QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MTTNICIPIO BRAND 



215 



For example, two of the leading citizens of the area 

 are Don Diego Fuentes Ayala and Don Diego 

 Fuentes Aguilar. Although the compound names 

 would differentiate them, the first is known as 

 Don Diego (Fuentes) Palos (because he is tall) 

 and the second is termed Don Diego (Fuentes) 

 Tirimicua (because he owns much of the Tiri- 

 micua area). In addition there are three other 

 Diego Fuentes in Quiroga, one in Caringaro, and 

 one in Sanambo, a total of seven in the area. 



During the last 30-odd years forms of address 

 have been democratized greatly. Where formerly 

 only people of considerable wealth or position (as 

 well as priests, doctors, and lawyers) were referred 

 to or addressed as senor (mister) or senora (mistress) 

 with the surname, or as don or dona with the Chris- 

 tianname, these termsarenowused very widely. A 

 number of terms are used to designate both real rela- 

 tionships and also close friendship, such as cuate 

 (twin, chum), cunado (brother-in-law, close friend), 

 compadre and compa (gossip, very close friend), 

 hermano, mano, manito, (brother, close friend). 

 One's own teachers, any highly respected teacher, 

 and master artisans or craftsmen are termed 

 maestro or maistro (master) . Most school teachers 

 are called prqfesor, which was the most common 

 term used in referring to the senior author's two 

 assistants in Quiroga. The senior author was 

 addressed by his students as doctor, and this term 

 was widely adopted in Quiroga by our acquain- 

 tances, but it led to misapprehensions since com- 

 monly doctor in Mexico is applied only to physi- 

 cians. The parish priest usually was addressed as 

 padre or mi padre (father, my father). The few 

 resident professional men, and those visiting 

 Quiroga, commonly were addressed or referred to 

 by their professional title; e. g., Senor licenciado 

 or Licenciado (Mr. Lawyer, or Lawyer) . 



EDUCATION 

 HISTORY 



Concerning formal education in Cocupao- 

 Quiroga during the colonial period we know 

 practically nothing. However, from what is 

 known for the Michoacan area during that period 

 we may assume that in this small Indian com- 

 munity all of the education was controlled by the 

 Franciscan friars and consisted of the bases of the 

 Christian religion as taught in catechism classes 

 and rudiments of vocational training taught in the 



hospital by Indian and mestizo members of the 

 community. In addition there was the appren- 

 tice system in those gremios established in Cocupao 

 and open by law to Indians and mestizos. In the 

 colonial period Michoacan was noted for the ex- 

 cellence of its artisans, linguists, and theologians 

 trained in the schools and seminaries of the Fran- 

 ciscans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. Cocupao had 

 no notable educational establishments, but in 

 nearby Tiripitio, Tzintzuntzan, Patzcuaro, and 

 Valladolid were a number of the outstanding and 

 earliest educational establishments in Mexico. 



This early tradition of education (fomented by 

 such men as Bishop Quiroga, Fray Juan de San 

 Miguel, and Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz) may 

 help to explain why a majority of the early in- 

 tellectual and military leaders of the revolt 

 against Spain were natives of the Province of 

 Michoacan, and why in later years Michoacan has 

 continued to supply more than her quota of 

 leaders of thought and action. Also, it is note- 

 worthy that Michoacin had a considerable 

 number of schools during the so-called "dark ages 

 of education" in independent Mexico from the 

 time of Independence until the Madero Revolu- 

 tion. Possibly the status of education in Mexico 

 during the nineteenth century has been depre- 

 ciated by modern protagonists of the Revolu- 

 tionary Socialist School who like to believe that 

 there was little or nothing of cultural value for the 

 proletariat. More likely there exists a real igno- 

 rance among contemporary historians and educators 

 as to the status of education in Mexico outside of 

 the largest urban centers during the nineteenth 

 century. It is true that the majority of the people 

 were illiterate, and that the Indians and the 

 inhabitants of rural areas in general had little 

 opportunity for schooling, but there was not an 

 absolute lack of schools in rural and semirural 

 areas. A case in point is Cocupao-Quiroga. 



By about 1831 a school for boys, apparently 

 supported by the municipality, was established in 

 Cocupao. Our first definite statistics date from 

 1845 at which time the Escuela Piiblica de Ninos 

 de Primera Letras (Boys' Public Primary School) 

 had one teacher (Jose Maria Castro), 45 pupils, 

 and a curriculum consisting of orthoepy (orto- 

 logia), writing, spelling, arithmetic, history, and 

 etiquette (urbanidad). By 1847-48 there were 90 

 pupils, and in 1848-49 the system of education 

 followed was said to be a modification of the sys- 



