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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY 



In 1946 all 



-PUBLICATION NO. 6 



a few students repeated a year 

 grades functioned. 



Table 41 illustrates how quickly students 

 drop out after the first year, and also the rela- 

 tively great age differential of students in all 

 grades, with resulting difficulties of social ad- 

 aptation in addition to the mere learning process. 



Table 42 shows the day-by-day attendance for 

 the month of March 1945. Poor attendance 

 during the last 3 days is due to their falling in 

 Holy Week, at which time there was little in- 

 terest in school. 



Table 42. — School attendance, March 1945 



In addition to the formal school curriculum 

 the teachers are almost constantly occupied with 

 training students for special acts, such as re- 

 citations and dances for all town holidays, and 

 for special presentations in the school itself, 

 such as Mothers' Day. Such programs are 

 among the best ways to reach and influence ru- 

 ral Mexican adults, who lack almost all other 

 forms of nonreligious group entertainment. 



Evaluation of the effect of the school in com- 

 munity life is not easy to make. This is un- 

 doubtedly one of the model schools of rural 

 Mexico, and even though most pupils never fin- 

 ish all six grades, a considerable imprint must 

 be left upon them. Literacy is essential to an in- 

 formed and intelligent public, and though most 

 Tzintzuntzenos will have little occasion to read 

 in later life, mastery of the art must be considei'- 

 ed a distinct advantage. Vocational training, 

 particularly agriculture, would probably be the 



greatest step forward in a modified curriculum, 

 but such forms of modern education are barely 

 getting underway on an experimental stage in 

 Mexico, and necessarily a number of years must 

 elapse before this knowledge can be applied to 

 each rural area. Generally speaking, the cur- 

 riculum is much more logical and sound than 

 some people might think. For most children it 

 is adequate. The great shortcoming is for the 

 few really superior students, like my young 

 friend Gabino, who are capable of advanced 

 work, but for whom opportunities are slight. 

 Most of these young people, their appetite for 

 learning whetted, must necessarily drop back 

 into the routine of daily life in the village, with- 

 out even as much as a new book to look for- 

 ward to. For a few children, gifts of books 

 were the most appreciated of all offerings which 

 I distributed in Tzintzuntzan. 



Government internados, of which the closest is 

 at Patzcuaro, are open to a few students, if prop- 

 er contacts can be made. And scholarships are 

 available in small numbers for students at the 

 university in Morelia. But, by and large, ad- 

 vanced educational facilities are not yet ample 

 for the demand, small as it is. In spite of the 

 handicaps, in 1945 about eight students were 

 taking some form of higher training, in addi- 

 tion to two youths sent to a priests' seminary by 

 the former priest. Three girls will become rural 

 school teachers, and another a stenographer in 

 Morelia. Two boys studying tailoring in More- 

 lia probably will remain there, and one nov/ at 

 the university hopes to take engineering. Those 

 who make good, needless to say, will not return 

 to Tzintzuntzan (except possibly a school teacher, 

 or the son of a storekeeper who may wish to 

 follow his father) . 



In most cases parents are not anxious to have 

 their children leave town for advanced school- 

 ing. Six years is enough for anyone, they feel, 

 and children are more useful in the milpa or 

 helping with the pots than away from home. 

 And, if the parents' wish is to keep their chil- 

 dren at home — a strong desire on the part of 

 most — they are quite justified. Dona Andrea is 

 an exception; she was delighted to have Jesiis 

 el chico go on to Morelia, when a scholarship 

 was secured for him, and indicated her hope 

 that Gabino could follow a year later. She, like 

 most other parents, is dependent on outside help 

 for board and tuition; only a very few fathers 



