Public Education in New Mexico

4: Education as a Profession

Chapter 4 3 Education as a Profession When asked about someone who impacted our lives, who inspired, encouraged, and worked with us, most people will immediately mention a parent and a teacher. The teacher who modeled care and commitment is recalled when there is talk about school careers. Some students may not have felt they were blessed with such memories; an implied part of the goal of professionalism must be to ensure that students have positive school experiences. The study of teaching, teachers, and the educational profession reveals the tremendous impact of formal education on individual students and on society. It may appear that teachers bear the major responsibility for the education of young people because of frequent classroom contacts and because of the high visibility and expectations of the classroom and school experience . Perhaps this perception of teacher responsibility is created by the concept of formal instruction while the impact of others may be perceived as informal involvement. It is the responsibility of parents, administrators, business leaders, school board members, legislators, and other community members and leaders to support and provide resources for teachers as they go about the formal business of education. In New Mexico, teaching as a profession grew from a desire to Christianize Native American students to a need to prepare students academically and socially to become part of an educated citizenry. As the numbers of schools, teachers, and formal teacher preparation programs grew in New Mexico, so grew the expectations of parents and community. From increasing numbers of teachers who recognized a need for sharing, for “political” influence, and for influence on their own profession came the development of a formalized and institutionalized professional structure. That growth is reflected as one reviews the state of education in New Mexico and the growth of the profession during each historical period. 83 History and Background Early Native American Education The inhabitants of the many Pueblos and villages of the Rio Grande Valley and in other parts of New Mexico had a system of teaching their youth which included modeling and instruction in survival and cultural areas such as hunting, constructing shelter , making weapons, and worshiping their deities. This teaching also included language skill development; language was transmitted in an oral and pictorial fashion. Parents and elders assumed the role of teachers of Native American children. Their methods included storytelling, practicing daily living, and learning to survive in their environments. The Spanish Colonial Period (1540–1821) The system of the family and the elders educating the youth was in place until the Spaniards came in the 1500s, with their major goals of conquest and religious conversion. Early Spanish teaching efforts concentrated on the indigenous population. Colonists’ families did their own tutoring and teaching of their children, and some families joined together to pay a teacher to teach the basics of reading and writing. Some families could afford to send their students to Mexico or to the United States for further education. Poverty, distance, privilege, and the lack of teaching other than by families or the elders were to be precursors of some of the issues that exist today. In 1721, public schools were to be established under the direction of the friars in the Pueblos and villages by decree of the king of Spain. The means to support these public schools were left to the individual communities; consequently, only a few schools were established. The Mexican Territorial Period (1821–1846) When Mexico gained independence from Spain, few schools had been established. One year later, in 1822, the Mexican government mandated that public schools be established; however, teachers and schools were to be financed by the individual parents in the different communities, with the method of pay varying by community. Because of the economics of different communities, the system was neither systematic nor adequate; poverty and privilege continued. By 1827, there were nineteen schools in the province (Nanninga 1942, 5). Chapter 4 84 The American Occupation and Territorial Period (1846–1912) The Catholic Church, under the direction of Bishop Lamy, provided religious teachers to several schools including Loretto Academy, Saint Michael’s College in Santa Fe, and other schools in Las Vegas, Mora, Las Cruces, and Bernalillo. Bishop Lamy began a primary school for boys, which was operated by Loretto Sisters he had brought to New Mexico (De Aragon 1978, 67). For many years, Catholic sisters and the friars were the only teachers available...