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In this article we measure the evolution of inequalities in basic school attendance and educational attainment of Mexican children from 1960 to 2000. During this time, the Mexican government made great efforts to extend education to the most disadvantaged sectors of society, particularly rural communities. Nevertheless, differences in educational attainment persist. We focus on three types of inequality in education: urban/rural, gender, and ethnic inequality as indicated by speaking an indigenous language. The structure and economic resources of families also mediate the amount of education that children receive. To this end, we examine the determinants of primary completion and secondary school enrollment in rural communities in ten of the poorest states in Mexico, paying particular attention to differences between boys and girls and indigenous language and Spanish-language speakers. Dans cet article, nous mesurons l'evolution des inegalites en matiere d'assiduite scolaire aux niveaux primaire et secondaire des enfants mexicains de 1960 a 2000. Durant cette periode, le gouvernement du Mexique a fait de gros efforts pour etendre les services d'education aux secteurs les plus desavantages de la societe, particulierement les communautes rurales. Neanmoins, les differences en matiere de performance academique persistent. Nous faisons l'emphase sur trois types d'inegalites scolaires : urbaine/rurale, genre, et ethnicite tel qu'indiquee par la connaissance d'une langue indigene. La structure et les ressources economiques des families influencent aussi l'education recue par les enfants. A cette fin, nous examinons les determinants de l'achevement du niveau d'education primaire et de l'inscription au niveau secondaire dans neuf des etats les plus pauvres du Mexique, tout en portant une attention particuliere sur les differences entre garcons et filles et entre les enfants qui parlent une langue indigene et ceux qui parlent espagnol. En este articulo medimos la evolucion de las desigualdades en la terminacion de la primaria y el ingreso a secundaria de los ninos mexicanos de 1960 a 2000. Durante este periodo, el gobierno mexicano hizo esfuerzos por llevar la educacion a los sectores mas desfavorecidos de la sociedad, en especial en las comunidades rurales. Sin embargo, las diferencias en la escolarided persisten. En este trabajo nos centramos en tres tipos de desigualdades en la escolaridad: segun la condicion rural o urbana de la localidad de resideneia, por genero y por condicion de hablante de un idioma indigena. La estructura y los recursos economicos de las familias tambien intervienen en la educacion formal que reciben los ninos. Para conocer el efecto de los factores asociados a las familias que inciden en la terminacion de la primaria y en el ingreso a secundaria, analizamos las desigualdades en la escolaridad de los ninos que viven en comunidades rurales de los diez estados con mayor presencia indigena de la Republica Mexicana; prestamos especial atencion a las diferencias entre ninos y ninas y entre hablantes y no hablantes de un idioma indigena. En la primera parte de este trabajo presentamos un breve panorama de las politicas y de los programas educativos llevados a cabo por el gobierno durante el siglo pasado para poder explicar la evolucion de las desigualdades en la asistencia escolar. En la segunda parte plantemos el marco teorico que sostiene nuestra concepcion de la educacion como un proceso impulsado tanto por cambios estructurales como por el apoyo otorgado por las familias. En la tercera seccion presentamos las fuentes de datos y la metodologia de analisis. En la ultima seccion presentamos nuestros resultados; encontramos que la expansion del sistema educativo ha tenido como consecuencia que, entre los hablantes de lenguas indigenas, aumente la probabilidad de terminar la primaria y de ingresar a secundaria. Sin embargo, el hecbo de hablar un idioma indigena, junto con las desventajas economicas que privan entre las familias y las comunidades rurales mexicanas, siguen siendo una barrera en la terminacion de la primaria., INTRODUCTION During the second half of the past century, mexican society experienced two very important and related changes: rapid urbanization and the expansion of basic education. But not all social […]

This essay explores how Americans, Mexican Americans, and Mexicans learn about politics, and specifically, their notions of democracy, using a comprehensive cross-national survey funded by the Hewlett Foundation. It identifies significant differences and similarities across groups, and raises important questions about the socialization process, about the resistance of certain attitudes to transformation in new cultural settings, and the ease with which major political views are altered within months of changing national residence. Language facility proves to be a significant variable in this process.

Previous research demonstrates linguistic advances in middle-class 2-year-olds in the United States resulting from training parents to read with their children following a particular style. This style, called dialogic reading, encourages children to talk about picture books and gives them models and feedback for progressively more sophisticated language use. This research extends these procedures to a day-care setting using 20 Mexican 2-year-olds from low-income backgrounds. Children in the intervention group were read to individually by a teacher using dialogic reading techniques. The control group children were given individual arts and crafts instruction by the same teacher. Effects of the intervention were assessed through standardized language tests and by comparing the children's spontaneous language while they shared a picture book with an adult who was unaware of their group assignment. Differences favoring the intervention group were found on all standardized language posttests and on some measures of language production.

6 kindergarten, 13 elementary, and 7 secondary teachers in a Mexican border town were surveyed to examine parental involvement with schools. Most teachers indicated parents of their students helped with their child's school work, volunteered, raised money, and attended school functions as well as parent-teacher conferences. Serving as room mother was more frequently reported by kindergarten than elementary teachers and by more elementary than secondary teachers as an activity in which their students' parents engaged.

A study was conducted to investigate the impact of tuition subsidy in the form of in-state tuition to undocumented students on the education of noncitizen Mexican young adults. Findings indicate that this policy is associated with a 2.5 percentage point increase in college enrollment and a 3.7 percentage point increase in the proportion of students with at least some college education.

The place of birth and educational attainment data for Mexican-origin persons who speak Spanish at home are also compared with those who speak English-only to provide a fuller of these groupings. It is concluded that current legal, language and education initiatives are at odds with population figures and might signal hostility toward Mexican-origin Arizonians.

There is always a line. Sometimes it lasts only 20 minutes, other times several hours. And waiting is a prerequisite whether it's in the dry, cold weather of January or [...]