Understand the situation we currently live in educational matters, without referring to or avoiding post-revolutionary Mexico; It is unthinkable and it is precisely for this reason that in the following lines we will analyze the period from 1917 to 1934…. Years in which the foundations of the educational structure in our Country were forged.
One of the biggest problems that Mexico faced since the Porfirio Díaz regime, were undoubtedly geographic dispersion, cultural heterogeneity, lack of knowledge of the Spanish language, but above all the illiteracy of almost 80% of the rural population.
The educational issue was a very great weight for the governments in turn, for them education was the basis of progress and prosperity and a key element to achieve national unity.
Despite the triumph of the revolution, both the central and state governments preserved the educational achievements of the Porfiriato and fought in favor of popular education… thus they began to move through the socialist education of Cardenismo, the eleven-year plan, education for national unity and other programs and trends, from 1921 to 1940 The Secretary of Public Education (SEP) was the institution in charge of controlling the jurisdiction of schools in the state and municipal systems, and in these years it was also where the Cultural Missions arose and were created. The purpose of everything enunciated up to here was to ensure the participation of Mexico in the development of a new society that was in line with the modernity of other nations.
Another important point to consider in this stage was the Law promoted by Justo Sierra, since in it secular, national and comprehensive education was established in the Federal District and in the territories, it gave the State the character of educator, with the Responsibility to ensure the harmonious development of the student, I closed the canteens and I lashed out at the church as a repressor of the will and liberated women from domestic confinement.
Justo Sierra also severely criticized Porfirian education… he accused it of being verbal, authoritarian and detached from the reality of the people. On more than one occasion she proposed that schools be outdoors, equipped with gardens, workshops and playing fields, thereby seeking to promote sports and health, civic and egalitarian spirit so that women also ask to attend school and learn the same as men.
In the midst of all these successes that were already glimpsed, it is also worth analyzing the social context and how the teaching practice developed. First; rural schools were far from even reaching the modest ideal of their predecessors, the schools were generally co-ed and therefore had to fight against numerous social prejudices: male teachers were treated with distrust, and parents forbade their daughters to attend school. the school to avoid contact with the opposite sex, the age difference between students and extreme poverty impeded the progress of schools and it depended on the ability of the teacher to adapt to the life of the community to overcome these ideas. The rural teacher in addition to his precarious salary faced isolation and hostility to carry out his work,This had as a consequence the weak professional training of those who ventured into teaching life.
The academic preparation of rural teachers became a premise for governments; in response, the Rural Normals emerged with plans and programs according to the time and context and with the aim of carrying out the educational task in rural areas with greater efficiency and endorse with a certificate the young people who started in this type of education. In addition, in 1928 the Federal Institute of Teacher Training was created, with courses open during the school period and intensive courses during the summer holidays.
It is also important to consider that the greatest growth in rural schools was between the 20s and 45s…. the original idea being that young people interested in teaching would prepare and work in their places of origin.
Finally… we cannot fail to mention the important collaboration of Teachers Moisés Sáenz Garza, Rafael Ramírez and Narciso Bassols, who did the same in the ideological framework of rural education, with their outstanding participation they defined specific guidelines and programs to achieve social and cultural integration in our country, taking up the methodology created by John Dewey - school of action-, in which the child is the main actor in their education.
