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Essay on Mexico's Educational System

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Mexico's Educational System

Imagine flipping hamburgers at your favorite fast food restaurant for a living. Without an education this is a real possibility. With the high demand for jobs and great expenses for survival, a person must have a chance at a good education. A common question is, does education differ around the world? The answer is “yes!” The Mexican educational system has struggled for many years with giving children a good education. The attitude toward education is, “ Those born to be poor needed no schooling for it was thought they would be better farmers if they didn’t know to much.” Although in recent years the influence of humanism has changed the focus of education. Curriculums were broadened to include history, …show more content…

152). In fact, Article 3 of the constitution, which regulated education, was one of its most important and lengthy articles. Consequently, government has always played a leading role in the development (or no development) of Mexican public education. This constitutional mandate brought about dramatic growth in the country's educational system, particularly in the secondary system. The number of children attending primary school doubled between 1920 and 1950. And, since 1960, secondary-school enrollment grew from around 100,000 students to almost 2.5 million in the 1970s, to more than four million in the 1980s, and more than 5.5 million in the mid 90’s In fact, between 1930 and 1980 school enrollment at all levels increased twelve fold while the population of Mexico quadrupled (Kovacs, 1987, p. 117). However, while the government in recent years has placed emphasis on primary education, opening elementary schools in rural areas and expanding the early educational outreach to all students, these new education opportunities are still not being distributed equitably. And, researchers at Mexico's Center of Educational Studies found that in 1979, of all students who began elementary school, only 78 percent would finish that level of schooling. Further, the study found that only 9.1 percent had any secondary education (Rudolph, 1985, p. 154).

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