EDUCATION

If our educational system doesn't improve, we won't resolve the immense, painful problem of poverty.

Jorge Castaneda, 2004310

Mexico has made steady progress at raising literacy and the educational level of its population. In 1970, 74.2 percent of the population was literate, and the average educational level was 3.4 years. By 2006—2007, 91.9 percent of the population was literate, and the average educational level was

8.2 years. While these statistics indicate substantial progress, the educational levels of other Latin American nations such as Chile, Argentina, and Columbia surpass that of Mexico. Mexico is even further behind the educational levels of economic rivals such as South Korea.311

Elementary school enrollment increased from 9.2 million in 1970—1971 to 15.4 million in 1983—1984, and then began to decline, reaching 14.6 million in 2006—2007. The current decline in primary school enrollment reflects two trends—fewer children being born and fewer children repeating grades.312

Mexico faced three major challenges relating to primary education. The first, providing for all those in the six to twelve age range, has been largely completed—after many decades of Herculean effort, 98 percent of primary-school-age children are in school. A second task was to increase the number of students who continued on to secondary. The third was to increase the quality of education imparted.313

While Mexico’s current primary enrollment places it at a respectable twenty-first among 125 nations, it will take decades to overcome past educational shortfalls. The 2000 census reported that 32.5 million Mexicans over age fifteen had not finished elementary school. Efforts to decentralize governance to the municipal level are handicapped by 32 percent of Mexico’s mayors having only a primary education, or less.314

The number of secondary school students (seventh to ninth grade) continues to increase since an increasing percentage of students remain in school after finishing primary. Secondary enrollment increased from 1.1 million in 1970 to 6.0 million in 2006—2007. In 2008, 92 percent of thirteen to fifteen year olds were attending school.315

Between 1970 and 2006—2007, enrollment in grades ten through twelve increased from 0.39 million to 3.7 million. By 2008, despite such massive gains, only 52 percent of those in the fifteen to seventeen age range remained in school.316

Between 1970 and 2006—2007, college undergraduate enrollment increased from 0.25 million to 2.52 million. Although in percentage terms this is an impressive gain, in 2008, only 21 percent of nineteen to twenty-four year olds remained in school, 7 percent behind the Latin American average.317

Problems of low quality are pervasive throughout the public educational system. This decline in quality began in the 1970s as emphasis was placed on increasing the number of students, not maintaining educational quality. Standards further declined in the 1980s as educational budgets were slashed. Teachers’ salaries lost 70 percent of their buying power between 1981 and 1989. Even as educational budgets increased in the 1990s, teaching remained one of the poorest paid professions and, as a result, it had difficulty attracting highly qualified individuals. A report found that Mexico was thirty-first among 134 nations in educational expenditure, but 127th in quality of math and science education. Educational quality became an issue in the 2000 presidential election. PAN candidate Vicente Fox declared, “Mexico can’t compete when our scholastic level is below the countries we do business with.”318

As has occurred throughout Latin America, the poor quality of public education has led to the proliferation of private schools, which reinforces the economic gap between those who can pay for a good education and those who cannot. Many members of elite families now attend private schools from kindergarten through college. At the other extreme, public universities annually reject

300,000 applicants—most of whom cannot afford private universities—since there is no space for them.319

By 2002—2003, private schools enrolled 32 percent of students in higher education. Private institutions of higher learning were created in three waves. Catholic schools such as the Jesuit Universidad Iberoamericana, formed the first wave. These schools maintain rigorous academic programs and highly selective admission requirements. Elite secular schools formed the second wave. These schools are not only very selective academically, but are socially selective, since most cannot afford their tuition. Monterrey Tec is the best known of these secular schools. It expanded from its original Monterrey base and by 2003, it had 91,000 students enrolled in thirty-three campuses scattered around Mexico. The third wave of institutions was formed to absorb the rapidly increasing demand for alternatives to public higher education. These institutions are profit-driven and often fail to offer higher quality than the less costly public universities.320

In the aftermath of a bitter student strike over tuition increases that paralyzed the National University for a year (1999—2000), political scientist Denise Dresser commented on how higher education mirrors Mexican society:

On the threshold of the millennium there are millions of Mexicans who don’t have an entry ticket. They see a bright future for politicians, bilingual bankers, and intellectuals with international reputations. They see an elite that disparages the poor for being disheveled, longhaired, dark-skinned guerrillas who do not speak eloquently. They see an educated, elegant elite for whom the notion of social justice is interesting but irrelevant. The university rebellion reflects a badly divided country. . .321