi^":HHr-%-it may be said that
those supported by the local authorities represent the
traditional type of country school; they were merely in
complete primary schools, the name ’rudimentary* given
them, describing them best. The new tendency is well
illustrated in the federal schools, although, truly
speaking, not even all of them conform as yet to the de
sired type.
Dr. Saenz also gives the following facts about
federal rural schools:
Number
Have their own buildings 1,598
Buildings under construction 440
Own no building nor have any under con-
_ straction 914
M. Saenz,"Mexico", Educational Yearbook, 1927.
59
Have more than five acres for cultivation 667
Have land in less amount 1,698
Lack land for cultivation 587
Have introduced in community new
crops or new systems 581
Keep chickens 1,326
Keep rabbits 267
Keep other kinds of animals 319
Develop home industries 1,019
Have established children’s
cooperative societies 1,277
Have cooperatives the influence of
which has spread through
the community 521
Have a Mexican flag 1,387
The Primary Schools. The primary schools of
Mexico are controlled by two major branches of the Na
tional Department of Education, those of the Federal
District being under the direction of the Chief of the
Department of Primary and Normal Education, and those
in the states being directed by the Chief of the De
partment of Rural Schools. This division is a very
1 p
recent development. Formerly both were included by
the Division of Primary Education, but it was found that
the needs of primary training outside of the great
cities were better satisfied by the general program of
rural education than by the program mapped out to meet
TP
El Esfuerzo Educativo en Mexico. 1924-1928.
60
the needs of the densely populated Federal District. The
great emphasis upon primary education has been within the
Federal District, just as, very naturally, the emphasis upon
rural education has been outside of it. The general plan of
the primary school system as outlined in the following para
graphs concerns, for the most part the Federal District, in
which Mexico City is located, although much the same program
is being followed in the larger cities of the several states.
Under the jurisdiction of the Department of Primary
Education is a wide range of educational activities. It is
to be understood, of course, that in a new system such as
this some of these activities have as yet had but small in
fluence upon the lives of any great number of people. The
following list will, however^ give an idea of the comprehensive
plan now being undertaken. They are the activities listed
under "Radio de Accion Educativo":
a. Nursery Schools.
b. Kindergartens.
c. Primary Schools (^rban)
d. Primary Schools (Semi-Urban)
e. Primary Schools (Evening)
The foregoing are given as "official activities". The
inspection of incorporated and unincorporated private
schools is given as an "unofficial activity." As ac
tivities "extrascolar" are listed the following :
61
a. Nursery School Home Visiting.
b. Alumni Societies.
c. Clubs of Explorers.
d. Mothers* Clubs.
e. Fathers* Clubs.
The names given these various activities are
largely self-explanatory. Of those listed as "unofficial"
little may be said at the present time. The unfolding
of the entire plan has been too rapid to have permitted
of much development along lines considered of secondary
importance. Eventually they will become of great im
portance in the great educational scheme of Mexico. A
few words may well be said here regarding the official
activities of Primary Education.
It is the plan of the nursery school (El hogar
infantil) to care for the children of working mothers
during the time that the mothers are at work, from seven-
thirty in the morning until five in the evening. During
the time that the children are in school they receive
besides the education suitable to their age food and
medical attention. This includes baths, healthful games,
walks in the open air, training in simple social practices,
breakfast and dinner, and ample rest. At weekly meetings
of the mothers instruction is given them regarding proper
care of their children. There is no tuition charge,
but the mothers are required whenever possible to make
small deposits in the school savings bank.
62
Due to inadequacy of funds allotted for this pur
pose, hut one nursery school had been established in
1929, this one having an attendance of 122 children.
It is hoped, however, that this branch of the Department
of Primary Education will in the future play a very great
part in the campaign to lower materially the very high
rate of infant mortality.
At the age of four children enter the kindergarten.
Attendance here is not compulsory but strongly urged
wherever facilities make it possible. In 1928 there were
thirty-one of these institutions in the Federal district.
The technical organization follows the Froebelian doctrine,
rigidity and formalism giving way to the tendencies and
interests of the children. These include:
Gardening and care of small animals.
Observation of natural phenomena.
Games,
Conversation and stories.
Expression by such means as drawing, modeling,etc.,
Singing,
Fiestas and play acting.
There are neither tests nor examinations, and the
children pass automatically to the primary grades at the
age of six.
The six grades of the primary school proper are
divided into two periods, the first four making up that
63
part of education spoken of as "elementary", the last two
called "superior." Education is compulsory from ages six
to fourteen, and because of general economic conditions
prevailing it is unusual for children above the age of
fourteen to attend primary school. For the benefit of
those over that age the evening school is conducted. Be
cause of lack of school facilities up to the present time
the compulsory law has never been rigorously and exten
sively enforced.
The Semi-urban Schools. Semi-urban schools
(escuelas semi-urbanas) are found in many of the smaller
cities of the Federal District. These villages are
located for the most part in rural districts, therefore
the plan of rural education is most valuable to them.
They do, however, come in constant contact with the life
of Mexico City, and part of their education must fit
them for larger social and economic relationships. The
program of these schools is therefore a happy combina
tion of the best of both rural and urban education. In
1928 there were seventy-five Escuelas Semi-urbanas.
By the characteristics offered by the construction
of the buildings, which in turn determine peculiarities
in organization and nature of work, the primary schools
proper are divided into three groups :
1. Escuelas Urbanas of the ordinary type.
2. School centers. (Centres Escolares)
3. Open Air Schools.(Escuelas al Aire Libre)
64
The first is the oldest group, many of them having been
in operation since the period prior to the revolution.
The work of the schools of this class is more character
istic of that earlier period than of this. The discipline
is rigid, the training formal. In 1928 there were 200
of these schools.
The Centros Escolares are, as the name indicates,
centers of community life and spirit. Each has a plant
capable of caring for from 1400 to 1500 students, and the
enrollment is kept well within limits so as to be able
to serve well the life of the outside community.
The open air schools are the latest development
of the Mexican program. Every room is completely open
to the air on at least one side. Curtains may be dropped
when necessary to excitude wind and rain. Besides being
considered the most hygienic form of school building, it
is also the cheapest of constructor. Almost invariably
they have been located in the poorer sections of the city
where every health factor is of especial value. At the
present time there are eight open air schools. A beauti-
fully illustrated book has been published concerning them
and it is planned that more of them shall be put into
operation as funds become available.
As has been mentioned,the evening schools (Escuelas
Nocturnas) are for the service of children over twelve
13 f
Las Escuelas al Aire Libre en Mexico. Publicacion
de la Se ere tar ia de Educaciori Ptfblica.
65
years of age who for economic reasons are unable to attend
school in the day time. They serve also the adult popu
lation, giving in addition to the usual elementary school
subjects, training in some of the trades.
The key word descriptive of the primary school
of Mexico is "action." It is believed that stimulation
to work must come from the inside, not from the outside.
It must be the result of impulsion, not of compulsion.
It is the attempt of education to put the child in harmony
with the world around him, to give him those things which
he needs to make his life richer and fuller. All branches
of public education in Mexico are sorely handicapped by
inadequacy of resources, but a great work is being done,
and the most important things are being dome first.
The Federal Secondary Schools. Presidential decrees
of the twenty-ninth of August and the twenty-second of
December, 1925, initiated the organization of the sys
tem of federal secondary schools by creating, first,
two educational plants of this nature, and second,
giving independence from the National University to the
old National Preparatory School (Escuela Nacional Pre-
paratoria). These three plus the secondary division of
the National School for Teachers (Escuela Nacional de
Maestros) made four federal secondary schools. A decree
of December 22, 1927, authorized the creation of the
Direction of Secondary Education. Upon it was made de-
66
pendent the evening secondary school of the National
Preparatory school, as well as those aforementioned.
In 1928 a secondary school for girls was established.
The others are coeducational.
Thus it is that, while prior to 1925 there was but
one federal secondary school, there are now six. Prior
to 1916 instruction in the one school then existing was
free. Now there is a tuition charge of fifteen dollars
a year. Worthy poor are exempted from payment of this
fee, so that to all intents and purposes secondary edu
cation is free. In 1928, of the 5,889 students enrolled,
2,258 were excused from payment.
In 1923, twenty-seven per cent of the school
population of the Federal District completing the six
years of primary instruction entered the one then ex
isting secondary school. In 1926 the percentage was
38.9. Since 1926 there has been such a tremendous in
crease in the number entering primary schools that it is
now quite impossible to receive into the secondary schools,
with their present equipment, anything like 38 per cent
of those who may be expected to complete the six years of
elementary work. New schools must be established at
once and the plants of the present ones must be improved
and enlarged.
The general plan of studies in the three-year
course of the secondary schools follows;
67
First Year
Subject
Arithmetic
Spanish
Botany
Physical Geography
English or French (first course)
Mechanical Drawing
Modeling
Choru s 8ing ing
Trade work, such as carpentering
Games and sports
Hours weekly
5
3
3
3
3
3
1
1
3
2
25
Second Year
Algebra or Plane Geometry
Physics
Zoology
Geography (World and Mexican)
Spanish
English or French (Second)
Drawing
Chorus
Games and sports
3
3
3
3
3
1
2
27i
68
Third Year
Geography and Trigonometry 5
Chemistry
Anatomy and Hygiene 3
General History 3
History of Mexico 3
Civics 3
Spanish Literature 3
Chorus 1
Games and sports 2
274
It is beyond the scope of this work to tell of
the social organization of the schools, a most unique or
ganization. It alone would furnish ample material for an
extensive study in educational organization. Regarding
the private secondary schools, suffice it to say that
they are of two general classes, "Incorporated" and "Un
incorporated." The first class follow very closely the
plans laid down by the Direction of Secondary Education.
The second class is required by law to submit certain
phases of its work to government inspection.
Prior to the year 1926 there were no incorporated
secondary schools in Mexicol^ Eleven were admitted in 1927,
ten of which operated in the Federal District and one in
the state of Michoacan. Four more were incorporated
in 1928. In 1929 there were nineteen in the entire country,
^^El Esfuerzo Educativo en M^ico.
69
fourteen in the Federal District, five in the states. Names
15
and locations of these schools are listed below:
Colegio Frances D.F. Mexico
/
Escuela Central de Mexico, D.F. Mexico
/ /
Escuela Preparatoria "Coyoacan," Coyoacan, F.D.
Colegio Prances (San Borja), Mexico, D.F.
Colegio Frances de La Salle, Mexico, D.F#
Escuela Angla-Mexicana, San Angel, Mexico, D.F.
Colegio Aleman, Mexico, D.F.
Colegio "Sara L. Keen", Mexico, D.F.
Institute Franco Ingles, Mexico, D.F.
Colegio de la Paz, Mexico, D.F.
Escuela Preparatoria Libre de Michoacan,
Morelia, Michoacan.
Colegio "Luis G. Leon", Mexico, D.F,
Escuela Preparatoria para Varones, Saltillo, Coah.
Institute Mexicano de Maestros, Puebla, Pue.
Escuela "Lopez Gotilla," Guadalajara, Jal.
Institute "Alfonso XIII", Tacubaya, D.F.
Colegio "Maria Josefina Hooker", Tacuba, D.F.
Escuela Dpeparatoria de la Comarca
Lagunera, Toreon, Coah.
Escuela Secundaria e Industrial, Col. Anahuac,D.P.
There are 269 teachers in these schools.
A fine beginning has been made by Mexico in the way
of developing a unified system of secondary education. The
thought of universal secondary education there is new.
l^Memoria que indica el Estado que guarda el Ramo de
Edueacion PtTblica, el 31 de Agosto de 1929.
70
Great strides have been taken, however, in spite of great
obstacles, and the immediate future holds much of promise.
Part II of this chapter which follows deals with
higher education in Mexico at the present time.
71
CHAPTER VII
PRESENT-DAY EDUCATION IN MEXICO
PART II
THE UNIVERSITIES
1
There are five universities in Mexico: The
National University at Mexico City, the University of
the Southeast in Merida, Yucatan, the University of
/ ' X
Michoacan in Morelia, Michoacan, the University of
Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and the University
X" /
of San Luis Potosi in San Luis Potosi, In most instances
these universities have been formed by the uniting of
various professional schools, such as law, medicine,
preparatory, etc.. They are almost completely autono
mous, but in administrative matters are subject to
their respective governments. All universities include
the preparatory school.
By far the most important of these institutions
is the National University (La Universidad Nacional de
Mexico). Its history has been long and colorful, its
influence upon the national life most powerful. The story
of this university is in reality the story of higher
education in Mexico.
The National University of Mexico. Old chroniclers
indicate that the first attempts to found a university in
^SeCanz, M.,"Mexico" Educational Yearbook, Teachers College,
Columbia University, 1927.
72
2
Mexico were made in 1539. It was not until 1551, however,
that King Charles the fifth of Spain issued a decree,
signed also by Prince Philip (later Philip the second)
authorizing the establishment of the National Universty
of Mexico. This new institution was to be patterned
after that of Salamanca and receive the privileges and
support accorded the latter. The Holy See, having been
petitioned by the king, in 1555 confirmed its establishment,
and thus ”La anÿlgue Real y Pontificia Universidad de Mexico"
became the first institution of higher learning on the
g
American continent. The origin of the university was
informally under the Augustinian Order, many of the former
/
teachers of the old University of Tiripitio becoming teachers
in the Royal University in 1553. Glasses were held at first
in the national palace and in the cathedral, as well as in
private houses. Buildmg lots were acquired later, and in
1584 construction of the great new building was begun. It
was a number of years, however, before the ciapletion of this
structure was attained.
Financial support for the university came from
several sources. The Chronical of the University states:
^S.N.Ryan, Translation of Book I of the Chronical of the Notable
and Royal University of the City of Mexico and New Spain, Thesis,
University of Southern California, 1923.
^Sec. de la Educ. Pub. Tomo X, num. 13, Catalogo de la
Universidad Nacional de Mexico, 1926-27.
73
Salaries came in part from royal gifts from Philip
II, part from income from certain estancias ceded by the
viceroy Mendoza, private endowment from churchmen and laity,
and a large sum from expropriated lands'.and fortune of the
second Marques del Valle. There were three other sources;
Fines from breach of conduct and laxity in duty, fees
collected from matriculants and candidates for degrees, and
the sums which came from the auction sales of arms carried
by students into the university contrary to statutes.^
Although King Charles had ordered that all subjects
be included in the curriculum, very little was taught prior to
the beginning of the seventeenth century that might be useful
to any great number of people. Theology, civil and canonical
laws, the Scripture, Latin, and rhetoric were the only subjects
offered in the early years of the university*s existence.
The curriculum at the beginning of the nineteenth century
numbered twenty-four courses, the study of the Mexican
and Otomi languages being among them.5 Up to 1776, 1162
students had obtained their Doctor^s and 25,882 their
Bachelor*s degrees.
The University has been suppressed and reopened
several times in the course of its history. The University
took no part in the campaign for Independence, due to the
fact that the majority of its professas were of Spanish
blood, but whén Iturbide was declared emperor, the in
stitution sent its congratulations and declared its
loyalty to him.
â
s.N.Ryan, op.cit.
5
Catalog of the Summer Session of the University of Mexico,1930
6 /
Catalogo dê la Universidad Nacional de Mexico 1927.
74
The first suppression of the university came in 1833
during a period of anarchy, hut it was reopened the following
year by direction of Santa Ana, although thereafter and until
its complete suppression by President Commonfort in 1857, it
existed in name only, its building serving more for elections,
political meetings, and even an army garrison, than for
educational purposes. In 1858 activities were restored by
order of General Zuloaga. Benito Juarez in 1859 ordered the
permanent discontinuance of its operations, in spite of
which there was a brief revival between 1863 and 1865.
By decree of Emperor Maximilian its work definitely ceased
on the thirtieth of November, 1865. The beautiful building
was used for many purposes and was finally torn down in the
early years of the present century.
I
The downfall of the Diaz dictatorship in 1910, and
the ushering in of the revlutionary government marked the
most notable turning point in Mexico*s entire history*
Great political and social changes became the order of the
day. Government of and by the people made evident the need
of popular education, and the reopening of the National
University marked a phase of the educational campaign
then begun and still in progress.
The present Universidad Nacional de Mexico functions
under a constitutive law enacted May, 26, 1910. The re
opening of the university took place on September 22 of
that year. Its faculties include those of:(l) Medicine,
(2) Philosophy, (3) Engineering, (4) Law, (5) Chemistry
75
and Pharmacy, and the practical school of chemical industries,
(6) Dentistry.
The schools attached to and under the control of
r f
the University are;
(1) School of Pine Arts,
(2) National Preparatory School,
(3) School of Public Administration,
(4) National Conservatory of Music,
(5) University Exchange of Students and
Professors, and the Summer School,
(6) University Libraries.
The following tables indicate the enrollment of the
various colleges and schools of the University in the year
8
1928;
Men Women . Total
College of Medicine 1,329 382 1,711
College of Dentistry 193 44 237
College of Engineering 210 1 211
College of
Chemistry and Pharmacy 132 77 209
School of
Chemical Industries 164 20 184
School of Pine Arts 1,132 170 1,349
National Conservatory
of Music 413 815 1,228
College of Philosophy
and Letters for
Graduates 256 705 961
College of Law and
Social Sciences 551 15 566
National Preparatory
(day )School 871 80 951
National Preparatory
(evening) School 225 139 364
School of Public
Administration 366 175 541
Summer School-
Poreign Students 28 175 203
7 /
Catalogo de la Universidad Nacional de Mexico, 1926-1927.
Talleres Graficos de la Nacion.
QeI Esfuerzo Educative en Mexico(1924-1928),Publicaciones de
TQ- Sec. de Educ.Pub.
76
School of Sculpture in
Wood Carving 289 289
School of Physical Education 18 26 44
Escuela "GalaciOn Gomez 150 470 620
Total............... 6,374 3,294 9,668
The summer sess&n of the National University has
probably exerted a greater influence than any other single
social factor in the way of creating better understanding
between Mexico and other countries of America and Europe.
Since 1921 it has done a great work in cementing international
friendship and good will. An increasing number of students and
teachers from the United States attend these summer sessions.
Courses are given^in the study of the Spanish language in its
different grades, Mexican Eiterature, Spanish and Spanish-
American History, History of Mexico, Social Problems, Methods
of Teaching, Art, Archeology, Commercial courses. Typical
songs. Dances, Etc.. Distinguished educators from the United
States are annually invited to take part in the program as
exchange professors.
Says Dr. Saenz regarding tendencies of higher education
in Mexico:
One of the most significant tendencies in university
education in Mexico City at the present time is its approach
to the masses, realized in part through the extension de
partment but even more through the reorganization of courses
for the purpose of making them serve the actual needs of
the country. There is also a marked tendency toward the
autonomy of the University. Great progress has been made
in this respect during the last three years and it is con
fidently expected that before long the National University
of Mexico will be provided with sufficient funds to ensure
its complete autonomy.
^Catalogo de la Universidad de Mexico, 1926-27.
^^s/enz,M. "Mexico", Educational Yearbook, 1927.
CHAPTER VIII 77
SUMMARY
The Problem. The purpose of this study has been
to trace the development of education in Mexico from the
earliest period for which authentic records are available
down to the present time. The problem has been one of
tracing the threads of Mexico*s educational growth and
of tying them into the present scheme of modern education.
Materials and Technique. The problem has involved
a search through the historical literature pertaining to
Mexico and extraction therefrom isolated items having to do
with education. These thoughts have been arranged so as to
form a chronological story of the country*s educational * -
advancement. A large part of the information regarding
earlier Mexican education has been gleaned from works written
in English, but a portion of this, and nearly all of the data
having to do with present-day conditions,has been obtained
from publications in Spanish. Publications of the Secretariat
of Public Education of Mexico furnish the only true picture
of that which is now taking place along educational lines
in that country. While in attendance at two summer sessions
of the National University, the author has had the privilege
of catching first-hand glimpses of the Mexican school system
in operation.
Findings. Prior to the Spanish invasion, the native
tribes of Mexico possessed a rich and flourishing civilization.
They had a system of picture writing, a finely developed
78
calendar, used hieroglyphical maps, and had devised
arithmetical schemes. Agriculture was well advanced.
Moral and physical education were emphasized. This
civilization was ruthlessly destroyed by the Spaniards
who came only to plunder and exploit. Education came to
Mexico with the earliest friars, but its benefits did not
accrue to any but to the religious leaders and the noble
classes. Prior to the coming of independence it was
against public policy to provide education for the masses,
for education was thought to militate against servility and
in opposition to the feudalistic state then in existence.
Independence, accomplished in 1821, raised to
national consciousness the need for popular education,
but the nineteenth century was a period of turmoil, allowing
neither time nor resources for the development of any com
prehensive system of education. Beginnings were, made, however,
/
for the most part during the quarter century of the Diaz
regime, (1884-1910).
The Revolution which had its beginnings in 1910,
and which is still in progress, brought with it the great
wave of educational advancement which is now sweeping the
country. The study shows that the Mexican people are
capable of being educated, and moreover, that they see the
need for education and have taken it upon themselves to
become educated.
The great stress in the new movement is upon primary
education in the great cities and upon rural education outside
of these cities. Responsibility is divided among municipality.
79
state, and federal government, but the greatest work is
being done by the federal government. The need is so g reat
that for some years to come there can be no friction or
discord between these agencies. A model school plant and
curriculum is being developed in the Federal District, in
which Mexico City is located.
Secondary education is receiving more and more attention.
Until very recent years, secondary education was intended
only for the few who might aspire to professional training.
Economic conditions in Mexico make it difficult that it
should be otherwise, but a real attempt is being made to
provide facilities for all who may find it possible to make
use of them.
The National University of Mexico is the one great
institution of higher learning supported by the federal
government. It was the first university founded on the
American continent, (1551). Operation of the National Uni
versity has been interrupted on several occasions for longer or
shorter periods of time, so that its work has not been con
tinuous throughout the four centuries following its original
establishment. In its present form the University functions
under a constitutive law of 1910, and is, in matter of work
offered, very similar to the leading universities of the
United States. The Summer School of the National University
with its large attendance of foreign students has been,
and is, a great factor in the promotion of international
understanding and good will.
80
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Asociacion Nacional de Padres de^Familia, Escuela Preparatoria
Libre de Michoacan, Boletin, 1923, Morelia, Michoacàn.
Barranco, Manuel, Mexico-Its Educational Problems-Suggestions
for their Solution. Teachers College, Columbia Uni-
versity, 1915^ ^
Beals, Carleton, Mexico-an Interpretation, B.W. Huebsch, 1923.
Bourne, E., The American Nation-Spain in America, Vol.III.
Bringas, Esperanza Velasquez, Educational Role of the Library
in the Republic of Mexico, Bulletin of the Pan-American
Union.
Casauranc, J.M. Puig De Nuestro Mexico, Mexico, 1926.
Cox, Isaac J., The Development of the Mexican Educational
System, Mexican Yearbook, 1920-2X1
Dabney, Charles William, A Study of Educational Conditions in
Mexico, and an Appeal for an Independent College,
Published by the Committee for the Study of Educational
Conditions in Mexico. 1916.
Dewey, John,"Mexico*s Educational Renaissance," The New
Republic, September 22, 1926.
Drake, Rollen H., A Comparative Study of the Mentality and
Achievement"of Mexican and White Children, Master*s
thesis. University of Southern California, 1927.
Educational Yearbook, International Institute of Teachers
College, Columbia University, 1927.
Escuelas Metodistas, Informes de las Correspondientes as anb
de 1927. Casa Unida de Publicaciones, S.A. Mexico D.F.
Flores, Jesus Romero, Historia de la Civilizacion Mexicans,
CompaSiia Nacional Editors "Aguila",S.A. Mexico,1929.
Gruening, Ernest, Mexico and its Heritage, Century Co., N.Y
and London, 1928.
f
Guadalajara, University of, Boletin de la Universidad de
Guadalajara, Jalisco-Mexico, Imprenta de la Escuala
Poïitechicâ
Guadalajara Schools, Program of Instruction, Prescipclones
Didacticas, Programas y Proyectos. Two Volumes:
Quin to and Sexto AITo. Arreglados por el Prof. Carlos
Preciado. Escuela Politecnica Press, Guad. Jal.,
Mex. 1928.
81
Lenz, Prank B.,"Mexico Turns the Corner," Outlook, September
21, 1927.
/ /
Martinez, M. Quiroz, La Educacion Publics en el Distrito
Norte de la Baja California. Mexica1i7 Ehëro de 1928.
McLean, Robert N., That Mexican, Fleming H, Revell Co., N.Y.,
1928.
National University of Mexico. Bulletin of the Summer Session
of the National University of Mexico, 1930. Imprenta Mundial,
Mexico D.F.
Padilla, Lie. Ezequiel,"Memoria ^ue indica El estado que
guarda el Ramo de Educacion," Mexico, D.F., Oct.31,1929.
Palacios, Adelia, "Present-day Education in Mexico," Journal
Amer. Association of University Women, June, 1929.
Palma, Gabin^ A., "La Coeducacion en Me^xico y la Nueva Cultura
en America," Evolucién, November 1929.
Pan-American Union, Mexico*s Successful Campaign against
Illiteracy, 1923.
Prescott, William H., History of the Conquest of Mexico,
Boston, 1843.
Priestley, Herbert Ingram, Ph.D., The Mexican Nation-A History,
The Macmillan Co., 1924.
Hippy, J* Fred, Vasconcelos, Jos^, and Stevens, Guy, American
Policies Abroad, University of Chicago Press, 1928.
Ross, E.A., The Social Revolution in Mexico, The Century Co.,
1923.
Ryan, Sylvia Nigel, Translation of Book I of the Chronical
of the Chronical of the Notable and Royal University
of the City of Mexico and New Spain with Critical
Notes, University of Southern California Master’s Thesis,
1923.
Saenz, Moïses, "Mexico," Educational Yearbook, Teachers College,
Columbia University, 1927. "
/ /
Saenz, Moises, Mexico, an Appraisal and a Forecast, The
Committee on Cultural Relations v/ith Latin America,
N.Y., 1929.
/ /
Saenz, Moises, Newer Aspects of Education in Mexico, Bulletin
of Pan-American Union, September, 192W%
85
, f
Saenz, Moises, Integrating Mexico through Education, Pan-
American Union, 1926.
Smith, Mathew D., Factors Contributing to the Development
of the Curriculum of Public^Secondary Schools in
Mexico from 1È67 to 1927^ University of California,1930.
Tennenbaum, Frank,"The Miracle School, " The Century Magazine,
August, 1924.
Vasconcelos, Dr. Jos/, Education in Mexico-Present Day Tendencies,
Pan-American Union.
Wallace, Lew, The Fair God, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1873.
^ ^ ^ -
PUBLICACIONES DE LA SECRETARIA DE EDUCACIŒ PUBLICA EN MEXICO:
1. Las Escuelas al Aire Libre (Open air Schools).
2. Educacion Rural y Programs de la Escuela Rural,
Tomo XIII, num. 19.
3. Catalogo de la Universidad National, Tomo X, num.
15, 1926-27.
4. Sistema de Circuitos H^rales, October 1929.
/ / / /
5. Escuelas Pederales en San Luis Potosi, (Moises Saenz),
Tomo XVIIL, num. 6, 1928.
> /
6. Notieia Estadistica sobre la Educacion Publics en
Mexico correspondiente al afio de 1926.
7. Sistems de Escuelas Rurales en Mexico, 1927.
8. Las Misiones Culturales en 1927.
9. La Educacion Publica a traves de los Mensajes
Presidenciales desde la Oon§um§.cion de la
Independencia hasta Nuestros dlas, 1926.
10. Reorganization of Mexico ^ity Normal Schools, 1926.
/ / /
11. Boletin de la Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Tomo
VI, num. 10, Octubre de 1927.
12. Memoria que Indica el Estado que guarda el Ramo de
Educacion Publica, el 31 de Agosto de 1929.
13. El Esfuerzo Educative en Mexico.,La pbra del Gobierno
Federal en el Ramo de Educacion Publica durante
la Administracion del Presidents Plutarco Elias
Calles, 1924-28.
84
14, Valorea Ispiritualea de le Reze
Indlgene^^mi Educacion deede los
f l^pos Pr^ortealenos haste
Nuestros Dms, 1929*
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Blaisdell, James Brooks
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The development of education in Mexico
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Education
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1931-01
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