CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



175 



Small girls and sometimes small boys play 

 with swings in the house yards. These are 

 merely larger versions of the swings used to 

 teach infants to walk. Girls also play running 

 games in the streets with small boys and play 

 "keep away" and other games with rag balls. 

 Girls are shy and always stopped playing when 

 they were observed. 



In general, girls ape adult activities much 

 more than do boys. Girls pretend to mill 

 maize, using a board for a metate, a rock for 

 the mano, and mud for the maize dough. They 

 play at being street vendors, using flower petals 

 for merchandise. Sometimes they have dolls 

 made of rags, but not very often. More com- 

 mon is it for several girls to get some boards 

 or branches and make a house in which they 

 will play at housekeeping with their fireplaces, 

 grinding stones, dishes, etc. After several 

 weddings had been held in close succession, a 

 group of girls were observed playing at having 

 a wedding. Flowers were put in the hair of 

 the "godmothers" and leaves of maize were tied 

 in the hair to represent the ribbons used in 

 real weddings. 



Education for life in Cheran is completely 

 on an informal and unconscious level. Children 

 learn first by imitating and then by doing while 

 assisting their parents. The social and re- 

 ligious structure they learn little by little 

 through observation first of parents', and later 

 of relatives', reactions to various individuals 

 and situations and by listening to conversa- 

 tions. Only to a very small extent do children 

 learn by being told. Again, observations are 

 too few to generalize extensively, but apparently 

 children are counseled and advised only when 

 they begin to be old enough to undertake adult 

 responsibilities. When they mention that they 

 may do a certain act, the parents may discuss 

 the advisability with them. In small matters 

 of etiquette, parents may prompt children of 

 any age. Formal training, though, seems to 

 play little part in education for life as it is lived 

 in Cheran. 



Formal education for about 25 percent of the 

 boys is received in school. Those who continue 

 throughout the available course receive four 

 years of school education. They learn to read 

 and write and do a little simple arithmetic. 

 They learn very little history or geography. 



They learn something of natural history, such 

 as major classifications of things in the animal, 

 mineral, and vegetable kingdoms. 



A few ambitious families send one or more 

 of their children to high school in Morelia or to 

 an agricultural school. Some are sent to the 

 boarding school at Paracho, where they receive 

 some education in a trade and in farming. A 

 few also may go to Mexico City, and a case or 

 two were discovered of children studying law 

 or medicine. However, it is doubtful whether 

 2 dozen families in Cheran have sent their 

 children on to advanced school training. 



With all due acknowledgement of the efl'ort 

 and sincerity involved in the school system, 

 the Cheran schools do not train children in any 

 real sense for life in Cheran. The average 

 Cheran resident completing the school training 

 has little advantage over his unschooled fellows 

 in following the farming routines of the com- 

 munity. If he can read and write he perhaps 

 has some less chance of being swindled in busi- 

 ness transactions and more opportunity of 

 rising to some municipal office. If his educa- 

 tion is efl'ective, however, and is put to use. it is 

 by moving out of the basic pattern of Cheran. 

 Such a person may become a storekeeper or a 

 mill operator, where his education will be of 

 some slight service to him. The major advan- 

 tage of school training is to better equip some 

 individuals to cope with the Mestizo world 

 which impinges on Cheran to some extent. 

 Even so, the school child acquires little know- 

 ledge of rights and responsibilities in a larger 

 world. Insofar as the education is effective 

 and is utilized — and this is even more markedly 

 true of those going on for more advanced 

 education — the effect is to move the individual 

 out of the culture of Cheran. If he stays in 

 Cheran he tends to become an exploiter rather 

 than a producer, or to occupy a position where 

 he furnishes some liason between the rest of the 

 pop'ulation and the Mestizo world. Or, more 

 commonly, he moves out of the Cheran culture 

 completely, residing in some other part of 

 Mexico. Only to a very small extent and in a 

 very limited number of cases does an individual 

 become a better producer, that is, a better 

 farmer; or practice a trade learned through 

 schools ; or become a force and example guiding 

 the community to better housing, reformed 



