Did Teachers College Influence the Mexican Rural School Project? Unraveling External and Internal Relations Among Key Actors (1915–1930)

Abstract

Background and Context: I approach the debate on Mexican postrevolutionary rural schooling by describing both the intellectual environment encountered by Mexican educators who studied at the college, and the configuration of their involvement in federal education in the 1920s. I discuss findings in relation to current historiographical trends that view the transnational circulation and refraction of educational models as a complex, contextualized process. Purpose: I trace possible influences of John Dewey and other Teachers College (TC) scholars of the early 20th century on the Mexican Rural School project. Research Design: I examine various accounts written by leading educators and present documentary evidence from the Secretaría de Educación Pública (Ministry of Public Education) archives related to rural schooling in the 1920s. I also draw on archival evidence and oral testimonies to describe the schools Dewey visited in Tlaxcala that sparked his admiration. Conclusion: Despite long-term attribution of Mexico’s postrevolutionary rural schooling program to the adoption of Dewey’s ideas, primarily through Moisés Sáenz, I find evidence in support of the version voiced by contemporaries that the Mexican Rural School had endogenous origins and some significant differences with the diverse projects and practices of progressive schooling promoted by TC scholars in those years.

Rural Education and the State in Mexico: The Legacy of Elena Torres Cuellar

“…As Rockwell's (2022) contribution to this special issue explains, the Mexican rural school movement emerged out of the long and complex revolutionary process that began officially in 1910, ended the Porfirian dictatorship, and entailed years of regional battles and civil unrest. Into the postrevolutionary years, ideological battles continued over social organization and the ideal role of the worker in Mexico's modern era.…”

“…When Elena Torres returned to Mexico in 1926, the undersecretary of public education, Moisés Sáenz, invited her to return to work for the SEP (Torres Cuellar, 1935–1939, Las Misiones Culturales , 1939, p. 87). It was then that Torres created the Dirección de Misiones Culturales (Office of Cultural Missions) 4 along with doctors, lawyers, agronomists, and even painter Diego Rivera, who all hoped to establish an education system capable of generating among the rural population the abilities necessary to lead a “normal and peaceful life” (p. 88) Such an effort was part of the “campaign” to reopen or establish schools in regions where schooling had been affected or disrupted by the Revolution (Rockwell, 2022, this issue). In cooperation with state governments, the SEP sent teams of professionals to rural locations to help campesinos plan and manage a hygienic and modern lifestyle in accordance with socialist ideals.…”

“…My purpose here is to illuminate the relevant contributions of Torres Cuellar both in written work and in the many leadership positions in public education she undertook in the postrevolutionary government. In 1926, she organized the Cultural Missions within the SEP; even though it was a collective effort (see Rockwell, 2022, this issue), Torres Cuellar played a critical role in their design and implementation. As a feminist, Torres Cuellar realized that to implement the sociocultural aims of the postrevolutionary governments, it was crucial to go beyond the schools, and work in families and communities, particularly with women.…”

Teachers College and the Rise of Public Education in Latin America

“…Departing from works describing the influence of John Dewey abroad, Elsie Rockwell’s (2022) article focuses on prominent Mexican educational leaders involved in designing and implementing the postrevolutionary rural education reform in Mexico and discusses the possible influence of TC scholars on this project between 1924 and 1930. The article uses archival evidence and oral testimonies of the schools that John Dewey visited during his 1926 trip to Mexico.…”