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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



tems of Bell and Lancaster (British exponents of 

 systems of monitorial mass education). This 

 school continued until the period of French inter- 

 vention, and was reopened in 1868 in an old 

 chapel building with one teacher (Jose Maria Ca- 

 zares) . Apparently in the same year the first girls' 

 public school was opened in Quiroga, with one 

 teacher (Juana Prado) . During the academic year 

 1868 the attendance in the boys' school ranged 

 from 90 to 143, and in the girls' school from 115 

 to 171. At that time the annual salary of the 

 teacher and director of the boys' school was $400 

 and of the girls' school was $300. During all of 

 this period the schools in Quiroga essentially were 

 municipal schools, since it is recorded in 1871 that 

 the ayuntamiento could hire and fire the teachers, 

 and had to provide the school buildings, equip- 

 ment, and the salaries of the teachers. By State 

 law of May 15, 1871, the ayuntamientos were em- 

 powered to use (for educational purposes) the 

 funds derived from the Derecho de Patente (on 

 livestock), the impost on liquor and tobacco shops, 

 one-half real tax on every fanega of maize brought 

 into town (a part of the alcabala system of taxa- 

 tion), and the 5 percent impost on all bets on 

 cock fights. By 1881 there existed in the munici- 

 pality the following primary schools: Quiroga — 

 one public boys', one public girls', two private 

 boys', three private girls' ; Santa Fe de la Laguna — 

 one public and one private boys'; San Jeronimo — 

 one public boys'; San Andres — one public boys'; 

 Tzintzuntzan — one public and one private boys', 

 one private girls' ; and Atzimbo — one private boys' 

 school. From 1881 to 1885 the total average 

 attendance in public primary schools in Quiroga 

 town was 178, and in the private schools the aver- 

 age was 143. If these official statistics are correct, 

 an average of 321 children were obtaining primary 

 education each year in Quiroga in the 1880's. A 

 check of the 1940 census showed that 46 percent 

 of the inhabitants of the town of Quiroga who 

 were 50 or more years old had been to school and 

 were literate, and 40 percent of the individuals 60 

 or more years of age were literate and had been 

 to school. If the death rates for the schooled and 

 the unschooled have been the same, this would 

 indicate that at least 40 percent of the population 

 of school age in the 1880's and 1890's in Quiroga 

 went to school. Since the group of oldsters who 

 had gone to school included nearly all of the occu- 

 pations present in Quiroga, from arriero and cohe- 



tero to agricultor and comercianfe, it would seem 

 that the educational facilities in Quiroga were open 

 to everyone. 



The public schools have had an uninterrupted 

 history from 1868 to date excepting for the years 

 1870 and 1918 when apparently no schools were 

 open in Quiroga. At some uncertain date in the 

 1930's the local municipal and State-supported 

 schools were taken over by the Federal Govern- 

 ment. Theoretically the period 1821-57 was dom- 

 inated by municipal schools; from 1857 to 1935 

 all local public schools were State-controlled ; and 

 since 1934 the Federal Government has taken over 

 most of the primary schools. In 1935 the boys' 

 and girls' schools were combined for coeducational 

 purposes under the name Escuela Oficial Mixta. 

 At present this school, known as the Escuela Pri- 

 maria Federal "Miguel Hidalgo," is housed in a 

 rented building facing onto the Calzada Kam6n 

 Corona just above the Plaza Principal. At a date 

 we were not able to ascertain a State-supported 

 school was established in the upper end of town, 

 in the former chapel of San Miguel, for the benefit 

 of the children of the agrarian ejidatarios of the 

 Calvario district. This school has come imder 

 Federal control and is now known as the Escuela 

 Rural Federalizada "Redencidn." This latter 

 school offers the first four grades of primary work, 

 and commonly has one or two teachers. The 

 semiurban school near the center of town always 

 offers the first cycle of 4 years of primary work, 

 and when there are students the second cycle of 

 the fifth and sixth years of primary work is given. 

 In Mexico, primary work consists of 6 years or 

 grades, and secondary work covers 3 years. How- 

 ever, only primary schooling is given in Quiroga, 

 and students who wish further training go to 

 various State and Federal secondary, agi'icultural, 

 and normal schools in Morelia, La Huerta (an 

 escuela central agricola near Morelia), and Patz- 

 cuaro. The nearest normal schools are in Morelia 

 and Zamora, and the State university (the oldest 

 in Mexico) is in Morelia. 



TEACHERS 



The number of teachers has increased from the 

 one director-teacher of the nineteenth century to 

 a number wliich varies between six and eight at 

 the present time (1945) in the Federal semiurban 

 school. Since 1939 the group of teachers has in- 

 cluded such specialists as musicians, dressmakers, 



