Mexico's New Schools In which Teachers are "Apostles of Civilization" and a School is the "House of the People" T HE outstanding features of the schools, is that the initiators had the To understand Mexico's national school program, therefore, one must keep in mind the background of the Mexican people, past and present, and their ideals for the future. To understand Mexico's schools, one must remember that they serve a different race and a different way of living. One out of ten A few hours south of the Rio Grande one begins to reach the heart of Mexico. Picturesque groups crowd the station platforms with unfamiliar food. Nearly all the faces one sees are Indian faces. Mexico is about 90 per cent Indian and mestizo. In the mestizo the Indian blood and Indian characteristics generally prevail over Spanish blood. The Indian natives differ markedly among themselves in language, in tradition, in cultural patterns, and to some extent in the economic level on which they live. The traveler goes from a highly industrialized urban civilization to a rural, handicraft civilization. Regions-even villages are practically self-sufficient. Rural Mexicans make or raise everything they need. Life is reduced to its lowest terms. This does not mean that they fail to make and use many beautiful things, but the joy is rather in their making than in their possession. * Chief, Special Problems Division, Office of Education, U. S. Department of the Interior. By KATHERINE M. COOK * MRS. COOK traveled through Mexico visit- The native population lives in villages. There are, according to Tannenbaum, 62,000 Mexican villages averaging three or four hundred souls. Unlike our own independent and at least relatively prosperous farmers, the rural people of Mexico aspire to be a peasant class. Probably for at least 1,000 years before Spanish-colonial days, as well as since, the rural people were peons. To be free peasants represents a higher social status than they have hitherto attained. Out of revolution Mexico's educational program is for- of the Mexican people. It seeks to The establishment of a Federal system of elementary rural schools as a function of the National Government is a contribution of the revolution of 1910 to Mexican education. The system was started about 1921 to 1923, during the administration of President Obregon, and through the leadership of the then Secretary of the Federal Department of Education, Jose Vasconcelos, and his associates. "Missionaries"-that is, educational missionaries-were sent to the villages to explain the benefits of education to the people. They were expected to leave a school as one result of their visit. The teacher of each school was selected from the community, but he was paid, as teachers now are, by the Federal Government. Soon the requests for schools came faster than the Government was able to meet them. Federal appropriations for the rural-schools program have increased year by year. How schools begin Mexico's rural schools are cooperative enterprises. The Federal Government selects and pays the teachers and buys the books; the community furnishes the building and equipment, lends its moral support, guarantees a generous attendance of children and adults, and expresses a willingness to follow the leadership of the teacher in fulfillment of Federal education policies. As soon as the teacher is selected the people and the children come together, and school begins. The adobe brick schoolhouse is built by the men, women, and children of the community under the teacher's leadership. Weeks or months may pass before its completion, but instruction need not wait. Adults and children and the teacher, under the trees, in a partially ruined church, or in a sheltered place by an old wall, may constitute a school. Courses of study are not prepared and distributed by the central authorities. School projects are initiated by the teacher who lives in and knows the community. The teacher's task is to study the village's essential needs and to meet them gradually and in order of their importance. If the community needs a water supply, an investigation of the present source of water and of means of improving the supply begins at once. Projects concerned with the needed water supply may form the basis of the school curriculum until the situation has been satisfactorily improved. Drug store in school Since smallpox is a recurring plague in Mexican communities, practically every teacher, with the help of leaders in his community, vaccinates and teaches the essential facts concerning the need and results of vaccination. Every rural school has its medicine chest or small drug store, where simple remedies are dispensed and advice concerning their use is available. Health, variety in diet, are basic school subjects, and the school garden and the playground have become features of every rural school. Teaching Spanish, the established language of the country, fills a practical social need. It is taught in all communities to children and their elders through music, dramatics, and the practical procedures of daily life, as well as through the three R's. Apostolic teachers In Mexico the curriculum grows from basic community needs and through the initiative of the teacher leader, who is, according to Professor Saenz, an apostle of civilization rather than a pedagogue. When a particular practice initiated by a resourceful teacher succeeds, Federal school officials promote its use in other schools. The school garden is one example; the open-air theater for school and community use another. Both were initiated by a teacher and have now become features of practically all schools. In this way a certain unity of curricular practices and content has evolved out of successful experiences. From the small beginning made by the few "missionaries" sent out by the Federal Government, rural schools have sprung up in ever-increasing numbers. There are now about 7,000 such schools, small, 1-story, rectangular, adobe buildings, painted or whitewashed, with redtiled roofs. They are built and equipped by the community from local materials. They teach a curriculum that has grown as naturally as their native corn. Over the doorway of nearly every rural school appear the words "Casa del pueblo," house of the people. How Mexico succeeds in finding teachers who can perform the varied tasks demanded by the new schools is a question to which one finds no completely satisfactory answer. School officials in Mexico have supreme confidence in the spirit of service and the belief in the efficacy of the program of education which animates the teachers and inspires the people. "I go the rounds of my rural schools," says a former assistant secretary of education, "and in this village and in the next, in hundreds, in fact in most of them, I meet the apostolic teacher. He is marked by devotion, sacrifice, a quenchless enthusiasm, a childlike confidence in the worthiness of the work. A little of the doctrinaire, a kind of soldierly attitude, and that indefinable something, a hidden fountain, a guiding light akin to religion." On the more practical side, the Mexican Federal Government established, paralleling the establishment of the rural schools, two in-service training activities to which it has intrusted important responsibilities in professionalizing the teachers and maintaining their esprit de corps; in the rehabilitation of communities; in the for mulation and dissemination of a basic philosophy of education; and in seeking out basic cultural resources of the country and finding means of incorporating them into the educational program. The first in-service training school activ ity is the "cultural mission," actually an itinerant normal school. There are now 14 cultural missions, 2 of which are permanent; that is, established in a given region primarily for experimentation and investigation. A traveling mission conducts 10 institutes a year, each of 30 days' duration, in a designated community of the territory to which it is assigned. The staff of five to eight members includes an educational worker, who may be the local educational director; a social worker, who is considered a key person in the staff; a specialist in agriculture; an expert in petty industries and handicrafts of the region; a specialist in popular arts, music, drama, recreation; a leader in health and physical education; one nurses, and sometimes a physician. Institutes or more The centers in which institutes are held are selected with care. They must be towns or villages which are typical of the communities of the region, never cities. They must be suitable for laboratory purposes, both the community itself and the Federal school which is maintained there. Here the teachers from the surrounding region gather, bringing such personal equipment as is necessary-plate, knife, and fork, and cup, for example-and live together, usually in a community house, sharing the work of its upkeep during the session. Intensive subject-matter courses are offered, academic and professional in nature, and the teachers in attendance carry on, under the direction of the mission staff, work in the local school and with the local community of the same type they are expected to carry on when they return to their respective communities to teach. Theory, demonstration, and supervised practice are the combined offerings. Each institute session is expected to leave in the community some tangible evidence of its presence-perhaps an improved water supply, a public fountain, an openair theater, possibly a schoolhouse-always some need supplied. It is expected to leave also increased local confidence in the national program of education. Administration simple The second service is really a continuation of the first. It is a countrywide supervisory service through federally-appointed State and local officials. One local director visited had a hundred teachers under his supervision. The Mexican school week is six days. Three days this director used for visitation, observation, and personal help; three days for group meetings held at strategic places. Administrative details, subordinated to the work of improving practices in school and community work, are cared for evenings and Sundays, or are delegated to teachers and the numerous village committees which are organized to work with the teacher wherever a school is established. School policies and practices initiated and demonstrated at the institutes are continued under direction throughout the school year by the district supervisors, who are Federal school officers. Interpretation and local application of the principles enunciated by the institute staff are continued throughout the year under professional direction. Teaching qualities The teachers selected when the program was inaugurated and a high percentage of those now in service have little or no organized professional training. Many have not progressed beyond the six elementary school years. Some have even less academic education. They are selected because of certain qualities of leadership and personality, a spirit of service, of consecration to the national program of rehabilitation through education. The in-service training agencies were in the beginning, and are still to a great extent, depended upon to supply both academic and professional essentials. When the program was well under way-when, according to a Federal official, "We knew what we wanted"-rural normal schools, of which there are now 17, were established. The Federal program contemplates that in the future the rural teachers will be graduates of these schools. 161.9 days to 172.7 days in the 10-year period. States having short terms in 1920 could increase the term during the decade, but those having long terms already in 1920 had no such opportunity ahead of them. Therefore, Kentucky, which had a term of 123 days in 1920, increased it by 42 days, more than two school months, before 1930. Nine other States-Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia-increased their terms by 20 days or more, approximately one school month. The data reported by four States seem to show a shorter term in 1930 than in 1920. Additional data on the length of the school term and other comparisons of 1930 160 180 Home-Making Education How It Has Forged Ahead in the Last Two Years O REVIEW the last two years in home-making education is to chronicle a succession of strik T ing events and progressive steps unparalleled in the history of the movement. The two years have witnessed significant extension of the home-making program to embrace a wider service. They have witnessed specialists in the field contributing importantly to two national conferences called by the President of the United States, and to four regional conferences called by the United States Commissioner of Education. They have seen home-making experts meeting the call of the unemployment emergency. They have been marked by a rebuilding of the home economics curriculum and the publication of many new books and pamphlets of outstanding significance. At conferences A prominent part was played by home economists in the President's White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. The late Martha Van Rensselaer was appointed to the assistant directorship of this conference, and numerous other noted home economists were named to important committees of major conference sections. A subcommittee on housing and home management, of which Martha Van Rensselaer was chairman, produced the publication entitled "The Home and the Child," first of the 32 volumes of the White House conference. Home economists contributed to the conference publication on "Nutrition," a standard work in this field. Others assumed full responsibility for producing "Parent Education," a volume setting forth vital information on this "newcomer" in education. "Nutrition Service in the Field," and monographs 1 and 2, "Education for Home and Family Life" on the elementary and secondary school and college levels, respectively, were also published with the aid of leaders in the home-mak ing field. These publications and the Children's Charter now occupy an important place in the home-making program of the Nation. They have been cordially received by teachers and school administrators. Many home economists participated in the President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership. This *Senior specialist in home economics, Office of Education, U. S. Department of the Interior. By EMELINE S. WHITCOMB * THIS PICTURE of home-making education, 1930-1932, is the third biennial review of a major educational field to be featured in SCHOOL LIFE. Progress in Physical Education, 1930-1932, appeared in the September issue; Trends in Tests and Measurements in October. Forthcoming issues of SCHOOL LIFE will present 2-year summaries in health education, school buildings, parent education, commercial education, and guidance.-EDITOR. conference followed the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. To it home economists contributed generously of their time and expert knowledge to 14 of the 25 subject-matter committees and to 4 of the 6 correlating committees. Three of the 25 factual committees were headed by home economists, whose reports are now available to anyone, in or out of school, interested in creating a home environment conducive to happy, healthful, and sound living. These reports are published in two volumes- -Homemaking, Home Furnishing and Information Centers, and Household Management and Kitchens. Regional home-making conferences were called by the United States Commissioner of Education. Four regional conferences were held during the biennium and two just preceding it. The conferences brought together some of the foremost leaders in education, home economics, sociology, psychology, and economics; representatives of civic and women's educational organizations. They considered the place of home making in a program of education. They helped to promote a program to prepare boys and girls to meet their present and future responsibilities. The conferences urged flexibility in the home economics curriculum and divorcement of worn-out procedures and activities suitable for a pastoral society, but obsolete in the new, changing, dynamic social era. The New England conference recommended that State departments of education in States affected by the conference call, as soon as feasible, a conference of parent-teacher associations and all other educational organizations and forces in the State to discuss home-making education. It urged that each State conference define and declare the scope and extent of school courses and educational instruction held essential for adequate home making. One of the New England States held such a conference in September. Another State is laying plans for a home-making conference. Some aspects of these conferences were reported in four Office of Education circulars; also in A Symposium on Home and Family Life in a Changing Civilization, now out of print; and "Homemaking," published by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers. A department of supervisors and teachers of home economics was created in the National Education Association July 1, 1930. This department concentrates its energies on "The articulation of home economics with other school subjects; pro moting home economics for all pupils, boys and girls alike; and other vital subjects. Aids needy Again, as in the great World War, home economists in this depression have mustered their forces to serve communities in stretching the food dollar; in planning dietaries adequate in their nutritive value, yet low in cost; in renovating and remodeling clothing for boys and girls to keep them in school; and in utilizing the precious pennies to keep body and soul together. Throughout the land home economics departments have aided materially in preserving the morale of worthy families whose earnings ceased when jobs, seemingly secure, disappeared. For example: Hun Milwaukee, Wis., last year distributed more than 16,000 garments which were collected, cleaned, and remodeled by girls in home economics departments. dreds of children were thus provided with clothing, enabling them to continue in school. Pupils in home economics classes supplied money to repair donated clothing. Nearly 200,000 lunches were served to indigent and undernourished children. Recipes for supplies furnished to the unemployed were tested in home economics departments. Boston, Mass., had 200,000 garments repaired and distributed to the needy and had 38,572 home projects executed. The money value contributed to "their more unfortunate brethren" by teachers, school nurses, and pupils of the entire school system during the year 1930-31 was $354,000. Philadelphia, Pa., suspended regular food courses, as an emergency measure, thus enabling 140 foods teachers to center their attention on marketing, preparing, and serving of the least expensive foods A modern home economics classroom. Pupils in Providence Street Junior High School, Worcester, Mass., have a home management suite, including a bedroom and living room opening off the classroom. to help meet adequate nutrition for the city's hungry. The 25,000 girls enrolled in foods classes formed combat troops to fight malnutrition among the unemployed. Pupils served 173,719 5-cent lunches, distributed 247,709 new garments, repaired 34,307 pieces of clothing, and made 29,846 dresses, 71,332 bloomers, and other wearing apparel. Chicago, Ill., home economics department last year had the responsibility for disbursing $100,000 contributed by the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, the Governor's relief committee, and many individuals. These funds provided one good meal daily for 10,000 children. This department also gave 12,000 garments to indigent pupils and 2,762 garments to other members of their families in need. New York City's home economics department last year supervised the preparation and serving of more than 1,500,000 free lunches in 300 or more emergency lunch centers. During the past summer 1,608,378 meals were served to children of the unemployed at a cost of nearly $200,000, raised by teachers, administrators, supervisors, and other employees of the city board of education. The Colorado Education Association, in cooperation with the Colorado Home Economics Association, has issued a very timely bulletin, Suggestions for Adapting Home Economics in Colorado to the Present Economic and Educational Situation. Rebuilds curriculum In the midst of the added responsibilities meagerly described above, home economists have found time to expand and perfect the home-making curriculum on the various school levels. Practically all cities of more than 1,000,000 population and many smaller cities have within the past two years changed some part of their home-making courses of study. Thirteen State departments of education issued revised home economics courses. A number of other States will soon publish new courses. Activities and procedures outlined appear to be based upon progressive educational objectives agreed upon by the general curriculum study commission of the State or city for all subject-matter courses. Home economists have also planned methods and procedures to measure the mastery of activities outlined. This innovation is a decided step forward in completing teaching procedures. It is important to determine whether the student has developed certain ideals, attitudes, patterns of behavior, and has acquired skills, techniques, and knowledge in the light of goals set. Wage-earning opportunities Rochester, N. Y., last year graduated 22 pupils from the cafeteria and tea-room courses offered in the Monroe JuniorSenior High School, four of whom are continuing advanced work at Mechanics Institute. Some of these students had planned to drop out of school at the close of the eighth grade, but were persuaded to register for this work, which, students register for this work, which, students themselves say, is solving their economic problems. The Manhattan (Kans.) High School organized in 1929 a course in institutional economics, using the high-school cafeteria as a laboratory. This project was inaugurated by the departments of education and institutional economics of Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. A report from the Bureau of the Census, United States Department of Commerce, shows that Kansas employed 3,897 waitresses, a field occupied by highschool girls before or after graduation. This cooperative plan is described in a bulletin, Vocational Training in the Institutional Field for Kansas High School Girls, issued by Kansas State Board for Vocational Education, Topeka, Kans., in June. Other cities offering a course in institutional economics in regular day high schools are Ponca, Okla.; Houston and El Paso, Tex.; Laramie, Wyo.; and Boise, Idaho. Cities providing such training in Vocational schools are Baltimore, Md.; Brooklyn, N. Y.; Detroit, Mich.; Chicago, Ill.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif. Textual materials More publications in this field have been produced in the past two years than at any other time in the history of the home economics movement. A number of those of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection and the President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership have already been mentioned. A number of other volumes of these conferences produced by experts in other fields of education, but valuable in the development of a comprehensive home-making program, are: Nursery Education; Growth and Development of the Child, Part 4; Appraisement of the Child; the Delinquent Child; Special EducationThe Handicapped and the Gifted; House Design, Construction and Equipment; Housing and the Community; Home Repair and Remodeling; and Home Finance and Taxation. Other scientific publications awaited for many years have been produced by home economists since 1930. |