About 100 years later, can we read in Mexico? What is knowing how to read? Has the Mexico that José Vasconcelos wanted to cultivate advanced in these 100 years? Did the libraries promote reading outside the classroom? What a difficult task, to make a proud and ladino people read.
In the 6th century Pope Gregory the Great said: “What reading teaches the reader, images teach the illiterate, who can only perceive with their eyes, since in drawings the ignorant see the history they should read, and those who do not know about letters discover that, in a certain way, they can read. " (Sierra, 2013)
The words of Pope Gregory the Great today seem to have an absolute validity, when we turn to see that even the brochures of the "vaccination campaigns" need to have "monkeys", since otherwise the common Mexican does not even read the brochures of Health. It could be said that the common Mexican is not used to reading even the instructions in a manual and if he does read them a question comes to mind: do you understand them?
Vasconcelos devised education as a task that was the responsibility of all Mexicans, not just teachers. Each citizen felt the problem of education as his own and therefore would be willing to collaborate to the best of his ability.
In 1920, after having spent 10 years in the revolutionary war, Vasconcelos promoted the first formal literacy campaign as rector of the UNAM. It was thought that the revolution had had an impact on the country's education; illiteracy in adults was very high. In 1921, 14.3 million inhabitants were officially counted in Mexico (Mendoza & Tapia, 2012), of which 66.1% did not know how to write (Ferroviaria, 2013). And it was in this same year when Vasconcelos assumed the title of the nascent Secretary of Public Education.
In the campaign against illiteracy, the need to enlighten the people was derived: he founded libraries to complement the educational task. Vasconcelos said that: "it was not enough to teach reading, it was necessary to supply books… to acquire useful knowledge" (Sametz de Walerstein, 1991). School was not enough.
Vasconcelos stated with complete certainty that through education and culture, Mexicans would become aware of their internal problems, and would transcend them into immediate solutions, until the formation of a new man: the Ibero-American man, hence the need to promote a national and popular culture with access to all Mexicans (Sosa, 2006).
The lawyer met as head of the SEP with a country of illiterates, convinced that in order to solve their problems, Mexicans should know their culture. He made a criticism of the content of the history of Mexico that was taught at that time and named it fictitious. As it could be today not only that of Mexico but also that of many countries since it is said that history is told by the victors, and not only "told" but also "adapted" by those victors who usually occupy power.
In addition, it was not enough to teach reading, if there were not books available to everyone and the content of those that were available was imprecise. The literacy campaign of 1921 formed an army of children with primary education and a significant number of honorary teachers (3,022). By March 1922 each of them had to collaborate with the literacy work. Urban night schools for adults were established and in the countryside this work fell on cultural missions and rural schools and technical schools were created in railways and textiles, where six types of professionals would be trained in three years (Ferrroviaria, 2007).
The important role that Vasconcelos designates to education is to rescue man from ignorance, to make him mentally free. Through education and reflection, man discovers the truth and achieves the redemption of the spirit. (Sosa, 2006). And here is a key term that is difficult to reach just by teaching the people to read: reflection. Is it enough just to learn to read?
Today in 2014 we have 120 million inhabitants in Mexico and until the 2010 census with 7% illiterate population (INEGI, 2011). And those who can read, do they know what they read? Reading is more than just knowing how to reproduce the symbolism of letters phonetically. Reading is more than just acquiring information.
The literacy that Vasconcelos intended was loaded with an endowment of nationalism, with the aim of knowing ourselves culturally as Mexicans, for which the verb read would encompass more than just learning the phonetics of letters. Reading is a mental visual process that decodes, relates, contrasts, deepens, infers, that is, deduces its content; that interprets, questions, understands and requires reflection (Herrera, 2007).
It is sad to see today that Oaxaca, where this man who cared so much about enlightening the people was originally from, has one of the highest illiteracy rates in Mexico with 21.4%, along with Guerrero and Chiapas with similar figures (INEGI, 2011). In a study prepared by the United Nations Development Program and the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Mexico, it is revealed that Coicoyán de las Flores in the state of Oaxaca, is the poorest demarcation in the country with a Human Development Index of 0.4455 (Badillo, 2009).
At the Dzanhuindanda school, the only one near Santiago Tilapa in Coicoyán de las Flores, Oaxaca, there are approximately 225 basic-level children who do not have sufficient teaching materials. “Everyone here is very poor. The little ones lack scholarships and school breakfasts. They attend classes with a precarious food: beans, salsa and tortillas, because there is no more food. There is nothing else that nurtures them ”laments the campus director (Badillo, 2009).
The schools have classrooms in poor condition, with broken glass, tin roofs through which the water leaks, two classrooms, with insufficient table-benches, parents send the children only with a notebook and a pencil, there is no room for more. Places where government promises never reach. And like these, so many in this country.
In Santa Lucía Miahuatlán, Oaxaca, the rural doctor comments that among the backwardness of the population that has almost 3,000 inhabitants, education is the most regrettable. “There are 517 illiterate women over 12 years old, with 372 incomplete primary, 308 incomplete secondary, and only 18 students have arrived at the upper secondary level” (Badillo, 2009).
Today's Mexico still needs to know its roots in order to feel proud of its culture, even today it needs to learn to read, even today it needs to get out of the ignorance that worried and occupied José Vasconcelos. Those who today have the opportunity to enter libraries need to know how to read with reflection and put on the shirt of that literacy campaign of 1921 where some were entrusted to teach others.
93% of the population can read. Can we read, or can we decode symbols phonetically? Have we already learned to relate, contrast, deepen, reflect, etc. what we review with our eyes? And if so, then why do we continue to require images to assimilate the most basic instructions for hygiene, health care, food, etc. etc. etc.
You read the Mexico that Vasconcelos dreamed of today, but is it the one that the philosopher wanted to form? Was reading enough?
"Our reflections may seem poor to others, even if they are not, but such a judgment does not relieve the burden of the effort it costs to achieve them" J. Vasconcelos.
References
- Badillo, M. (2009). Die in Misery. Mexico: Océano.Ferroviaria, T. (2013). National Museum of the Mexican Railways. Retrieved on April 12, 2014, from Revista Digital: https://museoferrocarrilesmexicanos.gob.mx/Ferrroviaria, T. (2007). Chronology of Education and Literacy Campaigns in Mexico. Ferroviaria Look Herrera, M. (2007). Reading and Writing Workshop I. Mexico: Esfinge.INEGI. (2011). Tell me. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/poblacion/analfabeta.aspx?tema=PMendoza, M., & Tapia, G. (2012). UNFPA. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from the Demographic Situation of Mexico 1910-2010: https://mexico.unfpa.org/es/publicaciones/diagn%C3%B3stico-socio-demogr%C3%A1fico-del-envejecimiento-en -m% C3% A9xicoSametz from Walerstein, L. (1991). Vasconcelos the man of the book. Mexico: UNAM.Sierra, J.(2013). The Master of the Prado and the Prophetic Paintings. Mexico: Planeta.Sosa, A. (July 2006). The Ibero-American Humanism of José Vasconcelos. Retrieved April 2012, 2014, from Ensayistas.org:
