The titles listed above deal with a common subject from widely different points of view. José Bravo Ugarte’s small volume packs considerable information into limited space. A brief introduction delineates the main periods in the history of education and shows their relationship to the chief epochs in Mexican education. The latter he classifies as: traditional indigeneous before 1521; humanistic, Christian dogmatic-moral 1521-1867; methodological and very diversified since 1867.
Each of these three periods is treated in a separate chapter. To cover several hundred years of educational development in 185 pages is an ambitious undertaking, forcing the author to be sketchy and catalogic in his recital of events. Fortunately each chapter is followed by an extensive bibliography from which the reader may fill in the details.
As an able exponent of the clerical point of view the author is particularly critical of many of the restrictive measures imposed by the government on the Church in educational matters. He leaves little doubt about his opposition to what he considers the educational monopoly of the State when he discusses laicismo, provided for in Article 3 of the Constitution of 1917, and the attempts to introduce sexual education in 1933 and socialist education in 1935. He considers the autonomous university a bulwark against State educational monopoly. Since 1941 when the Ávila Camacho administration ushered in a period of national unity, the Church has been able to restore many of its educational activities (p. 184), although the constitutional restrictions still remain.
This treatise on Mexican education is compact, concise, and well organized. Its bibliographies and its extensive index add to its usefulness. The points of view expressed on controversial matters may be contrary to prevailing official policy, but they need to be considered in the interest of obtaining a balanced picture.
Isidro Castillo describes his two-volume work as a “most modest contribution to Mexican education” (p. 9). In it he traces educational developments from their earliest beginnings through the volatile Revolutionary period, when Mexico’s educational progress attracted worldwide attention.
In volume I he sketches the course of Mexican history, of which he considers educational developments an integral part. “Education cannot be independent of the history, ideology, and form of national life…,” he contends in the preface (p. 12), but must be considered as one of the manifestations of the life and evolution of a people. Although the author’s objective is to illuminate the contemporary scene, he deems this impossible without providing the perspective and sense of direction that derives from a careful study of the past. “No ha muerto el pasado…,” observes Castillo (p. 12), pointing out how an age-old conflict like that between Church and State, once thought settled, can appear again as it did in the recent controversy over free textbooks.
Along with a brief description of the major educational and political developments of the nineteenth century, the author pays appropriate tributes to some outstanding educational leaders of that period, whom he considers forerunners of the later educational reform movement. Most of the rest of volume I is concerned with tracing the developments that grew out of the Mexican Revolution through each administration from 1920 to the present. He describes how the school which emerged unplanned out of a social movement developed a philosophy under the guidance of men like Aarón Sáenz and Alfonso Ramírez and the inspiration of John Dewey. He discusess the development of an educational system, the controversies over Article 3 and socialist education in the Cárdenas administration, and the emphasis on national unity since 1940 with a profound insight that could have come only from active involvement.
Volume II describes the formation of an educational philosophy resulting from an amalgam of ideas imported from Europe and the United States. These were then adapted to Mexican needs and realities by Mexican philosophers, who were not lacking in ideas of their own. The author describes the educational system as consisting of three inseparable parts: day schools for children, night schools for adults, and community development. All of these are in harmony with the national objective, which seeks to make education an active agent, not only in the development of individuals but also of the society in which they live. Volume II brings the study up to date by describing recent reforms, such as the Eleven-Year Plan adopted in 1959 with the goal of providing primary education for all school-age children by 1970, and efforts to promote technical education to buttress burgeoning economic developments.
Although Castillo expresses a point of view which is sympathetic to the general trends of social and educational developments emanating from the Mexican Revolution, he is not reluctant to criticize specific policies or leaders. This reviewer would have preferred that he include more personal experiences. For example, the account of Secretary of Education Narciso Bassols’ visit to Castillo’s institute for teachers (pp. 346-47) lends a delightful and informative personal touch. More of these personal experiences would have added color and authenticity.
