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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



the Sinarquista Catholic school which occupied 

 the old convent building. This school violated 

 Mexican law in that it did not follow the cur- 

 riculum required by the Ministry of Education. 



Father Tovar, a much more enlightened man, 

 refused to allow the Sinarquista school in the 

 convent, and advised parents to send their 

 children to the Government school. It was not, 

 he said, communistic, and it was the patriotic 

 duty of each family to observe the law. Many 

 sincere Mexicans have opposed Government 

 schools for fear of socialistic and communistic 

 teachings, which undoubtedly occurred in many 

 towns. All evidence in Tzintzuntzan, however, 

 including examination of texts, failed to dis- 

 close any particular partisan bias in teaching, 

 and all teachers were at least nominal Catholics, 

 regularly going to Mass. In spite of this situa- 

 tion, in 1945 there were two private schools, 

 one in Ojo de Agua, each with about 25 stu- 

 dents, as compared to 175 in the Government 

 school. These schools were maintained by the 

 most ardent Sirmrquistas, and conflicts between 

 students of the schools occasionally occurred. 

 Children in the Sinarquista schools were taught 

 to shout comunista ("communist") at Govern- 

 ment school children, while the latter retaliated 

 by shouting santuchos (from santos, "saints"), 

 or cagadiablos (from cagar, "defecate" and 

 diablos, "devils," hence "one who defecates 

 devils"). One day little Adolf o, age 7, came 

 running home to his mother in terror; one of 

 the Sinarquista children had told him that if he 

 went to the Government school he would be 

 carried away by the devil. Sheer weight of 

 numbers tended to silence the Sinarquista chil- 

 dren, many of whom, I suspect, secretly envied 

 their more fortunate companions with all of the 

 excitement of school fiestas and activities. The 

 Sinarquista schools teach little more than ele- 

 mentary reading and writing, and are no match 

 for the Government school. 



The daily school schedule follows prescribed 

 Government rules, with a few modifications for 

 local conditions. School officially begins at 9 

 o'clock in the morning, but in a clockless town 

 in a country where promptness it not a recogniz- 

 ed virtue, it is virtually impossible to maintain 

 this schedule. In practice, teaching begins about 

 9:30, following approximately this order. Sub- 

 jects are the same in all grades: 



9:30-10:15 — Lengua NacionaJ, reading, writ- 

 ing, grammar. 

 10:15-11 :0(>— Arithmetic. 



First, second grades: Addition, subtraction. 

 Third, fourth grades: Division, multiplica- 

 tion. 

 Fifth grade: Fractions, decimals. 

 Sixth grade: Practical problems — calculat- 

 ing areas of fields, rates of interest, speeds 

 of trains, and so forth. 

 11:00-11:30— Recess. 

 11 :30-12:30.— Natural Sciences. 



First, second grades: Simple botany, names 



of plants in patios, animals. 

 Third, fourth grades: Cell life, different 

 plants and animals found in world, cli- 

 mate and vegetation. 

 Fifth, sixth grades: Simple biology. Meteor- 

 ology in which temperature is taken dur- 

 ing day and record kept of rainfall. 

 12 :.30-3:00.— Lunch period. All children go 

 home. 

 3:00-3:30. — Review of morning's work. 



Late afternoon schedules depend on the day 

 of the week. 



Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 

 3:30-4:00.— Geography. 



First grade: The four cardinal points, 

 orientation of school with the town and 

 town with directions. 



Second grade: Study of municipio. Pueblos 

 included, location, relationship of local 

 government to State government. 



Third grade: Geography and government of 

 Michoacan. 



Fourth grade: Geography of Mexico, its rail- 

 roads, agricultural products, industries. 



Fifth grade: The Americas. Same points. 



Sixth grade: The world. 

 4:00-4:30— History. 



First, second grades: Legendary history of 

 Mexico, arrival of the Aztecs. (But noth- 

 ing on the Tarascans.) 



Third grade: History of Michoacan. (Teach- 

 ers consider texts and data inadequate.) 



Fourth, fifth grades: History of Mexico. 



Sixth grade: "Universal History," ancient, 

 medieval, modern, by main countries. 

 Tuesdays and Thursdays: 

 3:30-4:00— Civics. 



First grade: Respect to home, to jiarents, 

 to older brothers. Good behavior on 

 streets. 



Second grade: Obligations to fellow stu- 

 dents and the necessity of sacrifices as 

 members of a social group. 



Third grade: Legislation. Organization of 

 State government, branches of govern- 

 ment. 



