and 10. To report, when so directed, on the application, conduct, progress, spirit of service of pupils and on other characteristics they feel to be important, and to suggest means of securing improvement. 11. To teach their pupils to study and, after informing the school director, to seek the cooperation of parents or guardians in securing improved progress. 12. To attend assemblies, sporting competitions, social meetings, and, in general, all group activities connected with the school carried on by the pupils on or off the premises, so far as his hours of work permit. 13. To plan excursions and educational visits in connection with subjects taught in class, to share in organizing them and act as teachers in charge. 14. To cooperate in ensuring the absolute cleanliness and neatness of all school premises and the preservation and proper use of school furniture and materials. 15. To proffer to the school director any suggestions they judge conducive to the efficiency and improvement of the school. 16. To submit requests for leave of absence or resignations through the director of the school. 17. To report as requisite to their supervising staff teacher on the more serious problems, disciplinary or otherwise, arising in their classes, more particularly in the case of pupils holding back the class by their incapacity, lack of application, unpunctuality, or bad behavior. 18. To attend punctually all meetings called by the school director on special examinations or routine tests of progress for which they may be appointed, and to discharge all other tasks assigned them by the Secretariat of Public Education or the school. 19. When so appointed, to act as local directors of study for classes in their subject. Maestros de planta, or full-time staff teachers, have the following obligations in addition: 1. Over and above their normal hours of class work, to carry out the additional hours of general educational service to which they may be committed by the terms of their appointment. 2. To keep under their direct supervision the group or groups of pupils allotted to them with a view to guiding them in their school and out-of-school activities, assisting them with their difficulties and dealing with their requests. 3. To scrutinize the monthly and terminal marks of the pupils in their group or groups with a view to suggesting the steps needed to deal with those failing in one or more subjects. 4. To assist the school authorities, when so required, in solving problems of organization, discipline, and supervision within the school. The vocational supervisors and teachers of shopwork have the added duty of taking precautions to avoid accidents, being responsible for the proper use and maintenance of machinery, tools, and material, and of submitting statements of account and other information on the financial position of the shop. The nonteaching assistants in the schools work directly under the school director for supervisory duties on the schoo premises. They report absences of teachers in good time for temporary arrangements to be made for the classes affected, escort pupils required to attend any official proceedings taking place outside the school, and supervise pupils during the study periods when no teacher is available Those who have professional qualifications are used as assistant teacher for laboratory work and supervised study periods and may conduc visits and excursions or other educational activity. The inspectors and directors of education in particular zones or sector and the school directors work a 36-hour week. The secondary teacher who are maestros de planta have 18 hours of classes and 5 hours of othe duties if they belong to class A. The Class B staff teachers have 16 hour of classes and 4 hours of other duties; teachers in Class C have 14 hour of classes and 3 hours of other duties; those in Class D, 12 hours of classe and 2 hours of other duties. The other categories include class instructor serving simply as teachers of a particular subject; shop supervisor responsible for ensuring satisfactory vocational training; shop instructor responsible for the teaching and control of pupils; laboratory and shop assistants; and teachers of drawing, modeling, dancing, and physica education. The beginning teacher in secondary school starts with hours of classes a week. Detailed classifications governing salaries at every level of the educa tional system are set up for all types of employees from officials in th Secretariat to janitors and other nonprofessional workers in the schools Salaries for secondary school administrative positions, for example ranged in 1954 from 951 to 1,317 pesos a month; staff teachers received from 801 pesos a month in Class D to 1,295 pesos in Class A; and teacher paid by the hour received from 35 to 59 pesos per hour. Salaries o elementary school teachers are somewhat lower. Adjustments in th scale (escalafón) are made on the basis of efficiency, merits and demerit on the job, preparation, length of service, and other considerations listed in the regulations. Teachers all belong to the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de 1 Educación (SNTE), which is a member of the Federation of Unions o State Employees, though not of the General Confederation of Worker and Peasants. Every school has a branch organization of the Sindi cato for the study, advancement, and defense of the common interests o educational workers. One of the rights secured by the teaching profes sion is the Civil Retirement Pensions Law, which gives old-age, disable ment, and retirement benefits. Retirement is permitted, though no required, at age 55. The pension rate is calculated in terms of length o service according to a table starting at a basic rate of 40 percent of the las salary for a minimum of 15 years of service and rising to a 100 percen pension for 30 years of service. Teachers may also obtain loans up t 20,000 pesos on their homes, short-term loans, medical service, and sick leave. Through an agreement between the Sindicato and SEP, the medical facilities include the setting up of well-equipped modern sanatoriums providing hospital services and special treatment. National Autonomous University of Mexico When the Real y Pontificia Universidad de México was reconstituted in 1910 by Justo Sierra, it became the National University of Mexico under the new Secretariat of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, and its purpose was stated as follows: "The University shall be based fundamentally on scientific research, its educational action to result from the scientific action of select groups of Mexico's intellectuals who cultivate the pure love of truth, possess the tenacity of daily effort to discover it, and believe that the criterion of science and the best interest of the nation ought to combine in the soul of every Mexican to create the type of character destined to crown the great work of popular education." The motto which Justo Sierra gave the University was "In the love of science and of country is the public weal." The next 10 years were filled with uncertainty in the University, as elsewhere, but with the triumph of the Revolution it was reorganized in 1920 with José Vasconcelos as its Rector, a post which he held until the following year when President Obregón named him Secretary of Public Education. The motto was then changed to "Through my race the spirit will speak." In 1929 the University was granted autonomy, and in 1945 its structure was again modified under the terms of a new Organic Law promulgated by President Manuel Ávila Camacho on December 30, 1944. Under this law the National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public corporation, separate from the State, with full legal authority, and its purposes are (1) to impart higher education for professional careers, research workers, university professors, and technicians useful to society; (2) to organize and carry on research, principally with respect to national conditions and problems; and (3) to extend with the greatest possible amplitude the benefits of culture. The structure of the University, as defined in 1954, includes 17 teaching faculties and schools and 15 research institutes, as follows: Table Q.-Components of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Anuario General, 1954) INSTRUCTIONAL INSTITUTIONS: I. Faculty of Philosophy and Letters II. Faculty of Sciences III. Graduate School IV. Faculty of Law and Social Sciences V. National School of Economics, including the Institute of Economic Research VI. National School of Commerce and Administration VII. National School of Medicine VIII. National School of Nursing and Obstetrics IX. National School of Odontology X. National School of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics XI. National School of Engineering XII. National School of Chemical Sciences XIII. National School of Architecture XIV. National School of Plastic Arts XV. National School of Music XVI. National Preparatory School XVII. National School of Political and Social Sciences SCIENTIFIC AND HUMANISTIC RESEARCH INSTITUTES: 1. Institute of Mathematics II. Institute of Physics VIII. Institute of Medical and Biological Studies IX. Institute of Social Research X. Institute of Historical Research The University extension work, courses for foreign students, and official relations of the University with other teaching and research centers are handled by a special technical head in the office of the Rector. Although free from political control, the University receives a substantial annual subsidy from the Federal Government. The size of the student body in 1955 was about 23,000. Classes are in session from March through October with 3 vacation periods of 10 days each in April, May, and September. For 400 years the University was housed near the Zócalo, the center of the ancient Tenochtitlán, in buildings which were constructed on the ruins of Moctezuma's palaces and temples. In 1953, its quadricentennial year, the various faculties and schools and institutes of the University began moving to the spacious and spectacular new University City in the Pedregal, the site of a large lava flow that had once been regarded as wasteland. The architectural plan, daringly modern and functional, harmonizes the buildings, courts, stadium, roadways, and walls with the earth colors and textures in a way that carries the imagination back over Mexico's pre-Hispanic and colonial heritage. Particularly striking is the library building, with its gigantic exterior mosaics depicting in the style of Aztec picture writing the history of the ideas and the forces of good and ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO, SHOWING LIBRARY IN BACKGROUND. evil dominating Mexican life. These unique stone murals, designed and executed by the Mexican architect and painter Juan O'Gorman, accent the artistry of the huge building project. Even the rocky surface of the campus, while providing atmosphere, will be transformed as the new plantings of trees and flowers blend with the scrub bush and grass constituting the natural vegetation of the lava bed. With the move away from the center of the city, one of the problems of long standing in the University, the need for a full-time faculty, has become more serious. Traditionally most of the professors have regarded their University appointment as essentially honorary and have devoted their professional life to private practice, writing, or other means of livelihood. As a start toward building a faculty devoted exclusively to teaching and research, the University provided in 1954 for the creation of 50 full-time professorships with salaries attractive enough to interest competent scholars and to obviate the necessity for outside employment. A change is expected to occur in student life, too, for the traditional pattern will be altered by the construction of dormitories and ample facilities for swimming, dancing, band practice, theater arts, sports, and other activities. The Olympic Stadium has a capacity of 100,000 spectators. Expanded science laboratories, teaching by television, and various scholastic innovations also mark the beginning of a new chapter in the National University's venerable history. |