Foreword

EDUCATION IN MEXICO, one of the series of basic studies on edu

cation in the American Republics undertaken by the Office of Education, has been prepared with the interests of the following groups in mind:

(1) Persons working in the field of inter-American educational relations (2) Those specializing in Latin American area and language studies

(3) Students of the history and philosophy of education

(4) Admissions officers of United States schools and colleges receiving applications from Mexican students

(5) United States students who contemplate a period of study in Mexico (6) Visitors to Mexico who wish to undertake research on some phase of education or simply to observe clearly the various aspects of Mexican civilization (7) Teachers who look forward to the development of exchange programs with

Mexico.

So brief a treatment of a comprehensive and exceedingly complex subject can accomplish no more than bring out salient characteristics and problems in the light of enough background information to enable the reader to interpret the essential facts concerning education in Mexico today. We hope that this aim has been accomplished in the present bulletin.

The Office of Education is deeply indebted to the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and many other institutions and individuals in Mexico who provided publications and official data; to the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D. C., for cooperation in obtaining photographs; to the Education Division of the Pan American Union for the loan of materials and for careful reading of the manuscript and submission of valuable suggestions. The map of Mexico, which first appeared in Frank Tannenbaum's Mexico: The Struggle for Peace and Bread and Erna Fergusson's Mexico Revisited, is included through the courtesy of Alfred A. Knopf.

OLIVER J. CALDWELL,

Assistant Commissioner of Education, International Education.

PART I-Background Information

The Country

MEXICO,

EXICO, officially designated as Estados Unidos Mexicanos, is a Federal Republic of 29 States, 2 Territories, and a Federal District. It is the southernmost country of North America and the second largest Spanish-speaking nation of the world. Shaped like a cornucopia, it extends northwest through 18° of latitude, reaching a width of 1,623 miles along the boundary contiguous to the States of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Its smallest section, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, is 140 miles from ocean to ocean.

On the Atlantic side Mexico has 1,632 miles of coastline the lowlands of which vary from 10 to 150 miles in width. The Yucatán Peninsula, a broad limestone plain projecting northward, lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The Pacific Coast, counting that of the Gulf of California which separates Lower California from the mainland for a distance of 750 miles, has a total length of 4,130 miles. Its coastal strip is narrower on the whole than the eastern lowlands and somewhat less accessible to the capital, although the natural harbors are better on the Pacific side.

The land is one of extraordinary diversity. The Tropic of Cancer crosses the country near the center, but the climate is determined by altitude and rainfall as much as by latitude. There are four temperature zones ranging from tropical to cold, the tierra caliente at low elevations, mostly along the coast, the tierra templada at altitudes of some 3.000 to 6,000 feet above sea level, the tierra fría at levels roughly between 6,000 and 10,000 feet, and the tierra helada, or frozen land. The seasons vary,

but in general there is a rainy season from June to October and a dry season during the rest of the year. In the central valley May is the warmest month.

The most distinguishing topographical feature is the high central plateau which lies between the eastern and western chains of the Sierra Madre, an extension of the great cordilleras forming the backbone of the American continents. This plateau, a vast semiarid to arid expanse of valleys, broken mountain ranges, and deep barrancas, constitutes about two-thirds of the country's area. Its basin elevations

vary from 6,000 to 8,000 feet in the south to 3,000 or 4,000 feet in the north, where the slope becomes more gradual. The landscape of the south central region is dominated by lofty peaks, many of volcanic origin, which rise precipitously as the Sierra Madre divides into its rugged lateral chains. Two of these majestic cones, Orizaba (18,700 ft.) in the State of Veracruz and Popocatépetl (17,887 ft.) in the State of Mexico, rank second and third highest among the mountains of North America. They, along with Iztaccíhuatl (17,343 ft.), adjacent to Popocatépetl, are snowcapped the year around.

Mexico's population growth has been accelerating in recent years. The 1950 census showed a population of 25,791,017 as contrasted with 19 million plus in 1940, 16 million in 1930, and 14 million in 1920. In 1954 the Dirección General de Estadística published an estimate for that year of 28,849,465 and predicted that the total would exceed 34 million by 1960. Although the majority live in rural areas, there is a great concentration of people in the capital and central States. The following cities have more than 100,000 inhabitants (1950 census):

Of the 149 additional cities with populations above ten thousand, 17 are located in the Federal District. While the country as a whole has a population density of 35 per square mile, the density in the central region is 105 as contrasted with 16 in the northern half of the Republic.

Historical and Political Development

PRE-CONQUEST PERIOD (B. C. TO 1521)

Mexico's past reaches into the Stone Age. There is evidence that nomadic hunters lived in the Valley of Mexico as far back as 10,000 years or more before the Christian era, and archeological discoveries are revealing more and more about the prehistoric peoples. Nothing is certain, however, about when they first appeared or where they originated, nor are there any clear links with the Mayas, Toltecs, Aztecs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Olmecs, Chichimecs, Tarascans, and others whose civilizations became known to the invading Spaniards in the 16th century. The most

advanced cultures so far known to have existed in Mexico were the Mayan in Yucatán, where the ruins of more than 50 of their cities remain, and the Toltec, dominant between the 7th and 11th centuries.

In 1325, after much wandering on the Mexican plateau, the Aztecs, or Mexica, built the city of Meshico-Tenochtitlán on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco, located a mile and a half above sea level at the southern end of the Valley of Mexico. The name was in honor of Mexitli, the god of war, and Tenoch, the priest who had guided them to the prophetic sign—an eagle clutching a serpent in its beak, perched on a cactus on an island in a lake. The sign is now the national emblem and appears in the center of the white stripe of the flag. When Cortés arrived the city was a fortified stronghold with a population of perhaps 300,000 and the Aztecs were exacting tribute from several other major provinces scattered over an extensive territory. Some tribes were resisting-a circumstance which aided the Spaniards-and others maintained complete independence. In all, the country presented a complex picture of diverse cultural groupings in which more than 200 different languages were spoken.

The Spaniards first learned of Mexico in 1517 through a reconnaissance force which landed in Yucatán and Campeche. From captive Indians they heard that two Spaniards, survivors of a shipwreck in 1512, were living among the Mayans. A year later Captain Juan de Grijalva made contact with the lost Spaniards and explored the coast from Yucatán westward, naming the land New Spain. In 1519 Hernán Cortés was commissioned by the Governor of Cuba to lead an expedition with the same pilot and some of the same soldiers who had thus gained knowledge of the country. He sailed with 11 ships and about 800 men under orders to explore, trade with the Indians, and spread the Christian faith. After preliminary scouting he established the port of Veracruz (Villa Rica de Veracruz, Rich Town of the True Cross) and promptly converted the venture into conquest of the Aztec Empire, a feat that changed the course of history in aboriginal Mexico and initiated an experiment of unprecedented scope in the transplantation of European institutions and ideas.

Aztec society was organized into well-defined classes, the religious and military occupying the favored position. Farmers, craftsmen, and builders supported the large army of warriors and the hierarchy of Aztec priests, who conducted ceremonial rites honoring their deities and rendered human sacrifice to the sun god of war, Huitzilopochtli or Mexitli. Montezuma II, their ruling chief since 1502, first greeted the Spaniards with princely courtesy and rich gifts. He is said to have been killed by his own men when the populace rose against the invaders, but Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec chief, fought so valiantly in defense of his domain that he is today the prototype of the national hero. The size and splendor of Tenochtitlán with its great stone temples and palaces, its