of June the music and art classes prepare for processions to celebrate the planting of the crops. Gaily decorated oxen with large loaves of bread hung on their horns are followed by girls in Tarascan dress carrying on their heads trays filled with fruits to symbolize the dinners that the women carry to the men in the fields. On June 24, St. John the Baptist's day, flowers are thrown into the swimming pool and fountain, and water sports and contests are featured. On all Souls' Day and All Saints' Day, November 1 and 2, dapper toy skeletons with plumed hats decorate the classrooms, while skulls and bones made of bread twists appear in the *February 5 February 14 February 22 February 24 March 18 *March 21 April 2 Table E.-National holidays and other special days Promulgation of Constitutions of 1857 and 1917 Economic Independence (1938) World Health Day Pan American Day Pan American Indian Day Soldier's Day Children's Day Labor Day Victory over the French in Puebla (1862) Birth of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Mother's Day Teacher's Day Anniversary of the Death of Venustiano Carranza Anniversary of the Death of Álvaro Obregón Fall of the Bastille Defense of Churubusco August 21 Homage to Cuauhtémoc Anniversary of the Death of Benito Juárez Anniversary of the Death of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla United Nations Victory Day October 24 United Nations Day October 31 *November 20 December 22 ⚫ Legal holiday. World Savings Day Beginning of Revolution of 1910 Anniversary of the Death of José María Morelos lunchroom. Before Christmas the classes enact the posadas (inns), marching with candles and singing carols to commemorate the search of Joseph and Mary for lodging. Also during the Christmas season they make piñatas, jars filled with sweets and trinkets and decorated with colored tissue paper in the form of angels, sheep, stars, turkeys, or other seasonal figures. December 28, the Day of the Innocents, corresponds to April Fool's Day in the United States. TEACHING METHODS Besides the programs of study, SEP publishes a list of the approved textbooks for the various grades and subjects, from which the school may choose those best suited to its needs. Many children, however, are unable to buy textbooks and the schools generally lack adequate library facilities, so the prevailing method is for the teacher to dictate the lesson material or have it copied into notebooks. The children then memorize the notebook materials for their examinations. Although activities and socialized recitations are encouraged, the classes are large, with 50 or more students in each room, and the classroom procedures tend to remain formal. When the school director or supervisor or any visitor appears at the classroom door all the children rise and remain at attention until the teacher gives the signal for them to be seated. One of the most popular activities is the annual exhibition of handwork done in the manual arts and home economics classes. Children and teachers also enter with zest into various contests, such as drawing, spelling, declamation, mental arithmetic, and sports. Puppet shows, movies, pictures, maps, and other audio-visual materials are prepared for teachers by the Dirección General de Educación Audiovisual of SEP, and this office also conducts a School of the Air over a television station in the capital. School parades and public programs are planned for Flag Day and United Nations Day. On Arbor Day the children participate in tree planting ceremonies. The national goal for 1955 was to plant 19 million trees, 21⁄2 million of which were to be fruit trees. Each year the schools have a patriotic theme, such as the life of Miguel Hidalgo, the flag, or the national anthem, which motivates the work in art, music, civics, and other subjects and culminates in a national contest or other public recognition of excellence. One such program took place on September 14, 1955, when 18,000 school children sang the national anthem at the National Palace in the presence of the President of the Republic. The Secretary of Public Education awarded insignias reading "Himno Nacional, Lo canté en su centenario" to 13,000 of these same children who had participated in a similar ceremony in 1954, the centennial of the song. Examinations are comprehensive. The questions are prepared for each grade and subject by the Instituto Nacional de Pedagogía and sent out by SEP to the zone inspectors for distribution to the teachers. The teachers also receive precise directions for giving the tests, including time limits, a key for scoring, and a scale for grading. The test results, along with the pupil's average grades during the year, are the basis for promotion. The grading system is on a scale of 0 to 10, 10 being the highest mark, with 6 required for passing. Some schools use the percentage system with 60 the passing mark. The children who fail in one major subject, such as arithmetic, may review during vacation and try the examination a second time. Those who fail two major subjects, such as language and arithmetic, must repeat the grade. The following sample from a science test for the third grade is illustrative of the type and scope of the examinations. Choose one: Plants breathe principally by means of the leaves? the flowers? the roots? is a vertebrate. a fly? a spider? a fish? The act of expelling air from the lungs is called inspiration? expiration? respiration? transportation? the stalk? a worm? Identify: stomach, large intestine, small intestine, pancreas, esophagus, lungs, liver, heart, pharynx, trachea Name: a ruminant animal the larva of an insect useful in industry a reptile useful to agriculture because of its diet of insects a fowl that provides meat and eggs an insect that breeds in stagnant water Locate: the glands that produce saliva the organ that produces bile the organ that produces gastric juices the organs that purify the blood the organ that produces the voice Select the picture which represents (1) boiling, (2) solidification, (3) evaporation, (4) melting, (5) condensation. Most of the elementary schools have cooperatives in which the children learn to carry responsibility in economic and civic affairs. Students buy their books, paper, and supplies in the cooperatively owned store in the school and some join handcraft cooperatives or cooperative gardens to raise and sell vegetables. Upon payment of his share, ranging from 25 centavos to 5 pesos, the child receives a certificate, a list of the members' rights and obligations, and a stamp book which serves as his record of purchases. The pages of the book are arranged according to the denomi 374194-56 nations of the stamps for amounts of 5, 10, 20, and 50 centavos and 1 peso. To administer the cooperative, the members elect councils and committees of students, teachers, and school employees for a term of 1 year. At the end of the year, the profits, that is the difference between the cost and sale price of the articles less deductions for operating costs, are distributed according to a plan agreed on by the members. Generally the distribution is somewhat as follows: 5 percent for social welfare-school pharmacy, first aid, etc. 10 percent for reserve capital to cover losses 10 percent for maintenance and improvement of the space used by the cooperative 15 percent for cultural activities of benefit to the school, such as the school library, teaching material, supplements to the budget 60 percent for distribution on a pro rata basis to the members of the cooperative, who surrender their stamp books for cash dividends The students may vote to use the cash dividends for sports equipment, school excursions, or other projects of educational value. Certain schools, as designated by SEP, also operate a school savings plan in which all the children must participate unless they are financially SECTION OF SCHOOL PARADE CELEBRATING SECOND CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF MIGUEL HIDALGO Y COSTILLA, FATHER OF THE COUNTRY unable. Each pupil receives a coupon book for keeping the record of his savings, which earn 4 percent interest annually. TYPES OF SCHOOLS The policy in Mexico is to maintain separate schools for boys and girls, beginning with the third grade. In districts having too few children for separate buildings or teaching staffs the schools are designated as mixtas. These are mostly rural. The rural schools have a daily schedule of 6 hours, 4 in the daytime with the children, 2 at night with adults. The urban primary schools follow a program of 5 hours a day distributed in a morning and afternoon session. For lack of enough buildings many urban schools are conducted in two shifts, from 8 to 12:30 and from 1 to 5:30, each with a different director and staff of teachers. The girls may attend in the morning and the boys in the afternoon or vice versa, and frequently there is also an evening session from 6 to 9 for adults. Each school under Government supervision is assisted by a Parents' Association. Although these groups have no jurisdiction over the technical aspects of teaching, they interest themselves in over-all planning and transmit recommendations or complaints to the school director. Parents' Associations are not permitted to assess membership dues, but they frequently make voluntary contributions or raise money through fiestas, concerts, special sales, and the like, to provide needed equipment and teaching materials. If two schools occupy the same building there are two associations of Padres de Familia. The main work of each association is carried on by an executive board composed of the officers, elected annually, and one voting member for each year that the school has been in operation. Detailed regulations governing the Asociaciones de Padres de Familia were put into effect in 1949 by President Miguel Alemán. The general classifications of schools are urban and rural. The private schools are incorporadas, approved and supervised by SEP, and may also be urban or rural. For children who live at a distance or cannot afford to attend the regular day schools there are internados, or boarding schools, which are supported by one of the welfare departments of the Government, by public or private charitable institutions, or by individuals. An example of an individually supported boarding school is the Instituto Científico Educacional in Coyoacán, with an enrollment of 48 girls, which combines the official program for primaria with special music instruction. The students spend the afternoons practicing in the Orquesta Infantil, which has distinguished itself for artistic performances in different parts of the Republic and in the United States. The private foundations, such as Mier y Pesado, Rafael Dondé, Luz Bringas, Agustín García Conde, and Nidjei Israel, maintain internados whose total enrollment in 1950 was 105,495. Since the boarding schools also take day students, however, only about a third of this number lived in the school. The Centro Educativo Rafael Dondé, for example, an internado for girls offering studies from kindergarten through the first cycle of secondary, has 150 boarding students out of a total enrollment of 1,500. Boys are accepted up to the third grade. Another type of school is called "Article 123" because it is provided |