"It is hoped, sir, that we might be able to review all acts of the Chief Executive in order to approve or reprove them! I am sure that we could remedy many and that we might progress better. In my humble opinion, the Chief Executive has not always made good use of the powers with which the office has been invested, and many times the discretional power that has been in its hands might be a sword in the hands of a madman."These are the words that a Guerrero teacher sent to the President and, although they are not recent, they have as much validity today today as they had 150 years ago. This teacher, of indigenous origin, was born in Tixtla, Guerrero, an organizer and teacher at Teachers Colleges, made this speech about the "Review of the President's Acts" on July 27, 1861, when the occupant of the office was none other than Benito Juárez [Mexico's only indigenous President]. The indigenous who so speaks before the Congress is Ignacio Manuel Altamirano.
This free thinker is behind the movement of the teachers of Guerrero confronted by the Reform to Articles 3 and 73 of the Constitution undertaken by Enrique Peña Nieto. [Altamirano] is the leadership's adviser, which is why the Guerrero teachers, for several years--long before the so-called education reform--developed a pedagogical proposal to improve education in their state. They named their proposal the Guerrero Altamiranista School.
As [Altamirano] says, I wish we could evaluate all Presidential acts, but not only this, but also those of the Legislature and the Judiciary who approved a reform without being familiar with it and without studying it. Particularly today, [I wish we could evaluate all those] whose interests are imposing neoliberal principles on education using the subterfuge of the evaluation.
Guerrero Altamirantista School: Proposal
The Guerrero Altamirantista School proposal considers the preparation of teachers in terms of the person you want to educate. It is a new curriculum inspired by pedagogies that develops the child and fosters their education and learning as a human being, as a citizen. [It fosters] the school-community link through school projects and productive projects. One section looks at the evaluation of the learning process by considering character development, with the representative participation of all stakeholders and based on this collectively to make decisions.
Its objectives are:
- Set humanity as a central theme of education to develop and transform its reality.
- Strengthen the organization and participation of the people in a new way of life and work with a sustainable social vision.
- [Develop] An education that rescues economic solidarity and the comprehensive education to confront and transform reality, so that it might
- Educate for the practice of the values of: democracy, solidarity, dignity, multicultural coexistence, ensuring the full development of historic subjects.
- [Develop] The exercise of democracy starting from a removal of exclusion and fostering participation, reflective analysis, group criticism, to encourage discussion and the generation of alternative proposals for development of the community.
As can be seen, there is no refusal by the teachers with regard to evaluation and education. Rather, they have been developing proposals for a long time with the support of education specialists--whom the President of the country and the Congress have not deigned to become familiar with, much less to involve in discussions.
Evaluation by the Society
Here rests the invitation of Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, so that the Chief Executive, who is so concerned about the evaluation of educators, might submit their [government's] own acts to the society's evaluation and heed the feedback ... .
As Altamirano said,
"if the government has done well, their behavior will deserve our approval. If on the contrary, we will reproach; but this will not be a divorce, but a vote of censure, and a healthy censure."*Miriam Sánchez Hernández is Program Coordinator of the Galatea Program of the UACM [Autonomous University of Mexico City]; and a member of the Trinational Coalition in Defense of Public Education: Mexico, United States and Canada. Spanish original