eport on the CULTURAL

MISSIONS

of MEXICO

· Guillermo Bonilla y Segura, Chief, Cultural Missions epartment, Mexican Secretariat of Public Education. anslated and Edited in the American Republics Section, ivision of International Educational Relations, U. S. Office of Education.

¡ SEPTEMBER 1943, during a short visit in Mexico, I had the privilege meeting the writer of this report on Mexican Cultural Missions and of siting with him a group of Indian villages in which one of the Missions is functioning. The report itself and its present appearance in the glish language are largely a result of that day spent in the Tlascalan lages, for when I asked Professor Guillermo Bonilla y Segura if he uld give me reports on the work of the Missions he informed me that eir full story had not yet been written. During the succeeding months e busy Chief of the Cultural Missions Department himself found time write this report, the English translation of which is now before you. The work being done by Prof. Bonilla y Segura and his colleagues, nong whom I should like especially to mention Profs. Enrique Corona orfín, Rubén Castillo Penado, Alfonso Fabila Montes de Oca, Luis argas Piñera, and Francisco Castro Ruiz, has been an inspiration to e as an educator and as a citizen of a neighboring country. The broad ucational objectives and the methods employed in this project for aching Indian people a better way of life gives confidence and inspires e with the belief that an isolated and somewhat estranged people of a eat land will, through these means, be prepared for modern life and ought into the fold of genuine citizenship. The people and their couny will reap a rich harvest from the sympathetic efforts of this group of odest teachers who toil through the years with courage and patience at others may benefit from their labor. The work of these missioners calls another great Mexican of an earlier day who was also a friend of e Indians and who, when his supporters pressed titles upon him, chose be called "Servant of the Nation."

Professor Bonilla y Segura began teaching at the age of 16 as Director the Rural School in the Indian village of Cuapancingo, after comleting his elementary education. Realizing the limitations of his prepration for what he refers to as "the high office of education" he enrolled 1 the Escuela Normal de Profesores at Puebla for a 5-year course. In 913 Professor Bonilla y Segura entered the Federal service as a school ispector. Later he served as director of an upper elementary school in epic; as professor in a normal school in the City of Mexico; and in arious administrative capacities in local school systems and instituions, including the elementary school of Mazatlán, an experimental chool in Culiacán, the Universidad de Occidente, and the Instituto Nornal of the State of Puebla. Returning to the Federal service the present hief of the Cultural Missions Department served as director of the 'Horacio Man" advanced elementary school of the City of Mexico, and Is Director General of Education of the States of Oaxaca, Chiapas,

Guerrero, and Guanajuato. He has also been a member of important committees and administrative councils, chief of the Departamento d Documentación Pedagógica, and Director General of Elementary Educa tion of the Federal District. He became Chief of the Cultural Mission Department in 1942.

JOHN W. STUDEBAKER
U. S. Commissioner of Education

FOREWORD

Report on the Cultural Missions of Mexico is based on a manuscript written in Spanish by Professor Guillermo Bonilla y Segura, Chief of the Cultural Missions Department of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education. The report covers the activities of the missions for 194 and also gives limited information concerning the program carried ea in 1942. The information included in the Introduction is presented in order that the reader who may have little previous knowledge of Mexicar education will be helped to understand the development of the cultural mission program in the years before the period covered in this report. In order to assist the reader to interpret the materials prepared by Prof. Bonilla y Segura, the manuscript has been edited and rearranged and additional information included. The translation of the mant script and the information concerning the background of the cultura missions presented briefly in the Introduction were prepared by the American Republics Section, Division of International Educationa Relations, of the U. S. Office of Education.

Part I, Objectives and Organization of the Cultural Missions, provide the basis for the organization and administration of missions for rura people, workers, and urban teachers and includes data concerning the budgets for the programs described in the report. The duties of the missioners, as mission staff members are called, are also explained. On page 4 is a map which shows the location of the three types of cultural missions, a list of rural missions, and schedules for workers and urban teachers' missions.

Part II, Operation of the Cultural Missions Program, consists of a series of short articles, each describing some aspect of the mission pro gram. The first three articles are based on seminar discussions in which the chiefs of the three types of missions participated, and the others ar instructional bulletins which were issued by the Cultural Missions De

partment.

The accomplishments of the three types of missions are included it Part III, Achievements and Plans. Some of the specific accomplishments

f the rural cultural missions are presented graphically, and an outline › given of plans for subsequent missions, the program for which is still perating under the direction of Prof. Bonilla y Segura.

Following the three parts of the manuscript, a number of photographs, upplied by the author, are presented. In order that the reader may ecure further information concerning cultural missions in Mexico, ither from English or Spanish sources, a list of related readings, preared in the Division of International Educational Relations, is found n page 61.

It is hoped that this report will contribute to a greater understanding f the outstanding educational accomplishments of our nearest southern eighbor, and that it will constitute an inspiration and a challenge to he educators of the United States.